"I spy… something that begins with a D!"

"Driftwood. It's driftwood. We've done driftwood three times already. The only thing in this entire fucking sea besides us is driftwood." An unamused Indigo perched on the bow of the sloop, scowling out towards the flat sheets of ocean that laid in front of him.

"Aw, don't be like that." Lyra said, sitting down on the deck. "There's plenty of stuff out here. You just need to know what to look for. Here, let me go next, I've got a good one."

Indigo shook his head. "No. You cheated last round. 'Solar radiation' isn't something you can see."

Seph nodded in agreement. "He's right. You violated the honored rules of I Spy. Your right to play has been revoked."

Lyra sighed. "Well… maybe we play another game now?"

Team Pelagic was almost three hours into their trip to the Lost Archive, and they were losing their minds. The last time they passed an island was over an hour ago. They hadn't seen a single other ship in the water. They didn't need to change course once - it was a straight line to their destination. There was absolutely nothing to do. It was a nightmare.

"My brothers would play a game where we'd punch each other whenever we saw a boat." Seph mused. "But I haven't seen any boats. And I don't really want to punch you guys."

"...Do you guys have playing cards in the Inner Sea?"

"Wait. Wait! Hold on!" Indigo shouted. Seph and Lyra flinched from the unexpected outburst.

"I see something! Island, straight ahead!"

Sure enough, the unmistakable shape of an island greeted them from the horizon. The team was quickly approaching landfall.

"Oh thank God." Lyra muttered.

"Alright! Let's get closer and get ready to explore!"

Team Pelagic had tied their sloop to a convenient post that bore the same symbol as their guild badges, and arrived at their destination: a small, run-down wooden building. Vines and other overgrowth had swallowed the exterior and the door was nearly falling off its hinges. The interior wasn't much better. Splintered and rotted planks covered the floor wherever there weren't roots sprouting out, and empty bookshelves lined the walls. A building couldn't look more abandoned if it tried.

Seph stepped toward one of the shelfs on the right side of the room. "Zoroark said it should be the third from the right, so… this one!"

He pulled on the side of the old bookshelf, and everyone watched as it swung forward on hinges, like a door. In the newly revealed opening, a familiar set of stone stairs stood, beckoning the explorers toward yet another dungeon.

Lyra took a deep breath. Past this dungeon was the book she's been working for all week. This was the closest she's ever been to getting some answers. She wasn't an idiot - she knew that whatever was written in that book wouldn't solve all her issues - but it was a starting point. She could finally get some concrete information. Step one on her journey to being a human again was almost in reach.

And the only thing in the way was a Mystery Dungeon.

Lyra felt something she hadn't felt in a while. She had a feeling in her gut that made her feel unstoppable, like whatever hid within this dungeon wouldn't be enough to stop her. She felt hope.

Lyra turned around and looked at her teammates. "Everybody ready?"

Indigo nodded. Seph gave an enthusiastic thumbs up and a smile.

"Good. Let's get this done."

Lost Archive - 1F


Psychic types were a bitch to fight. They weren't particularly strong, per se, they were just annoying. As Pelagic got closer to the top of the dungeon, Lyra was sick of all the Psybeams and Confusions hurled her way. If she hurt herself in confusion one more time she was gonna lose it.

At least she was getting better at fighting husks. Once you knew their strategies, they were fairly predictable. Most of the husks here tried to use long range psychic type moves to pelt their enemy, while staying out of range of melee attacks. Since Team Pelagic had no long range attacks of their own, Lyra's tactic when fighting these husks was to "run them down as fast as we can". It sometimes almost worked without flaw.

After narrowly taking down an Elgyem husk in a hallway, Lyra caught her breath after yet another brief but demanding fight.

"We, hah , we really need to learn some ranged moves. This, god, really sucks."

"Maybe the archive has a book for that." Indigo joked. "Come on, don't stop now. This should be the last floor. If I remember right."

Indigo did not remember right.

But, after one more floor filled with Confusion beams and a general feeling of exhaustion, Team Pelagic ascended the final staircase.

A magnificent, sprawling array of tightly packed bookshelves greeted them at the top. Rows upon rows of shelves formed perfect aisles in every direction Lyra looked. She could just barely make out the distant walls of the room, arcing upwards to form a ceiling that stood at least 30 feet tall. From that ceiling hung elegant chandeliers with dancing orange flames that illuminated the entire room in an inviting glow.

This was Lyra's happy place.

"Oh. Oh, wow."

