April 13th, First Year
Static fizzled at the back of Jaku's head as she woke up. She blinked, cringing at the shock of hot pain that lanced down her neck when she moved. She felt fuzzy as though her body and head had been stuffed with cotton and downy feathers. It was almost pitch-black in the tent she sat in and as she came to, she vigorously shook herself out. The hairs along her arms and neck stood straight up as she clumsily rose from her cot, wincing at the feeling of cold, damp cloth on her feet. Every other cot around hers was empty with sheets thrown haphazardly across them, carts and boxes filled with equipment laying in the middle of the aisle. Glass bottles and waterskins lay forlorn on empty bedsides. It was almost as if people within had been erased from existence.
Jaku shook her head. "I must still be a little delirious from sleep." She reached toward where her stylus should be, swallowing when she realized it wasn't there. What's a stylus, anyway? What was I looking for again? She reached for her pokéball belt but felt nothing. "Wait. I don't even have a pokéball belt," she mused, trying to straighten up. She chuckled weakly. "What am I even doing? I should lay back down."
She tried to think back to the last thing she could remember. She was wandering through Deertrack Heights, talking to a few people from camp… then there was that tall man dressed in white in that place with all the noise and metal, and then… This, Jaku mused. What happened in the middle?
A sharp stinging hiss like water on a hot pan sliced through her muddled thoughts. "You Do Not Need To Know That."
"Who-" Jaku whipped around, finding only her own abandoned cot stretched out behind her. She turned again, attempting to find the speaker. "Hello?" She opened her mouth to speak again but paused to realize that she couldn't. She couldn't speak. Her legs began to move on their own as, with only the little protection her bare tunic provided her, she moved slowly through the tent and out into the open. One after the other, her bare feet slid across the frozen dirt and gravel against her will. The static that had been lingering in the back of her head only grew louder and louder as her feet turned to guide her toward a section of the back wall of the encampment.
Is this somebody playing a prank on me? Jaku glanced around in the dark, finding nothing but twisting shadows, barren dirt clearings, and turned-over campfires. She tried to call out for help but failed, her body refusing to listen as she was steered further and further away from safety. She inwardly flinched when she stepped onto a flattened thorn bush, expecting to feel the hot prickling sting any second… and panicked when she realized that she couldn't feel her legs at all.
When Jaku felt herself come to a complete stop, she stared. She stood at the very edge of the encampment, recognizing where the dense forest should have been. Only instead, wide barren mountains stretched out as far as the eye could see. Warm air tugged at her torn clothes, urging her closer to the encampment walls. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Maybe this is all a- wait. No, my neck hurt when I got up. I could feel that. This isn't a dream.
Something moved from just behind the camp wall. The foliage crunched and twigs snapped. A deep growl reverberated through the air and up until that point, Jaku was sure that it had been just a prank by some Galaxy scout. Even though she knew that it didn't make sense and even though she knew how unlikely it would be, Jaku didn't want to think about what was actually happening. She closed her eyes. "Mountains," she croaked. The last time she had recalled seeing mountains had been when she was exploring Deertrack Heights. She opened her eyes again. "Mountains. I'm surrounded by mountains." She glanced upwards at the sky, swallowing when she recognized a familiar white crack stretching across the sky. "I'm inside of a distortion." Jaku sighed. "Right. Because of course I am."
Static crackled in the air. The canvas tent creaked and the gravel crunched underfoot as loud steps sounded before her, a heady growl rising in pitch as it approached hidden by the tall, yellow grass. Jaku still couldn't move. The static had grown so loud that if she could have, she would've covered her ears. The growl lowered to a rolling huff, throaty but quiet as it approached so close that she could've possibly reached out and touched the source. She risked taking a peek: scarlet and golden eyes stared curiously back at her from the shade of a berry bush. The Luxray from before had returned, Jaku recognizing the familiar nick in one of its ears. Fear flashed through her as she struggled furiously against whatever mystic force had been holding her.
And to her surprise, she moved. The static in her mind vanished like mist in morning sunlight. The once-leaden weight in her arms and legs finally let up and to her horror, she stumbled forward involuntarily into the large beast. She fully expected the emaciated creature to let loose a Thunder Wave as it had in the past and paused when no such move came. She carefully removed herself from the pokémon, letting her hands slide out of its shaggy black mane as she took a few paces back.
The Luxray stood its ground, its eyes glowing as it watched her make sense of herself. It tilted its head, its tail wagging back and forth as though it were happy to see her.
