-Prologue: Before Your Eyes-

"…I would give you a warm welcome, though I don't know how much you'd want that from someone like me, in a place as dreary as this." A voice boomed from all directions and none, taking up a somewhat sarcastic tone. Shivers don't come to me like I'd expect them to.

I look around to get a general idea of where I might be. Thoughts quickly run dry before they can even start, however. I'm seated on a wooden raft made of sticks, branches, and strings, only loosely knitted together. The unstable raft is drifting down a river that seems to go on forever. The river looks to be around twice the raft's size.

"You've had your fair share of luck to avoid this place for so long, too," the voice continues. "The world isn't a lucky place, after all."

"Who are you?" I find myself asking.

"Ah, I haven't shown myself yet? How rude of me."

From his tone, I could tell he was still playing around, but I ignored it in favor of seeing who may be talking to me.

With a flash of red, a figure appears. Without hesitation, my eyes glide around, judging the creature before me.

With red piercing eyes and a snake-like body, the behemoth of a creature towers over me. Bits and pieces of golden armor wrapped around its torso and head; spikes of gold protruded from its lower body. Six tentacle-like wings twitched on the behemoth's back, colored black with tips of gold.

"Though I do go by many names, the one I'm most famous for is the god of death, 'Giratina,'" The behemoth responded, an almost smug tone replacing the echo.

The next question comes without even thinking. "So… I'm dead?"

The God of Death chuckles at my question. "What else could you be? Yes, you're dead."

I feel like I should want to retort to the behemoth for being so casual, but I can't find it in myself. In a way, I feel… empty.

"Ah, wondering why you're not feeling any emotions, are you? That's simple enough to explain.

"Death isn't as simple as it seems. When given the ability to feel on the way to their resting places, minds will think irrationally. They will scream, kick, flail, rebel. When they do that, they fall into the river, and in rarer cases, they've destroyed the raft you're riding on right now. The reason we're having this conversation in the first place, however, is because of a rule I like; you are allowed to keep your consciousness and thoughts. I can still read your mind, however. Another detail of note is that this is the safest way of doing this for all parties involved, despite its outward appearance. Separating the mind from the soul is much easier and safer than trying to temporarily 'fix' the mind. We already push that enough with this rule; you can only respond to my responses with questions. I can choose whether or not to answer them. I don't need to explain that much, but that's pretty much how this works. So, if you have any questions, fire at will."

I let the information process in my head for a second. "Why don't you seem to be taking any of this seriously, then?"

"Hah! I was hoping that you'd ask that. I just like being able to talk with regular people. Look through their lives, get a taste of normality, stuff like that. Though there are some… downsides… to my job. Not much to do here really, so I do my best to spice things up a bit."

Another question pops into my head. It was a given, really. "How much did I leave behind?"

The behemoth flinches at that, hesitating in his response. "You... you left behind a lot. Not your fault, mind you- but there will be many people who will react negatively. Guild members, rivals, friends, best friends. Those who thought you weak, those who thought you strong."

Expected, I assume. "How much of an impact did I make on the world?"

Giratina gives a grave smile at that. "Oh, you made a big impact, especially since you're dead. Your death did many good things and many bad things. Your death might've saved the world from a premature one. That's something to be proud of."

Sounds like I lived a full life, then. "Will my best friends survive?"

Giratina frowns, though I can barely see it. "I can answer that two different ways, and both are unable to answer your question. First off, I am not Dialga, so I cannot see the future. I only exist in the present. Secondly, I am not allowed to answer your question. Even if your friend died right beside you, committed suicide, anything, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I apologize. I will allow one more question before I send you to the afterlife."

I stare into the eyes of the great being, the playful, sarcastic tone it had previously held was all but gone.

"Did I live a good life?"

The sarcastic glimmer, only being gone for a few seconds, once again enters the being's eyes.

"That's not something I can decide for you, now is it?"

Chuckling to himself, Giratina grabs the back of my raft, and pushes me over the waterfall at the end of the river, and into what I might assume to be the great beyond.

-Chapter 1: Derealization-

...

"...Ugh..."

Consciousness comes to me ever so slowly. As I begin to process my surroundings, I notice many oddities. Firstly, I'm resting on a rocky seaside beach. Several caves and cliffs surround me, each equally as jagged as the other. Thirdly, I take notice of my size. Pebbles look to be the size of rocks, rocks the size of boulders.

After taking in my surroundings, I freeze; a realization dawns on me.

