The petrified shriek cut off by a flash of light returned from Chimera's mouth with vengeance, overpowering any chance of detecting the faint ringing in his ears. The brief glance he was allowed of whatever strange creature was lurking around the hallways of its underwater dungeon played on repeat as the light faded. The shut eyes, the bright red gem on its forehead, the shade of yellow that ran around its face to its brain shaped head, all told of a pokemon seen many years ago through two LCD screens. And yet...despite his best attempts, both the name and circumstances where he had seen this pokemon remained stuck on the tip of his tongue, just out of reach.
The Bagon's eyes shot open, not even taking time to survey his surroundings before he shouted to his companion,
"Argon! W-We have to go, there's something her—"
She was gone. The raichu once only a few feet before him was nowhere to be seen. In her place, was a pokemon entirely foreign to his new life. Its two legs levitated a couple inches above the floor, stature only a tad smaller than himself displaying a snowy-white body that gave an almost celestial appearance, interrupted only by several blue and red triangular rings. Adding to the pokemon's angelic impression were the short, bird-like wings sprouting from its back, their motionless nature a seeming contradiction to the fact that it was floating midair.
"Before you ask, Drover, she's alright, I'll take you to her soon. Are you though? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Even a stun seed couldn't have paralyzed Chimera as effectively as the Togetic's question. Once again, buried memories were brought to the forefront, a part of the Bagon's conscious attempting to resist as if the pokemon before him was some sort of cruel grave robber.
"W-Why...why did you call me that? Who are you?"
"Well, it's your name, for starters," the Togetic replied, a knowing smirk on her face, "I may not exactly look the part, but you should be able to at least recognize my voice."
It was true, the beaming, energetic, voice was indeed a dead ringer for someone he had known, someone he had last heard through the garbled speaker of an answering machine. The more Chimera stared at the Togetic, the more abundantly clear it became that the creature before him was mimicking verbatim the way she would tap her fingers and hold an arm to her side whenever she was waiting for an answer, as well as the innocent smile she could, somehow, still put on even after the worst days of work. All pointed to an answer that made the most, and at the same time the least, sense.
"It...It can't be you, Evelyn?"
"Right you are, Drover," the Togetic replied, taking a step back as her motionless wings began to carry her around the room, "In the flesh, well...sort of."
Chimera was lost in thought as he watched the human-turned Togetic gracefully bounce against the walls, gravity itself seemingly unwilling to effect her. A curious glance from the Happiness Pokemon snapped him back to attention, color leaving the Bagon's face as he forced his gaze to the floor.
"H-How are your here? How are you a...pokemon?"
Evelyn's grin lowered a tad at the question, being quickly interrupted by a giggle as the Togetic hovered back toward Chimera,
"I'll save that answer for later, you have my word on that. In the meantime, how've you been doing, Drover? I'll admit, it's a little refreshing seeing you without bags under your eyes and a coffee-stained suit, I sure hope you've been taking care of yourself."
"I-uh...yeah, I've been doing fine," Chimera replied. "The exploration, the companionship, the freedom, whatever this world is, its got everything I could ever ask for—"
Despite Chimera's best attempts to stay focused, he couldn't help but pause at Evelyn's comment of wearing a suit. Analyzing both the scaly blue plates that lined his body, and the white feathers that donned hers, the realization came that, as a result of their former humanity, both were meeting in a form previously unseen to the other. A couple more seconds brought another realization to the Bagon, one that made his feet light as adrenaline coursed through his body: the last time they had met, both of them were wearing cloths.
"—well...almost everything."
Chimera's head recoiled ever so slightly as he mentally slapped himself, swatting the offending thoughts away while options for new topics scrolled through his mind,
"So, how's work been going? I'd imagine the fort's still being held after I...left."
"Most likely," Evelyn replied, "you've only been gone for about a day, give or take."
The answer brought a chuckle from the side of Chimera's jaw, accompanied by a faint snort, "Damn shame, knowing you're here now, the place can crash and burn for all I care."