Just like Sand used to do. A flash of two beady black eyes glaring down at her from a long red snout came and then suddenly, the memory had vanished. Jaku held her breath, her hands sliding toward the sheath of her machete. She froze when her hand met nothing but empty air, quickly affixing her expression. Right. I'm not carrying anything on me. I was unconscious. Or maybe asleep? She could nearly smack herself from her idiocy.
The ragged Luxray padded over to the edge of the encampment having made a v-shaped gap in the wall. It glanced back at her and then waited, its flea-bitten tail held high.
It means to follow. How Jaku knew, she wasn't all too sure of. More remnants from my past. She would have to fix that gap in the wall before she took off. And I can finally move! Jaku flexed her arms and gave a quick twist to check to make sure that she wasn't being jerked around any longer. She then glanced back at the Luxray. Should I call for help?
This Luxray had attacked her in the past- but then she had been the first to charge. She carefully gauged the Luxray's body language, surprised at how lax and patient the creature was being with her.
"What's up with you?" she grumbled. "Not here for a rematch after all, huh?"
The Luxray instead approached and stopped a hair away from her, opening its mouth wide for her to see. It pawed at one side of its mouth, purring all the while. When Jaku peered closer, she noticed that one tooth was missing where the gums were swollen and red.
"A missing tooth." Jaku blinked. "Wait a moment. During the battle- when you suddenly stopped attacking us- did I knock out your tooth or something?" The Luxray purred even louder, softly rubbing its muzzle and face into her belly. "Oh. Was that tooth hurting you? Is that why you're so friendly now?" She squatted down to be eye-level with the creature, snorting when the big cat bumped its forehead into her own. "Yup. You're just happy that your teeth don't hurt. I getcha. I know the feeling."
The Luxray gently nudged at her shoulder, forcing her up and over to the camp wall. It looked first at the gap and then at her, playfully wagging its tail and it stepped over the divot.
"Okay, okay. I'll follow you. Wait for me."
The Luxray led the way over the camp wall heading toward a small cliff trail where the mountain plunged down toward a bush-covered valley. Jaku put one hand on the big cat's flank, following along as closely as she could as the two traveled down the mountain's side. The Luxray was careful to stay on Jaku's right side, diligently nosing her back whenever the ranger had taken a bold step forward past the big cat.
Maybe this is another case of me finding one of Warden Ingo's pokémon? How did it know how to find me? Is that why it's so friendly too? Jaku glanced at the creature, sighting the stab wound from her machete which was crusted over and very much inflamed looking. I wonder why it hasn't attacked me yet. Maybe it's just trying to get me somewhere more private where it can. I don't think it'll just let me live since I only knocked out a bad tooth. Jaku couldn't help but feel as though her thoughts were wrong. She trusted the pokémon but she didn't know why. She would have to repay its kindness by healing up the wound later.
After some time, the two had clambered down from the steep trail and onto the brush-dotted valley- the Horseshoe Plains, Jaku remembered, noticing the many ponds and small streams that dotted the mountain valley. If she looked closely, she could recognize the slope of the fieldlands despite the obvious distortion ruining her perception of her environment. The light of the distortion turned the valley an eerie shade of red, making the warm breeze uncomfortable and vaguely threatening. Wind whistled through the chinks and gaps in the rocks, unknown birds calling out for one another.
The Luxray guided her further down the slope until they were following along at the base of a wide, shallow river. There, the riverbed turned to a wide flood bank of waving cattails and river grass. Yellow flower petals fell from a nearby tree, overturning floating branches in the murky pool. She could see Buizels floating along the current, rubbing their bellies as they traveled downstream.
"I don't get it," she murmured after a while. "Why bring me here? What's so special about this place?" She waded into the shallow ends, surprised the chill of the water pierced into her legs and left her gasping as pieces of the distortion fell away in front of her.
That's when she noticed them: the pieces. Beneath the river's surface, they shone white like glittering gems: destroyed wooden boats full of belongings bumping against river-washed rocks. Clothes and pots and silverware and toys caught along detached rusted stair railings. Windchimes and crudely made banners billowing in the slow current, their once-radiant colors muted with river muck.
Jaku glanced upstream, watching as a muddy doll slipped over the edge of the sloping riverbed, passing her by before being dragged to the murky bottom. "I still don't understand. Did something crash nearby? Is there something I'm not understanding here?"
