Togetic Morgan woke up, but she didn't expect to. To her shock, her wounds were covered in leaves and mixed ointments.
She ended up in a tiny cave, laid against the back wall on a smooth and rather soft bed of leaves. Outside, raindrops thumped on the dirt just a few paces away, from a gray sky.
A Buneary leaned against the cave wall, facing away from her looking outside. He turned around when Morgan shot up to her feet. His hazel eyes lit up with concern. Patch of wet dirt blotched his face.
"Woah," he immediately cautioned, "slow there. You good?"
Morgan paused. It'd been ages since she'd last talked to another Pokemon. Her voice was weak, and she realized she probably wouldn't say words quite right, but she had to talk.
"How?" Morgan asked. She coughed slightly in an effort to clear her throat and strained to speak up. "Alive?"
"Alive?" Buneary asked.
"I thought... I'm the... last one," Morgan croaked.
"Last one..." he repeated in an almost faraway voice. "You mean the last Pokemon?"
Morgan nodded. Buneary nodded back and walked towards her.
"You should sit down," he suggested, "I have some berries."
Morgan nodded and did just that. There was a small pile of blueberries in front of her feet that she hadn't noticed before. She cradled one in her hands and ate it while the Buneary bent down on his knees next to her. He was covered in dirt, but had ragged muscles and fierce eyes.
"You know amnesia?" Buneary asked. "Like, what it is?"
Morgan frowned and shook her head.
"It's where you're missing your memories," he said. "Like, you can't remember what's happened before you get it. I woke up here with amnesia two months ago, and I've been totally alone."
Buneary looked at her.
"How long has the world been like this?" he asked. "I don't remember anything, but why are you the first Pokemon I've found in two months? I don't understand."
"I don't know," Morgan said.
"You don't know? Like, why the world's like this?"
Morgan nodded.
"You don't have amnesia too, do you?"
Morgan shook her head.
"Was there anyone else? Like... what's your life been like? Where'd you learn how to talk?"
"My parents," Morgan said.
"Where are they?" he asked with extra energy.
"Dead."
"Oh... Uhm... Was there anyone besides them?"
"All gone," Morgan said. "I'm the last."
"How long ago has it been since you've seen someone else?"
Morgan lost track of time ages ago. She didn't have an answer. She didn't even remember the words for periods of time to answer. She remembered that years were something about time, but wasn't sure how long they were anymore.
"Long," is all Morgan could truthfully say.
Buneary glanced down and accepted the answer. Morgan took a minute and finished the last of the blueberries.
"I remember random things," Buneary said. "I remember what Lugia is, sorta. I stay away from it now."
Morgan nodded.
"I just saw you flying down at it. Why'd you attack it?"
"Revenge," Morgan said.
"Revenge?" he echoed. "Did it... have anything to, uh... do with your parents?"
"It is Primal."
"Primal? Uh, what's that mean?"
"It made the world lonely."
"So, they might be the reasons that I haven't seen anyone besides you?" he asked.
Morgan nodded. Maybe.
A short silence hung between them. Talking tired out her voice, but Morgan also didn't have anything to say.
"Okay," Buneary said, "so what are you going to do now?"
"Again," Morgan said.
"But it's too hard to try and beat!"
"Again."
Morgan looked to the Buneary. His mouth was shut, but she swore his eyes were moving.
"Okay," he said. "Can I come?"
"Why?" Morgan asked.
"Nothing else to do. And it's the last chance I have to remember anything."
Morgan nodded. Fighting used time better than simple survival.
She had no reason to say no. She hadn't seen anyone else in a long time.
"When do you want to attack it again?" Buneary asked.
"Now."
"Now?" he repeated. "Sure. If you're feeling one-hundred percent."
"Perkent? Per... ent?" Morgan asked.
"Oh, uh, like, from zero to a hundred how you're feeling. Like a rating between best and worst."
"Best."
