Behold the result of one mans inability to say no to any idea that comes to their head. Ever since I wrote that... one thing that I don't want to remember, I have drifted farther and farther away from fanfiction and to my own worlds and my own writing.
It seems, however, that absolutely nothing could keep me from going forward with this idea. Perhaps it's the fact that I like stuff like SAO more than the average person would likely admit, or perhaps my love of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance's story, but this idea just felt too much fun to not pass up.
So, with that said, enjoy the first chapter and all that is to follow.
Obviously I don't own Pokemon.
Chapter 1: Wake Up! Time to Escape
The first thing that registered to Lunala was just how horrible and cold the floor below her was. It was wet as well, which only seemed to make it worse. After that she noticed how odd she felt. Her wings felt smaller and weird, and her tail felt disconnected and wider than usual. There was also something covering parts of her body, though without opening her eyes she didn't really know what it was. Still, with how tired she felt, it would take something very specific to make her want to get up.
That once again came as a reminder of how wet and uncomfortable the floor was. Forcing herself up, once again acknowledging that the motion felt different and unusual, she slowly allowed her eyes to open. The first thing that came into view were iron bars, blurry though they were in her half asleep vision. She didn't remember those being there when she went to sleep, but then again her brain wasn't functioning at full capacity at the moment. Finding that the metal bars currently held very little interest to her, she looked down.
That moment, when she looked down and saw what had happened to her body, was all she needed to wake up.
She gasped, holding in the urge to scream as she stood up on her legs. Legs, she shouldn't have had those, and they definitely weren't human. As if needing to confirm what she had just discovered she searched her body with her wings, or hands and arms as she now realized, and found the same thing. It was unmistakable: she was somehow a human being.
Dark, rosey skin covered her lithe body, and she couldn't help but notice how much larger the world now looked. Long, black hair made their presence known as it touched her back, going just under her shoulder blades. Her form was covered in purple cloth, though only enough to cover her chest and waist area. Rather small rings were clasped around her hands, holding a sash that passed over her shoulders and attached to her… bra? Yes, that is what it was called. Other than that, nothing covered her arms, legs, feet, or the majority of her stomach. Looking at herself, she came to one conclusion.
"This is the strangest clothes I've ever seen on a human body," She told herself. It took her a second, but the moment she realized she had spoken english her hands reached for her throat. After a minute, she removed them and let them fall to her side. "Considering everything else, that should have been expected. Still weird though. It's me but… not me as well."
She assumed that most wouldn't have taken this so well, but as a legendary pokemon she had learned to expect the unexpected in her line of work. She was rather young and inexperienced compared to those of her peers, or perhaps the youngest all together, but she had more than one experience with the fantastical. Granted, this was easily the most fantastical thing she had ever found herself in, but it was as Dialga always said: when one held a fundamental piece of the world in the palm of their hand, they couldn't freak out.
"So, first things first," She said to herself. "Palkia always said that, when you find yourself in an unfamiliar place, figure out where that is first."
Taking another look around her, Lunala quickly realized why she had woken up to iron bars in front of her. She was in a cell, though how or why she had no clue. Moving to the edge of her cell, she grabbed the bars and tried to yank them out of place. She quickly realized that the body wasn't just a surface thing, as nothing she did could misplace them. All of that strength of her old body, gone, and in its place she was left with the more substandard strength of a human being.
Taking a step away, she thought about her predicament for a moment. Thinking back to what she last remembered before waking up here, she found a strange fog clouding her memories. The memories were there, she was certain of it, but when she tried to call the events of them to her something blocked her. It was more than clear enough that this was not her typical unusual situation, the fact she had perfect motor function was enough for that, but something about that fog in her memories worried her. That hadn't happened before, or at least as far as she could recall.
Her attention was drawn elsewhere as she heard footsteps outside her cell. They were distant, but she could hear them getting closer and closer as time went on. Part of her believed, considering she was in a cell, that it had to be whoever had imprisoned her. That was before she noticed how quick each step was, and as it got louder she could make out the sound of someone breathing quite heavily. Daring to step forward once again, she got as good of a view as she could of the outside of her cell.