She felt a little comforted by the Luxray's persistent presence as she trudged through the swampy wetlands of the mountain valley, focusing on the errant chill of the ice-cold river as she scanned the horizon. Why had the Luxray dragged her out there? Something had happened to everybody back at camp, that much Jaku had recognized before she had even left its perimeter. Most likely the distortion, she supposed. But why would they leave her behind then? There had been nobody except for her.
Thunder boomed overhead. Jaku stumbled back a pace only to find the Luxray frozen, staring balefully at something just above them. She followed the pokémon's gaze, surprised to see more cracks branching out near the distortions epicenter. It almost encompassed the hills at that point, its fractal edges swirling in beautiful miasmas of changing colors.
Lightning flashed. A purple and yellow tendril flickered in the corner of her eye, wrapped carefully around her wrist. It gave her the smallest of tugs, a quiet hum filling the air: a Drifloon. A ghost-type pokémon. Jaku was practically surrounded by them. They floated along the dusty stone shores to surround her, their tiny ribbon-like arms taking hold of anything they could reach: her clothes, her hair, her fingers. They hummed incessantly, their tiny eyes catching the light of the distortion as they pulled every which way at her.
Some carried bits and pieces of the same rubble caught in the river. The bigger ones- the Drifblims- carried torn clothes or bowls. Some of the Drifloons carried small flowers or handfuls of dead leaves. A particular trio, two Drifblims and a Drifloon, were holding steadfastly onto one another as though afraid that if they were to let go, they would all separate on the changing breeze.
"You're not gonna pull me anywhere like that," Jaku commented gently, not sure why the image of the three ghost-type pokémon unsettled her so much.
The Drifloons and Drifblims didn't attempt to pick her up and drag her away like Jaku had thought they would. They merely trailed alongside her as she wandered along the river, its cold chill settling into her skin.
As they traveled further and further, the Luxray started to look a little uncomfortable. Its eyes darted every which way as they moved deeper into the wetlands, the large cat hissing as it leaped out of the river. It batted at a shiny piece of cutlery that had bumped into its foreleg, sending the metal fork across the river in its panic.
Jaku reached out and set a calm hand on the pokémon's head. "Scaredy-cat."
New pokémon began to pop up. A trio of Ursarings stared as she passed them by, their beady eyes reflecting the blinding light of the distortion as they rose and trailed after her. An Eevee walked out from underneath a clump of ferns and chirped at her, the same sinister glow in its eyes and like the Ursarings, it just seemed content to follow her without so much as a peep.
The Drifloons increased the strength of their pull as a large wooden suspension bridge came into view. It hung over a precarious waterfall, the mist enshrouding the other side. Jaku grimaced.
"That's the bridge connecting Aspiration Hill to Deertrack Heights." She turned to stare at the precarious mountain she had descended from, unable to figure out which stony peak she had started at. "Have I really walked this far?"
One by one, the ghost-type pokémon pulled her to stand on the swaying, soaking wet bridge. The Luxray growled balefully, watching from the dug-in posts, too uncomfortable to follow her to the middle of the construct.
"You Have Finally Arrived."
Jaku quickly shut her eyes, grimacing as a painful throb tore at the back of her head. How many times are strange things going to speak to me in my mind, she thought angrily.
"Open Your Eyes. My Visage Will Not Harm You."
"Yeah okay," Jaku retorted. "Like I'm supposed to believe that for a second. Not happening." A cool sensation like being dipped in a river on a hot day overcame her. Her limbs, fuzzy and heavy like great stone pillars, dropped to her sides and slowly, her eyes were forced open.
A large and portly Gengar stood only a pace away from her, its golden eyes blank but slightly familiar as it leaned in toward her. "Rejoice," the pokémon hissed, "For I Know Your Fate. You Came Willingly To Me, But What Is It That You Are Searching For?" It did not wait for her to respond. It circled her and paused, its form wavering as though threatening to drop its physical form.
"I… what?"
"Is It Your Will To Remember That Which You Have Lost?" the Gengar questioned. "Is It Your Desire To Be Remembered?" it urged. It ceased floating, its smile disappearing into its face as its sharp eyes rounded out. "Is It Your Wish To Know Your Origins? To Know Who Came To Bring You Here?" The Gengar's shape began to blur and scratch itself out before taking the form of someone else. Something else. The being, unthinkable but all-encompassing, shed its disguise.
