When Riolu awoke, she found herself still on the storage platform of the archives. She attempted to sit up, but her back protested desperately—regardless of how comfortable she was initially, sleeping on a flat, hard surface was never going to be good for her body. Redoubling her efforts, she sat up with a groan and stretched.
"Morning," Dante called from below. "Sounds like we should have carried some bedding up last night, huh?"
"Yup," Riolu agreed, leaning over the edge of the platform to peer down into the room. Dante was perusing one of the shelves, and the satchel slung across his shoulders held a collection of books. "Is that what you're getting together for me?" Riolu asked.
"Mhm. We already got the summons from Absol, by the way, but apparently it's low priority. We can swing by whenever you're ready."
Riolu settled onto her stomach, still looking down from the upper platform. "I don't think I can read your language."
Dante looked up. "Really?" he asked. "I guess I assumed that you could because speaking was no issue."
"Yeah, I looked around in here last night. If that footprint text is what you use, I'm unfamiliar."
Dante sighed. "Well, that complicates things," he said, setting his satchel down against a shelf. "I guess I'll need to teach you to read first."
Riolu didn't respond immediately—she first crawled to the ladder and climbed down to the floor of the archives. "Ok, let's go see Absol," she said once her feet touched the ground. "Lead the way."
Dante nodded before leading Riolu outside, into the base camp. It seemed that in the misty early morning, very few Pokémon wandered the tents. Despite how quiet it was, over the course of their walk Riolu noticed a small crab-like Pokémon side-stepping its way across their path, as well as some sort of massive, armored creature lumbering along.
Upon approaching Absol's tent, Dante didn't bother to announce himself like Violet had—he simply entered. In following him, Riolu saw that Absol wasn't inside—only the tall green reptile Pokémon that had stood behind her during the first meeting was waiting for them behind the desk.
"Yo," he greeted them with a male voice. He sounded as if he had just woken up. "Absol is out right now, but she shouldn't be long if you want to wait. In the meantime, how are you adapting to our world, little Riolu?"
He was still very clearly smirking, but Riolu hadn't ever seen him without a smirk and his expression didn't reach the tone of his voice, so she figured it may just be his natural face shape. "I've barely been here two days," Riolu shrugged. "Not sure I've had the time to even know if I'm adapting."
The lizard-creature huffed. Was that… a laugh? "Ok, dumb question," he said, still smirking—though the smirk was beginning to reach his voice. "Still, you seem far from overwhelmed."
"So where is Absol?" Dante asked. "As far as I know she makes a point to always be available here."
"She's visiting the infirmary," he answered simply, apparently unwilling to elaborate.
Riolu didn't know how to interpret that. Her gut reaction was suspicion and paranoia: Dante had just said Absol almost never leaves her tent, and now the lizard-creature that had been acting perpetually strange was telling them she was at the infirmary. There was something in his voice that made it feel like he was saying "She's in the infirmary because I put her there." Thankfully, Riolu wasn't given too much more time to worry.
"Don't mess with the kids too much, Lann," Absol's voice came from behind Riolu. "Sorry I'm late."
"Can't be late when there wasn't a meeting time to begin with, you know," Lann pointed out, shifting behind the desk to allow Absol room to sit.
Absol huffed in response as she padded over to her desk with a graceful gait and settled behind it. "Now, onto business. First: it's not done yet, but Mini is compiling a report based on your memories, Riolu. Once it's complete, we'll need you to review it."
"Oh, uhh... Dante and I found out that I can't read your language, so—"
"Actually, it seems that may not be as much of an issue as you'd expect," Absol interrupted. "I read what's been written of Mini's report this morning. It looks like human writing has a shocking amount of similarity to something in our world called Unown script. We already have translation guides for Unown script, and Mini seems confident that you could use one to read our writing."
"Oh!" Riolu exclaimed. "That's a relief. I guess it makes sense given that our languages are the same."