Though Chimera waited expectantly for Evelyn to join in the laughter, she only stared back quizzically, every second intensifying the newfound feelings of dread as he waited for the Togetic's response.
"You know Drover...I really do wish you could have been a little more upbeat, would have certainly made working with you easier for everybody."
"W-What? Why should I have?" Chimera replied, shifting his head away from Evelyn. "There wasn't ever much to be happy about."
As Bagon and Togetic broke eye contact, the room's surroundings began to catch Chimera's eye, ever more questions popping up as bits and pieces were dragged out of long term memory. On the walls was the same drab, white, drywall that once occupied the majority of his peripheral vision on the average day. The ground below his two-toed, scaly feet was the same rough carpet, an amalgamation of colors so grey that one could vomit on it and barely notice the resulting stain. The last time, Chimera recollected, that he had been in a room in any way similar to this one was during a particularity terrible nightmare. The imagery of the same room now being inhabiting by creatures as alien as a blue lizard and bipedal, levitating bird seemed to the former human an almost otherworldly experience.
"Do you..." the Bagon continued, "do you remember that stupid corporate holiday party we all had to go to, where they had all the retiring employees gave big speeches about leaving?"
Evelyn nodded, "Yeah, it was pretty fun, a lot of people got pretty emotional about it."
"Don't ask me how, it's easy to talk about companionship and how much the company means to you when it's not the middle of the workday and you've just been given a new list of work assignments. Hearing them gush about it... it honesty made me sick to my stomach. Everyone was so quick to forget the toil, the long hours, the deadlines, the boss breathing down your neck, but I never did."
"But they didn't forget, Drover," the Togetic replied, breaking through the Bagon's spiel, "they worked through it, they balanced their time, they did their best to remain positive and formed connections when they had the chance."
She sighed, giving Chimera a solemn look, "And I guess that's what's always been the problem."
"What do you mean?" he cried out. "You've been through as much as I, how is it alright for them to expect you to put on a plastic smile as they boast about how great everything is? It's bad enough they yell at us and threaten to give marching orders if you don't do a job exactly right, I don't want people to think I enjoy it."
"I'm not saying that, it's just...sitting in the corner of the room next to a potted plant waiting to go home is just repeating a vicious cycle. Going through life with that negative mindset, accompanied by a workload as heavy as yours, it...it turns people cruel."
Chimera narrowed his eyes, staring intensely at the Togetic, "Go on, I can tell you have something else to say, I can take it."
Despite his goading, the Bagon couldn't help but notice that Evelyn was holding a remorseful frown, in the same vein as a judge pronouncing a prison sentence. After more than a few seconds, she spoke,
"Do you remember the last time we talked to each other?"
"Of course," Chimera replied, "I think it was barely a day ago, but if I'm being honest it's kind of a blur. I had just been...laid off, and you called me when I got back to my apartment, and—"
He paused, countenance becoming ever bleaker as the full meaning of Evelyn's words became clear,
"a-and I had been drinking, a lot. I was stressed out about having to find a new job, the rent was due in three ways, and—"
Again, he wavered, blinking his eyes occasionally as they began to water.
"you were just trying to be there for me, like you always were. I realized it was you and, dear god, I remember now...the things I said. You didn't deserve it, not in the slightest."
Chimera fell to his knees, eyes closed and head to the floor,
"I'm sorry Evelyn, I...I should have remembered the moment I knew it was you, I should have apologized sooner. I've been a terrible friend, just took me until now to realize it."
The room was silent, being only broken by the occasional whimper that escaped from the Bagon's jaw. As he lowered a hand to the floor to steady himself, a voice in the back of his mind commented that, although the flooring looked like the familiar office carpet, what he actually felt was something more akin to hard rock. He pushed it aside, feelings of remorse flooding his conscious interrupted when he heard a voice call out from the Togetic.
"I forgive you Drover, it's all water under the bridge now. I just want you to make me a promise, that you'll approach life with more positive mindset, for your own sake."
The Bagon's eyes opened a smidge, head tilting as he stared at the pokemon before him in a mix of disbelief and awe.
