My eyes were opening, but I couldn't see much. Everything was too bright, bleached out and impossible to distinguish. Odd shapes moved around. I wasn't sure if that was because things were actually moving, or if my mind was making me think it was. My head felt lighter, weirdly. I should have been scary, but I wasn't afraid. Maybe I was too tired to be scared, or maybe I just forgot what fear was. Nothing made any sense to me at this point. Listening, sound were often distorted and muffled. Sometimes they were fairly clear, however this only happened on occasion, and very brief amounts.
"Memory erasure ninety-"
"Minor setback, some stubborn-"
"Week, tops."
"Hurry-"
"Delica- Careful then- break."
"That-"
"Means- eral. He'd- gerous to-"
"I don't- done!"
"Righ- ir." The world went dark once more.
My body felt odd. I was cold, but warm. I felt feverish. My body felt wrong. Everything about what was happening felt wrong, but I lacked the energy to do anything. My eyes closed soon after, too weak to stay awake. When I woke up after that point, I don't know. I remember being horribly scared. I was in an unfamiliar location.
"Voices? I hear voices. Where from? Who from? Enemy. Must be, yes. Run. Must run. Must live. Must survive." I thought. A primal instinct pushed me onto my feet. If I was in pain, I didn't register it.
"Box. Trapped? Noise. Behind me. Oh? Exit. Run!" I thought. Not registering anything besides the new opening, I ran. More voices shouted out. To the left? Other way. Right? Oh no, a giant. Pass them, run. Must run, must live, must survive.
"Run!" My mind shouted to me.
"Run, live, fight, survive. Always survive!" It told me. I was too scared to ignore it, and didn't want to ignore it anyway. I had to live, I had to survive. I had to escape. I had to get away from there. More sounds came from behind me.
"Shouts, screams? Ignore them, faster. Faster. Run. Fight. Live. Survive." My mind commanded. Willing my legs forward, I panted in exhaustion. The smell of the outside came from nearby. Rushing towards it, an open doorway led to outside.
"Open. Go. Run. Fight. Live. Survive. Always Live. Always Survive." My instincts stated. Thus, I ran. My feral, unfocused mind had led me my survival, and for that I was grateful. I had done it. I had survived. However, there was a problem. Those instincts which kept me alive suddenly went quiet, abandoning me now that the immediate threat was over. Nothing was telling me anything anymore. Powered by the only thing I knew, I ran. I wouldn't do anything but run until my instincts told me otherwise. I ran and ran until my legs collapsed. That was when I knew I lived. Having a moment of peace, I stumbled my way towards a large tree. I was in a large forest of some kind. It was dark, but I didn't mind. Maybe I could find a hole or dig one to live in. Maybe one of these trees has some large gaps near the roots where I can start. Yeah, that'd be nice. I'll get to that when I'm fully rested up. For now, I'll relax under the tree. Curling up, I tucked my head underneath my tail. I closed my eyes and rested for a short time. However, that peace didn't last long.
"Why do they want him anyway?"
"Because he's Feral, you know we need to study how their minds work.
"Yeah, yeah and he's the only Feral to actually successfully escape."
"Voices? Run. Fight. Live. Survive."
I got up again, running once more.
"Oh! Over there!" The voice shouted.
"Faster."
"Wait, please! Hey!"
"Faster."
"Stop! Wait!" One of them growled something before dirt went flying nearby, making a loud explosion sound. Already fearing for my life, I somehow found the energy to run even faster than before.
"RUN."
"Idiot! Don't kill them!"
"Survive." I ran, faster and faster. The world spun.
"Voices? Stand. Run. Run. Survive. Live." My legs twitched uselessly. My mind hadn't realized I had collapsed. I had ran and I could run no more. The world turned to the side, growing grayer by the second. Two figures appeared, who were they? It didn't matter, they were strangers. I couldn't trust them.
"Bad. Run. Live. Survive." My wild mind stated. My limbs flailed hard in a running motion. The wild flailing turned to twitching. The twitching turned to minor spasms and only grew weaker as time went on.
"Live." My mind demanded.
"Survive." This was the last thing I remember thinking.
The floor was soft.
"Grass? No. Comfortable, still. Where am I?" I thought. My body ached, my head throbbed. I opened my eyes, but soon shut them. It was too bright! My eyes weren't adjusted to the light yet.