"Yes, well. That brings us to the next issue," Absol said, adopting an air of seriousness. "As you said, it looks like you have perfectly intact memories of your world but zero personal memories. This can essentially only happen manually, which is why we suspect you may have been sent to our dimension purposefully."
After a long moment, Absol continued: "By your expression, it seems you need a moment. And by your expression, Dante, I'd guess that you already had your suspicions."
Riolu could see Dante shift uncomfortably in her peripherals. "It was mostly just how similar our dimensions are," he said. "It seemed strange to me."
"…I don't understand," Riolu finally said. "What would be the point of sending me here without memories?"
"We can't know, sweetie," Absol said, her voice oozing with sympathy. "It could be your own request, your sentence for a terrible crime, or anything in-between. I'm sorry."
Riolu was overwhelmed. Up until now she had believed herself to be the victim of an accident—one that she could make the best of by enjoying the world she found herself in. But now, with this revelation, things had changed. Riolu felt like the unknowing pawn in some grand machination—and she felt small. She wasn't even privy to the precise nature of her situation—all she could do was speculate and worry.
"There will be time to address this later," Absol said, bringing Riolu back out of her thoughts. "We have more to discuss. Are you fine to continue, Riolu?"
Riolu struggled to find her voice, so she simply nodded in response.
Absol looked unsure but continued nonetheless: "We concluded that working in the archives as Dante's assistant would be a good starting place for you, as it will give you ample opportunities to familiarize yourself with this world. You would, of course, continue to live in the archives. Is this acceptable to you both?"
"Fine with me," Dante said.
Riolu shrugged. "OK."
"Excellent. Now, another question for you. We put out a bulletin when we need the entire camp to be aware of something. Do you want us to notify the camp about you? You wouldn't need to explain your situation each and every time you speak to someone new, but you'd immediately be in the spotlight, and I can't promise that you wouldn't be swarmed."
Riolu considered the dilemma for a moment, momentarily distracted from her concerns. "Tell them in the bulletin, if you don't mind," she said. "Even if we kept it some big secret, it would spread anyways, right? I'd imagine that I would be swarmed eventually, much more so than if all the information was public."
Absol smiled in response. "Will do, then. Only one more issue to address. This will be news to you as well, Lann, so listen well," she said, turning her head to peer at the reptile still looming behind her. Riolu had almost forgotten he was there, so silent and still he had been. His face held thinly veiled curiosity and interest.
"As Lann mentioned, I was called to the infirmary early this morning. A strange incident occurred last night during a mystery dungeon exploration: a member of the team was grievously injured and, in desperation, ate a large unidentified berry found earlier in the dungeon. This member's wounds then rapidly healed—as if they were never there. If we were able to retrieve more of these berries—or even cultivate them—they would dramatically decrease the lethality rates of our more dangerous expeditions."
"We're short-handed for exploration teams right now," Absol continued, her gaze snapping forward. "So, Dante and Riolu, your assignment is to investigate this mystery dungeon, attempt to retrieve these healing berries, and assess whether we can use them. Lann will be your escort—he will keep you safe, and you can feel free to rely on his wisdom. To be clear, Dante will take the lead on this mission. Are you clear on your orders? All three of you?"
Once she heard three affirmations, Absol nodded. "Good," she said. "Then start by seeking out Pala in the infirmary. You are all dismissed."
Riolu and Dante returned to the clearing outside of Absol's tent—this time with Lann close behind. "Well, shall we?" Lann asked. "Take the lead if you would, Dante."
"Sure," Dante said as he began walking. "By the way, Riolu, we have a good opportunity to start your Pokémon education here. Are you ready for a lesson?"
Riolu perked up. "Mhm."
"Alright, so—all Pokémon have a type that affects how they interact with other Pokémon. For example, being a Charmander, I am fire-type and being a Sceptile, Lann is grass-type. With me so far?"
"Just based on how you two look that makes sense to me," Riolu said. "But what type am I?"