"I-uh, of course. I promise you this, Evelyn, I'll make a new man out of myself here. Doing what I did then, being who I was then, I see now how it turned me into someone I hate, and you can bet I'll do my best not to make the same mistakes."
Chimera was happy to return the Togetic's smile as he shot back to his feet. The mutual grin, however, was shattered in an instant when Evelyn turned away, life seemingly drained from her face.
"What's wrong? Was it something I said?"
"No, no, no," the Togetic replied, "well...sort of yes and no. The truth is that my time here is...limited. My purpose for being here is to give a warning, that if you keep going down this dungeon and retrieve the item you seek, you'll relinquish any chance you have of returning to the human world."
"I know you may not think so," she continued, "but there is still a place for you there. There are people who care about you, there's a life worth living, one that you'd be giving up if you were to continue."
The Bagon was silent, feet growing weak as he considered the statement's full implications. A sideways glance at Evelyn confirmed that the Togetic seemed patient enough to wait for his reply, an open invitation to return to his age-old habit of pacing. As Chimera approached one of the room's corners, he placed a hand on the smooth drywall, peculiar sensation returning to his conscious when he instead felt the jagged, wet, edges of hardened rock. Just as the Bagon's hands and eyes were in conflict, so were his thoughts. One voice in his mind argued for the life promised by Evelyn, a featureless, yet admittedly stable life of relative security. The other voice was more ragged, proclaiming that an uneven life of ups and downs, of promised glory and necessary hardships would be for the best. Chimera closed his eyes, darkened vision providing no reassurances of which one to trust.
"How would I go back? What's so important here that would prevent me from doing so?"
He turned around to face her, observing as the Togetic broke eye contact and put her hands to her side, almost is if she were attempting to conceal them in now nonexistent pockets.
"The details that I was given were...foggy, you'll just have to trust me on this."
"Of course, of course I trust you," Chimera replied, taking a small step backward, "it's just...I'd be giving up too much by going back, I hope you can understand."
"Think about it," the Bagon continued, Togetic waiting silently for him to finish, "I have a job, one were I get to stretch my feet and travel to new places. Have you seen the view from a sailboat as it leaves port? It's absolutely gorgeous."
He went on, voice becoming quicker in the process,
"I have a boss, one who actually likes me, one that's willing to forgive you and treat you as something more than a rusty cog in the machine. How often did Clarence ask you to play croquet with him?
Faced with no answer, Chimera continued, voice returning to its normal pace as he considered his words,
"And I have a...a partner. Someone who trusts me and is willing to help me out of the goodness of their own heart. There's nothing I'd be giving up by staying here, nothing except—"
He shook his head, averting his gaze from the pokemon levitating before him,
"I'm sorry. I don't want to sound overly cynical, hell it's probably too late for that at this point, but I've made my decision. I'm going to be someone people will remember, someone who's going to make a difference."
"You might be one here," Evelyn replied, "but what about back home? I just...if you don't go back, you...you won't even get a grave, nevermind a legacy."
As Evelyn said this, she reached behind her for a piece of paper, one that seemed to the Bagon not on her person since they had begun talking. The figure plastered onto the poster in black and white ink put Chimera beside himself, a second passing before he realized that it's visage was indeed his own, in a body since departed. Above the humans face were several bold letters in bright red displaying a single word: missing. Also missing below the picture's dreary continence was the lower half of the poster, section where the Bagon's name should have been torn diagonally across in what he could only assume was wind damage. The poster itself was soaked in entirety, bleeding ink giving the paper a bleak appearance, only the word 'Droverson' being barely legible against darkened smudges.
"How many years will it be until people back home try to think of your name and draw a blank, until the human I knew dies his second death? You can still go back and make a life for yourself, I can help you with that, but if you press on, you'll be forgoing everyone's memory of you in the blink of an eye, myself included."
The voices in the Bagon's mind returned to their continuous debate, questions and answers entering as quickly as they disappeared over which body deserved to be condemned to the dilapidated poster. If, Chimera figured, the hopeful smile that once greeted him everyday could be preserved regardless, there would be no need for discussion, but something about the Evelyn's reply signaled that it would not be,
"What do you mean yourself?"