"Where am I? Too bright! Where am I?" I wondered. My mind was spinning again, growing dizzy until I fell asleep again. When I woke up, I woke up to voices. My body had recovered, I wasn't in immense pain, but I felt exhausted. My body didn't want to do anything, but I needed to see what was going on. I did my best to focus on the voices.
"-check on him." An unknown voice stated. Was it female, perhaps?
"Alright. Remember to notify us when he wakes up." Another voice responded. It sounded deep, a male, possibly.
"I'll be sure to let you know when your Mister Miracle wakes up." The female voice stated. Who was Mister Miracle? Then there were footsteps. One set was going further away, quieting in the distance. After the footsteps had faded, the other began coming closer.
"Move. Run. Live. Survive." Chanted in my brain. Move? Run? Live? Survive? I could barely think at this point, let alone run away. What could I do? If that thing attacks or eats me, then I'm dead, but I can't do much else than lay here. I have to hope it's friendly. I have to take a risk. This was something that made me feel sick to my stomach. The creature stopped, standing over me. Something soft was placed on my chest.
"Hmm. Heartbeat's up a bit. Breathing's fine. He's still -cat- though." What about a cat? Cat and sonic? What did she even say?
"Hey, when you're awake, just mumble something. It'll make my job easier when you wake up." She stated. My heart was racing. She knew I am awake! She wouldn't be talking to me otherwise, right? My stomach was in knots. I couldn't hide anymore, I couldn't pretend. I couldn't run. I had to be direct.
"Mmm." I groaned. A loud thump came from behind. Did she fall down or jump? Why would either happen?
"You-you're awake?" She wondered. I heard footsteps and felt my eyelids being pried open. I couldn't see what was happening, my eyes darted frantically around. A large shape was in front of me, but I couldn't see.
"Eyes still aren't -dial- right just yet. Let's see if I can-" She said, her voice trailing off. What about a dial? Dial eating? Her footsteps wandered a few steps away. Something grinded, wood on wood? I tightly shut my eyes. Soon after I felt my arms and legs tied down, followed by my head and neck. My eyes were soon forced open again. I struggled against the bonds to no avail. I wheezed and gasped, an impossible instinct trying to tell her to stop.
"Run. Fight. Live. Survive." My thoughts told me. I couldn't run, I couldn't fight back. I was gonna die.
"You'll be okay, I promise. It might seem scary, but it's going to help." She responded. I felt a small prick in my eye. It didn't severely hurt, but I was scared. What did she do to me? Soon my other eye had the same minor pain. I was shaking. I felt the objects holding my eyes open remove. The moment they were gone, I slammed them shut.
"Hey, it's okay. Open your eyes and look." She stated. I took a breath and opened my eyes. Everything was so dark!
"Your eyes weren't -dial- as they should have been. Now you should be able to see more clearly." She stated. She was a dark mystery figure then, I still couldn't see. I didn't know what she meant by that, and why does she think my eyes want to eat dials? My mind felt pretty blank.
"The effect should wear off in a little while. Until then, I need to do a few last minute tests." She responded. The black blob walked over to me, moving my arm and legs. My hands, paws? Whatever, they were shaking in fear.
"Oh? He's awake?" A voice stated. It sounded odd. Male? Female? Old. it was old. I couldn't tell where it came from, but the dark figure turned around, indicating it was likely from that general direction.
"Yes, go and notify the council, but take your time. I had to inject some -Artist Cat Fails Hiding And is a Mean- in his eyes, so he won't be able to see for the next few minutes." She responded.
In response, the voice went "Hmm." Steps walked away, indicating the other was leaving. Artist? Cat? Ok, that definitely wasn't a word. It had to be the name of something. My vision was slowly returning. Shapes in the distance were finally becoming visible. That artist cat really helped my eyes work again, even if it was apparently mean. I could finally see the living blob in front of me more clearly.
Starting with color, they went from a dark formless blob to a pink and cream formless blob. Soon I noticed two large ears, almost similar to an elephant, perched on top of their heads. Large blue eyes stared towards me, and eventually I noticed two long, somewhat curly feelers drooping down from her ears. The nurse was smiling. I didn't feel comfortable. Why was she smiling? She wasn't bearing her teeth, but it was uncomfortable.
There were wooden cubes on the left, and a soft hay bed underneath me. The wooden cubes seemed to be made of more cubes, as there were multiple parts which seemed separate from the main cube. That must have been the wooden grinding noise. Aside from that, the room was notably barren. My thoughts was broken by the sounds of footsteps outside the doorway. A strange bird entered the room. It was covered in a cloak of leafy green feathers had what looked like a red leaf bowtie near it's neck.
