(A/N: Hello, dear reader. I'll make this brief, and try to make them infrequent. While this story is set within the canon of my other, Dream of Change, I've taken the effort to make it self contained. Most of what you would need to know is either explained in this story or assumed to be common knowledge of the source material. For things that I feel deserve a bit more explanation, I'll put a glossary at the end of the relevant chapter. Please let me know if there's anything that you think I've missed, or could use a more thorough explanation.
Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think! Since I have all but (approximately) four chapters written, I'll be uploading twice a week until it's complete. I really hope you enjoy it.)
"But we decided long ago
We'd build a time machine and go"
—"(Another) First Kiss" from Severe Tire Damage by They Might Be Giants
Dreams of falling are very common. Because of this, they have an almost de facto interpretation for anyone researching them (almost always after having just woken up from one). The common consensus is they represent the psyche coping with a perceived "lack of control" since, generally, it's pretty hard to control your descent when falling.
This makes enough sense for any bleary eyed sufferer to nod along and go right back to sleep. Unfortunately, it's not quite so simple. It's all in the context.
After all, a pidgey might be used to the sensation. Falling is an integral part to flying. It might enjoy the little experience for most of the dream's duration without even realizing they can't stop their descent until, well.
Their descent suddenly stops.
In this particular context, Max didn't much mind. She'd spent the previous painfully sleepless night agonizing over every mistake she'd ever made. Loss was familiar to her, but that didn't make it sting any less. Each one ripped a new part of her soul out. The only thought that brought her enough solace to finally fall asleep was the desperate, painful, hopeless wish that she could just go back to the beginning.
As she'd fallen asleep, she was so eager for some respite before the sun set that she failed to notice something akin to tendrils creeping out of her paws. They brought a warm embrace that she was too tired to question until it was too late. She'd fallen asleep and an oddly pleasant dream greeted her.
Wind rushed through her fur fast enough to batter her ears and tail into a hopeless loop of quivering shakes. They were at the mercy of aerodynamics, and so was she. It was fun, in an odd way. She spent most of her life barely over a foot above the ground, so the new vantage point was novel. Spreading her arms like wings, she felt the rush of sudden friction slow her descent.
Commonly known fact about dreams: they can't cause pain. An easy way to tell if you're dreaming is to pinch your arm. If you feel pain, it's not a dream.
Of course, there are other ways to induce pain in someone. One sure fire way to cause pain is, well, fire. Thanks to the drag she'd just added, a bit of atmosphere started to accumulate and ignite right under her. What started as a pleasant warmth quickly burst into an all consuming inferno.
The singes felt familiar in the way any experience that drew on lost memories did. She recognized the familiarity without any idea where it came from. It was an odd thing for a mouse to experience twice, atmospheric reentry.
That slight difference in experience gave her an edge up over the pidgey. She'd known she had no control over this descent from the beginning, allowing her the opportunity to scream in terror for about a second before her descent met its sudden end, and, presumably, she met hers.
Her immediate, terrified leap into the air was a bit odd. She babbled in pika-speak incoherent even to her. After she landed from her jump, she froze. That was a mighty fall. She needed to check for injuries. The good news was she was still standing. Her legs and back were fine. Good. She managed a slight breath of relief thanks to that, but she didn't stop there.
First, she counted her arms, relieved to find two, and with ten nubbins to boot. She brought both pristine paws up to feel for her ears and, again, found two. Neither hurt, but she pulled them down to check for sure. Both looked as pristine as her paws, not so much as a nick.
Her left ear was fine. It ended in the same point as it had when she'd… dropped in to this world. A pit in her stomach started to form as she finally started to remember how falling from the sky felt so familiar. She glanced around her to see a painfully familiar field around her calling at her from the void of lost memory, all the way down to the lake in front of her.
She couldn't bring herself to look into the lake's reflection for the same reason she couldn't bring herself to look behind her. She knew what she would see—what she didn't want to see. She clenched her eyes closed and smacked her head with her paws.
"Wake up, wake up, wake… up," she started to chant, though her voice sounded off. The difference was subtle, and she couldn't quite put her paw on what it was. The first thought was it sounded younger, which made sense. Of course she'd sound younger if she was suddenly transported back in time (how that was the most logical conclusion at any point made her head hurt if she thought about it).
She wasn't waking up. When she hit her head, it hurt (despite the meteoric landing not doing much). She wasn't dreaming. She was stuck like this. Taking a deep breath in, she prepared herself. It was time to face the music.
With a practiced flick of her tail, she brought it in front with her eyes closed. It'd be easier to feel the end than see it, so she hesitantly grabbed it with her left while her right ran down the two lumps on its opposite end. Eyes closed, her brow furrowed in sudden consternation. That wasn't either of the two possibilities she'd considered. If anything, it felt like the tail of any other girl. Pikachu.
Her eyes shot open and confirmed that, not only did her tail end in a heart, but it even had a familiar little patch of black fur to highlight the shape.
It was a girl's tail. Her tail was a girl's tail. She had a girl's tail.
"No way," she breathlessly whispered. Even after checking so many times, she still felt the suspicion it was a dream. Her paws shot to her face to feel what else was different, but that was basically fruitless. Instead, she bolted over to the lake to look at her reflection. She rushed over so fast that she almost didn't stop before leaping right in.
Luckily, the added friction of the grass allowed her to stop right as the nubbins on her forepaws tapped the edge of the water. It barely distorted the image of her reflection, luckily. She looked down at almost the exact face she'd always had. Her same eyes, the brown spot under the left side of her lips. But it was just a bit softer, just a bit brighter, and with the widest smile she'd ever seen in her reflection.
It was still her.
The jubilee had one minor hiccup. Her stomach turned a bit when she realized she had one more thing to check. In the same way she couldn't bring herself to look at her tail a minute ago, she couldn't bring herself to look down. She felt a phantom ache at the loss she already knew she'd see.
But, she couldn't put it off forever. She stood up and, with the quickest of glances, confirmed exactly what she'd feared. "I-I-I," she stammered, but it wouldn't come out. It was already obvious, but how? She knew exactly where she was, exactly when she was—and she definitely hadn't crash landed like this the first time around. With breathless confusion and surprise, she finally managed to shout, "I-I'm a girl?!"
One second of thought might've had her reconsider the wording (she'd been a girl before, after all), but that second didn't come. Instead, a familiar voice asked, "Were you… not one before?"
Under any other circumstances, hearing that voice would make her jump for joy. She did end up jumping, but thanks to what she'd been inspecting moments ago, it was from sheer, nude horror. "Ithos!" she squeaked, trying in vain to cover herself with her paws. "Haven't you ever heard of privacy?!" Ithos flinched back, putting his arms up in defense, and it finally clicked for Max.
"ITHOS!" she screeched, dashing over and launching herself onto him. She latched on before he could resist, squeezing the familiar scales with tears already in her eyes. "Y-you—you're here, I'm-" She cut herself off, finally catching her slips. He had no idea what she was saying, latched onto him like this.