She was met with the form of a young boy, skin far more pale than hers and wearing an old fashion suit. Lunala could only guess that, whoever he was, he must have had some form of influence and wealth to his name. She completely expected him to pass her cell without a second thought, but instead he stopped in front of her. Pulling out a wheel of keys, he quietly went to work finding which one fit the lock. When he did, he opened it as quickly as possible, the rusty screeching sounding throughout the dungeon.
"Come. I promise I'll explain everything as we walk," He told her, motioning for Lunala to follow him further down the hallway.
The promise was an explanation was all Lunala needed to do as asked. Ignoring the discomfort she felt at walking on the cold stone floor she kept pace with the young boy. He looked easily ten to twelve years of age, but there was something about the way he talked that left her thinking he was wiser than his youth showed. She could say the same things about some of the legendaries she met, being small in stature but having power or wisdom to match the older or more dangerous of them.
"Lunala, that is you right?" The boy asked her.
"You've heard of me?" She asked him back.
"Right, I guess you wouldn't recognize me like this," He replied, doing a few small hops. "It's me, Mew."
"Wait wha–"
In less than a second, the boy claiming to be Mew turned around and put a finger to her lips, or at least got as close as he possibly could. His hand reached high enough to touch the base of her neck, but that was about it. Still, it had gotten her to stop talking, and he took that moment to explain further.
"I know this is all strange, but consider the possibility that you weren't the only one unknowingly affected by this," He explained. With those words finished, he turned around and continued down into the prison's depths, Lunala making sure to keep close behind him. "I'll explain why we are like this later, but for the moment know that we can't attract attention. I can only defend you from so many, so keep your voice low."
"Fair, I guess," She responded with a nod. "Though, what am I doing down here? Where are you taking me?"
"I'm taking you to a secret exit out of the castle, or rather an exit into the sewers made in case the people revolt," Mew explained, though he could feel the confusion radiating from the younger legendary behind him. "Look, everything about this situation is overly complicated and a little nuts. I'm not sure why you were thrown down here, or much of the exacts, but know that something happened to Arceus and it's affecting not just us but the entire world."
That bit of news sent a shiver through Lunala's body, the sensation once again reminding her of how odd it was to be a human instead of a pokemon. She had always thought of Arceus as some nigh-invincible being, and she assumed she wasn't the only legendary that thought that way. Everything about him screamed of power, and the fact that every pokemon was made by either him or Mew was a show of that. Sometimes Lunala wondered which one was technically her parent, but then she remembered that the universe she protected wasn't even her own. Her adventures in Alola with Lille were her earliest memories, and even when her heritage came to light she still felt like she knew nothing of herself.
"Do me a favor, Lunala. I need to know if we are indeed the exact same," Mew said, cutting through the silence that had formed since he had told her the truth. "Hold your hand out, palm up, and say "stats"."
While she was confused about what that had to do with being the "same", she did as asked. Holding her hand out as asked, she took a long breath before saying those words.
"Stats."
The moment she did her vision had found itself impared by a large, two-dimensional box filled with words and numbers. At the top left was her name, followed by the indication "lvl 1". Underneath it were notes pertaining to something called HP and MP, and below it notes of her strength, defense, speed, magic, resistance, and luck. There was more on it, but it had proven too much for her to handle. Thankfully, the box had decided to leave by itself, a wave of relief following it.
"Wh-what was that just now?" Lunala asked Mew.
"The basis of our problem, and what Arceus has transformed his own world into," Mew answered. "Lunala, you're rather familiar with human technology, considering your first hundred years were spent with them. Are you familiar with the idea of a role-play game, or video games in general?"
"A little, but those hundred years are very little to the couple thousand I've now spent in the care of you legendaries," Lunala replied. "I remember names and places. I remember Necrozma and how he took over my body, and battled alongside the first champion of Alola. Other than that, however," She looked down and shook her head, only then noticing they had stopped walking. "It's all foggy."
