Gotcha a new chapter pretty quickly after the last this time around. Hope you enjoy!
It was the only way, right? It was what was logical. He was just having a moment of confusion. It must have been brought on by the constant hopping between worlds. Yes, that was it, simply a minor bout of confusion. She would just have to make sure he stayed in his Pokéball until that regrettable confusion was all well and fixed.
The Zorua, too. It must be an effect that affects Pokémon. While they recovered, she would just do the only practical thing and keep on her natural route towards Canalave City. She was the trainer, after all. She knew what was best for all of them- right?
Why did they have to continually poke and prod at her trust? Testing her patience and forcing her hand like this? She knew Marshadow didn't like staying inside a Pokéball, but it was for the best. Yes, for the best.
Alexis adjusted her Pokéball belt and set off out of the hotel and promptly out of Jubilife City, putting as much distance between herself and the city as possible, so that when the ghost Pokémon were allowed to come out, she would be too close to Canalave City for them to complain again.
It was all perfectly logical. One issue she needed to figure out, however, was how she was going to defeat this gym leader- considering her Pokémon types didn't really match up to Steel-type Pokémon that effectively. It wasn't that they were weak to steel, but they weren't strong, either. She would just have to figure it out and, if worst comes to worst, try the old technique of pushing her Pokémon to their limits. She knew they were strong, they just needed to… believe in themselves a little more.
Alexis was proud of how she was handling things. If only the others could treat her like the kind trainer she was. She didn't want to be the bossy authoritarian kind of trainer, but they were making her do these things. She had been through just as much hardship as these Pokémon. Did they think she didn't suffer just as much with each hop between worlds? At least they were all back in the home world once again, why couldn't they be satisfied with that much?
Alexis set her sights on the path ahead and started walking, determined in her opinion and unafraid to challenge anyone in her way.
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This time, he knew the darkness was manufactured. It was a fakery, a delusion, a prison. He had put too must trust into that trainer. She cared too much about herself, about her own goals and dreams. Why would she ever see him as an equal?
He needed to get out of this abyss. It felt so petty, being concerned about Pokémon gyms and collecting badges when his entire life was on the line. He didn't want to stay stuck in this form forever, unable to speak to those he held dear- to any other humans- ever again.
What was he expected to do? Suffer as the other Pokémon did? They were all okay with it, used to it. He wasn't even a Pokémon. She had no right to lock him up for her own gain.
He couldn't maneuver in the dark. There was no point of reference, nothing to hold onto or push off from. Nothing to swim towards. How could he break out if he couldn't even find himself, let alone an exit?
He wondered how his family was holding up. Had they finally given in? Were they continuing to hold out hope for his return? From their perspective, it would simply be a return from within himself. Held hostage by his own mind.
It occurred to Espir, in fleeting thoughts every now and then, that this entire experience could still be a figment of his imagination. How could he tell if he was truly awake and running around- though not at the moment- or if he was simply experiencing a vivid dream or hallucination, conjured up within the depths of his mind? Maybe he had been struck by a car on his way back from work and he could only remember the day before he had gone to work? Was he seriously dealing with a little pink creature that helped control the universe of universes, or was he just in a coma? Which felt more plausible?
He realized he could only actively argue these questions when stuck in the Pokéball, as in any other circumstance he could just look down at his diminutive form and shadow-shaped hands. Now that he was unable to use his own perspective to reinforce the oddness of his current experiences, the idea that all of this was just a hell formed of his own imagining was far more realistic. How to escape such a hell, however, was still beyond his control.
He would just have to wait, for there was little else he could think of doing, until this status quo of shadows finally caved in and allowed him the sanctuary of his own free will once more- be that in a body of darkness, or his own human one. He would just have to wait…
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What was Mew to do? She had been working away, endlessly trying to fix ruptures between existences, but they kept on chipping away, pushing hole after hole through the walls between realities. She was the builder that was meant to keep these bricks in place and yet the entire house was threatening to collapse at any point. It had come to the point where she was working to just delay the inevitable. Arceus would not be pleased. Arceus would not care for her excuses. She couldn't let Arceus reach her, to demand answers. She had to keep hurrying around, to look busy, so that she would stay alive, even if it were for but a moment longer. She didn't know when reality would cave in on itself, but she knew that there wasn't much time left. She only had three courses of action that she could think of.