More came with that realization. This was her first day there. This was the day that they met. This was the first time they saw each other. Ithos had no idea who she was. She was just some pikachu that fell from the sky, screamed in surprise about being a girl, then leapt onto him.
"Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry!" Max sputtered, hopping off of him and backing away. "I just—I'm so sorry! You have no idea who I am, and I just-"
"Hold on," Ithos said. Max shook her head, sparks of embarrassment bouncing off her cheeks. What a ridiculous first impression, how could she—what would Ithos think of her now?! She kept backing away in humiliation and terror. "Hey, wait!" Ithos shouted, but Max shook her head. Worse, his yelling started tickling into her instincts, demanding she continue her retreat, even if she knew he was only trying to say it was okay.
At least, that's what she thought, but then, right as her hindpaw met air on one fateful step, he screamed, "LAKE!"
Right. The lake. It was right behind her, well.
Right below her, now.
The water engulfed Max before she had a chance to scream. She clutched her paws around her mouth in desperate horror, trying in vain to hold one last little pocket of air, but only getting water. Her limbs froze. She couldn't even flail. The only other person who knew she was in here was Ithos. A charmander. Even realizing she was about to die, she couldn't help an internal chuckle.
The trip down memory lane, straight to hell.
Then, something else crashed into the water. Her eyes were closed, but she couldn't believe the burning scales she felt wrap around her chest. She almost let her breath hitch, but the paws around her mouth stopped her just in time.
When Ithos tried to swim up, though, he wasn't exactly fast. In fact, he wasn't moving up at all. He was sinking. They both were, but not for lack of his trying. His hindpaws hopelessly flailed in the water in useless motions that did absolutely nothing but intermittently kick Max.
An almost audible shift clicked in Max's mind. Facing her death was upsetting, sure. It was terrifying to her, but not unthinkable. She knew life wasn't permanent.
Ithos was a different story.
In an instant, Max twirled around out of Ithos' grip to smack him across the face. It stopped his flailing while also spewing a few bubbles out of his mouth. Importantly, though, it seemed to calm him down (which might've been the sudden loss of air talking).
Max latched onto Ithos tighter than she had on land and starting violently kicking as fast as she could. It barely, slowly started changing their course, but it got them higher than Ithos had. With a grunt and more kicks, she even managed to get them to start ascending. Her lungs started to burn, but she kept on kicking with all her might, more oxygen than she had. She didn't have any other choice but to keep going.
Her swimming lessons with Cori payed off; water flung off their heads as she shoved both of their heads up and out. As much as it terrified her to try, she couldn't stop herself sucking in a gasp. Alive—she was alive. She was—she was swimming.
They weren't out of the fire yet, though. She had to pika-paddle over to the nearest edge, grabbed hold of it with one paw while the other flung Ithos out. Her adrenaline started to wane, so she scrambled to yank herself out of the water before it ran out. She flopped down in the grass about a yard from Ithos—okay, still strong, that's good.
A breeze froze the air on her fur; the fear caught up with her. She tried to reach for the scarf that wasn't there and let out a squeak of terror. Her hindpaws started to numb. Those breathless gasps couldn't bring air in, and she knew why.
Stone lungs can't breathe.
She froze in place, every inch of her growing colder. She didn't have her scarf. She couldn't stop it. She couldn't bear to try and move, couldn't bear to fail, to feel stone's non-response. The dripping of water down her fur froze her further. It was getting cold, so cold. Every bit of warmth fled her flesh as it turned to stone when suddenly, a very heavy, very hard bit of warmth smashed into her chest.
"D-don't—hold on!" Ithos screamed before smashing his paws into her chest again. If she had been stone, she no doubt would have shattered. He actually managed to yank her out of the panic attack, yet didn't stop slamming into her chest for even an instant.
The chest compressions were hopelessly erratic. If she'd actually needed CPR, he would've had better luck hitting her over the head with a baseball bat, but he kept smashing the air she would've used to tell him as much out of her chest.
Finally, he stopped for just an instant. Max started taking in a breath of relief when, all of a sudden, she felt something stopping her.
Warm scales. On her lips. Blowing air.
Again, she slapped her paw across his cheek, tossing him off her. While he rolled of her, she rolled over to heave whatever those compressions did to her out of her lungs. Oh God, her ribs—no, if they'd still been injured, Ithos absolutely would have killed her. Max rolled back to sit down just in time that she collapsed into a sitting position.
"S-sorry!" Ithos stammered. "I-I really—that wasn't what I was trying to do! I swear!"
Max looked up to see the saddest, most terrified look of humiliation she'd ever seen on someone else. Even while Ithos rubbed his reddening cheek, the entirety of his attention went to her and the other paw waving his surrender. He was so terrified of what she thought that he hadn't even noticed the lack of a flame at the end of his tail.
Max brought a paw to her mouth, eyes wide in disbelief. The absolute worst first impression she'd had to date—and that was saying something. She tried to use her paw to cover it, even calling in her other for backup, but that didn't work for long.
A mix of a giggle and a snort chuckled its way out of her while the laughter started creeping into the rest of her face, and she couldn't help it. She still couldn't believe who she was looking at. Who she was talking to. Who she'd just slapped—twice. Luckily, the water absolutely soaking her managed to hide the burgeoning wave of tears.
"Wh-what?" Ithos whimpered, which only made Max laugh harder.
"Y-you can't be serious!" Max cackled. "What—why would you dive into the water if you don't know how to swim?!" She lost herself to another fit of giggles while Ithos sat a few feet away, simmering.
That simmering quickly turned to whimpers, though. The instant the sound tickled her ears, Max choked down the rest of her laughter, praying she hadn't hurt him. When she looked at him again, his wide eyes were trained on his tail. "I-I… it. My."
Max almost thought this was a joke, but his expression was far too sincere for it to be one. He was serious. He actually thought he was in danger.
Max took a few breaths for herself to calm and said, "Look, you're okay." She scampered over to rest a paw on his shoulder—hot, he was hot—and she ripped it away before it caught fire, swearing, "Kachu!"
"Sorry!" Ithos yelped, yanking his tail into his arms. Max could see the water boiling off him, yet the charmander didn't seem to notice.
Max shook her head in disbelief. "Incredible," she said, barely holding back another chuckle. "Y-"
"Sorry," Ithos whimpered.
"Hey, hey! It's fine, don't worry!" Max said. She almost went in to hold him when she caught another glimpse of boiling water. "Here, let me see it." She held out her paw, gesturing to his tail.
At first, Ithos pulled it back. Then, his eyes met hers and registered her shift to soft warmth. One paw at a time, Ithos let go of his tail and let it wiggle over to her. In all honesty, Max didn't know what she was going to do to help, but she knew she could. She proceeded to follow her gut, motioning him to set it down on the ground.