"You're fighting-type," Dante answered.
"Fighti—" Riolu repeated before cutting herself off. "How many types are there?"
"Eighteen."
Riolu's frowned. "That's a lot."
"Anyways, I bring this up now because you're about to meet a few new Pokémon, and learning about types earlier rather than later seems like a good idea. So: first one to mention is the head of the infirmary, Tabunne. She's an Audino, and a normal-type."
"Tabunne, Audino, normal-type," Riolu echoed. "Okay, what else?"
"Next is Pala, the one we're looking for. He's a Pansage, and a grass-type like Lann."
"Pala, Pansage, grass-type."
"Good. We're certain to meet both Tabunne and Pala, but other Pokémon will likely be there. Do you want me to tell you about them afterwards? I figure it's a bit rude to explain it at the time."
Lann spoke up from behind them: "If you're taking the lead in the conversation, we can stand back, and I can inform Riolu about any other Pokémon if you'd like."
"O-oh," Dante said. "That'd be great if you would, Lann. Thank you."
The trio made the remainder of the trip through the tents in silence until they slowed to a stop in front of a massive pure-white tent. Dante led the way through the tent flaps, and Riolu found herself in a small reception room. While the tent itself was a single massive 'room', it was sectioned with hanging canvas.
Sitting behind a small desk was a large cream and pink colored creature. It was bipedal, and its plump body seemed to be covered in a fine, soft fur. Strange, stringy appendages hung down off of its large ears. When it noticed them entering, it gave a kind but tired smile.
"Ahh, Lann," it said in a soft female voice. "It has been quite some time since you've visited me. And you, I believe, are Dante. I can't recall you ever visiting before. Welcome!"
"But you," she continued, looking at Riolu for the first time. "Who are you?"
"You'll find out in the bulletin," Lann said ominously, his perpetual smirk audible.
"But you can call her Riolu," Dante added. "But anyways, Tabunne, we're here to see Pala."
"Absol said she would send someone," Tabunne said, still obviously a bit hung up on Lann's cryptic statement. "Follow me." Tabunne hopped out of her chair waddled through the medical tent, leading the trio to one of the sectioned off rooms. She pushed the entrance flap to the side and held it open, allowing her company to enter the smaller room before returning to the reception desk.
Inside were two Pokémon. The first resembled a primarily green monkey, with a broccoli-like growth on top of its head—it sat on a high bed with its feet swinging back and forth. The second Pokémon, a large black and gray wolf, stood adjacent.
As Dante approached and offered a greeting, Riolu sensed Lann leaning down from behind her. "Pala's on the bed," he whispered, his breath on the side of her face. "The other is Revan, his team leader. Mightyena, dark-type."
Riolu nodded, absorbing the information. It seemed color was a good indicator of type: both grass-types she had met thus far were green, the fire-type was orange, and the dark-type was, well, dark. It made sense. Fighting-type and normal-type weren't so obvious, but the straight-forwardness of the colors otherwise was encouraging.
"Oh!" Pala said, hopping down from the bed. "You all came pretty quick! It feels like Absol just left."
"I figured we would be waiting most of the morning," Revan agreed, his voice deep and gravely.
"We had a meeting with Absol just after you, apparently," Dante said. "So, we got the assignment pretty immediately. She told us you found some interesting plant life in a dungeon?"
Pala laughed: a strange, shrill noise. "That's putting it pretty mildly! We found a miracle!"
"Why don't we start with your injury?" Dante prompted. "How bad was it?"
"Bad," Revan interjected, his voice dripping with concern. "He had deep cuts all over his body. A particularly bad one went clean through the bone of his arm, all but severing it. His ribcage was cut open, and who knows how much organ damage occurred. I think Pala certainly would have died if not for the berry."
"And the berry healed all of that…?" Dante said.
"That's right," Revan confirmed. "All of it, over the course of maybe half a second."