One, she wouldn't do. She knew how that would end. The furious body and mind of Espir berating her for her failures, nearly as heart-breaking as Arceus' disappointment in her.
Two, was more a plan born out of curiosity than logic. She couldn't see how it would help her, in the end, but she wanted to know either way. She would return to the birthworld of the second human in Alexis' party. Maybe she would be able to find answers for how and why he had travelled with her to the world that he was now residing within.
Three. Despite their protestations and concerns, she would have to interfere with the two humans once again. To try and forcefully place them back in their own worlds. She had to be honest with herself and admit that she didn't have a clue as to how to pull something like that off, but she knew they were the weak point that was shattering the walls of reality down and she needed to get them back somehow otherwise all she and Arceus had built would be for naught.
She decided, firstly, to go back to Shane's world. She wanted to avoid Espir for as long as possible and this was the only plan that didn't include him initially. Maybe she would find answers in this one?
A world that greeted Mew like a disgruntled cat, displeased with her presence, though she had been there before. She had no particular soul to search for, considering the actual soul was travelling alongside Espir's. She had to search for the main location that she had been when she had found Shane in the first place. Thankfully, due to her line of work, she had a near perfect memory.
Mew, invisible to the local population, rushed through the streets, zipping by tall brick towers, always impressed with how much some worlds were able to create, while others had much smaller settlements that still called themselves cities. Many of the 'cities' in the world that Espir and Shane were now in paled in comparison to those from their original worlds, in both size and population.
Mew finished her thought around the same time that she arrived at the spot she had found Shane's wandering soul. There were not many, but she could see other souls dotted about through the streets. Whatever issue had clung to Shane, it was affecting other people, too. She would need to make extra sure that she didn't accidentally drag others along to her next destination when she eventually left.
She tried to investigate where she might find Shane's body, but it was difficult. This was, yet again, in the realm of things she had rarely ever had to do. She searched around, but couldn't find it anywhere, anywhere above the ground- at least.
Already buried, with the family still in grieving, Mew found Shane's body lying in a coffin, six feet under. She didn't want to, but she had to check. Mew sunk below the earth, to rest within Shane's coffin, and searched his mind for any sign of life, just like she had done with Espir's body not too long ago.
"Hello?" Mew asked, reaching out into the darkness. "Is there anybody here?"
There was a moment of silence, before…
"Woah," the mind of Shane replied. "Is there someone there?"
"Hello," Mew said again, "I am Mew. I do not wish to startle you, Shane."
"How do you know my name? You aren't an angel, are you? Is that why I'm stuck in this… limbo? Oh dang, I knew I got it wrong-"
"N-no, no, Shane, please, listen to me. I'm not an angel, though some have mistaken me for such. I have come to tell you that you are not dead. Not yet, at least. What do you last remember?"
"Oh, sorry, I think you're a bit confused," Shane laughed. "You see, I got hit by that car and I haven't woken up yet, I heard my family having a funeral for me though. I found it pretty touching, but I am dead."
Mew couldn't help but be bewildered by Shane.
"No, uh... your soul is currently trapped somewhere else," Mew said. "For now, you are not dead. I'm working to retrieve your soul and then we can see about getting you out of this coffin."
"Sounds good, angel voice," Shane chuckled. "I'll just sit tight here until you bring me back my soul... whatever that means."
"T-thank you," Mew said, grateful, but certainly confused that the interaction had gone almost the polar opposite to how it had been with Espir. She pulled back out of Shane's mind and then further back, out of his world entirely, aiming for Alexis' party, which- last she checked- was pinging around a little too much.
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Knowing that the darkness wasn't such a dangerous place, after being awake when he was forced into it, was proving to make time pass far more slowly. He knew there was no risk, so there was no adrenaline to burn, but also nothing to do but float there and wait.
If only he had something to do to pass the time- anything at all…
The red flash appeared once more, unlocking Espir from his abyssal prison and he opened his eyes.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Espir muttered, looking around at Canalave's Pokémon Gym...