"You're not gonna die," she reiterated. "It's just a myth. Tail flames go out all the time, all right?" She glanced up to his eyes, but he wasn't buying it. It was… honestly impressive that he'd fall for something like this. "If it happens, don't worry."
Max looked down at the tail, the tiniest hint of an ember of a memory starting to spark—right! "All you need," she whispered with a bit of glee while she leaned down right next to it, "is a spark!" She let loose a flashy little shock from her cheeks and watched as a billowing flame burst out from the end of his tail. Perhaps getting closer wasn't the best idea.
She leapt up, feral spewing out of her mouth while her paws rushed to her face to stamp out the flames. They didn't find much, though, only a few patches of slightly singed fur. When she realized she wasn't on fire, the laughs were quick to come. "Yeah, I shoulda thought that through better," she chuckled.
"P-pikachu?" Ithos asked. "Did, why do you keep doing that?"
"Ka?" Max asked, slapping her paw over her mouth when she heard herself. Right, of course that would stay. Entirely new body, entirely new everything, but no, she still has this bullshit stuck in her head. "Sorry," she said, careful with every syllable. She glanced around, eyes lingering on Ithos. Even after all this time, she was abysmal at hiding that she was hiding something. "Can you… keep a secret for me?"
Ithos looked her over again, starting to pull a bit of confidence back into himself before he said, "Sure." In fact, Max thought she could spot the beginnings of a smirk. "My name's Ithos, by the way."
Max didn't even notice her cheeks sparking, letting out a chuckle. "Right," she mumbled. She looked away, already fully aware how this was gonna go. Pretty much everyone who had a reaction to her name had the same one. "Mine's Max."
"Max?" Ithos asked with a smirk, like his suspicions had all been confirmed. Max couldn't help mouthing along when he said, "Odd name for a pika… chu." Shit. He'd noticed. Max almost panicked, but he seemed to shake it off quick. "Was that the secret you wanted to tell me?"
"Oh, right, well, no," Max muttered. "Or, yes? But, w-well, it's, there's another."
"What is that?" Ithos asked. "You keep talking like that. Why?" He narrowed his eyes to raise a brow at her. He didn't seem any bit concerned, just confused.
"Kachu," Max grumbled. Did she need to explain this? No, that was ridiculous. Ithos knew about Dungeon Sickness—everyone did. "It's just what it sounds like." She couldn't help a bit of sheepishness as she looked away, scratching at the back of her head. "Dungeon Sickness." Even if it was embarrassing, though, she knew she could trust Ithos.
He didn't immediately seem to respond, though, oddly enough. It must have been a lot to take in. He'd just seen her fall from the sky, and they'd both nearly died. That would make anyone need a minute.
Max took a deep breath and reset her head to neutral. It was more comfortable while also letting her see Ithos out of the corner of her eye. He might not know her very well, but she still wanted to make sure he was doing all right. Even with shoddy memory, she could still read him with ease. With just her peripheral vision, she saw him staring… maybe she wasn't as good at reading him as she thought.
She almost thought he was staring at her, but that was ridiculous. Ithos had never expressed any interest in her before. More feelings than she expected came out in a knot when she reaffirmed to herself that he was probably straight.
She froze. If she didn't move, she rationalized that the thoughts couldn't see her, or maybe that Ithos couldn't see her. He—she was a… more traditional girl, now. Even then, she shook the thought out of her head. Absolutely not. She'd never seen Ithos express interest in anyone, had she? Yet, when she inevitably took a glance to see his expression, she absolutely recognized it.
And he was absolutely looking at her.
It took a second for Ithos to notice she was looking at him. His eyes weren't exactly on her face. A few sparks bounced off Max's cheeks until Ithos finally met her eyes, and the scales on his cheeks turned redder than a charmeleon's.
"M-mom-Mother Mew, I'm so sorry!" Ithos squealed. "I-it, I was just zoned out, I swear!" He threw both paws to his head, staring down exclusively at the grass.
Max suddenly didn't feel any bit of embarrassment. In fact, with a quick once over of the charmander, she understood why it had kind of hurt to remember he was straight. It was almost embarrassingly cliché, when she thought about it. The Hero and The Partner, but she instead chuckled as she realized that between Ithos, Mandy, and Eleos, she absolutely had a type.
Maybe Cori would be an exception if she had feelings for them, but she of course didn't and they weren't.
Nevertheless… she certainly didn't want to rush things. Seeing Ithos absolutely beside himself in embarrassment, a devilish grin started spreading her lips. She decided for absolute certain that it'd be better to take their time. For his sake, and nothing to do with vengeance, she resolved to simply not notice the little hint Ithos just dropped.
Hell, Ithos had missed all of hers.
"Hey, I'm sorry," Max said, wrapping an arm around Ithos' back. He yelped at her touch, so to calm him down, she dragged her paw down his back, making sure not to go against the grain, and let muscle memory guide her. Her claws poked at the scales right under his shoulder blade, right above his tail, and watched the anxiety melt off his face. He was a lot more timid than she remembered, but maybe he had some growing left to do.
"Look, I don't really know this place too well," she said, patting his back. "I know we just met, but could I ask a favor?"
"What?" Ithos asked, starting to look more like himself. "Yeah, of course!" He looked at her with a befuddled smile, shaking his head. With all the cheer she expected, he looked at her like asking for help was hilariously redundant. The sight had joy bubbling up in her chest. It was just like she remembered him.
"I'm not sure I can find you a place to stay, but I'll try my best!" he said. An ache started to form in the back of Max's throat while she watched him practically trip over himself to declare his helpfulness. An idea flashed in his eyes like a fire, but he had to physically pull himself back. "O-or, well, there is one thing." He turned away to scratch his neck; Max held him tighter without his notice.
"It's just, well…," Ithos stumbled to mumbles. Even still, Max could see that eager glint in his eyes. She couldn't have said no to that face if she wanted to. "Do you know about Rescue Teams?" It helped that she didn't want to.
"Yes!" Max squeaked, tears cracking her voice to bits. She couldn't help yanking him into a hug while tears started streaming down her cheeks. "Yes! Let's do it!" Gleeful giggles ripped out of her without any chance at resistance. Her mind raced, every single dream coming true right before her eyes. "A team! Let's form a team!" It finally hit her. She was getting a second chance. She could finally do this right.
"R-really?!" Ithos cheered. He threw his own arms around her after the initial surprise. With her legs wrapped around his belly, she fit right in his lap, barely tall enough to rest her head on his shoulder. "Thank you!"
He tried to hop with her in his arms, but barely made it up off the ground and toppled back down. "Wh-whoah," he grunted. "You're kinda heavy for a pikachu." Max couldn't hold back a laugh. It really, really was just like before. "O-oh! But, so, we'll need a na-"
"Plasma!" Max squeaked, unable to hold herself back. "Team Plasma!"
Ithos churred out a roiling excitement. "That's perfect!" he cheered. He even let out a chuckle, shaking his head before mumbling, "I was about to say that, too." He didn't linger on that, though, before yanking her back into a tighter embrace. He shook with excitement while Max melted in the embrace she'd missed. He leaned down to declare, "We're gonna be the best Rescue Team the world's ever seen!"