"I have a scar on my arm, though," Pala added, holding out his arm for inspection. "That's all Tabunne could find during her inspection." From across the room, Riolu could see a long sliver of furless, exceptionally white skin just above Pala's elbow.
"Hm," Dante said, inspecting the scar. "So where did you find the berry? And what gave you the idea to eat it?"
Revan pointedly looked at Pala. Pala, suddenly appearing embarrassed, spoke: "In one of the dungeon's rooms, we found a tree full of them. Revan made the call to leave them be, 'cause, well… let's be honest. Everything found in dungeons up until now has been dangerous."
"But I took one," Pala continued, looking more uncomfortable by the second. "Without the rest of the team knowing. Look, one of life's great pleasures for me is food, and the berries looked so good… so I took one. I'm not so stupid that I was going to eat it then and there, but… it felt like I was going to regret it for the rest of my life if I just left all of them there. Now—I'm saying all this because you gotta understand: when I was injured, I was dying. When I remembered I had the berry, I thought it would be a nice last meal—the berry that no one had tasted before."
No Pokémon spoke. Riolu didn't blame them—Pala had eaten the berry fully expecting to die and had only survived by going behind Revan's back, and with pure luck. Revan was dealing with the betrayal of trust, but without that betrayal, Pala would have been dead—not that Pala knew that. For all Pala knew, even just taking the strange inter-dimensional berry could have doomed the entire team. Riolu noticed, however, that while Pala spoke Revan had shifted a bit closer to the Pansage to offer reassurance. It seemed that they were on good terms, at least.
Lann was the first to break the silence: "Can you describe the berry? What it looks like?"
"Oh! Of course," Pala said. "It was blue and round. Looked tasty if that helps."
"And was it?" Lann asked.
"Tasty?" Pala said, considering the question. "…It was delicious, yeah."
Lann hummed to himself but didn't otherwise respond.
"Can you tell us more about the dungeon in general?" Dante asked. "How many floors, what types of ferals—that kind of thing."
"It's short," Revan answered. "Only six floors. As far as ferals, it's your typical light forest-based dungeon—expect a lot of normal-types, flying-types, and grass-types. We do have a full list if you need it, but the worst we came across was the Fletchinder that gutted Pala, so if you have Lann with you I'm sure you'll be fine."
"OK. Anything else we should know in general?"
The two Pokémon shared a brief glance, and Pala shrugged. "I think that's it," Revan said.
"Alright," Dante said, moving towards the door. "We're off, then. Thanks for the info."
Dante led the group back outside, briefly stopping to give Tabunne a nod on the way by. Tabunne appeared confused and focused on Riolu as the group walked by. Riolu figured she should start getting used to receiving strange looks. "Lann, I assume you'll be able to get us a map with the dungeon on it?" Dante asked once they were in the clearing.
"Mhm," Lann confirmed. "I think I actually recall looking over the planning for this expedition. If it's the one I'm thinking of, leaving soon will let us arrive just before sunset. We may be gone for a while, so if you do want to leave today, I can get the map and supplies while you collect what you need to teach Riolu from the archives."
"Oh, uh…" Dante stammered. "Yeah, sounds good. Let's meet back in front of Absol's tent."
Lann gave a nod, then lumbered off into the camp.
"Not used to being in charge?" Riolu asked once Lann was out of sight.
Dante looked at her. "I'm mainly not used to being in charge of the likes of Lann," he said. "But yes. I've only ever been support for things like this."
"Hm," Riolu hummed to herself. "OK. Shall we?"
"Mhm," Dante said, moving to lead Riolu back to the archives. Despite the fact that they were well into the morning, the camp hadn't woken up yet: other than the occasional rare straggler, the makeshift streets were empty.
Upon returning to the archives, Riolu wasn't sure what to do with herself. She figured there was no way for her to help, so when Dante went straight to a particular shelf and began sifting through books, Riolu sat on the ground near the door, taking care to avoid sitting on her tail.