Lyra was stupefied by the sheer volume of knowledge that now engulfed her. She began to aimlessly drift through the aisles, absent-mindedly reading the titles of some of the books she passed by: 'Saltspell Folktales', 'The Song of Fathoms', and 'Speeches of Importance; Volume III' were some of the names she saw. Much to her delight, she realized the entire archive was sorted alphabetically.

Sure, she could only take one book, but she could read as many sleeves as her heart desired! She took off in a random direction, scanning every book she came across.

"Lyra. Lyra! Where are you going!?" Indigo began to chase after her. "You can only take one book, remember? One! Don't get distracted!"

Seph took one step forward and placed an ever so gentle paw on the Noibat's shoulder.

"She knows. She'll be fine! Let's, uh, let's let her have this. She's been waiting for this ever since we joined the guild."

Indigo stopped chasing after the Mareep and watched her vanish behind a bookshelf, giddily laughing to herself. A thought occurred to him that he probably should have thought of days ago.

"Why does she care about a book so much?" He said in a huff.

"Well, she's trying to get back home. And she thinks the book can help."

"Right. Yeah, amnesia and all that. I don't know, she shouldn't have such high hopes. Most of the books here are crap, anyway. It's all just old Pokémon writing down pointless lists. Diaries and cookbooks and shit."

If Indigo projected any harder he would go astral.

Seph did his best to be understanding. "Let's at least see what happens. I have a good feeling about this - you never know what she might find!"

Indigo sighed. "Sure. I'll keep an open mind. By the way, what book were you looking for, Seph?"

Seph shrugged. "I dunno. I'll look around and grab one that looks good."

A far-off voice interrupted their conversation, bouncing through the massive building:

"Guys! I found it! Come over here!"


After a quick game of Marco Polo to locate her, Seph and Indigo approached Lyra, who was staring at a spot on one of the bookcases.

There, nestled on the bottom shelf, was 'Concerning Humans: Creatures From Another World'. The book looked old and dusty. Its spine was plain and elegant: a dark brown color with the title (in Footprint Runes, of course) illuminated in bright white. It was about as thick as a novel.

Lyra nervously looked at her teammates. "So I just take it, right? I can just pull it out and read it? There's not gonna be a boulder falling from the ceiling or anything?"

Indigo shook his head. "Nah. There's no traps around here. You can just take it."

Lyra looked at the book again. She took a deep breath. Then, she looked back at Indigo. "Are you sure there's no traps? There could always be a trap. Like, maybe only a few books are trapped and no one knows because they've never touched those books! Or, or-"

"Lyra?" Indigo politely asked.

"Y-yeah?"

"Just take the fucking book."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

In that moment, when she was a mere few feet away from what she was striving for, Lyra was scared. She was scared that this wouldn't be worth it. That there wouldn't be anything in that book. That she had come all this way for nothing. That she would be stuck here, in this archipelago of biologically impossible animals, with absolutely no leads back home.

All of those dreaded outcomes could still happen. But, none of the wondrous outcomes she hoped for could happen either unless she opened that book. She wouldn't know until she tried.

A cat who's name she couldn't quite recall briefly came to mind.

With one more deep breath to give her courage, Lyra placed a hoof on the top of 'Concerning Humans' and pulled the book out from the shelf.

Nothing happened. Much to her relief.

The front of the book looked much the same as the spine: just a simple white title on a brown background. She opened the book and got to reading.

Flip. Flip. Flip.

The book definitely was about humans, so that was a relief. The first page had a pretty accurate sketch of the human body and internal organs, followed by a several page long description of human anatomy. Lyra was genuinely impressed by how descriptive the book was. The author surely must have met a human at some point, with this level of detail. She checked on the cover to see who the author was, but found with confusion that there was none listed.

Flip. Flip. Flip.

Yup, this author has definitely met a human. The details of human appearance and behavior were too specific to be speculation. That was a huge relief: the residents of this world and of Earth have clashed before, in some way. A thought occurred to Lyra that she probably should have thought of days ago.

Were there other humans-turned-Pokémon in this world? Would it be possible for her to find them?

Flip. Flip. Flip.

Now this was interesting. According to the book, humans are purposefully summoned to the Pokémon world as saviors, with the goal of stopping something bad from happening. The definition of 'something bad' was kept very vague: humans were too rare and appeared too far apart to reliably document every one that came here. Although apparently, the last 'something bad' was a massive storm that threatened the whole Inner Sea with endless rain and thunder.