Max's ear twitched. The first time, she'd been too excited to care. It was one word, one synonym that was functionally the same thing. She figured it was just a slip of the tongue, or maybe she'd just misheard him. Even still, she wasn't convinced she heard right.
"Hey, Ithos?" Max asked. She didn't let go of him, but she extended her arms to lean back enough to look up at him. "Did you mean to say 'Rescue Team'?"
"The plot thins, she's waiting"
It had been one single afternoon. Max stood at the end of a short path that lead to a ratty hovel of a dome. It was the same shape as the house she'd borrowed in Pokémon Square. The main difference was the many, many exposed boards, and even a few holes in the walls. Definitely not the dorms Goon had shown her.
"Sorry, I know it's… bad," Ithos said. He looked to the ground a second before shaking himself out of it, throwing a fist up in determination. "But I know we can fix it up!"
"Right, yeah," Max mumbled. "Sorry, I think it's great!" She looked up to him with as much of a smile as she could manage. Even this wasn't really her main concern. It was a bit… bad, but she'd been too shell shocked from signing up as the wrong kind of team to care.
"Besides, I'm sure G-," she slammed her jaw shut before taking a breath. "Great friends of yours won't mind helping!" She started to have a bit more of a genuine smile. She had a chance to try again with Goon, even. He might even end up not hating her. Max turned to see Ithos… suddenly downcast. "Ithos?" He was avoiding her gaze.
"Well, so…," Ithos muttered, barely able to get a word out. Again, he had this… cloud over him that Max couldn't remember. She knew he was a boundless bundle of hope. Half the time she looked at him, though, he had a shadow of despair on his face. "I don't really… have any."
"What?" Max asked. "Wh-yes you do." This didn't make sense. Ithos had to be the most amicable mon she'd ever met. Yet, she watched him wince in pain at her words. "O-or, I mean, look." She rushed over to grab hold of his arm. "Sorry, it's just." She trailed off, struggling to find a way to speak that wouldn't give her away. Ithos kept his eyes on the ground, practically dripping with self-doubt.
It broke her heart.
She threw her arms around him, making him yelp. "Look, I'm sorry," she said, squeezing him tighter before he could wriggle out of her grasp. "I guess, you just seem so sweet, helpful, fun, and great that I can't imagine people wouldn't fall over themselves to be your friend!"
Ithos stopped trying to squirm out of her hug as she spoke. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to see a shadow of that gleam in his eye. He struggled to look at her, but couldn't help a smile. "Y-you really…," he mumbled before trailing off. Shaking his head, he finally wrapped his arms around her. She could feel him quaking in her grasp. "N-no one's ever been so… nice to me. Thank you."
Ithos squeezed her tighter; Max felt her heart shatter. This was wrong—so, so so wrong. Ithos was so full of joy. She'd only ever seen him doubt himself once! This was
"Champagne to celebrate?" someone asked.
"Do you mind?" Max hissed, not even bothering to look at whoever that was. She had much more important worries to—and he'd just walked on over to the other side.
"Champagne for the lovely team?" he said again.
Max grit her teeth, looking over to bark, "Not now!" She got a good look at a grovyle holding exactly what he'd offered. A bottle of champagne. He quickly ducked away, exactly as she asked, and she sighed in relief. What a weirdo.
She took a deep breath to steady herself and leaned back. She looked carefully, deeply at Ithos' face. It was exactly who she expected to see. Exactly the face she remembered, and yet, there was something missing. That confidence, that glee, that unshakable hope, that—motherfucking grovyle was slowly lowering the champagne into her line of sight.
"We're like, ten!" Max shouted, breaking out of Ithos' hold to glare up at Grovyle.
"Wh-Max?" Ithos stuttered. He crumpled in on himself a bit as he whimpered, "I'm thirteen."
"So sorry, I'll need but a minute," Grovyle explained. He tossed the champagne at Ithos, giving him no choice but to catch it, and flicked a shiny, blue-diamond rescue badge at the both of them. "I'm with the Rescue Team Society!" He shoved the badge back in his bag before Max got a good look at it. "That's congratulations on the new team!"
He clapped twice with a ridiculous smile before switching his gaze down to Max. Looking into his eyes, she saw the slightest hint of something darker behind them. "If you'll allow me one minute with this lovely lady, I'll be out of your scales," he said. His paw shot down to the ruff of her neck and grabbed hold before she had a chance to resist. "I wish you the best, ah," he glanced back at Ithos to double check, "Charmander!"
Max hissed out screeches and squeaks of fury while fruitlessly trying to wriggle out of his grasp. She had no idea what she was saying, too angry to form a sentence. She was just waiting for Ithos to burn him to a crisp.
Instead, he managed to plop her in a cage, whipping a vine out of his paw to snap it closed before her paws hit the bottom. He reclined, crossed his legs, and shook his head, rubbing his eyes before staring down at her. He'd completely relaxed, as if he'd completely neutralized her, but she'd show him.
"Piiiii," she growled, pulling charge into her cheeks before launching it towards him with a roaring, "KA!"
Her mighty bolt hit the metal of the cage and dissipated into the ground.
"Fantastic, get it out of your system," Grovyle grumbled. "Then, you can tell me what the hell you're doing here." While Max kept trying, he sat back and tugged his bag forward for rummaging. She thought she had a chance with an iron tail, but that only made the entire cage ping with a ring so earsplitting she had to cover her ears, eyes screwed shut into a wince.
When she managed to peak one eye open, Grovyle was bent over with a pair of classic style 3-D glasses, red and blue lenses. "Nope, native," he said, flicking off the glasses and tossing them back in his bag.
"Of course I'm—kachu," Max half-screamed, half-grumbled. Grovyle patiently watched while she took a second to calm down before trying again. "Of course I'm native!" she spat. "I'm a pikachu, born and raised!" Whatever this guy thought he knew, she wasn't going to let him know she used to be human—certainly not while caged.
"Born? A pikachu?" Grovyle hummed, tapping his chin with a claw. Pokémon hatch. Max could practically see the glee in his eyes as he watched her realize her mistake. She didn't let that get her down.
"It's a figure of speech," Max said, rolling her eyes. "But yes, hatched, if I'm speaking to a pedant."
"Pedant?" Grovyle scoffed, throwing a paw to his faux-broken heart. "Such lovely praise, thank you!" He flashed a malicious smile before narrowing his eyes. "Now, tell me what you did with her."
"With who?!" Max shouted.
"The pikachu," Grovyle said. "And don't try to play games with me. I know you don't belong here, impostor."
"What are you talking about?!" Max hissed. The more she tried to figure out what was going on, the less she understood. "Who do you think I am?"