"Of course, I should have expected as much," Mew replied with a shake of his own head. "A little over two thousand years old but still in training. A newborn compared to the rest of us. It makes sense that your more recent lack of contact with the human world would cause such a thing," He looked into Lunala's light purple eyes. "Okay, I'm only gonna explain this part once, so listen as carefully as you can. Got it?"
With a nod, Mew took a deep breath and started.
"A role-playing game is where you take control of a character of either your own making or one already existing, and go on quests that typically involve apocalyptic style threats. They're typically defined by long or complex stories, a leveling system, and combat systems of some form," After giving Lunala a moment to take all that in, he continued. "What Arceus has turned our world into is a perfect example of a role-playing game, and we seem to take the role of playable characters. That is why something appears when you follow my instructions a little earlier. Those are what define the "character" you."
"Wait, so Arceus has turned his own world into a replica of these human video games?" Lunala asked, obtaining a nod from Mew. "That… doesn't seem like something he would do."
"Yet what else could have caused this? Who else has the power to rewrite the world at their very whim?" Mew countered. "Look, you are the only other individual who seems to have this playable character status, which means you are the only one I can rely on to get out of here. Everyone else I've met seems to be under some sort of… NPC setting. No control over their own body, seemingly brainwashed into believing it has always been this way, and acting like entirely different people."
Mew let out a gasp, looking behind Lunala. Following his gaze, she saw nothing, but her ears instantly caught the sound of clanging metal. Giving no warning, Mew grabbed her hand and sprinted away from the sound. Being practically dragged along, Lunala's already swimming brain was left utterly confused at the sudden action.
"Forgive me Lunala, I thought I would have had more time to explain before he sent guards this way," Mew told her.
"I'm sorry, could you be a bit more clear?" Lunala asked. "Who is sending the guards?"
"Mewtwo, my personal guard in this new world and an unfortunate – not to mention unexpected – victim of this NPC curse most of the world is under," Mew replied. "As far as I have been able to find out, there are two different types of NPC here, being friendly and non-friendly. Each is identified by a green or red aura, coincidentally," He looked back to her for a moment. "It seems that playable characters have a blue one. In case you can't tell I don't know everything yet, despite seeming to be awake for a longer period of time in this world than you have been."
"I'm guessing that those considered non-friendly are not good news?" Lunala replied.
"Yes. They will attack you on eye contact, and I have a feeling that Mewtwo will be viewing the two of us on different sides of that," He said, making a quick turn and nearly grazing the side of Lunala's left arm in the process. "I'm sorry I don't know everything, or that I couldn't tell you more. I would come with you if I could but that will only do you less good. Whatever I couldn't explain or don't know, you will have to find out for yourself."
Just as quickly as they had taken off, Mew stopped before a solid metal door on the left side of the wall. Taking out another key separate from the others, he hastily unlocked it. That was followed up with him forcefully shoving Lunala inside, taking a dagger holstered at his side, and placing it at her feet. Before she could do anything, Mew closed the door and locked the door on her.
"Mew, what's going on? What are you doing?" Lunala yelled through the door.
"Giving you a chance to run and find a way to fix this," He said, voice volume lower and slightly more muffled through the door. "Unless I can find a way to change Mewtwo from NPC to playable character, he will pursue me, so I need you to do what I currently can't. The world can't stay like this," Mew put his head to the door, closing his eyes. "I might be putting my freedom on the line to get you out of here. No matter what it takes, no matter how long, find a way to fix this all. The dagger will protect you from anything that might be down there."
Lunala didn't speak, instead standing as frozen as a statue. So much of it all made no sense to her, but she got the gist of the situation. Somehow, she was not a victim of this brainwashing, and that meant she was the only one Mew could have gone to. While the talk of NPCs, stats, and such was confusing, the point of it all was that the world had been messed up. So, picking up the knife, she gave a few final words to Mew.
"Mew, much of this feels crazy to me, but I'll do all I can," She told him. "As a legendary, it is my duty to protect this world from threats humans can't. If stopping all of this means doing that, then I'll do what I can."
A moment of silence passed, but she got a response.
"Then go, before my guards come to find me," He said.
Looking to her left, she saw a row of stairs leading into darkness. With a solemn sigh, she gave one last nod in the direction of the door and headed down.