April 15th, First Year
Jaku wandered the thick bush-covered pseudo valley of Deertrack Heights, trying but failing to ignore the way the new and frighteningly large pokémon followed dutifully behind her. It loomed over her with its hot breath, its footsteps seeming to shake the ground as it hurried to close the distance whenever one would form between them. From what she had come to see during her wanderings across Deertrack Heights, the large pokémon was concerningly aggressive. It had already ripped apart a Staraptor that had been circling too close, and it had cracked a Geodude clean it half when the hostile pokémon had erupted from the ground, intent on obstructing their way.
But despite its fiery nature and quick disposition toward attacking, the beast kept close to her. She didn't even remember how she came to possess the creature's pokéball. It had been shiny and new like the one she'd found Chandelure in, but it had also been scratched to high hell and covered in what felt like once-sticky patches of adhesive.
Maybe then, this pokémon is one of Warden Ingo's? …No, that doesn't seem right.
The creature did scare her, though; enough to the point where she had tried to call it back upon watching the great brute tear through a Luxio like a hot knife through butter. It had absolutely refused to return back to its pokéball and had obliterated the contraption with its jaws, the molten metal having pooled around its paws. So then, what does it want with me?
Jaku sighed. That didn't matter at the moment. What actually mattered to her was getting out of the woods and in a bigger sense, the distortion. She had no idea how long she had been trapped in there, but it seemed to her as though no matter which way she turned, the false mountains and narrow canyons continued to lead her in circles. Are my pokémon lost out here? It was the last place she could remember them still being by her side.
Every now and then, something would scurry past her hidden in the shadows of the cliffs. Quiet whispers, panicked and calm, filled the air. She would follow the sound of rushing water only to turn herself in circles, having passed the same moss-covered tree stump for what had to have been the umpteenth time that day.
How many days have I been here, Jaku thought to herself, easing herself over a winding large boulder. Where is everybody else at? Am I alone out here? As long as she had been in the false mountains, the distortion had been present, its large ethereal cracks spawning overhead like a gorgeous and terrifying wreath of light. It was like looking at cracked glass or one's reflection in a rippling pond. It was hard to make sense of the thing and the longer she gazed upon it, the more her eyes began to sting.
Then came a sound. Something had sneezed, a low flowering bush quivering from a few paces away.
The large pokémon behind Jaku had quickly pushed her down, standing over her protectively with its large fangs bared. Thick black smoke poured from its mouth into the grass as it snarled a challenge. The ragged Luxray that had been following Jaku like a second shadow padded forward from its position on her left, an electric charge jumping from its whiskers as it stalked toward the creature hidden in the underbrush.
Another distortion pokémon, maybe? Or are we finally close to encountering Lord Wyrdeer?
Two pokémon exploded from the brush making a beeline straight toward her, their little claws scrabbling on the hard rocks. The large pokémon viciously intercepted them, lashing its with their claws. It missed.
"Dusk! Peanut!" Jaku fled the cover of her new guarddog, eagerly scooping up her partners in her ears as she cradled them close. Never again, she vowed. She would need to be more careful in the future. "Where've you guys been? You had me worried to death!"
Dusk snuggled into the folds of her cloak, its warm flames tickling the sides of her face as it struggled against Peanut to vie for her attention. Both of them were trembling in her tight hold. The two pokémon then perked up, their fur bristling as they stared at the beast behind her.
"Don't worry, guys. This one's okay." Jaku gave her partners a good once-over, checking for wounds and feeding them whatever berries she had leftover in her satchel. They certainly don't seem hurt. But then, how did we get separated in the first place? Why can't I remember that part? She knew that somewhere in the cliffs, Lord Wyrdeer was waiting. She'd been egged on by the… by that thing before to find the strength to calm it. Even trying to remember that particular event was painful. That time. Was that the lord trying to talk to me or… something else?
Jaku got to her feet and continued, ignoring the steady drip of dread that spread from the back of her neck to her arms and legs. Am I strong enough to defeat Lord Wyrdeer like that being wanted? Well, it's not like I have a choice. It's either that or continue wandering through the woods until I get hurt or something.
She kept coming across dead pokémon, most with their eyes and nose oozing blood and their heads facing the top of Deertrack Heights; obviously, the lord's doing. Whatever had killed them didn't seem to be affecting her. At least, she took comfort in thinking that. Besides; they functioned as signposts to her ulterior goal.
They soon arrived at a mountain clearing where the interlocking canyons widened out into a pool of shifting sand. Steep walls, each layered with distinct broken stones, rose up and walled her in, a pale shaft of light shining upon her. Roots from unseen plants crowded the ceilings, fungi creeping up their shafts. Thunder rolled overhead. The air grew heavy and damp, sweat beginning to stick to her skin.
There, Jaku could see the beating, throbbing, pulsing heart of the distortion. One terrible column of light. Blinding, it was, its many cracks appearing like strands of hair that draped over unseen mountains spilling its harsh yellow light over everything. No shadows. Only dust and sand stirred in the air, spurred on as another roar of thunder caused the hairs along her arms and legs to stand straight up.
