Mew awoke to the sound of rolling waves and the smell of salt in the air. For a fleeting moment they thought they were back at Lively Town, and a sweet relief washed over them; but when they opened their eyes, the sight before them crushed that hope. They lay on a grey, rocky cliff with a steep drop before them. Mew lifted up off the ground, floated over the cliff's edge, and spotted the dark blue ocean hundreds of meters below them. Opaque waves foamed and crashed against a set of sharp, jagged rocks jutting out from the water. The sun was setting on the crimson horizon, the last remnants of its light reflecting off of the ocean as a fierce, shrieking wind blew through their fur. It was cold, colder than Mew had ever felt before. Just where were they?
A set of unfamiliar voices was speaking behind them. Mew turned and spotted four unknown Pokemon: one looked to be made out of wood with a large leaf sticking out of their head; the other three were identical and metallic, floating above the ground with flashing lights stuck on the ends of their arms. None of them had noticed Mew yet. They were gathered before a grim, snow-capped mountain that had a dark, gloomy cave entrance at its base.
Back in Serene Village, someone had attacked Mew on that hill and taken them here while they had been unconscious. No other Pokemon could be seen anywhere nearby. It was only logical, then, to conclude that those four Pokemon were responsible for kidnapping them. The edges of Mew's vision grew muddier as their breathing started to shake.
"Hey!" Mew shouted—and fell to the ground, suddenly light-headed. The Pokemon swiveled to face them. The wooden one's mouth fell open in surprise, while the other three's expressions were unreadable. They all started moving across the cliff towards Mew, who made no move to get up—that would take too much time. Instead, Mew flicked their paw once, and with their psychic power they sent the wooden one careening into the air, arms and legs flailing. As that one plummeted to the rock-hard ground, Mew pushed the other three as far away as they could with a wall of pure force, sending them flying all the way to the cave entrance.
That bought Mew enough time to shakily rise from the ground and get back into the air. They backed over the cliff's edge and floated above the water, their heart beating a staccato rhythm against their chest. The Pokemon stood up, one by one, and slowly approached the cliff side. The wooden one had his arms raised as he shouted, "We don't want to hurt you!"
"Yeah?" Mew scoffed. "If you don't want to hurt me, how come you attacked me in Serene Village and dragged me here?!"
The four Pokemon were at the cliff's edge now. The three metal ones floated off of the side and towards Mew, whose limbs were starting to feel heavy from the exertion of using their powers. Their arms trembled—exhaustion or panic, they didn't know. Nonetheless they raised their paws above their head, then slowly lowered them—the three floating ones plummeted straight down into the ocean, the result of Mew's will made a reality. To the wooden one, Mew hoarsely shouted, "Where's Aster?! What have you done with him?!"
A set of three splashes sounded off below them; the metal Pokemon rose out of the water and floated steadily upwards, no worse for wear save for a few sparks flying from beneath their metal skin. Their eyes were eerily blank, little more than a pair of narrow green bulbs with black dots lodged in them. "The Treecko is on his way here right now," one of them said. Its voice was low and disjointed, not really forming sentences but rather stitching individual words together with no regard for intonation. "We know why you're sick, Mew. Please, let us explain. Kidnapping you was necessary for Ampharos' and Mawile's plan."
Mew set up an invisible barrier that prevented the metal Pokemon from reaching them. Only once that was done did they say, "What do they have to do with this?"
"They orchestrated this whole thing!" the wooden one shouted from the cliff. "They want it to look like you're in danger so that the Harmony Scarves will do something to stop it!"
Mew didn't understand. The sounds of the ocean faded to nothing, replaced by a quiet roaring in the back of their head. The three metallic Pokemon floated to the edge of the barrier, their lights flashing as they beeped amongst themselves. After several seconds of this, one of them said, "You're not sick because of Dark Matter, Mew. You're sick because a chain of reincarnations has gone wrong, and a second soul has taken up residence in your body."
It took Mew a second to process what the Pokemon had said. The fear they felt faded a little, replaced by a familiar confusion. "I'm sick because of what?"
"Nuzleaf knows more about it than we do," the Pokemon said, gesturing towards the wooden one standing on the cliff.