"Am I… dead?" I whisper in quiet fear.

Reminiscing back to my 'dream', I begin to ponder.

Nothing around me is recognizable in the slightest. Not the sandy beachscape, not the colorful sunset, not even my own…

Memories.

I quickly try to think back to who I might've been. I know what I am… supposed to be. I'm not so sure that it's what I am anymore. A name comes back to me with another reflection. Other than those two minuscule facts, however, I reach a mental blockage.

Kai…

"Where am I?" My thoughts wander back to the beach I'm on.

Rising from my sandy resting place, I slowly stroll down the beach. Trouble comes for a short while, as I realize how unreasonably small my arms and legs seem to be. Walking on two legs seems to be a pain, so I adjust and let myself fall into a quadruped stance. Shivering, I look around.

As the sunset implies, it looks to be late evening. My thoughts drift away from existentialism for a short while as my eyes catch on the slowly dimming sky. Thousands of colors and shades blend on the canvas of a sunset. I find myself sitting back down in the sand once more, just admiring the picture. The sound of ocean waves crashing and bobbing against the shore only add to my transfixion.

Disappointingly, the moment only lasts a short while. I pick up the sound of stampeding footsteps headed in my direction. With the sand nullifying the noise somewhat, I have little time to react as a blue amphibian races past me, almost trampling me in the process. I was barely able to process the flurry of 'sorry's they yelled back at me in their haste.

So the blue amphibian knows how to speak at least some form of English and ran off to who knows where.

My thoughts lose their definition and become messier. My surroundings become uncomfortably audible. Tsunamis of water crash against the beach shore, cliff faces glare at me. The world around me turns just a bit grimmer.

I manage to pull myself out of my dark thoughts before they get too bad with a heavy sigh, and I pick myself up from the ground.

…No point in digging myself a hole this early on.

I shake the lingering negative thoughts out of my head and focus on something more reasonable.

What am I?

I once again find myself scanning my surroundings, looking for any sort of reflective surface. Luckily, I find one pretty quickly; a small gathering of water by the entrance of a small den-sized cave. It's only a small puddle, but it provides enough to see a reflection, which is all that matters.

I regret my decision.

Nearly getting pulled back down into my dark thoughts, I quickly flinch away from the reflective surface.

Not… gonna think about that right now.

Brushing that revelation away, I wandered back to where I sat minutes earlier. Before I can settle down again, however, I spot something small. A couple of paces away lies a simple string-made necklace. At the end of the necklace lies a strange fragment-like stone.

Getting a closer look, I notice something strange with the rock. All sorts of swirls and circles and wing-like patterns cover the stone's flat side.

The stone wasn't here before… is it that amphibian's? I Should've seen it sometime during my short walk… I don't think I was in a state of disarray back then. Then again, I did get distracted...

I look back towards the night sky. Compared to earlier, it seems almost empty of the energy it previously held. The evening colors are replaced with a dull, midnight blue. However, The stars in the night sky were plentiful, providing an entirely different yet similarly mesmerizing scene. I desperately wish to distract myself again, but I remember the fragment and bring myself back to reality.

I haven't seen the creature come back for it yet. It looks like some sort of family heirloom that I'd assume they'd want to hold onto. Maybe they just don't want it…?

Whether they care about it or not, they could probably help me out. I think they shouted some sort of apology back at me when nearly trampling me. That's a point for sentience.

I look towards the cave they ventured into. It is by far the biggest cave on the beach, as well as the most intimidating. It leads me to ask the question:

If I got lost in this cave, who would even care to rescue me?

I look back to where I assume the creature came from; a flight of stairs placed conveniently between two massive cliffs - sort of like a miniature canyon.

Indecisiveness strikes me with a whip. I could return this random rock - might not even be worth it - to an amphibian-like creature with some semblance of sentience who ventured off into a cave filled with who-knows-what, OR I could meander up those stairs and wander into a random town that knows nothing about me. I could be treated as an outcast, and…

Alright, cave it is. I'm feeling adventurous now, anyway. I can't say that I've been in a full-fledged cave before. …

I let my feet carry me to the entrance and take my first steps into the unknown.

Beach Cave, B1F

Upon entering the cave, I immediately feel its gloomy atmosphere weighing down on me. Not overbearing, but noticeable.

As I look around, my first thoughts gravitate to how unnaturally flat the cave walls are. Each wall is as close as perpendicular to the other as can be. Plants growing through formed cracks take up a majority of the walls and floor. It's hard to tell whether or not it's natural. If not, it's at least hundreds of years old.