The minute Jaku stepped entirely into the pool of sand, Dusk and Peanut broke free of their pokéballs, their fur sticking straight up. Electricity crackled to her left and flames sizzled to her right. She felt a faint weakness spread from behind her eyes to her jaw, not quite strong enough to- paralyze her like it did before. …Before? Another call of thunder rolled overhead and when that thunder grew suddenly louder and more haggard, Jaku realized that the noise had never been thunder.
Instead, it prowled forward atop the cliff as a mass of fur and boney limbs, its broken antlers dripping blood and something else sticky into the dirt. It stumbled about wildly on its four overgrown hooves, its crusted eyes wild and its lips pulled back to reveal a mouth full of bubbling foam and horrific teeth. Its white fur glowed a sickly golden hue, mottled with bits of blood, dried spit, leaves, and twigs. And when it noticed her down in the clearing, the creature screamed, lowered its head and started a charge, dropping cleanly into the clearing. Lord Wyrdeer. Lord of the Hills.
The dog pokémon moved faster, grabbing the lord by its throat with fangs of white-hot fire before it could reach her. Lord Wyrdeer howled. Jaku clutched at her ears, watching as a scarlet light pulsed from the creature's stumbled again, its eyes seeming to follow her with eminent confusion before it tried to charge again. Was that move intended for me?
She was just barely pushed out of the way as Peanut came barreling towards her, the same crazed look in its eyes as it readied up a flurry of stars to aim at her.
Hypnosis. That's what this was. Either that or Psychic. But why didn't it work on me? Her mind flashed back to the encounter with the deity, remembering the fact that it had given her something after their meeting. She blinked. Only two things had appeared after her strange encounter on the bridge: the beast's pokéball and the dark cloak pinned around her throat.
… A battle item, her subconscious quickly provided. Could be some kind of status cloak! Jaku ducked again as Peanut flew at her. Her partner was being controlled like a puppet on a string. She would come to regret her next move later as she steadied herself. "Luxray, use Thunder Wave!" She prayed that the pokémon at her side would understand her.
A jolt of electricity sent Peanut tumbling away, its limbs twitching and mouth flopping open as it struggled to right itself in the dirt. The sight was revolting, forcing Jaku to look away. She covered her ears as Wyrdeer let out a blood-curdling scream, calling another order.
"Luxray, use Crunch!"
When Jaku looked toward where Wyrdeer was- should have been- she found the dog pokémon staring at her as if waiting for a command. In the absence of her words, the pokémon reared up onto its hind legs and knocked the lord away so hard that it shattered one of its antlers. Its hooves skittered in the dirt and it fell to one knee, blood oozing into the dirt.
There it was again: that familiar strength…! The name snapped back to her as though she'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. That move. The one that it had just used. She knew that move. That was Return, a move that grew stronger the more a pokémon liked its trainer. She had named that pokémon specifically for its brute-like strength.
"Lilith!" she called, feeling the name sink onto her tongue. "Bulldoze!"
The clearing jerked around her feet as the two stronger pokémon surged forward as a team, Luxray snaring one of the lord's feet in its mouth and Lilith trapping another in the shifting earth. Lord Wyrdeer forcibly struggled out and managed to stab its remaining antler into Lilith's shoulder. The Arcanine snarled and seized the Wyrdeer by the throat before throwing it down into the dirt, tearing at its belly with her claws.
Luxray did not join in. It stumbled on its feet after its attack, its eyes the same jarring white like Peanut's. It began to twitch and jerk violently, blood dripping from its ears. Electricity crackled from its mane as it focused its eyes on her.
"Dusk, keep Luxray busy!" The headache behind her eyes throbbed before quieting once more. Lord Wyrdeer was again staring straight at her. No doubt about it, these headaches aren't just mere coincidences. Jaku was completely immune to them but her pokémon…? She needed to end the fight quickly.
Jaku kept up her pursuit of the lord, keeping the coerced Luxray and Peanut at bay as their explosive moves ricocheted around the clearing. One stray Swift caught the hem of her cloak and ripped it away. Almost immediately, the edges of Jaku's vision began to blur and the headache returned, this time, throbbing to life with a new vigor.
After escaping a brutal Return from Lilith, Lord Wyrdeer desperately scrambled up the sheer rock cliff and reared onto its wobbly bleeding legs, its eyes aglow in an eerie scarlet light as it enveloped the clearing in a thick aura.
Jaku collapsed onto her knees this time, her headache growing to a white-hot pain as though somebody were sticking pins and needles into her scalp. Something hot and heavy dripped from her eyes and nose and the ground beneath her began to sway. She struggled to breathe, her breaths coming out in gasps and wheezes.