"I don't know, and I don't care," Grovyle said. "But I'm not going to let whoever you are muck up the time I've spent so much time fixing." Max held tight to her glare to keep the bit of recognition shining through. "All I know is there's a pikachu named Max that's supposed to be here, and you're not her."
Max almost told him to shove it up his ass before his words finally started to register. Half of what he said made sense, but the other half didn't. It was almost the same amount of sense as talking to Ithos. Grovyle was right, this wasn't her time, but he also thought the pikachu was a girl. She was, but she wasn't the first time she crashed down.
"Sorry, she?" Max clarified. She quickly shook her head. That didn't matter. "Okay, wait, please." Her paws came up to rub at her temples. "Look, I'm Max, I swear." She looked up, half pleading with the half that wasn't enraged to be looking through the bars of a cage.
Grovyle eyed her with the same scrutiny. The way he looked her over made her feel like livestock. His eyes scanned her, top to bottom, then finally landed on her tail. An idea seemed to shine in his eyes, though his anger seemed to be waning. Whether that meant he believed her or not, Max wasn't sure. "The end of your tail," he said. "Is that natural?"
Max instantly felt even less comfortable with him examining her top to bottom. "And what is that supposed to mean?!" she hissed. Grovyle was a bit taken aback by her reaction, but she didn't care enough to stop. "What the hell gives you the right to ask if I'm 'natural'?" That stare, had he been trying to figure out if she was—"However the hell my tail used to look doesn't matter! It's a girl's tail because it's mine!"
Grovyle's eyes flashed in sudden, horrified realization for a split second before shifting instantly into even deeper confusion. "The—Pikachu, you know the end is natural, right?" he asked. Despite promising herself nothing he could say would calm her down, he did shock her out of herself.
She'd forgotten about that little change. "R-right," she mumbled. "Well, yeah, of course."
"I was talking about your fur," Grovyle said. Max shrank away, sparks bouncing off her cheeks. "Is it dyed, or natural?"
Max took a deep breath, but it didn't really help. Her ears were burning hotter than when she'd lit Ithos' tail right in her own face. "Oh, that?" she squeaked. Glancing back, she felt a little leap in her heart. She hadn't even had a chance to see her old tail out from under the bandages. This one looked pristine, cute, and it was hers. "Dyed?"
"Natural," Grovyle corrected. "It should be dye, but it's not. It's a recessive gene that won't exist for another eight hundred years, yet here you are."
"What?" Max balked. Even if her tail wasn't like that, Libré didn't start existing eight hundred years after she met Ithos. "Eight hundred? Years? Are you joking?"
Grovyle looked over her expression to try and find the deception. When he couldn't, his eyes got distant before he shook himself out of it and started mumbling to himself. "This doesn't make any sense. Why is she here?" He hopped up to pace back and forth, continuing to mumble too fast and indistinct for her to make out.
"Yo," Max said, getting sick of hearing him talk to himself. He didn't seem to hear her and went right on mumbling. "Hey," she called, a little bit louder, but evidently not enough. "HEY!"
Grovyle jumped, looking down at her with a mouth twisted into horror and disgust. "Excuse me?" he asked. "Not polite to yell, young lady."
Max grit her teeth, eyes narrow as she could make them without closing them. "Polite?" she asked, placing her paws on the cage he'd trapped her in for emphasis. Grovyle's expression didn't change in the slightest. This seemed perfectly natural to him. "Says the guy who hasn't even told me his name."
"Grovyle," Grovyle said.
"Your. Name," Max snarled.
"No name, just Grovyle," Grovyle answered with a dismissive wave. "Makes things simpler, doesn't leave a trace. Hard to leave an impression that way, so." He shrugged, looking down at her with a smirk. "Just Grovyle."
"Just Grovyle?" Max asked, keeping her eyes narrow. She was doing her best to look at Grovyle the way Goon usually looked at her. It didn't have the same effect on Grovyle, though. If anything, he seemed to relish in the glare. She took in a frustrated breath to prepare for an even more frustrated exhale. "Might as well call you Doctor."
"Hatched and raised a pikachu, did you?" Grovyle asked, eye quirked in pseudo-confusion. Max flinched, cursing herself while he grinned. "Don't worry, I already knew you were a human."
"What, because I like their shows?" Max countered. This was way past the point she could recover, but she might as well try.
"'Their shows' won't be unearthed for another six hundred years," Grovyle explained.
"That—no, you're wrong," Max said. She couldn't even begin to figure out what he was trying to say. Cori had told her about the human artifacts they'd already discovered. Even if it had been that very year, that was three at most.
"Ready to admit you're not from this time, yet?" Grovyle offered.
"I will when you will," Max grumbled. "It's the Rescue Society, not Rescue Team Society." She looked up at him with a proud smirk of her own.
"Fantastic, she's clever," Grovyle said with a smirk of his own. "I'll bet you noticed the badge, too, then, right?" He bent down to tug it back out of his bag, then showed it to her. "This rank doesn't exist yet, either." Max bit her cheek, failing to hide her frustration. He'd pretty much gotten her at this point.
"I'll give it to you, though," Grovyle hummed as he tucked it back into his bag. "You merely were unaware that rank had been a recent addition." Crossing his arms, he reclined back with an almost genuine smile, at least the closest he'd shown her this far. "I guessed wrong." Taking his arms back, he stretched them up to extend his back and sat forward. Despite saying he'd 'give it to her', he still looked like he'd won something.
"You will when I will, correct?" he said.
"Okay, fine!" Max said, rolling her eyes. "Yes, all right? I'm in the wrong time, but only by a few years! Not a few hundred." Grovyle raised his brow, but gave her space to go on. "Look, I don't know what happened. I was sleeping, I wake up, and I'm a meteor again. It's the same day I met Ithos, but he's… different, and I'm a girl." Grovyle gave her a glance.
Max shrunk away again, cheeks sparking. "N-not, well, that's obviously… how it was, though," she muttered. It was a pitiful attempt, but she looked up anyway, hoping he'd pretend to believe it for her sake. He very clearly didn't. Max shrank further, worried what he'd say about that next.
"Ah, so you are Ithos' partner," Grovyle said. "His second one." Max blinked, suddenly worried she'd been sloppy seconds all this time. She'd known she was sloppy, but seconds? "Good seeing you again." Before Max could even glance at him for that, he went on. "Still doesn't explain why you're…." He shook his head, waving the thought away. "Tell me, haven't you noticed anything odd?"
"Well, yeah?" Max said. He was, evidently, a time traveler. She was more just frustrated he just implied they'd meet again. "Ithos is a lot more, well." She searched for the least insulting word, before settling. "Pathetic." At least he didn't hear her.
Now that Grovyle wasn't at her throat about it, she started actually thinking this through. "I know we're supposed to be an Expedition Team, not a Rescue Team," she mumbled. "The house is supposed to be a dorm." A subtle horror started building in her chest. If Grovyle was here to stop her messing up the timeline, he might already be too late.
"O-oh God," Max mumbled. "How fucked are things already?"