Nuzleaf. Mew had heard that name somewhere before, but their mind was too muddled to remember the details.
The Pokemon gently touched the barrier, fingers flickering red and blue, and said, "Think of it this way: if we truly wanted to hurt you, we would have done so while you were unconscious. And if we were holding you hostage, we wouldn't have left you unrestrained. No competent kidnapper would simply leave you alone on the cliff's edge."
As much as Mew hated to admit it, that was a valid point. They didn't take the barrier down, but they did approach the cliff where Nuzleaf stood. The barrier moved with them, forming a sphere that nobody could enter; it forced Nuzleaf to back away as Mew floated to solid ground and sat down before him. The effort of tossing them around had nearly sapped the last remnants of Mew's strength, but they couldn't afford to show that, not while they weren't sure of their intentions.
"Start explaining," Mew said, trying to sound intimidating. Judging by the annoyed look on Nuzleaf's face as he rubbed the bridge of his pointy nose, it didn't work. The other three Pokemon floated behind them, staring silently but making no move to break the barrier.
"Okay, I reckon I don't really get a lot of what Ampharos told me. It's a load of 'he said, she said' stuff," Nuzleaf said. When he wasn't shouting, he spoke with a lazy drawl. "But from what I do understand, you basically have two past lives. The first one was your original self that beat Dark Matter the first time. You know Dark Matter?"
Mew nodded. "Right, that apocalypse monster thingy. Ampharos told me about it. But what do you mean by 'the first time'? I thought it only showed up once."
"Looks like Ampharos didn't tell you the whole story." Nuzleaf sighed and sat down, his legs crossed beneath him. "Long story short, Dark Matter showed up several thousand years ago. You and the old human—"
"The old human?"
"Let me finish, for cryin' out loud," he grumbled. "You and the old human stopped Dark Matter by destroying it. Unfortunately for y'all, breaking Dark Matter didn't make a lick of difference—it was gone for the time being, but it would return eventually. So, bein' a god and all, you decided to throw your spirit forward a few millennia to stop it again."
"Wait, I can do that?!"
"I thought I told you to let me finish." Nuzleaf shot them a glare. "Yes, you can do that. And you thought it'd be best to wipe your memories so that you wouldn't make the same mistakes you did the first time. By making a whole new identity, you'd have a better chance at trying something new. The human wanted to come with you, so they reincarnated into a Treecko who took the name Aster. And you reincarnated into your second life: a Riolu who called herself Vallea."
Mew tilted their head. A whole swath of information had just been thrown at them—Aster was a reincarnation of a human, they had past lives, and the world had almost ended twice. Their mind had trouble keeping up with all of it, but one word stuck out to them: Vallea. There was that name again. Vallea this, Vallea that. They asked, "So this Vallea, did she pull it off? Did she stop Dark Matter for real this time?"
"Yep. I still don't get how she managed it, but she did. Somethin' about acceptin' it as a part of the world, I think. Who would've thought the little brat had it in her?" He chuckled under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief, his leaf swaying back and forth. "The original plan, apparently, was for Vallea to disappear once her job was done, and for you to come back like nothing had happened. But judging by your amnesia, that didn't exactly work out the way y'all had planned. You technically came back, but you may as well be a completely different person. And Vallea disappeared all right, but I reckon she's not gone for good. The kid never was much of a quitter, not even while the world was ending. My guess is she didn't want to vanish, so a little piece of her lives on in you."
"And…that's why I'm sick?"
"Exactly."
Mew still wasn't sure of Nuzleaf's intentions, but his explanation wasn't entirely impossible. They pressed a paw to their chest as though they could somehow feel Vallea's presence in there. The more they thought about it, the more it made sense: the unfamiliar memories, the flashbacks, the way they sometimes lost themself in another life entirely. And since Serene Village had been her home, that might explain why going there had caused their sickness to worsen. It was her. She was the one responsible for this. A little bit of resentment built up beneath their heart, hard as a rock.
And then a terrible thought came to them.