"Uh... Okay!" he nodded, smiling. "Welp, ready when you are."
Morgan stood up and removed the leaves off of her cuts. The only traces left dots of dry red that she wiped away with a single flick of her arm. Buneary moved to the corner of the cave and grabbed something leaning against the wall.
When he turned around, Togetic Morgan paused and stared at the dark indigo object in his hands. He held it from its cylindrical base that led to two ridges and an edge, these edges coming together in a triangular shape. He noticed her inquisitive stare.
"It's the only thing I woke up with when I got amnesia," he explained. "I can hit Lugia with it and do damage."
"It?" Morgan asked. "What's it?"
"It's the horn of a Keldeo, I'm pretty sure."
Morgan didn't know what a Keldeo was, but she accepted his answer. She gave a quick, firm nod.
"It, uh, makes me feel stronger," Buneary said. "And I just kind of talk to it 'cause I've been going nuts without anyone else."
Morgan just nodded again. She didn't judge. If she spent any longer sitting idle, she would've, too. Buneary made a face with one of his eyebrows higher than the other.
"Well, uh... Let's go," he said. "I'll follow you."
The rain calmed into a drizzle. Morgan took flight just above the ground while Buneary followed. While she floated above the foliage and tree roots, he jumped and jogged without even adjusting his breathing.
"So, what's the plan?" Buneary asked.
"Attack," Morgan said.
"Well, I mean, how are we going to attack?"
"With violence."
"Wait, stop for a second."
Morgan swiveled around in the air and floated. Buneary stood still and stared back at her.
"If we don't have a plan, it will win," he said. "It's stronger than us."
"Strong violence?" Morgan asked.
"No... I mean, does it have any weaknesses? Something that can hurt it a lot?"
"Very strong violence."
Buneary blinked. Morgan wasn't sure why, but his face stopped moving.
"Do you know what a plan is?" Buneary asked.
Morgan nodded.
"So, what's your plan?"
"No plan," Morgan said. "Attack."
"Uhhhh... How about this..." Buneary said. "If one of us gets hurt, we run carrying the other person to make sure we survive. That way, we could keep trying in the future."
Morgan nodded.
"Okay… Good. Let's go."
Morgan wasn't familiar with the island, listened for the waves and smelt for the salty sea air. When they reached the beach, they had to walk along the length of it to reach the cave jutting out from the cliff ahead.
A lone seagull called out from the dark sky overhead. Togetic Morgan landed on the sand. She enjoyed the strange, open feeling of the ocean and breeze blowing towards shore.
"Is it in that cave?" Buneary asked.
"Maybe," Morgan said.
"It was in there earlier, right?"
Weight came down on Morgan's body. Lugia's ability, Pressure, had to be in effect.
"Here," Morgan croaked. Her voice started to strain and break up, but Buneary seemed to notice her sudden energy and got alerted. He spun in a circle.
A gentle, bright white light came down onto the beach. Morgan saw Lugia glowing in the sky. Its wings flapped to a slow rhythm as the glow got stronger.
"Uh, I should use Protect right?" Buneary asked.
"Attack."
Morgan's body cringed from putting all of her energy into a Mega Punch. Buneary tensed up behind her.
Lugia dove down. This time, Morgan would surpass the bone cracking force of the attack. She uppercut with force from her wings, legs, arms, and back in a single motion to break through.
Morgan didn't hit anything. She followed through the motion and landed on a rock floor.
Her eyes were working, she checked with a wave of her hand in front of her face, but everything had gone dark. The noisiest sound became her own breathing. As she straightened out her back and swiveled her head, a gentle blue light came from above and arced forward against a dark rock ceiling.
A veil of water stretched over the ceiling. She glanced below and saw what she was standing on with the new light from the ceiling.
The floor felt as hard as rock, but it looked like water. Morgan saw her body surrounded by the cosmos in its reflection. As the glowing water on the ceiling creeped forward, it revealed reflections of stars and wisps of colors in space.