This must be why Lyra woke up here! She was summoned on purpose by somebody to stop something from happening! Now, she just had to figure out who summoned her. And why. And where they are.

It was vague, but it was better than nothing. She finally had some useful knowledge.

Flip. Flip. Flip.

Lyra reached the final pages of the book, which were filled with accurate but unhelpful descriptions of Earth and human living conditions. She was about to close the book and store it in the treasure bag when something fell out of the book, nestled between the very last page and the backside of the cover. That something was a couple of loose pieces of paper which were yellowed with age. A small chain also fell out of the book, but Lyra would investigate that later. She needed to look at those mystery papers now.

There, on these yellowed papers, was a message written not in Footprint Runes, but in cursive English.

Lyra audibly gasped upon recognizing the human language. She tried to recompose herself as quick as possible, eager to devour the writing. The following is a one to one copy of the message she saw.

This message is for the eyes of humans alone. If you are a Pokémon who can miraculously read cursive English, kindly disregard this note and turn it in somewhere it could be found by humans in the future. If you are a human who has found yourself thrust into the body of a 'Pokémon' and are seeking answers as to what has happened to you, read on.

I was in the exact same situation I presume you to be in now. I awoke on the shore of Konti Isle with naught but the knowledge of my name. Even my memory had been taken from me. To abbreviate a lengthy story, I was indeed called here to divert an impending disaster - the great storm that threatened all of the Inner. During my journey, I learned information that I pray will be as useful to you now as it was for me in my time of need.

I was called here by the Pokémon Palkia. She is a remarkably strong Pokémon, with power over the very fabric of space. I eventually met her in the flesh at an ancient temple deep in the Outer Sea - note that a map to this temple is attached to the end of this letter. While there, I struck a deal with Palkia. I believed her world's system of summoning unwilling and unprepared humans to do their 'dirty work' for them was cruel and uncalled for. After negotiations, we came to an agreement: Palkia, and any other Pokémon, would never summon a human to this world again unless they had full knowledge of what was to happen to them, and fully consented.

Unfortunately, I have little hope that she will adhere to this deal. She seemed to not give much value to the deal we constructed, and believes her work to be for the greater good, above any notion of morals.

If you have willingly entered this world, then congratulations. I hope you enjoy your time here, and wish you the best of luck in whatever disaster is impending this time. If you have not entered willingly, or, more likely, have no memory of consenting, then Palkia has broken our agreement. She has some explaining to do to you. I highly recommend you take my map, head to her temple, and confront her. Perhaps you can succeed in negotiations where I have apparently failed. Or, at least, you can convince her to return you to Earth. If she refuses to do so, then I am certain that saving the world from whatever disaster is imminent will change her mind. She seems to be under some sort of obligation to allow humans to return home once the deed is done.

I, for one, have elected to remain here. This world, as strange as it may be, is a much kinder place to a woman than London is. The opportunities available here are incomparable to the stifled life of my home. I have never felt as free in all my life as I do when I take to the sea. And, though perhaps you might scoff at me for this, I have even fallen in love here. My husband Galio and I now live happily on Konti Isle - perhaps, if we are still living by the time you read this, you could stop by. We would be overjoyed to meet you and answer your questions.

And one more thing, before I forget.

I was given a gift by Palkia. Or rather, it was a re-gift of an item I once owned in the human world. It is a necklace with the tooth of a shark attached to the end. I always thought it brought me good luck. Seeing as I have had more than enough bountiful luck to last ten lifetimes, I have no more use for it. I bestow it to you now. You will find it enclosed in the back of the original copy of my book, where this note was placed. May its fortune shine brightly on you.

I wish you the best, friend, in whatever path you choose to walk down.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Burton

or, alternatively,

Elizabeth the Floatzel


Holy shit.

"Holy shit."

Holy fucking shit.

"Seph! Seph! Jesus fucking Christ, SEPH!" Lyra called out as she reread the note to ensure she wasn't hallucinating.

Seph, who had been idly munching on an apple the next aisle over, darted to the rescue. "I'm here! What's happening?"

Lyra tapped the book with her hoof. "This book, your great… great… great… oh, whatever. Your ancestor, Elizabeth, she wrote this!"

Seph calmed down as he realized Lyra was not in life-threatening danger. "Oh. Cool!"

"No! It's not cool! It's way more than cool! It's cold! It's frozen! Seph, your grandmother…"

Lyra looked around to make sure Indigo was out of earshot. He was indeed nowhere to be seen.