What if nothing Mew had done was truly of their own volition? Following Aster, joining the Expedition Society, their excitement at visiting Serene Village—what if that was all Vallea? What if they had only done all that because the piece of Vallea inside them had wanted to? The idea that someone else was influencing their actions terrified them. How could they tell where their own thoughts ended and Vallea's began? What if everything they were thinking right now was—
No. They couldn't let their thoughts go down that road, not right now. They needed to focus on what was happening at this very moment. Mew took a deep breath to slow their heartbeat, and said, "How come she's making me sick?"
Nuzleaf shrugged. "Dunno. I doubt she's doin' it on purpose. Maybe she just wants to come back."
"Hmm…" Mew turned around to make sure none of the other Pokemon had made any moves to attack. They hadn't, so Mew rounded on Nuzleaf and said, "Okay, so that explains my illness. But what's that got to do with knocking me out and taking me to this place? Actually—where are we, anyways?"
'We're just outside a Mystery Dungeon by the name of Purifying Cave." Nuzleaf gestured behind him, towards the cave entrance shrouded in darkness. Within the mountain's shadow it held a menacing aura, as though countless hostile Pokemon lurked in its depths just waiting for a chance to strike. Nuzleaf must have noticed how it intimidated Mew, because he said, "Don't let the place scare you. Ampharos says it's basically empty, so nothing's gonna try us when we enter."
"But why do we—"
"Why do we have to enter the cave?" He waited for Mew to nod, then continued, "Basically, we're settin' all this up to make it look like we're gonna try to kill you. We want to freak Aster out."
Mew stared blankly, lost for words.
"Now I know that sounds bad, but it's all to trick that fancy scarf of his into making some magic happen. If we get him scared enough, the scarf will activate, and apparently it'll fix you." He shrugged again, wearing a tired smile. "Mawile says it'll even bring Vallea back. Wouldn't that be real nice?"
A magic scarf fixing what was wrong with Mew…was that even possible? If they could manage to pull it off, then maybe Mew's body and mind would be fully their own. It sounded a lot better than Xatu's plan of sitting around and waiting for something to happen, but… "I'm still not sure if I can trust you or not," Mew said.
Nuzleaf nodded, his eyes shadowed. "Can't say I blame you. To be quite frank, I don't really trust myself either. Got a bad habit of messin' things up for the folks I love. But I reckon what Ampharos and Mawile told me was the truth. Do you trust them?"
"…Yeah. I don't think they're bad people."
"Then you don't have to trust me. Or any of us, really," Nuzleaf said, gesturing towards the Pokemon floating behind Mew. "Trust Ampharos and Mawile instead, and go along with their plan. If everything works out the way we think it will, you'll walk out of that cave good as new."
Regardless of what Nuzleaf said, Mew knew they didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. What would Aster do right now? Mew took a deep breath, trying to slow their heartbeat, and made an attempt at thinking through the facts of their situation. They were alone among unfamiliar Pokemon, and they weren't sure they could take all of them on in a prolonged fight; they could throw them around some, sure, but eventually their sickness would catch up with them. Should Mew say no, Nuzleaf and the others would probably try to convince them, but they had shown a tendency towards violence back in Serene Village. Who was to say they wouldn't try it again? All Mew could do right now was make the best of a bad situation, and if that meant going along with a plan that was possibly a lie, then so be it.
"Okay," Mew said. "Count me in."
They blew out a long breath, then recalled the barrier. Their shoulders tensed instinctively, expecting the floating Pokemon to attack them immediately, but nothing touched them save for the salty wind and cold ocean mist. One of the Pokemon hovered over and extended a flickering hand towards Mew. Framed by the dark crimson horizon, its colorful lights seemed to shine brighter than ever. Up close its eyes didn't look so blank or emotionless; it looked almost regretful. "I would like to apologize for that business in Serene Village," it—no, she said. "We had to make it look realistic. Mawile says the Harmony Scarves won't do anything unless the wearers think they're in legitimate danger, so we had to keep this a secret from your friend."
Mew reached for her hand, hesitated and pulled back, and finally took it and let her pull them up. "Uh…what's your name?"
"Beheeyem," she replied.
The other two, both male, chorused, "We are all Beheeyem."
"Beheeyem, huh? Well…it's nice to meet you, I suppose," Mew said, a little reluctantly.