"Fret not, my foul-mouthed female," Grovyle sang with spite. Despite the negging, Max was trying too hard not to grin about being called a female to be mad. "Luckily, there haven't been any tremors yet." Leaning back, he rested his head on his arms while looking down with a hint of pride in his eyes. "Because I got here soon enough to stop you."
He preened at his accomplishment with a wide grin. "I'll just get the right Max from…," he trailed off. The pride and victory shattered before his eyes. "Wh-where'd you say you put her?"
"I didn't!" Max said. "I didn't do anything!"
"You did—you had to!" Grovyle shouted. He hopped up, holding a paw to his head. "It doesn't make any sense. I fixed this, I had to! There hasn't been a single tremor!" He shook his head as he began to pace again. "The problem is totally solved! Everything's supposed to be fine after I leave!" He started pacing more and more frantically until suddenly shooting his gaze to her. "Well? Any ideas?" he asked.
Max just stared in amazement. Had he really expected her to chime in?
"Great," Grovyle grumbled. "Great! I make one mistake, I don't even know what it is, and now I'm stuck with another idiot human."
"Oh, like you're so clever," Max spat.
"I am," Grovyle said. He dropped down right in front of her. "Do you have any idea how serious this is?" He stared at her with rage she could feel. "This isn't when you meet Ithos! This is a thousand years before you meet him!"
"A thou—he's a charmander!" Max shouted.
Grovyle paused for a second, expression frozen. Max could see the gears turning against each other in his head. "Right, of course he is," he said. He stared at her for a bit longer before finally shaking his head. "I have to fix this, and I have to fix this fast." He dragged his paws down his face before looking down at her.
"You're still his partner, at least," he grumbled. He grit his teeth, mind racing for any other option and eyes growing more and more resigned while he couldn't find one. Shaking his head, he growled something under his breath before facing her again.
"All right, you get to stay," he jabbed a claw towards her, "for now!" Despite getting yelled at, Max nearly bounced in excitement. Time be damned, she wasn't ready to say goodbye to Ithos. "But don't you dare touch anything. Don't you dare change even the slightest little event of the slightest little mission."
"How am I supposed to know what happens?" Max asked, but he was already yanking his bag back on.
"Well, there were no tremors when I took it, so thanks for not drinking the champagne," Grovyle said. "I'll pick it up in the morning." With a shrug, he looked down at her one last time. "See ya!" Without so much as a wave, he started running off, leaving Max trapped in the cage.
"Hey—Grovyle!" Max shouted, shaking at the bars of her cage. "Want my help? Then let me out of here!"
Without missing a beat, Grovyle spun around and started running backwards. "Never locked the top, dear!" he shouted back at her. "Besides, you're waiting until I let you out to shock me!" He waved, turned back around, and disappeared from sight.
Max wanted to gnaw on the bars. She was really looking forward to shocking him. She went to push the top off and met no resistance. Every swear she knew came out in its pika-speak equivalent while she crawled out of that stupid cage. That entire time, she could've just hopped out and beat that smug look off his face.
"Whatever, whatever," Max grumbled to herself. Hopefully he hadn't taken her too far away. She only knew he'd taken her South thanks to her charge. With a grunt, she started down the road while her mind raced.
This situation was already absurd. She didn't believe a single second since waking up entering the atmosphere, and now Grovyle was telling her a bunch of nonsense she believed even less. It left her head spinning when all she wanted to do was be with her friend again. She hadn't seen him for years, and this Ithos didn't even have a reason to hate her.
"Not yet, at least," Max whimpered. Every possibility remained that she'd make the same mistakes or worse. She couldn't even remember half of them. Hopefully more would come back as she spent time with him. Unless Grovyle was to be believed, this should be about the same experience as last time.
"A thousand years," Max scoffed. That little part was too ridiculous to even shake her head at.
Ithos screaming in agony yanked her out of her thoughts.
"Ithos!" Max screamed. She hopped down on all fours to sprint as fast as she could. "Hold on! I'm coming!" Ithos didn't sound too far away, but that might just be how loud he could scream. Among the things she could remember, the volumes of his screams hadn't returned to her memories yet.
Heart racing, she desperately scanned her surroundings for the house while she barreled down the road. Right in front of her, some water type was having a peaceful stroll. She hopped around them with inches to spare, shouting, "Sorry!" Whoever it was yelled at her, but she couldn't make out what they had to say above the winds.
Finally, she caught sight of the house out of the right corner of her eye. She banked right and shot right into the house. "Ithos! Where are you?!" she shouted at the dark—dark! The only light in the place was his tail. She saw him clutching his paw, sitting against the right wall and ran over to him. She had to weave around a few boards with crooked nails in on the way.
"Hey, hey!" Max said, laying a paw on his shoulder. Ithos flinched away at the touch before looking up at her with the biggest, saddest eyes she'd ever seen him give. "It's all right. What happened?"
"Uh, so, well," Ithos mumbled. He glanced at his paw before desperately looking away. "I-I thought, well, while you were talking with him, might as well get started on construction, right?" Looking up, he tried his best to force a smile before his eyes shot away from her gaze. Based on the un-nailed board behind him, Max had a pretty good idea what happened. She couldn't see the hammer or the nail, though.
"I didn't have a hammer, though, so I couldn't nail them into the wall yet," he continued. Max tilted her head. That explained why she didn't see a hammer, but now she had no idea what he even could've been doing. "I just started pre-nailing the boards."
"Pre-nailing?" Max asked. That definitely wasn't a thing, but it explained the several discarded boards in there. Her stomach started to turn as she started forming a hypothesis.
He was holding his paw.
"Ithos, what were you using to pre-nail?" Max asked. She knew the answer was going to horrify her, but she was ready for it.
"Mega Punch," Ithos said.
Max stared forward. While she'd been talking with Grovyle, Ithos had been punching nails into boards. Ithos had always had dangerous amounts of tenacity, but he at least wasn't stupid. Max wasn't sure even she had ever done this something so stupid. At least he meant well, but God how pathetic. It was beyond what she could've even thought of as a joke.
It made her desperate to propose.
"Hey, you're all right," Max said. She pulled him into a hug, running her paws down his arm. Hopefully it would help while she tried to figure out how to at least dull the pain. They didn't have any bandages, ice, not even painkillers. It was just an empty house. All they had was that stupid bottle of—perfect.
"Here, I know what'll help," Max cooed. She squeezed him one last time before getting up to find the bottle. It sat nestled against the would be door frame, but it was hard to make out with the light streaming in from the entrance. She slowly pawed over to it, carefully nudging every 'pre-nailed' board closer to the wall. As she got closer, she noticed two mismatched cups nestled in with the bottle.
Ithos must've gotten those somewhere for them to use. "Aw, that's perfect," Max cooed. Nestling the bottle in the crook of her arm, she put one of the cups on top of it and carried the other one in her paw. Out of curiosity, she tried to probe at her surroundings with her awareness on her way back. Barely even trying, she felt the entire room.