"Seph, Elizabeth was a human ." Lyra whispered.

She watched in real time as Seph slowly grappled with the realization of what that meant. First, his head tilted as he tried to remember what a human was. Then, his head un-tilted as he remembered Lyra said she's a human. Finally, he lit up with excitement as he realized humans came from another world.

"Whoa. So… she was turned into a Floatzel? Like how you were turned into a Mareep?"

"That's right! And she wrote a bunch of stuff about humans. She said that humans are called here by a Pokémon called Palkia to stop apocalypses from happening. So I think the same thing happened to me!"

"Apocalypse? Oh. That can't be good."

"Are you kidding me? This is great! N-not the apocalypse thing. That sucks. But I know why I'm here now! Palkia went back on her deal with Elizabeth to not drag humans here against their will. So I just have to find Palkia, tell her I know she broke her agreement, and boom! Back in the human world! And I might have to stop the apocalypse, too."

It dawned on Lyra how absurd that statement was.

"But, uh, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. For now, I have a lead!"

The term 'apocalypse' was still echoing through Seph's mind, but he did his best to mirror his teammate's enthusiasm. "That's great! Where's the lead? Where are we going next?"

"We're going to a temple in the Outer… Wait, 'we'? You want to come with me, Seph? This isn't guild work anymore, you know. You don't have any obligation to help."

Seph almost laughed. "We're doing this again? Come on, Lyra! We;ve been over this. We're partners. Blah blah, stick together, blah blah, help each other. Why wouldn't I help? This sounds super important to you: you should have all the help you can get. Also, if my great-great-grandma was a human, I'd like to learn more about that. Learn more about human stuff and all that. Hey, since my ancestor was a human, does this mean I'm one-eighth human?"

"One-sixteenth."

"Awesome!"

Lyra looked at the floor and realized she had forgotten the object that spilled out of the book.

"Oh! Uh, one more thing before we go. There was this shark tooth necklace in the back of the book. It belonged to Elizabeth. I think you should have it. It would look much better on you than it would on me."

Seph briefly wondered what a shark tooth was, and how it was different from a normal tooth.

He slipped the necklace on and tucked it underneath the yellow ring around his neck. It felt comfortable to wear. Keeping a relic of his ancestor close to him; it felt right.

He rubbed a finger along the edge of the tooth and softly poked himself with it. Then, he let go and allowed the necklace to fall into place.

"Thanks, Lyra. Hey, once we're back at the guild, could you read that letter out to me? I'd like to know what Elizabeth said."

"Sure. But first thing's first, let's get out of here. Did you pick a book yet?"

"Oh, yeah." Seph pulled a book out of the treasure bag and showed it to Lyra: 'Mapping the Sea of Mirrors'. "I picked it out while you were reading."

"Okay! INDIGO! WHEREVER YOU ARE, WE'RE LEAVING!"

A voice called back to Lyra from the next aisle over. "You don't have to scream! I can hear you just fine!"

An irritated Indigo flew over the neighboring bookshelf and landed in front of Seph and Lyra. He held his guild badge in his claw.

"You two ready to go?"

Lyra nodded. "Yep. Let's head back to the guild."

Simultaneously, the three of them activated their badges and were enveloped in bright light.


The first thing Lyra saw upon leaving the dungeon was the warm yellow sand that sprawled all around the dilapidated building the Lost Archive was hidden in. The second thing she saw was a blade pointed at her head.

A figure towered over her, holding a bladed arm a mere few inches away from her forehead. The creature locked eyes with Lyra, and with a pang of dread she recognized the ambusher: this was Bisharp. The Bisharp.

Lyra realized with terror that her teammates were also in a similar situation: Lucario held a palm glowing with blue energy up to Indigo's chest, and Seph was staring down the razor-sharp leaf blade of captain Leavanny. None of the explorers dared to move.

Bisharp spoke in a raspy, heavy voice. Every syllable he uttered had malice laced into it.

"Welcome back from the library, kids. How was the field trip?"

Lyra gulped. She couldn't move. She thought she was shaking, but she was so out of tune with her body right now she had no way of telling.

This was it. The enemy found them. It's over.

"You three made a mistake working for Zoroark." Bisharp growled. "But I understand. You're young. You're stupid. You don't know any better. I don't hold that against you."

His face was emotionless as he lectured Team Pelagic.

Indigo spat a glob of saliva at Bisharp's feet.

"Fuck you! Let us go, you piece of shit! The guild'll kill you if you hurt us! They'll know we're gone! They'll hunt you down!"