But the three Beheeyem all looked so apologetic, heads bowed and their hands shining a solid blue, that Mew couldn't help but feel a little endeared towards them. Mew sighed, and continued, "And if this thing at the cave is really gonna help me, then I guess I can't be all that mad at you guys."
"Thank you," said the first Beheeyem, brightening up considerably. "Will you need assistance during our travel? I'm capable of lifting things telekinetically, so—"
"Nope! No thank you," Mew cut her off. As apologetic as she was, they weren't about to give up their movement to her. "I can float fine, thanks."
Her fingers flashed green once, but she made no comment. Nuzleaf, who had been watching their introductions in silence, finally stood up with a grumble and a few creaking joints. "Well, glad that's all sorted away. We should get a move on, get into position." He pointed towards the cave entrance, now nearly indistinguishable from the mountain's base in the night's darkness. "Ampharos and Mawile want us deep in the cave so it'll seem more legitimate. We're actually supposed to be halfway there right now, so we'd better get goin'. All this talking slowed us down."
With that, Nuzleaf set off towards the cave at a brisk pace. He snapped once, and a green sphere of light popped into existence above his hand; he cradled it in his palm and used it to light the way. The Beheeyem followed silently, their eyes and fingers flickering red, green, and blue. Keeping them in their vision, Mew lifted themself slowly and set off after them, making sure to keep a good distance away.
After all, one could never be too careful in a Mystery Dungeon.
And what a dungeon it was. Purifying Cave was a place unlike anything Mew had ever seen before. The Mystery Dungeon's aquamarine tunnels and carved walls led far beneath the earth, below the mountain and the ocean. The place didn't look natural: the walls, floors, and ceilings were constructed from light-blue bricks with unrecognizable writings and symbols etched into them. At some point in the distant past, these tunnels must have housed countless Pokemon—tables and chairs and beds dotted the floors, left to decay beneath the surface. In the absence of Pokemon the place had been left to form a Mystery Dungeon, one that mutilated and deformed itself when no one was looking. Deep, low rumbles echoed from above the ceiling—probably the ocean water flowing to and fro, crashing into the artificial constructions. Nuzleaf and the three Beheeyem led the way, guiding Mew through a seemingly endless amount of pitch-black halls and rooms with nothing but his pale green light to see with.
Despite what Nuzleaf had said earlier, there were in fact Pokemon living in the dungeon; much like the other Pokemon inhabiting Mystery Dungeons, these ones weren't all that welcoming to invaders of their home, and they expressed their territorial tendencies through violence. Nuzleaf and the Beheeyem fought them off, shielding Mew with storms of sharp leaves and psychic blasts as they advanced. Whenever they weren't in danger Mew tried to take in as much of the cave as they could, their eyes wide as they stared in awe at the dungeon's interior.
"Who do you think built this place?" Mew asked during one of the quieter moments. They turned their head, expecting to find Aster by their side—only to remember he wasn't there. The sense of wonder faded, replaced by dread weighing in their lungs. "Actually, um, how long will it take for Aster and the others to get here?"
Nuzleaf came to a halt and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, his light flickering slightly. "Knowing Aster, he's probably so freaked out at your disappearance that he swam across half the ocean already. If he's traveling by the Lapras Liner…he should be arriving soon."
"What about Ampharos and Mawile? You said they were involved in this, right?"
"As for those two, they told us to meet them in the dungeon's central chamber. Apparently it's the only part of this place that never changes its location. I don't know how they plan to get there in time, but they do have the help of Xatu. You remember him?"
A Pokemon came to mind—expressionless eyes, narrow beak, wings held close against the body. "Yeah, I know him. He's the one who told me Dark Matter is making me sick," Mew said. Then, "Is he in on this?"
"Yep."
"Of course he is," Mew grumbled. "Feels like everyone knew about this plan except me."
Nuzleaf chuckled, though it was laced with bitterness. "Well, what can I say? We're trying to control forces beyond our comprehension. Our plan was always bound to be a bit…wonky."
One of the Beheeyem stopped and stared into the darkness, her eyes glowing faintly. "We're getting close!" she said, and darted forward into the shadows. In a matter of seconds she was nothing but a little speck of light in the distance. Nuzleaf and the other two Beheeyem exchanged bemused looks, then followed her silently.