At the end of the hallway, Lugia began the process of standing up. Behind its flailing wings, Morgan noticed an open space. She checked behind herself, and there was a rough rock wall. Buneary joined her from the side.
"Hey," Buneary said, "are we dead?"
An idea clicked in Morgan's head. The hallway they were in was too thin to avoid any blast of wind Lugia threw at them. They'd drown in its power if they didn't get more room.
"Charge," Morgan asserted. Her throat burned as she made an effort to scream it, but the emphasis worked.
Morgan ran forward with Buneary right next to her. Lugia hissed and flapped its wings. Pale energy started to gather in its open maw.
Buneary suddenly bolted forward at double the speed. The Keldeo's horn in his paw gave off a faint light as sharp gusts of wind began. Buneary jumped straight through the attack.
The horn sliced through the start of the attack and stabbed Lugia's stomach. Buneary's momentum sent them both tumbling off the ridge at the end of the hallway into the empty space below.
Morgan flung herself forward after him. She managed to snag Luke's hand and hook the air with her wings before he fell down on the solid water below.
Even though the ceiling was made of gray rock and stalactites, the water still reflected space. As she set Buneary down, she gazed up as Lugia took flight.
"Plan," Morgan huffed.
"You have a plan?" Buneary whispered.
Morgan pointed up. Buneary took a short glance and looked back down at her.
"I'll distract it," he said.
Buneary shoved the horn into her hands. Energy flooded her body through her arms as she held it. It was too strong to be just in her imagination. This thing had some real power inside.
"Use this to cut clean through those rocks," Buneary said. "Alright, let's go."
Morgan jumped into the air and flew upwards. As she got closer to the rocks, she slowed down and got in a better position.
Buneary ran away from Lugia as it stalked him. A path of broken and charred boulders extended on. Lugia blasted a torrent of water from its mouth.
Buneary bounced off the cave wall and rolled into a continued run. Morgan flew high over Lugia's head, for the maze of stalactites. She swung the horn, hard.
It cut clean though, with no effort. She recoiled back as it fell.
By the time the rock got to the ground, Lugia had already passed under it. It slammed down on the ground and broke apart into pebbles and chunks of rock. Buneary jumped over a blue orb of water flung at his back by Lugia and shouted.
"Cut them all!"
Morgan thought about how to do that. She wasn't big or fast enough to cut them all at once. With Lugia still screeching and moving fast, she put her energy into swinging the blade so it cut down as many rocks as possible. She began to follow Lugia's direction and worked on bringing down all of the rocks closest to it.
Lugia paused its onslaught and noticed when the cascade of rumbles started just behind it. It screeched in agony as the stalactites crashed down on its back. A mountain of rubble formed on top of it.
Buneary bounced on the cavern walls at speeds Morgan hadn't seen before. He zipped between falling rocks while she flew back down. After getting through the cascade of rocks, he took a final leap toward Morgan. She grabbed his paw, but blinked in surprise when he pulled himself up with one arm and used the other to snag the horn from her hands.
"Thanks," Buneary said, smiling.
He let go.
Morgan would've flown after him if he didn't look so confident. She stayed afloat, while he fell head first toward the Lugia trapped in rocks down below.
The horn surrounded itself in a fiery-orange flame in his paws. He swung it down.
The rocks became dark shadows, then faded away.
Morgan was standing up, but didn't remember landing on the ground.
Water stretched without end from under her feet. It reflected the steady orange sky and puffy white clouds that went on for as far as she could see. Buneary was next to her, also standing on top of the solid water. He held his head with both of his paws.
"Blegh," Buneary said, "what just happened? Did I kill us?"
Morgan looked ahead of where they were facing. Lugia swooped down in front of them and slid on the surface of the water. As it screeched, she noticed a long, black mark going over the length of its back and wings. Its head snaked around as it hissed.
"Let's go," Buneary said.
Morgan took flight after Buneary charged.