Branching out of the room I am in are several different paths. It almost looks to have the setup of a maze. Those paths look to be just as square as the room I'm in.

I take a quick peek behind me in reconciliation, only to jump back.

There was no cave entrance behind me - only more of the unnaturally flat wall.

A chill runs down my spine as I slowly turn away from the should-be entrance, looking down each path with a little more caution.

If I accidentally walked into some sort of personal hell…

...Moving on.

I decide to take the rightmost path and treat this dungeon-like cave like a maze. It's not long before I come to another room. I make sure to drag my feet on the somewhat sandy floor to know where I've already been.

Within a few minutes, I find something I wasn't bargaining for - a flight of stairs. Crafted directly into the wall, they remind me of the stairs on the beach. I make sure to drag my feet as I move down the stairs.

B2F

As I take my final step down the stairs, the gloominess weighs down on me even more, almost like a growl of pressure on my back.

I peer back once again and find the stairs to have disappeared. I flinch again.

Guess my markings were useless… How does this cave even work…?

I take a deep breath to calm myself and continue on.

I once again find myself following the right wall, still digging my feet through the sand despite myself. Entering a room, I see a snail-like creature. Blue in coloring, the creature seems to regard me with a bitter glare. Backing away a foot out of caution, I assume the best and take a chance by speaking.

"Hey, have you-"

My question is cut off as said snail fires a sudden jet of water at me like a turret directly from its mouth. I'm too mystified to respond in time, and it hits me dead on. It almost hurts – feels more like a hose with a bit too much pressure. Rather than knocking me off my feet, it completely shattered any semblances of cohesive thought I might've previously had.

As I process what had just happened, the damned snail fires another water attack. I'm more cautious about it this time, however, and dodge out of the way. Then, I dash past the snail creature and hope to god that it doesn't follow.

I run for a solid minute before I look back. I know that snails are normally slow, but this isn't the living world - this is likely my afterlife. I'm not taking any chances.

Apparently, not every creature here is as sentient as that amphibian.

...Or I invaded that snail's territory.

Either way, that translates to bad for me.

A couple of minutes after that unnecessarily draining encounter, I come upon an apple laying on the ground. Eyeing it, I realize how hungry I've gotten in however long I've been in this dungeon. It's hard to keep track of time when you've got so many other things on your mind.

I dug into the apple pretty quickly, not caring whether or not it might've been a bad decision. What'll I do, die again?

Nonetheless, the apple's down to its core within minutes, which I throw away and continue on my trek. The stairs are conveniently in the next room, and I just decide to keep going down the stairs until I'm low enough to have exited this dungeon-cave thing.

B3F

I take my final step down the stairway and look back almost immediately after. The stairs are still there.

I make a move to go back up, only for my vision to blur. I gain a slight headache that only lasts a moment, but by the time I look back to where the stairs should be, they're gone.

"This cave's definitely sentient," I say, testing the waters. I get no response other than the echoes of my voice around the cave.

Turning away, I look back to see where I'll go next. That choice is made for me, however, as this room only has one path. Inconveniently, however, this path leads me directly to another creature. It seems to be made of some sort of squid-coconut hybrid, but I don't want to find out how it'll attack me. I dash past it before it even has the chance to consider its options and continue my expedition.

The stairs aren't too hard to find, but I decide to experiment a little. So, I take a few steps down the stairs, and I sit, daring the dungeon to do anything.

About a minute in, I find my vision blurring again.

B4F

When it comes back to me, I'm sitting on the floor in another room.

So much for that.

I slowly rise once again, looking around my surroundings. Luckily for me, the stairs going down are placed right in this very room.

Beach Cave Pit

As I step off the stairs, I notice a significant difference in my environment. Instead of the flat walls covered with vegetation, I find the room I'm in to be relatively natural. Looking ahead, the room also appears to have the cave's exit, up a bit and to my left. Finally…

However, before I start toward the exit, I notice something - or rather - someone.

Off to my right, the amphibian creature is sitting, staring out at the sea exit.

For about a minute or two, I just stand where I am awkwardly, unsure how to approach him.

"Hey," I mumble, almost too soft to hear.

The creature's head perks up a bit, turning around. I nearly flinch.