She quickly tried to reign it in when she made it back to Ithos. "Nice cups," she said, grin trying to burst off her cheeks. Pathetic or not, it was Ithos. "Here, this will help with the pain." She needed to look at the bottle to figure out how to open it.
She couldn't take her eyes off Ithos. It was him. It was really, really him. Just the sight of his face made her so happy she thought she might explode. The face she never thought she'd see again. Whether she got to stay for a few hours or a few years, she was happier than she'd ever imagined was possible just looking at his f—
"M-Max?" Ithos asked, ripping Max out of her thoughts.
"Sorry!" Max shouted. She nearly collapsed in on herself for having stared at him silently for she didn't even know how long. "God, I'm so sorry." Her cheeks sparked enough to rival his tail as a light source. "I probably look insane to you."
"H-hey, it's all right!" Ithos said. He threw his good paw up to wave surrender. "I, um." He brought his paw to scratch at the back of his neck. "I didn't mind." Thanks to testing her awareness, Max could tell his cheeks had flushed despite the dark. "Whatever you were thinking about, you looked really happy."
"Yeah," Max chuckled. Either he was oblivious, or that unsure of himself. Based on her gut, she was pretty sure it was the former.
Putting the cups down, she started ripping the foil off the bottle to get at the cork. "We can clean this up after we go get some tools, how's that sound?" she said with a smirk. Several slivers of foil floated down around them until she'd finally excavated the cork. She'd only seen this opened in movies, though, so with trepidation, she shook it a few times before smacking at the cork with her paw.
After the second hit, it shot open with a playful pop, and foam shot out right behind it. She tried to cover it with a paw, but only succeeded in redirecting the stream directly to her face. By the time she had a good seal on it, it had already stopped.
Max looked at Ithos. Ithos looked at Max. She'd completely soaked both of them. Again. Not quite as bad as the last time, at least. Ithos had his mouth cinched shut as tight as he could possibly manage while his cheeks puffed up in repressed laughter. His eyes begged her for permission. Little did he know, she was holding back some chuckles of her own.
They let their laughs out in unison, soaked and sticky, in the dark, run down house. Ithos kept laughing long after Max did, but she didn't mind. She listened to the symphony with a growing smile while she poured some of what remained into the cups. It seemed like most of the champagne was still there.
She waited for him to finish laughing, too happy about hearing it again to interrupt. When it finally tapered off, Max nudged a cup into his good paw, raising her own when he took it. "A toast," she chuckled. "To friends."
Ithos' mouth shot open into a grin while stars formed in each of his eyes. "To friends!" he cheered, clinking his glass against hers. He took a conservative sip before cringing and wiping his mouth. Max took her own sip and didn't blame him, though she never loved champagne, either.
Ithos stared down at his cup, grinning as wide as his lips would let him. His eyes shone with the light of the world and enough joy to fill Max's heart while she watched him. He shook his head in disbelief with another chuckle. With impossible glee and restraint, he whispered almost too quietly for Max to hear, just to himself, as if unable to believe the words, "To friends."
"The morning alarm rings
I'm asleep but she's talking to me
She's walking 'round wearing all of my clothes"
Max couldn't run fast enough. No matter what she did, she could feel it gaining on her. Whatever it was, she knew she didn't have a chance in hell of living if it caught her, and her paws were starting to ache. She couldn't see it, couldn't see her surroundings, couldn't see anything, working entirely off the building dread as it grew closer.
Everything from her surroundings to her own moving had grown so distant, so hard to make out already. She could feel her instincts clawing for control, and she was too busy running to fight them off. The monster chasing her started to close in on her as her instincts closed in on her mind. She would die, and her instincts would kill her before the beast did.
It had her by the shoulders, thrashing her. Before it dealt the final blow, it roared, "Max! Max! Wake up!"
Max shoved it off her and let out the strongest shock she could manage. The world was still pitch black around her aside from the light coming from the monster she'd thrown off. She almost made out slivers of light behind her and tried to run for them.
She slammed into a wall and started desperately clawing at it to get away. Her claws stung the more she tried, but she had to get away, barely even had control of them. The desperate need to flee overrode any thoughts she tried to form as she hopelessly tried to break through to the slivers of freedom she could barely make out. She couldn't get anywhere, the glimpses of moonlight only twisting the knife.
"Max! What's wrong? It's just me!" Ithos yelled. Max spun around to cower against the wall. She pressed against it, made herself as small as possible in the hopes of escape while staring up in horror at him. He'd brought his tail forward, lighting every sharp fang in his maw that she could imagine tearing her apart.
"Piika pi ka," Max whimpered, curling up as tight as she could. Escape was impossible. It was hopeless. She couldn't bring her paws to run no matter how hard she tried. Already, she could hear the monster stepping up to claim its meal. Its warmth grew and grew around her as it stepped agonizingly closer, agonizingly slowly. With its fire, she only hoped it would kill her before cooking her.
It's claws came for her back first and started gently combing down her fur. "It's all right, it's all right," Ithos cooed as quietly as he could. He started rubbing her back in a few spots as his paw went down her back. "I've got you, don't worry."
He kept petting her, kept whispering comforts at her as her whimpers died down. The soul-rending terror took a while to abate, but he patiently continued tending to her. "It's just me, Ithos," he whispered, bringing his other paw to her belly. He lightly scritched the bit she wasn't covering while still tending to her back. The fear started slowly giving way to a building peace and comfort.
The warmth that terrified her minutes ago now soothed her. She'd felt so cold, so alone, but now, she was neither. Her instincts were too preoccupied with the petting to keep her from wresting some bit of control back from herself. She blearily looked up at Ithos for some explanation.
"Kaa pika?" Max asked, shaking her head. She got a little bit of progress rubbing some sleep out of her eyes, though she still felt exhausted.
Ithos gave her a solid pat and pulled his paws away. "You all right?" he asked. While she rubbed her eyes some more, he bent down a bit to get a better look at her. So he didn't startle her, he brought a paw to her back to soothe her just in case.
It was all barely a blur to Max. She struggled to piece together the rushed bits she remembered, but her nose was a great reminder of her little escape attempt. "Chuuuu," she grumbled, cupping her nose with her paws.
"Max?" Ithos asked. When Max glanced up, he was looking at her eyes. She froze, shrinking away a bit as she realized what he was looking for.
"S-Sorry!" Max whimpered, hopping up to cradle her tail to her chest. Sparks spouted from her cheeks while her ears caught fire. She buried her face in her tail to hide her eyes, certain he'd only see the inky black of a feral.
Ithos put his paw on her head, slowly running down her back. His touch steadied her quaking while his voice, "Hey, don't worry! I'm not gonna hurt you," slowed her racing heart. He kept on petting her, siphoning her nerves away, until she built up the courage to peek one eye over her tail. This time, he was just smiling at her. His eyes met hers only to make contact.
"What's wrong?" he asked, patting her back. His paw rested there, ready to soothe her again at a moments notice.