Lugia focused a stream of shrieking wind for Buneary, but he hopped out of the way, towards the side.
Buneary jumped in the air. Morgan marveled at the height he got from it. He slammed the weapon down at its face.
Lugia lost balance and fell onto its stomach. Buneary was sent flying away when it waved its wing in the air and made a gust, but he managed to right himself and mostly landed on his feet.
Morgan gaped. A second long mark appeared on the side of Lugia's head. Buneary was already running at it again, but Lugia had managed to get up in time.
Morgan flew up focused yellow, red, and light blue orbs in front of her body. She used Tri-Attack from above towards Lugia's back, combining the rays of lightning, fire, and ice into a single, sharp point. It hit Lugia in the back and made it fall into its belly again, leaving it exposed.
Buneary followed up by hacking and slashing at its face. A cold chill ran through Morgan when it screamed. It shook the Buneary off and stumbled to take a short hop back and blast wind from its maw again.
Buneary used Protect and made a green shield in front of his body. The wind slammed into it.
As the wind pushed him back, the Keldo's horn flew out of Buneary's paws, straight for Morgan. She caught it and fumbled to get it upright in her hands. Buneary's grunts of pain from below hissed in her ears.
She flew straight down like while Lugia continued to focus him down with the wind.
The horn felt warm in her hands. Morgan took a guess at how the Buneary had made it glow like a torch and focused her body's energy through her arms. When it responded by getting warmer, she went all in. That same fiery-orange flame ignited over the horn. Morgan swung it.
She felt no resistance. White overtook her vision again.
Togetic Morgan wasn't as disoriented the second time. She took everything in much faster.
They were back on the beach again, with the Keldeo's horn sticking out of the sand between them. Buneary looked around in circles. The waves seemed a bit calmer than they were before, but they lost track of where Lugia was until Buneary's eyes locked on above them.
"Up there!" Buneary called.
Morgan traced the direction his arm was pointing, ready to react.
Lugia was high in the air over the coastline. It stopped flapping its wings and fell like a leaf. As it did, its body started to glow a gentle blue. A bell sound chimed as it became a snow of blue lights against the sky. In its wake, rays of yellow sunlight started to shine out on the ocean, bathing the island in a warm glow; a rare sight in Morgan's world.
"Sunlight…" Buneary said. "Is this why you want to defeat those Primal pokemon?"
Morgan nodded as she stared out to sea.
"But why? You're the last one, right?"
Morgan swallowed. It'd take a bit more words to explain, but she could handle it. She needed to.
"I am the last," Morgan said. "But I can leave behind…" she took in a breath, "a memory for the universe to remember. Even if there's no point, I would have made a beautiful world."
Morgan's voice started to shake at the end. She held her throat and coughed.
The sky continued to clear. Morgan squinted at the intensity of the blue sky through the clouds. She hadn't seen it in a few years, so it'd take some getting used to if she made it like this everywhere.
"I get it," Buneary said. "And I remembered something, like I wanted to."
Morgan turned to him.
"My name," he said. "It's Luke Pharaoh. I guess this means I can get over my amnesia, huh?"
Morgan nodded.
"So, what's your name?"
"Morgan Evergreen," Togetic said.
"Morgan Evergreen," he repeated. "We should just keep doing stuff like this. Maybe I'll remember something good."
Morgan nodded. She probably couldn't do it without him. His power and speed were incredible, but he didn't even seem to notice or think about it.
"So, that makes us a team," Luke said.
"Yes," Morgan said.
"Awesome! I'll let you lead the way, and we'll show the universe how pretty our world is!"
Morgan turned to Luke. His ears waved out to sea with his arms tucked behind his back. He had a confident smile that the rays of sunshine danced on. The blue lights reached the ground and started to disappear.
"Y'know what I think?" Buneary asked. "I think we can still make the world a better place. Maybe it's not as over as you thought."
Morgan copied his face and smiled.
"Yes."