It was as she was watching Dante fumble with the books that Riolu realized: despite the revelation that she may not be here by accident, she was still happy. She felt like she had a place in this world—not to mention she was about to explore a dimensional anomaly. Even more than that, however, Pokémon were fantastic creatures. Considering Dante was capable of breathing fire, and apparently Lann was even stronger than him, maybe Riolu herself was capable of incredible things.
Finally, Dante found the book he was looking for. He plodded over to Riolu as he searched for a specific page, then held it open in front of her. "So, can you read this?" he asked, using a finger to point out a specific bit of text. Riolu figured that this book was the translation guide, as short collections of footprint runes each had an accompanying excerpt of what Riolu assumed what unown text. Riolu also noticed that Dante was hiding the footprint rune translation of the phrase he was asking her to read. It seemed he didn't quite trust that Riolu couldn't read his language.
The unown text itself was initially a bit disappointing. The letters used the same central "eye" as a base, with the only variation being what surrounded it. They immediately didn't jump out as familiar, but Riolu quickly realized that if she ignored the central eye, the remaining shape was pretty close to the letters she knew.
"Is that Riolu? My name?" Riolu asked.
"Your species, primarily," Dante corrected. "But yes. That's amazing, actually: not many Pokémon are familiar with unown script. It'll be a useful skill."
"I can't really read it quickly, though," Riolu said. "The letters are a bit different from what I know."
Dante acknowledged her by huffing out a bit of dark smoke as he shut the book and returned to his discarded pack. He added the translation guide to the collection of other books within the satchel and turned back to Riolu. "Alright, I think I have what we need," he said, hefting the bag over his shoulder. "Ready?"
Riolu nodded as she rose to her feet: it seemed she was becoming used to this new body—with the exception of the oblong bones restricting her wrists. "Want me to carry that?" she offered, holding out a paw towards the satchel. "It looks heavy, so my body is probably more suited. Plus, I am supposed to be your assistant."
Dante hesitated. "Mmm, sure," he then said, handing over the bag. "Everything in there is for you, anyways."
Given that she didn't have the thumbs to comfortably carry it with her hands, Riolu slung the pack over her shoulder before the pair made their way back to Absol's tent. While Lann was not waiting for them as Riolu had expected, the massive Sceptile exited the tent just as they approached.
Lann seemed amused to see them. "Already done?"
"I had most of what I needed together already," Dante said simply. "Would you take the lead on navigation, Lann?"
"Sure, but I'd like to offer something," Lann said. "We'll be walking for much of the day. If we wanted to use our time efficiently, I could carry Riolu on my tail as she reads."
Riolu glanced at the Sceptile's tail. She wasn't sure if it would be comfortable or not: on the one hand, it created a V-shape that might function as a cradle. On the other, it had a resemblance to a pine tree, so Riolu imagined it would be rough. Regardless, it didn't matter much: if she didn't end up liking it, she could just walk.
"Riolu?" Dante prompted. "What do you think?"
"Let's try it," Riolu said.
Soon, Riolu sat cross-legged in the V of Lann's tail as he lumbered through the forest. It turned out that his tail was a lot comfier than she was expecting—though it did have similarities to a pine tree, it was more solid and felt much more like the hide of an animal. Riolu was using Dante's satchel as a makeshift desk to read the thin tome Dante had told her to start with. It was slow going: although it seemed sentence structure was relatively unchanged from the writing Riolu was familiar with, she had to use the translation guide for every individual word. Beyond that, however, turning pages was a bit difficult with her thick, stubby digits. They weren't clumsy, but they certainly weren't designed for page-turning—and the near-rigidity of her wrists wasn't helping.
The book itself was a summary of information about Pokémon types. Each type had an explanation about its strengths and weaknesses, typical and intrinsic qualities of Pokémon of that type, as well as many examples and diagrams. It also explained that Pokémon could be dual-typed, and the implications of that. Riolu figured that it was normally used for educational purposes, but she was still surprised how easy it was for her to learn given her unfamiliarity with the Pokémon world.