"Chuuuu," Max groaned. She let her tail fall to her chest, but kept hugging it. Now that her instincts were calmer, she could manage to talk again after a bit of concentration. "Sorry," she said, shaking her head. She couldn't bring herself to look Ithos in the eyes. At best, she glanced up to see him smiling down at her. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Ithos said. He pat her back a few times before she'd even noticed she was tensing up again. "What happened? Was that all because of a nightmare?"
"Sort of," Max mumbled, trying not to lose her self in his touch. His warm paw against her fur warmed a part deeper than she could remember. "I've been like this for a while." Her eyes scanned along the floor while she tried to build up the courage. "D-Dungeon Sickness."
"Dungeon Sickness?" Ithos asked. "What's that?" His hint of confusion met a tidal wave of her own.
Max looked up to see if he was serious, but he was. "Oh," she mumbled in disbelief. She'd never had to explain this to someone before. Most of the time, she spent most of her energy making sure no one knew she dealt with it. "So, you know feral pokémon?" He nodded, so she went on. "Well, I've got instincts like one. If I get upset or stressed, they come out, and it's really hard to put them back."
"Really?" Ithos asked, sorrowful empathy in his eyes. "How?"
Max narrowed her eyes at him before her brain caught up. He'd just seen her enter the world through the atmosphere that day. She jerked her head away to avoid his eyes. His partner wasn't supposed to have Dungeon Sickness. A light burn of panic came in her chest while she wondered how much she'd just messed up time.
"R-right, ha," Max mumbled. "Well, y'know. It's hard to explain." She tried to smile up at him which lodged a shard of glass into her heart. "It's all pretty new to me, too! Being, uh." He was the first to know, she was pretty sure. Still, a hint of doubt held her back. "What I am."
Luckily, Ithos proved she guessed right. He nodded with a bit of a self-satisfied smirk. "Right," he said. Max let out a breath of relief. "An alien."
"What?!" Max balked. She almost laughed at the joke, but his face looked entirely sincere. She kept staring at him, waiting for the facade to crack, but no. He was entirely serious. She couldn't help shouting, "Human!"
"Hu—what?!" Ithos yelped. His eyes went wide before he leapt back, clutching his head in his paws. "H-human? But—nonono, but that—last time a human was here—oh sweet Mother Mew!" He stared at the floor in horror that only seemed to grow with time. "A-and I'm you're partner." He shook his head in a desperate attempt to calm down, but it only seemed to terrify him more.
"No, I can't," he said, shaking his head more. His paws came up in an attempt to wave the whole concept away. "Look, I'm not sure what you think I am, or how your people choose, but l-look, I can't save the world!"
Max stared in open mouthed confusion. She couldn't even be shocked at this point. Ithos had constantly told her they could do anything, constantly affirmed that, if anyone had to save the world, they could. He took on that burden better than even she had. He'd almost seemed excited about it, yet here he was begging her to save it with someone else.
A realization came gradually, crawling underneath her skin to skitter into her fur. Looking into his disbelieving, uncertain eyes, she started to see someone else. She started to see herself. Without Ithos, she never would have had the courage to do what they did. She needed him, then.
He needed her, now.
Ithos had stopped trying to argue his fate, now sitting with his head in his paws. Every half-breath in came with a trembling exhale, lungs rushing to get as little air in as possible. His heart almost audibly beat out of his chest.
"It's all right," Max whispered. Ithos didn't seem to hear her at all, eyes stuck to the floor while his head slowly shook. One slow, soft step at a time, Max crept over to rest a paw on his shoulder, praying that the right words would come to her. Until then, she let her paw follow a familiar trail down his back with stops for extra scritches all along the way.
"I'm scared, too," she said. A paw went to the scarf that wasn't there for security, and she shivered. It still wasn't there. She clutched Ithos a bit tighter to compensate. He'd been the one to pull her out of every stupid mistake she made. If Grovyle didn't find the right Max soon, she wasn't sure how much she could really do. When she looked up at Ithos' eyes, her answer called from beyond the veil.
"When I think about it, I'm terrified," she said, not sure if the words came from the heart or her memory. Wherever they originated, though, she knew they were true. "I don't know what it'll take, what I need to do, or what I'm even supposed to be stopping."
A sneer snuck onto her face as she looked away. "They didn't exactly give detailed instructions," she grumbled. "But," she looked into his eyes and found him looking into hers, "When I look at you…." She trailed off as a smile started to creep across her lips. "I know I can do it." His eyes pulled her in, and she started to lean in for a hug. Once she had him in her arms, she whispered, "I know we can do it."
Ithos carefully wrapped his arms around her as well. They'd hugged earlier, yet he seemed suddenly unsure where to put his paws. His paws twitched around her back for a bit until settling exactly where Max remembered.
As she held him in her arms, and he held her, the tremors started to slow. She squeezed him a few times, and he did the same after the third. His face wasn't in her line of sight, so she watched his tail's flame. The shaky ember started to grow and crackle with life. She squeezed him a bit tighter as it grew from a fire to a blaze and felt him do the same.
Tapping each other's backs, they pulled back, chuckling in accidental unison, "Someone's excited."
"What?" Max asked. She turned around to see her tail bobbing eagerly from side to side. Ithos looked at his own and flushed, but Max couldn't take her eyes away. All her life as a pikachu, she'd shoved her tail behind her, pretended it wasn't there.
She pulled it forward to run her paws along the fur, down the bobs that formed the heart. The shift from yellow to brown was subtle, but the brown felt that little bit softer. She couldn't wag her tail holding it in her paws, so she started wiggling side to side. An involuntary flick of her ear brought her eye up to see Ithos watching her with amusement. "S-sorry," Max said, tucking her tail behind her.
"No, don't!" Ithos chuckled. He kept watching her as he lost the fight against laughter until finally getting a grip on himself. After watching her for a few seconds longer, he said, "I kinda get what you mean." Max managed a glance up, if only to see his smile. "Something about you, I don't know."
As he spoke, Max could almost hear two of him. Tears threatened her eyes in the dim light as, in the present and the past, she heard Ithos say, "I just look at you, and I think I could do anything."
She couldn't stop herself from tackling him into a hug, too emotional to even try speaking. Whether she'd slip into pika-speak or not, she didn't have words. Holding him as tight as she could said more than she ever could. They fell asleep in each other's arms, and she finally had a night without nightmares.
GLOSSARY:
Instincts and Awareness: due to how Dungeons work in my canon, prolonged exposure will cause "Dungeon Sickness", a condition that causes a pokémon to lose their rational sense and memories. It makes them temporarily act like a 'feral' pokémon. While pokémon will eventually remember much of what they lost and return to who they were, the instincts and vulnerability to a Dungeon's pull never fully goes away.
Max at one point intentionally lost herself in Dungeons due to being, in her eyes, irredeemable and wanting to forget. More recently, it seems to have given her a heightened awareness of her surroundings.