A terrible heat like molten metal dripped over Jaku's face and neck, forcing her to her knees as her consciousness began to flicker and hum. Any coherent thought turned to sludge. Any other feeling other than pain became lost in the white noise. No matter how tight she shut her eyes, a brilliant white glow would force its way though as if trying to imprint the presence of what exactly was talking to her.
"I See Who You Are. Your Faults. Your Strengths… Your Endeavors. Share Them With Me." The being enveloped its form around her.
Memories began to pour through her mind in droves. In one, she was sitting at a desk piled with books, the pages before her cordoned with lakes of bright yellow sticky notes. In another, she was standing firm in front of a pair of double doors, her hands balled into fists. In yet another, she saw a manilla folder tucked under the slats of her bed dripping with photos and scribbled notes and names. Her fingers ghosting along the pages of an old book.
The being hummed and finally, the memories ceased. Jaku was left trembling, half collapsing onto the ground as something soft wrapped itself around her throat. Her teeth chattered. Her eyes were still shut tight. She felt the creature's touch along her lips and eyes, the heavy weight coming to rest behind her head as its soft appendage tugged at the torn flash beneath her jaw.
"You Are Tenacious," the being whispered. "A Tool For Forging The Way Forward. Death Follows You Like Flies Do Decay." It tightened its grip on her throat. A warm cloth was suddenly draped across her back, the scent of mildew drowning out everything there could have been. The white noise disappeared to make room only for the cold and commanding voice that spoke to her. "Go. There Is Much For You To Do."
April 14th, First Year
Jaku blinked. Static fizzled at the back of her head as she woke up on a swaying wooden bridge. She blinked, noticing the severe pain in her back and neck. She felt fuzzy, like her body and head had been stuffed with cotton and downy feathers. As she came to, she vigorously shook herself out. Why does this feel familiar, she asked herself as she stared at her trembling hands. How did I get here?
The hairs along her arms and neck stood straight up as she clumsily got to her feet, wincing at the feeling of cold damp wood on her feet. She stood alone, wet, cold, and exhausted in the middle of a bridge connecting Aspiration Hill to Deertrack Heights, swaddled in a dark tattered cloak. When did I put this on, she wondered, poking one finger through a scraggly hole in the fabric. Is this even mine? Jaku shook her head. "I must still be a little delirious from sleep."
She moved to step forward, flinching as her foot struck something hard and hollow. A small spherical shape rolled across the bridge and onto the opposite side, its shiny red casing calling out to her as she went to retrieve it. She picked it up, turning it this way and that. It was a pokéball, completely unlike the ones she had first seen but uncannily familiar to the one Chandelure had been found in. A searing heat spread from the latch to the palms of her hands. It made her skin itch.
When Jaku glanced upward, she found herself staring at the foreboding barren mountains that surrounded her on all sides. Hills covered in cacti and scrub brushes and weedy grass whistled in the breeze, the trickle of the river soft in her ears. She gazed further, her eyes catching on a large rocky outcrop where layers of dark black volcanic rock peeked out. There, she saw it: a pokémon.
Its broken antlers jutted upward into the sky like hands opened wide in prayer and its emaciated body glowed with a sickly, golden hue. Simply gazing upon the creature made her skin crawl and her eyes burn. It pawed at the ground, throwing its head back with a horrifying wail as it twitched about on its shrunken, feeble legs, saliva dripping from its mouth.
The Drifloons and Drifblims that had been attached to Jaku had scattered, hurrying to disappear as the cracks in the distortion widened. And just as Jaku was about to take a step back, the strange pokémon turned and fled into the mountains becoming nothing more than a silver smudge in the sea of tall cacti and outcropping trees.
Jaku swallowed. New voices, soft and loud, eager and patient, cheerful and mournful, filtered through the rising dust and sand, their calls egging her onward. They begged for her to follow the great pokémon. They pleaded for her to stay away from the great beast. They prayed for her safety and cried for her naiveté.
She turned, sighting the masses of Drifloons and Drifblims on the opposite bank still watching her with their beady eyes. As Jaku moved, so too did the perimeter of the distortion and Jaku watched with eminent horror as the Drifloons and Drifblims changed. Revealed in a bubble, their shadows wavered and lengthened on the hot, dry sandy floor, twisting from their familiar balloon shapes to become lanky. Tendrils became arms. Ribbons became legs. The pokémon's shadows took the misshapen forms of people- of humans- still clutching onto their belongings.