I've decided that I'll post this story to three different sites. As much trouble as this site is having, I still love it when it works. I'm writing this strictly for myself, just because I need something to do and want to tell a story. And the chapters should get a lot longer than this.

Enjoy!

There was the feeling of falling, which is difficult to describe. Hearing the wind whooshing past your fur isn't something most people deal with on a daily basis. If you do, that's something you should check out.

But I found myself falling, and the only thing I could think about was how I was utterly screwed once I hit the ground. Really, I didn't have very long to think about that, because I plummeted pretty fast.

Just as soon as the descent had begun, it ended abruptly with a squishing noise.

I found my four paws sinking quickly into the ground, as though I were in a ball pit at some children's gym. Making my way to the top, I noticed two things.

One, it was easier said than done. That made sense, after all - it's easy to get "stuck" in a ball pit, though nobody's truly stuck in there - they have ways to get you out if you need to be rescued.

Two, it smelled a lot worse than a ball pit. Now, it's not like ball pits are the cleanest place in the world, but this place stank like dead bodies. It smelled so bad that I tried to close my nostrils, but again, this is easier said than done.

"Climb out, Litleo!" I heard someone else bark.

"I have a name, you know!" I exclaimed, though I was rather short of breath in the process. After all, the place really did stink to high heaven.

"Well, I wouldn't know it!"

I reached out one of my front paws, and I was pulled back onto "solid" ground by an arm far stronger than my own. I glanced upward at the dark ceiling in order to thank my savior.

The Lucario stood tall and seemingly confident. Of course, the mere projection of confidence didn't do much by itself. He might have been quaking in his boots in reality.

"What…" I began.

"What's my name?" the Lucario replied. "I could ask you the same thing, but it doesn't matter right now."

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Hopefully you'll still be thanking me once this is all over," the Lucario told me bluntly. "But I'm not sure you will be."

"What do you mean? And what's this?"

The Lucario shrugged. "Just get out of here. I mean, look at your paws!"

I cast my gaze downward. Right away, I wished I hadn't bothered.

It was no wonder that the ground stank like dead bodies. That's because it was made of dead bodies.

What, you think I'm kidding? I'm not. The surface was indeed covered in an array of deceased Pokémon. Some were bloody, others weren't. All shapes, sizes, and colors were represented in the pile, and other than the fact that they were all totally motionless, they didn't have anything in common.

My breath caught in my throat, and I felt a trace of vomit rising. Knowing what, exactly, was the source of the stench made me feel even more nauseous than I had before.

"Just breathe, Litleo," the Lucario instructed me. "I'm sure you've been through worse if you ended up here."

I don't want to think about it. Thanks for reminding me, I thought sarcastically.

"What's most important", my savior continued, "is that we get out of here safely. Let's find out where we are, where the closest exit is, all that jazz. Because if we don't…".

He didn't need to finish the sentence. Quite frankly, neither of us wanted to spend any more time in this horrid place.

"So what is your name?" I asked the Lucario.

He raised an eyebrow. "If I tell you my name, will you tell me yours?"

I nodded, and then the Lucario took a bow. "You can call me Orion."

"Orion? That's a nice name. Sounds like a constellation or something. Shows how much I know about mythology."

Orion shrugged. "Maybe it is. Anyway, your name?"

"Saclux" I muttered. "The name is Saclux. Now, let's find a way out."

I couldn't argue with that, so I followed Orion down the mountain of dead bodies. A few of them made squelching noises as we stepped, and I thought I felt blood hit my back left leg at one point. In other words, it was completely and utterly gross.

More than once, I almost lost my balance and fell face-first into the pile, but I managed to avert this by reminding myself of the extreme consequences of getting a nose-full of the stench. That was all it took to stay upright, but it wasn't even close to easy.

Finally I was back on solid ground, standing next to Orion. Of course, given that I was a Litleo, I was far shorter than the Lucario; I had to arch my neck to get a good look at his face. And I recognized the expression he wore: One of pure determination.

"We seem to be underground somewhere" Orion stated. "The air's just so stale, and my aura isn't working as well as it might be."

"You mean, your aura senses?" I enquired.