As soon as he said this, the Togetic's continuance shifted, once piercing scowl disintegrating into resignation,
"Like I said...my time here is limited. Pretty soon, I'll have to return, and my memory of our time here will be erased. I know this sounds selfish but—"
Evelyn began to glow, bright yellow orbs now emanating off of her body making the Togetic more transparent by the second. She looked up at Chimera, solemn expressions conveying mutual acknowledgement of what had to happen next.
"—I don't want to say goodbye."
Despite a desire flooding through the Bagon's mind to rush toward the pokemon before him, to hug her close and let tears fall to the floor as he wish her farewell, Chimera remained still, eyes dry as a bone. An equally powerful force in his subconscious was pulling him back, one fueled by the knowledge that neither the carpet at their feet nor the walls at their sides were what they appeared to be. Whether fueled by hope or cynicism, a voice in Chimera's head was proposing that the same held true for the Togetic, that she was but another one of the illusions that lined the room. The thought would have died off quickly, drowned in a flood of emotions, but a single memory forced it to hold fast, one that instantly gave identity to the pokemon that separated the Bagon from his partner. There was only one pokemon Chimera now could recall that had the powers of illusions, that had matched his brief glance of the creature that teleported him here, and that had gone to such great lengths to prevent the pixelated sprite of a bulbasaur and torchic from reaching their goal.
He turned away, putting on his best poker face to hide the epiphany from shut eyes no doubt watching the Bagon from somewhere in the room. Only when Chimera looked back toward the false Togetic did tears drip from his eyes, fueled by the knowledge that, despite the fact that the Evelyn before him was still radiating yellow light, the human he had known was gone, a price paid for a world born anew. With this knowledge, an idea formed, one that created as much guilt in the Bagon's conscious as it did relief. If, he figured, this being of knowledge was willing to use sentimentality to manipulate him, what harm would come in playing along, it least few minutes more?
"Tell you what, I'll get Argon, we'll leave, and we won't come back, you have my word on that. B-But before you go, could you—jeez, this sounds stupid, but...remember at the party when they began playing music and you—"
"Asked you for a dance?" the Togetic finished. "Yeah, shame you had to leave so early."
"Well, that's the thing, would you mind if we...uh, finished it, for old times sake?"
Her eyes lit up, taking hold of the Bagon's hands with those that, while looked the part of a Togetic, felt the slightest bit off,
"Never thought I'd hear that out of you, guess you really are changing,"
Chimera wanted to believe that it was all true, that his co-worker's smile could persist across altered body and world as she took his hands and the lights around the falsified office dimmed to let melancholic melodies play. That if his two left feet turned and went back the way they came, he'd be able to hear the voice that the pokemon before him was imitating for the foreseeable future. However, despite his best attempt and desire to fight it, the knowledge remained that the pokemon holding his stubby arms and dancing the waltz was not Evelyn, nor was it even a Togetic. As the music ground to a slow halt, a simple resolution crossed through the Bagon's mind: what's done is done, what's lost will never come back. Moisture formed around Chimera's eyes as he leaned in toward the false Togetic to speak, not enough to form tears, but enough to recognize that what he said next sealed his fate,
"I'll admit, Uxie, you nearly got me, it was certainly subtler than a Groudon."
The two pokemon holding hands would have shared a deadpan stare after the Togetic disintegrated, if not for the fact that the legendary now in her place donned eyes indefinitely shut. In an instant, it broke from Chimera's hands, levitating backwards into the air as the office walls whiffed from existence. A hasty glance to his right allowed Chimera vision of the faint orange outline of his partner, positioned on the opposite end of the expansive room holding an expression only slightly more confused than his own. Taking its place at the center of the underground cavern, the knowledge pokemon sighed, sending out a telepathic message to Bagon and Raichu alike,
"Pokemon such as I make plans, and Arceus laughs...I suppose I should have expected this."