Mew brought up the rear, though it was a struggle: they could barely float more than a few centimeters above the ground, and their speed was a fraction of what it had used to be. And they couldn't quite focus on what they were doing. There was something oddly familiar about Nuzleaf—whenever they looked at him they felt a curious mixture of dread, pity, and regret that didn't have a clear cause. Probably Vallea messing up their thoughts again. Unbidden, the terrible thought rose to the forefront of their mind. But they couldn't let themself think about that, not yet. First wait and see where this plan was going, then let the existential dread set in.
Mew hovered up to Nuzleaf's side and asked, "Did you know her? Vallea, I mean."
Nuzleaf furrowed his brow and stared down at the algae-covered bricks, tossing his ball of light back and forth between his hands as he walked. After several seconds of this he said, "I knew her all right. We used to live in the same village. Uh…one day my next door neighbor strolled on by with a little bundle in his flippers—that was her when she was just a little baby. Never thought Old Man Carracosta would ever get a kid, but there she was."
Mew thought back to Serene Village and how lonely Carracosta had seemed in his empty, dusty house. The more they considered it, the more they realized the reincarnation plan was flawed from the start. By giving Vallea a full life to live, they'd only given her the chance to form enough of a distinct identity to mess it all up. Especially when she had her old Pops to annoy, and friends to make, and a dream to chase. It really was a fun life, and she'd love to—
"It's happening again," Mew said shakily. They sunk to the ground and clutched the sides of their head in a futile effort to dull the pain shooting through their skull. Their vision flashed between conflicting images—one moment they were in the dark cave with the hallway stretching out before them, the next they were running through a forest, their gaze set on a massive, dying tree high above them. They scrunched their eyes shut and covered their ears. "Stop it," they muttered, to whom they didn't know. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"
Water dripping from the ceiling. The green, blue, and red lights glowing against the darkness. The stench of stagnant water. Mew clung to these lifelines, to the proof that they were here, they knew who they were. Beneath the pain and focus keeping them awake, fear lurked. They were vulnerable in their current condition. Nuzleaf and the Beheeyems could do whatever they wanted, and Mew would be powerless to stop it.
But nothing happened.
Soon, after what felt like hours, it faded. Mew was back in the cave again. Nuzleaf was crouched down in front of them, the two Beheeyem looming behind him like ghosts. He was saying something; they had to concentrate to make out the words.
"You okay?"
Mew swallowed back a wave of nausea. They waited a moment for the dizziness to fade, then floated off the ground and motioned to keep moving. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go. You were saying something about Carracosta bringing a kid home?"
"Well…" As he walked, Nuzleaf tossed his green sphere up and down in one hand. "Next thing you know, she's runnin' around the village causin' all sorts of trouble. The kid went and broke my mailbox, for cryin' out loud." He chuckled and shook his head. "Though I reckon she wasn't all that bad, considering how she became friends with my so—" He cut himself off, the smile falling from his face like a mask. His eyes closed and he came to a halt. "…with Aster."
One of the Beheeyem patted Nuzleaf's back and whispered something Mew couldn't hear.
"Wait a minute," Mew said. "Aster mentioned you a couple of times. He said you left him."
Nuzleaf inhaled slowly. He exhaled. He opened his eyes. He said, "Yeah. I left. And it was for the best."
Before Mew could come up with another question, he continued, "We really oughta move our tails. We gotta get you in the chamber and ready for whatever's gonna happen." With that, he set off again down the shadowed hallway, the ocean roaring from somewhere high above them. Mew and the Beheeyem followed, and they soon noticed a little blue light glowing in the distance; over the course of a few minutes the light grew into a large room that looked a lot less artificial than the rest of the dungeon. Mew and the others exited the dark hallway into a room consisting of a blue island surrounded on all sides by fresh water; bright green water lilies dotted the lake's surface, thriving despite the lack of sunlight. The room was brightly lit, though there were no lamps or candles to make it so. The only light was a crackling ball of electricity that hovered just below the ceiling and shone a golden light onto the whole room. A small path connected the hallway to the island, and on the island stood Beheeyem, Ampharos, Mawile, and Xatu.