"B- no- a—a-. H-p -. -elp m-, -lease." A voice, low and weak like dry grass in a windstorm crackled into her mind. Over and over, it repeated the same phrase, its call growing weaker and weaker with every relay. "Help me."
Lilith howled in rage and leaped after Luxray, sinking its fangs deep into its leg and giving the smaller pokémon a thorough shake. It then did the same to Peanut. Almost immediately, the fog from their eyes cleared to be replaced with fury. Luxray screeched and fired off a Thunderbolt, knocking the lord off of its perch and into the clearing.
Jaku heard a sickening wet crunch as the Lord collided with the dirt, screaming all the while as it tried valiantly to get back up, its mouth still foaming, legs still thrashing, and eyes still wide and glassy. Jaku had seen that look on other pokémon before and the sight of it occurring again made her want to run. It was a dangerous look, whatever it was.
Lord Wyrdeer lowered its head and enveloped the clearing in the same scarlet light as before. Lilith moved faster. Jaku didn't know how, but the Arcanine had conjured a glass-like protective wall in front of its comrades just as Lord Wyrdeer fired off an immense beam of light from its destroyed horns. The beam impacted but it ricocheted into the canyon wall.
"Luxray, paralyze it!"
Luxray flew forward and sank its fangs into another of the lord's feet, managing to crack through bone. Lord Wyrdeer's legs finally gave out and with a cry of desperation, Jaku's other three partners ran forward, biting, clawing, burning, and zapping the lord until, in a blinding flash of golden light, the frenzy of the battle dissipated.
Jaku's pokémon surrounded her once more, all bleeding from their nose and eyes but still standing, Lilith nearly choking her with its fur again. The headache behind her eyes finally let up.
Before her stood Lord Wyrdeer, its legs trembling and its head shaking back-and-forth as it gazed wildly first at Lilith then at Jaku and then at its perch far above the clearing. Jaku stood supported by Lilith as she gently approached the lord.
"Easy. Easy," she murmured, careful to keep one hand out in front of her. She didn't trust that it wouldn't jump out at her again. "I'm not here to hurt you."
Lord Wyrdeer cowered away and with a harrowing call, it fled, clearly spooked by the gruesome scene before it. With a shudder, the great distortion above crackled. The light within dimmed and as though mended like a tear in fabric, the great ethereal rip slowly but surely faded into nothingness. Soft sunlight shone down on the sandy pool and as the distortion disappeared, the reality of Deertrack Heights appeared, the woods bright and sunny and warm. Finally, Lord Wyrdeer had been calmed.
Jaku let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, collapsing back into the paws of her pokémon as she found her way to sit. She hadn't even been battling but she still ached all over. Lilith quietly laid down behind her, setting its great head in her lap as the Luxray did the same on her other side, Peanut and Dusk curling up by her feet. All of them looked equally exhausted. Bloody and scarred, Jaku couldn't help but wonder why her pokémon would aid her through such a fight such as that one.
Loud footsteps crunched through the undergrowth. Something was quickly approaching her. Jaku violently twisted around, her pokémon following her lead as best as they could as they all turned toward the far side of the clearing.
"Who's there?" she demanded hoarsely. "Show yourself!"
A man stalked forward to stand at the edge of the clearing. He was tall and lean, wearing what looked to be a torn Gingko Guild uniform as he approached closer. And as he walked into the sunlight, Jaku could make out a few more of his features.
The man had thick silver hair around the sides of his face and a small beard of sorts on his chin . A large white hat, similar to one Jaku could've sworn she had seen before, shielded half of his face with a familiar blue-and-white pin sitting right on the sash on the visor. The man was smiling. He strode a little closer, a small pink pokémon floating behind him as he tipped his hat and grinned at her.
"Verrry interesting," the man drawled. "So this is where you've been?
"Stop right there," Jaku growled. "I don't know you, so back up. Who are you? Are you one of the merchants from the village?" At her side, Lilith cocked its head, its angered demeanor all but vanishing. Jaku blinked. "Don't tell me you know this guy." Lilith responded in the form of nudging her face. Annoyed, Jaku turned back to the merchant. "What are you even doing out here? Don't you know this area is dangerous?"
"I am Emmet." The man came to a stop, his grin faltering as he stared at her. "Are you… injured?" He took one step closer, his grin faltering as his eyes landing first on the blood on her face and then on her bedraggled pokémon. "You are injured."
"No, really?" Jaku responded dryly. "You didn't answer my question. Why are you here? Weren't the merchants supposed to stay in camp?"
The man's face fell. "You… you don't recognize me?"
"No. Am I supposed to?"
"I-" The man took a step back, a multitude of emotions flittering behind his eyes as he tipped the visor back down. He certainly wasn't smiling then. The small pink pokémon circled him once, its eyes sad as it took its place on his hat. After a few moments, he approached and knelt down before her, pointedly not meeting her eyes. "Ah. I see. I am Emmet. I… I am not from Hisui. I am here looking for my brother. Have you seen a man that looks like me? A man called Ingo?"