He was trailed by two other strange creatures. One was a large, purple dog with fangs bigger than my head. The other was a blue frog with a hypnotic swirling pattern on their stomach. He looked towards me, quickly walking up to me. I backed away. A noise welled up from deep in the back of my throat. I was growling. My fluffy black tail rose. My dark ears curled back and my fangs were bared. I felt my fur puff up. The red fluff on my head expanded outward slightly, somewhat blending in and making it much less distinct from the other puffed out fur. I was in a corner, and this thing was getting too close. The pink creature grabbed him, stopping his advance.
"You're going to scare him. Slow down a little, Robert." She stated.
"It's Hawks, Nurse Dunn." The green bird known as Hawks stated.
"I know, I know. Still, he just woke up. Don't be too quick, please. He could hurt you if you aren't careful." Dunn stated. She wasn't wrong, if he had continued I would have attacked. Hawks nodded.
"Hey, you alright? We'd like to talk to you, if that's okay?" He stated. He put on a smile. I stopped growling, but remained cautious.
"Grr. Hm. Mrh." I growled. How were they doing that with their mouths? Why was I able to understand them? What even were these words? I shouldn't be able understand, right?
"Right. Feral. Won't be able to talk much." Hawks put his wings under his chin, seemingly scratching an invisible itch.
"Food? Animals like food. If we give you food, will you come with us?" He asked. He turned around and pointed. Two strange creatures turned around and quickly left the room. I felt my tail raise high, quivering slightly. I didn't like this, I just wanted to be left alone.
"Uh, is that good?" Hawks wondered.
"It means he's annoyed and on alert. Step back a bit, you're probably frightening him." Dunn responded. Hawks nodded, taking a few generous steps back. My tail lowered slightly. They didn't seem to mean harm, but I wasn't going to trust them yet. A few moments passed before the two creatures had returned with a red bag. It had a long cream strap. Hawk took the bag, setting the strap on his shoulder as the bag dangled down near his waist.
"Here." Hawks gently said, pulling something from the bag. It really smelled good. Cautiously, I walked towards him. His bag was full of good smelling things as well. The entire room was coated in a bizarre mixture of delicious smelling somethings. Something was in his hand, something red and dripping. I sniffed it. It smelled tasty. I quickly grabbed it and began eating. It was a juicy red meat of some kind. What it was, I didn't know nor care. I was hungry, and it tasted amazing.
He smiled and pulled more out. I greedily devoured it. He pulled out one more thing, a fruit of some kind? It was red and circular. It tasted good, either way. He was pulling stuff from his bag. Good, tasty stuff that I wanted. Walking forward, I hopped up his legs and dove into the bag. My legs dangled in the air above the bag as only half of my form fit.
"Whoa! Hahaha." Hawks shouted. I was eating what I could, starved after not having eaten for so long. I felt something pull me out of the bag. A long, grey piece of meat sat between my teeth. I was gently set on the floor.
"There's more if you come with us, and even better stuff as well" Hawks stated.
"More? Better? He fed me, he's nice. I'll listen." I thought.
"Abf." I gurgled. Hawks gestured me to his side, and I followed.
"Come on, let's meet the others. You'll be safe with us, I promise." He stated. For the first time in what I remembered, I truly did feel safe.
/ / / / / / / / / /
Wasn't expecting to get this done today. Wasn't really expecting to ever return to this in general, but here we are. The main character is mostly feral. It's a weird concept that I didn't exactly originally plan for. Yes I actually remember what one of the twists was going to be, originally.
The main character was going to only remember his name, but it turns out it wasn't his name, but the name of his friend. This was is why the friend being considered "the most abnormal part of his normal life" was important. Yup, in a touching display of friendship, his friend's name was more important to him than his own, which is why he remembered it above all other memories, even as every other memory was forcefully erased. However, here's he's pretty feral, he won't remember any of that.
I remember a lot of twists I had been planning. I remember the twist for Dark Aura (Hasn't changed yet, we'll see how things go. We'll get back to it eventually, it's a part of the Era of Mysteries after all), and even the Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky Novelization has a small twist planned. The Death War (I shall fix the name when I get to it), was originally going to be caused by Arceus himself deciding to restart the universe, causing the war to be ended in a sudden peace as every Pokémon banded together, fighting against their creator to save the world they live in. However, that's changed a ton now that the timeline has been already planned and many stories have been written. (again, we will get back to that story someday) Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