"Hello-" the creature stops, staring at me for a moment. Then, I see a little spark in its eye, and it stumbles over its words trying to get them out. "Oh! Y-you're that cyndaquil I a-almost trampled back at the beach, r-right? L-look, if you came to-"

"I'm not here to do anything to you," I interrupt. What he referred to me as lingers in my mind for a little, but I force it away for now, "But you might have dropped something back at the beach."

I hold up the pendant I found lying on the beach, and the amphibian's eyes light up with glee.

"Oh, T-thank you! God, now I f-feel stupid…"

"Eh, it's fine. I don't have any plans anyway." I casually respond.

"My name's R-riptide. What about you? I don't think I've seen you around before."

"My name's Kai," I answer simply.

"A-alright… What region are you f-from?"

Region?

"Uhh…"

Small talk falls to a halt as I desperately try to make up a place in my head. No ideas come up, and I just decide to give up, letting out a deep breath.

"Well… I don't really have a valid answer to your question. I don't know where I'm from."

"Oh… Well, what else do you know?"

Of all the questions… Fine.

"I can't say that I know much. The first thing I remember is waking up on a beach that I recognized as unfamiliar."

"You have… amnesia?" The creature questions.

"...Yes."

"Oh…" The amphibian looked away.

"That's another reason I followed you down here, really. I don't know anything about where I am, and you're the only creature I've met so far that has had some semblance of intelligence," I continued, "I don't know what I am, I don't know what you are, and I don't know what any of the creatures I've encountered in this dungeon are. I was hoping that you could help me out a little in that department. Knowledgeable or not, I'd rather not walk around that town looking like some sort of lunatic."

The creature nods, though nervously.

"If you don't want to, I'd be fine if you just pointed me to someone else-"

"No, n-no. It's f-fine. I can help. Just… w-what do you want to know first?"

"First of all, what even are you?"

"U-uh…? I'm a mudkip, I guess? W-what do you… uh…"

I remember the stairs. "Do you, uh, live in the town around here?"

He nods, "Y-yeah, I do. U-uh… do you want to… stay over? For the night, at least. You can leave later if-"

I take a step back, surprised at his offer. "You'll let me stay with you tonight?"

His eyes go wide, but he nods again shakily. "S-sure, if that's what you want…"

I let myself tilt my head slightly. At this point though, might as well. "Thanks for the offer, and sure!"

"A-alright."

I slowly let myself follow behind Riptide, as he leads me over to the stairs.

Riptide and I make our way through the quiet town. There are stands galore all over the place in town, seemingly placed at random, but nobody seems to be working any now. I spot an occasional creature or two wandering about, but otherwise the town is pretty barren. Of course, it is late at night, a lot of them are probably already asleep.

The mudkip, apparently the name of his species, guides me through the town quietly and I follow dutifully behind. Every so often he mumbles something to himself as I take in my surroundings. A few shops are set up, a campfire, and many differently sized huts. I spot someone looking at us from a distance away, and the mudkip guiding me seems to notice too, picking up his pace a bit. I stumble a little but catch up with him pretty quickly as he makes his way through the town. We've already passed the massive gathering of huts placed conveniently right up the beach's stairs, so I don't really know where he's taking me.

After another minute or two of walking, we finally end up on yet another cliff. I eye the mudkip warily, but he doesn't seem to care whether or not it might be dangerous. He just looks tired.

Walking over to what seems to be a random pile of leaves, Riptide uncovers a hidden room messily crafted. He crawls in quickly afterwards, and I hesitate outside for a few seconds before eventually climbing in myself.

While not having much of anything inside, it's a pretty cool place overall. The view of the ocean is what makes it interesting, however. I walk over and nearly try to look down, but back away instead. Heights… don't seem to be my thing, apparently.

I don't feel that safe here.

Looking back, I see that the mudkip is already more than asleep, snoring softly. There are so many questions I have for him, but I'd rather not overwhelm him. If this place has a library, that'd be great. If I can understand the language written, of course…

A few feet away from Riptide, I see a makeshift bed made lazily out of hay. I look at the snoozing mudkip and back at this place's only safe exit, completely unsure of myself.

On one hand, I could leave and not have to worry about my fear of heights, my fear of the fact that this damned cliff could collapse on itself, all of my stupid fears. Or, if I went out on my own tonight, I may lose my way, get captured by someone, and all sorts of other bad things.

...I don't trust this world enough to go out on my own yet.

Sighing, I settle down in the small bed and force my eyes shut, counting sheep in my head to force myself asleep. After what feels like hours, I finally start to drift away.

Fakémon used: Cassnail (PKMN Uranium), Cocosquid (Doodle World).