Lucario moved a hand over Indigo's mouth to shut him up. A few muffled yells still escaped from his throat.

"I know, kid. That's the point."

Lyra's mind was racked with fear. She couldn't stop asking the same questions over and over again. Why was Bisharp here? What did he want? The thoughts kept repeating like a broken record. She couldn't think. She couldn't act. She could only stand there.

Bisharp noticed Lyra's involuntary shaking and pulled his blade a little farther away from her face. Perhaps he pitied her.

"I apologize for roping you into this. Our feud is with your guildmaster, not you. We just need you as… a bargaining chip. Something we can negotiate with. You have my word that all three of you will be unharmed, if you comply with us."

Although none of the members of Team Pelagic could see it, Lucario flinched for just a moment as Bisharp said that.

Bisharp pointed his other hand to Lucario and then Leavanny. "You two, bind them up and get them to the ship. We've kept the crew waiting long enough."

"Yes, admiral."

"Aye, sir!"

Bisharp turned his back on Pelagic and walked towards the island's shore, where Lyra could almost make out a ship in the water.

As soon as Bisharp's back was completely turned, Indigo sprung into action. He tried to push Lucario away from him with a Supersonic, then fly into the sky where the bastards couldn't reach him.

Unfortunately, Lucario saw this coming a mile away. When Indigo pushed against her, she shoved back. Hard. She slammed Indigo against the exterior of the shoddy building, splintering wood into his fur. The ball of energy she held in her palm was now pressed against Indigo's chest. She held the energy there for all of one second, aura burning into his flesh, before Indigo collapsed from the pain.

"Bonnie! We are not to harm em'!" The captain admonished his mate's display of force. "Did ye not hear the admiral's words? Keep yer temper controlled and tie the runt up. Peacefully. "

"Captain, I was merely-"

Lucario stopped herself and sighed. She knew better than to argue.

"Yes, captain."

Lucario tied Indigo up tighter than what was probably necessary, as Leavanny did the same to Lyra and Seph.

Lyra didn't bother trying to resist.

Seph didn't do much to fight it, either. They've been had.

Bound tight, Team Pelagic were carried over the privateer's shoulders to a waiting rowboat. As Lyra was placed into the rowboat, she finally got a good view of the boat awaiting them offshore. It was a massive ship, perhaps a galleon, that loomed over them even this far away. A gaggle of strange Pokémon leaned over the upper deck of the ship, trying to get a good look at their new prisoners. She could hear their cruel laughter echo into the air. She could see their excitement for new chumps to play with.

What Lyra failed to see was something circling the air high above Bisharp's galleon. She couldn't be blamed - none of Bisharp's crew saw the high flying creature, either. But that creature saw them. And that creature - or, rather, that little Wingull - recognized those imprisoned explorers.

Unbeknownst to those below, the Wingull made the difficult choice to abandon their delivery route. They took off for Perrin Island, determined to warn the guildmaster before disaster struck. They needed to be the hero.

Bisharp and Lucario rowed the prisoner's dinghy up to the imposing galleon. As they approached, the jeers and whoops of the crew became louder; but another sensation drowned all the noise out. Lyra's nose twitched as a repugnant stench filled the air around her. She wasn't sure if she had ever smelled this item before, but somehow she recognized it instantly.

The ship reeked of black powder. It hung heavy in the air, a clear tell of the kind of firepower Bisharp was wielding.

Cannons. And, likely, a lot of them.

A terrible thought came to Lyra.

Why had she never smelled powder in the air at Zoroark's guild? They had a galleon, too. Zoroark would presumably want cannons on it. And cannons would mean black powder. So why hadn't the smell permeated the air in that cove the way it did here?

"Hey, Seph?" Lyra whispered. She moved her head as little as possible, trying to hide the fact she was talking. "Do you know what cannons are?"

Seph, who had been fairly quiet during this whole 'taken prisoner' ordeal, shook his head. He then realized he probably shouldn't use any body language, and stopped himself.

"N-no. What is that?"

Oh, shit.

Zoroark doesn't have cannons.

Bisharp does.

If the guild comes to save Team Pelagic - and they will, sooner or later - they'll get butchered. It didn't matter how much strength or magic the guild had: Lyra knew what a 12 pounder cannon could do to the hull of a ship. No amount of Fury Swipes or Supersonics could counter that.

Bisharp took Pelagic prisoner to bait Zoroark into walking into her own execution.

And it seemed like it would work.