Orion glared at me. "That's exactly what I mean. I know what my species can do - can you say the same?"

I wasn't eager to get in a fight with Orion about this, so I merely put my head down and sighed.

"Okay. So we're underground. How are we going to get to the surface?"

"Well, there's a door that way," Orion muttered, using one of his digits to gesture at the wall. While the giant room was very dark, I also saw an area that was light - of course, it's all relative.

I rolled my eyes, hoping that Orion hadn't seen me do so. "All right, lead the way."

Orion led me through the doorway and into a small, cylindrical chamber that contained one end of a spiral staircase.

"Oh, great. Stairs."

The Lucario gave me another severe look. "Do you want to escape or not?"

"I mean, I guess I want to escape…" I mumbled. "But stairs are my worst nightmare, Orion. I've got four legs, after all!"

"Just take it slow and steady. But that doesn't mean you can stop, you know? If you stop at any point, you might never get going again."

"No shit" I said, panting already from the little exertion I'd already endured. "I feel like death warmed over."

"Do you want to start now?" Orion asked. Something told me that even if I responded in the negative, he'd reply that it wasn't a choice.

"Sure, why not?" I panted, for reasons alluded to directly above.

"That's the spirit!" Orion exclaimed.

So we started climbing, circling around and around the central pillar. I was constantly a few steps behind the Lucario, like he was bounding upward at a far quicker speed than I would have been able to manage. Of course, it wasn't like that - it was that.

More than once, I felt a stitch forming in my side, making it harder and harder to press forward. But Orion wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"You've got to do this, Saclux" he muttered. "You just have to. You'll be so proud of yourself afterward."

"Perhaps you're right," I breathed heavily, "but that's then. This is now."

"Don't waste your breath complaining. Actually do something to fix your situation, like climbing!"

He had a point, and I knew it.

We ascended the steps for a long time…a very long time. For all I knew, it might have even been several hours, but I couldn't have told you exactly how much time passed. Not remotely - without a watch, it was impossible to know, particularly with the task never changing.

One step, then another, then the next. I didn't even bother trying to count them - what good would it do? Instead I occasionally arched my neck upward to establish a grasp on how much further it was, but again, no dice. It was futile. All I saw above myself and Orion were even more stairs.

After a while, I noticed even Orion slowing down and occasionally wheezing. If this was difficult for a Fighting-type, you can only imagine what it must have been like for me. Especially since in the Before times, I hadn't been very athletic.

Before.

I couldn't think that way. I just couldn't. And yet, it was hard not to envision the most recent events I remembered divided into Before and After. Right now, After was all that mattered.

Just when I thought Arceus had placed an infinite staircase here to troll us, we reached a step that was far wider than the others. The floor was made up of square tiles alternating black and white, like a chessboard. And, of course, there was a door leading into a far larger room.

My mouth opened in awe as I saw the stained-glass windows. It looked as though it depicted a map of all the world's continents. Hoenn, Johto, Kanto, Sinnoh…if you could name a continent, it was there.

In another corner of the room, there stood a set of machines that were humming and whirring to no end. If I'd been trying to sleep, I might have found the sound a suitable lullaby. Instead, even after such an exhausting climb, I was wide awake. My senses were on high alert.

"Something's just not quite right here" Orion stated in between pants.

"What do you mean?"

"We're not alone here, Saclux. I'm not going to say that we're being stalked, but I think there's more here than meets the eye. So don't get complacent - that's all I can say."

"We don't mean you two any harm" announced a deep, female tone from just to our left.

I swiveled in the voice's direction, and I noticed a woman whom I could have sworn hadn't been there just a moment before.

"You know, if you didn't mean us any harm," I said defiantly, "you wouldn't need to hide from us like that."

"Oh, we're not hiding," the woman replied, twirling some of her long, flowing dark brown hair over her shoulder. "We've got nothing to be ashamed of."

"So you're going to kill us?" I enquired, but Orion gave me a venomous expression.

"Let me do the talking," the Lucario growled.

The woman laughed with very little humor. I'll never forget exactly what she said next:

"Why would we kill you after all this trouble giving you life again?"