During the trip, whenever Riolu needed time to digest information she would watch the passing forest. As he walked, Lann held his head high with closed eyes as he apparently basked in the sunbeams of the forest. Dante started strong, similarly enjoying the forest, but he became visibly tired as the day went on. As she made progress through the book, Riolu was happy to see that reading the footprint runes was gradually getting easier for her. Nouns basically described themselves: writing "Riolu" in footprint runes simply involved writing the runes for Pokémon, fighting-type, then emanation, as Riolu was apparently known as an emanation Pokémon. While verbs and adjectives generally consisted of single unique runes, Riolu was slowly learning them as well.
The forest surrounding her remained unchanged even as the sun began to set: if Riolu hadn't spent most of the day being taxied, she would have assumed they were still nearby the camp. She wondered how Lann was navigating.
"Hey, can you let me down now, Lann?" Riolu asked. "I think I'm done with this first book, so I may as well walk the rest of the way if we're almost there."
"Hmmm," Lann hummed. "What book did you tell her to read first again? Types?"
"Yeah, types," Dante said. As before, his voice sounded perfectly casual though he was clearly exhausted.
"Let's see if you've earned the right to come down, then," Lann smirked. "You're up against a ground/dragon-type. Which types are good to use, and which are bad?"
Riolu took some time to think. Eventually, she answered: "Ice would be best. Failing that, fairy and dragon are good too. Poison, rock, and fire would all be bad, and it'd be completely immune to electric."
"And what are all three of us weak to?" Lann asked.
"I'm weak to flying, psychic, and fairy. Dante is weak to water, rock, and ground. You're weak to fire, flying, ice, poison, and bug,"
"Huh," Lann said, sounding genuinely surprised. "Well, I'm satisfied. How about you, Dante?"
Riolu noticed that Dante sent a subtle glare up at Lann, as if annoyed that the Sceptile kept asking him to speak when he was so winded. Regardless, his voice remained unchanged: "Yeah, let her down."
Lann complied, stopping to allow Riolu to slide down to the ground. She hefted the satchel on her shoulder and readied herself to go.
"Only about five minutes of walking left," Lann said to no one in particular as the group began walking again. "In the meantime, how did you find the reading, Riolu? Any questions?"
"Oh, it was interesting! I mainly wanted to ask why 'emanation' is included in the runes for 'Riolu'. Can I... emanate something?"
Lann laughed, which amounted to little more than a sharp exhale. "Sort of. The emanation refers to Aura, which is something that Riolu and their evolved form, Lucario, have a particularly strong connection to."
"…Evolved form?" Riolu echoed.
"What, humans don't have evolution?" Lann said, turning to Dante. "Does one of those books talk about evolution, Dante?"
"Mhm. It's the black one."
"Well, I'll save the rest of the explanation until after you've read that one, Riolu."
After a few more minutes of silent walking, the group came upon a small clearing of bare ground. In the center, a pit had been dug out—assumedly for a campfire—and two fallen logs created makeshift seating around it. Lann deposited his satchel against one of the logs, so Riolu did the same.
Lann then took a wide stance and clasped his hands together in front of him. Over the course of just a few moments, thick roots grew from the barren ground inside the fire pit to create a collection of dry wood—perfect for a campfire. Dante took the cue and breathed a bit of fire into the pit. Once he had verified that it caught, he let himself down to sit in the dirt. Lann sat on the fallen log just above the satchels, while Riolu herself found a nice tree to lean against at the edge of the clearing.
"Alright, I guess we'll talk about the specific plan tomorrow morning," Dante said. "In the meantime, let's eat."
As Lann passed out the familiar brown paper packages, Riolu couldn't help but smile to herself. Tomorrow, she was going to go on an honest-to-goodness adventure in search for magic berries—and she couldn't wait.