For the first time that day, Mew felt true relief: Nuzleaf and the Beheeyem hadn't been lying. This wasn't a trap. The tension in their shoulders steadily faded at seeing familiar faces. Mawile looked agitated, speaking to the Beheeyem in a raised voice while Xatu stared blankly at a wall. As Mew, Nuzleaf, and the Beheeyem approached, Ampharos spotted them; he grinned widely and waddled across the bridge towards them.
"It's so wonderful to see you all!" he shouted—and slipped and fell into the lake, sending water flying in all directions. Mawile turned and noticed the situation; her agitation faded, replaced by a resigned exhaustion as she stepped over to pull him out of the water.
As she tried to drag Ampharos onto dry land, she said, "Glad you guys could make it. You're just in time—Xatu says the kid will arrive in a minute." The maw on the back of her head snapped irritably while she pulled, and then it sunk its fangs into a nearby boulder to give her a stronger foothold. Finally she pulled up Ampharos, who was sputtering and dripping everywhere.
Ampharos coughed, wiped his face, and told Mew, "I'm sure you must have countless questions about, well, all of this."
"Yeah, I do! I've got loads! First of all, how did—"
"I'm terribly sorry," Ampharos cut them off, "but your questions will have to wait. Aster is almost here, and we need to make it look like you're going to, well…"
The Beheeyem who had previously run off approached them. "He wants us to pretend we're going to destroy you," she murmured in a low voice. "The boy with the scarf is afraid of us because of what we've done in the past, so seeing us will make him believe you're in genuine danger."
"And when the wearer thinks they're in danger, the scarf activates," Mawile said with an air of self-satisfaction. She turned and shouted, "Xatu! Come over here and do your thing!"
Xatu blinked once, distracted from whatever he was thinking about, then turned to Mew like he had just noticed their presence. He walked slowly across the island, every step carefully measured and precise, never once breaking eye contact with Mew. Mew was tempted to ask him how much he knew about all of this, but then footsteps sounded off from the hallway opposite from them. A hoarse, ghostly voice shouted something—it was Aster! He was coming!
The next few seconds passed in a blur: Mawile was gasping sharply; Nuzleaf was sighing in resignation; the Beheeyem were beeping and flashing amongst themselves; Ampharos was doing something to the ball of electricity. All the while Xatu stared at Mew, and suddenly their eyes closed of their own volition while the noises of the cave faded to nothing.
Warm spring moonlight. A breeze scented with daisies and sunflowers. A lone hill overlooking the sleepy village.
And a promise to make.
"Alright." She nods resolutely, her shoulders squared. After a deep breath, she tells him, "I've decided. I want you…to be my friend!"
He tilts his head but makes no comment.
"It gets lonely when no one believes in you or what you have to say," she continues. That feeling is all too familiar to her, and she's seen it in him too. "But if you have just one friend who believes in you, then you'll be a whole lot happier."
Seconds pass in silence. Her heart pounds away at her ribs, and the night's wind feels much chillier than it did a few seconds ago. She hasn't the faintest idea how he'll respond, or if he even will. Maybe he'll just stare silently, eyes blank, and then walk away and leave her there.
She swallows hard. "So…be my friend. I mean please. Please be my friend. No, that's not it either…sorry." Resisting the urge to cringe, she takes a second to think through her words. "…I really hope we can be friends."
He opens his mouth. Closes it. His gaze falls to the tulips as he rubs the back of his neck. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, he says, "Okay."
"Okay?"
"I like you." He kicks bashfully at the grass, paws clasped behind his back. "Let's be friends."
She stares dumbly, her mouth slightly open. "Really?! You'll really be my friend?!"
He meets her eyes and nods.
"Yes!" She leaps into the air and pumps her fist, letting out a cheer. When she lands, she gasps as an idea comes to mind. "I've got it!" She rushes over to the tree's roots and starts digging at the dirt beneath them, eventually unearthing a little wooden chest. Within it lie a pair of scarves, made from patterns of blue and green cloth. Grinning ear to ear, she hauls them out and holds one out to him.
"I want you to have this!"
She doesn't know it yet, but these scarves symbolize something far greater than a friendship made in this life. They're a memento of years gone by spent in each other's company, years full of joy and laughter and tears. Years that have long been forgotten, abandoned, lost.
He accepts the scarf, feels its fabric. A little smile reveals itself as he puts it on. She grins even wider at the sight, already wearing her own scarf.
Dreams, regrets, connections. A desperate wish calling out for help. The scarves have one last miracle left in them. Only one obstacle stands in their way.
All Mew needs to do is let go.
And they do.
The spring night, the village, the hill, they all disintegrate into tiny specks of dust that float up to the heavens. The ground falls apart beneath Mew, sending them plummeting into a bottomless abyss. Their heart snaps in two, their mind opens up, and the unfamiliar memories tear themselves free. The scarves vanish, the last of their energy spent, and a bright blue light now shines in the darkness.
The scents of daisies and sunflowers fade, replaced by the familiar stench of salt water.
Vallea is real again.
Consciousness returned to the Riolu in stages. First came her sight: a deep blue ceiling, golden sparks scattered across the stone surface like a starry night sky. Then, her touch: water droplets fell from the ceiling onto her, every drop leaving a cold sensation like frozen pins and needles. The humid, cool air smelled of algae and mold, and a sharp metallic taste filled her mouth. This was the dampest, smelliest cave Vallea had ever been in. She reveled in it.
For a moment Vallea lay there on her back, on the cold, hard ground, letting her senses function and feed her information. Her mind wasn't falling apart the way it had been on that morning beneath the tree; she could think clearly again, free to feel who and what she was. The memories of her past life as Mew were gone, and in their stead came years spent in a quiet little village, the exhilaration of chasing her dreams, the relief when the world was safe once more. She soaked in these memories.
Her reverie was cut short when she sensed several auras all trembling and twitching around her—signs of excitement or panic or dread, she couldn't tell for sure.
"Vallea?" said an all too familiar voice. Her heart skipped a beat.
The Riolu lifted her head and looked around at her surroundings. Her gaze fell on a Treecko who stared at her with disbelief written all over his face, his eyes wide and his paws trembling. There were other Pokemon there too, some she knew and some she didn't; she knew she was only back because of them. But they could wait. There was something she needed to do. Slowly, tentatively, she tested her legs to see if they could hold her weight; once satisfied, she stood up and met the Treecko's eyes.
"Aster…" Vallea said in a scratchy voice. Her throat ached from the effort of speaking. "Looks like we meet again."
"Is it really you?" Aster whispered. He sounded hopeful but terrified, as though he expected her to vanish again at any moment. She wondered if she would. She wondered if this was even real, or if she was somehow hallucinating the cave, the people around her, and her own resurrection.
The Treecko took a step closer. Then another. He stared at her, and she stared back. His lip quivered, his eyes shone, and his aura crashed down around him in waves like a forest falling all at once.
The cave was silent and still, all the Pokemon ogling her like she had three heads. The Riolu decided she didn't care if this was real or not. She had been standing there for less than a minute and she was already getting restless. She was tired of waiting for something to happen. Vallea strode towards her partner, only for her legs to suddenly give out beneath her and send her stumbling to the ground. Gasps rang out from the other Pokemon as exhaustion seeped into her entire body, her chest and arms and legs, and for a sickening moment she thought she was about to disappear again. But when she sat up and looked down at her body, it was whole and unharmed. No golden sparks.
Someone took hold of her paw. It was Aster. Vallea let him pull her up, but he didn't let go once she was standing.
Instead, he pulled her closer and wrapped her in an embrace. He held on with shaky paws as though she would vanish the moment he let go.
His breathing came in uneven gasps, and she could feel his heart hammering in his chest. She had asked him not to cry, but…maybe that hadn't been entirely fair. There had been so much she'd wanted to tell him—tell everyone, really—on that terrible morning beneath the tree, but she hadn't been able to force the words out. So instead she'd tried to express her desire to see him happy. Even now she felt the urge to say something—I'm sorry, or Thank you, or It's going to be okay.
But none of those words could ever fully encompass what Vallea was feeling as she stood there, alive once again, free to feel the water droplets on her head and smell the stenches of algae and mold.
She hugged him back.
