Team Null Eclipse: Intro: Beyond the Void

Everything was shattering all at once.

 

In the distance, a growing cacophony roared – an unrelenting noise that permeated the atmosphere and shook the earth. An uncomfortable heat pressed down on all sides from the many fires that raged freely, completely unopposed. Amidst the rumbling distortions and the cackling fires, one could hear numerous people calling to one another, exchanging frantic instructions – sometimes drowned out by screams that pierced the darkness.

 

Seven was alone in the chaos. Alone in their thoughts, at least. Someone was trying to talk to them, but they couldn't tell if it was just outside noise warped into something adjacent to a voice or if someone was really trying to get through to them. Regardless, it didn't matter. They were cut off from themselves, unable to move. Unable to respond. Unable to see or feel much of anything, but they could hear everything with uncomfortable clarity.

 

Their senses cut in and out, and they wished quietly to themselves that they were having a nightmare. Perhaps it was. One moment, they were floating freely in Digital Space. They hated going there, but at least it was quiet. Another moment, they were back... there. Where? Why couldn't they remember? What was happening to them?

 

A frightening, metallic shriek burst through the haze, and for a moment Seven was lucid again – they could see. They still couldn't feel. Before them, the fire had breached the various nearby sectors and large sections of the ceiling and broken glass lay strewn about, covering the floor in jagged debris. Seven themselves was attached to some kind of equipment – a large machine connected to the wall with elaborate tubes and wires.

 

Ah, yes. The lab. The lab where they-

 

But as soon as Seven had just begun to visually register their surroundings, a distortion appeared around them, engulfing them in darkness. Smothered by this void, Seven felt their consciousness tugged violently towards something, and everything – the noise, the heat, the pain, the fear – blinked away into nothing.

 

- - -

 

In a quiet village on the edge of wilderness, two Pokémon sat on the front porch of their home, watching the stars. One of them – a young child – pointed up at the sky, exclaiming: “Look! A shooting star!”

 

A bright streak of light tore through the heavens, flying in an arc before landing in a distant forest. A flash of light illuminated the night sky, sending forest Pokémon scattering with the shadows. The child tottered forward, eager to go investigate – but was held back by their guardian.

 

“No, little one. You must not go looking for the star – for there lies a most frightful mystery dungeon.”

 

- - -

 

Seven could somewhat feel again – except everything was completely off. They were lying face-up in dirt (but how could that be?) and the air was thick with the scent of wildflowers and leaves (so much more pungent than the simulations... this made no sense). Gradually, Seven opened their eyes, vision re-focusing on what was directly above them. Much as their sense of smell indicated, they were in a densely vegetated forest – though for some reason there was a hole in the canopy a little off to a side and above them. Through the opening, Seven could see an ink-dark sky and countless little dots of light. Stars.

 

What was this place? There was no way they weren't dreaming. Besides, wilderness this lush was only talked about in ecology textbooks.

 

With a great amount of effort, Seven rolled into a sitting position. There was something – a sensation, or rather an incorrect cluster of sensations – that was nagging at them, and they couldn't make sense of it. Why was the ground so close to them? No – it was because they were sitting down. Yes, that was it.

 

Their vision blurred as they reached out – reached out with their arms (yes, arms. What else could they be?) and tried to stand up – tried, and failed and fell back down in some kind of sitting position. No. Their arms were wrong – Seven stared down at themselves and at the ground. Sporadically, they could faintly see what they were supposed to look like – their arms, tanned from the aggressive solar radiation of their home. The armor-like equipment from the lab. No, no, no. All was as it should be. They just had to figure out why everything looked like a forest-

 

A switch was thrown and Seven gasped for air, sensations flooding in all at once. Everything sharpened into focus, and Seven was staring down at something oddly fluffy. Fur – no, feathers – and were those talons? Seven still couldn't make any sense of it. Why they had suddenly turned into some kind of bird, that had crash-landed in the middle of a dense forest, in the middle of the night – no, this was definitely some kind of insane dream.

 

But it didn't stop. Normally by now, Seven would have woken up – dreams could only hold such clarity for a few seconds at best. But as they stood their, staring at their misshapen self, their senses only held steady. Somehow, they knew on instinct that this was very much real and that they were here to stay – for now.

 

Reaching up with their too-soft limbs, Seven felt around at their face and found that their visor was still firmly attached somehow. While it was reassuring they still had something familiar around – it also further confirmed the nature of the situation – unless the visor had somehow been so severely damaged that it was now showing Seven some twisted version of reality.

 

Well, not that I can check it for damage without hands or fingers. Seven thought. They could give it a stab (literally) with their newly sharpened feet, but they didn't want to risk breaking anything – assuming they could even reach their face with their talons. Looking around, Seven stood up and examined their immediate surroundings.

 

The ground had been gouged out in the shape of an asymmetrical crater and parts from broken tree branches and leaves covered a sizable perimeter around the initial impact site. Among the leaves and twigs, Seven could see pieces of metal and segments of wiring – possibly from the machine they had been attached to. For whatever reason, Seven couldn't recall the name of the machine or even the organization that had used it, but they knew they had been part of some kind of research work involving “Digital Space”.

 

Off to a side, the sound of footsteps (pawsteps?) shook Seven out of their thoughts – their hearing was much keener now, and they realized it had been silent for a time until now. Something or someone was nearby, watching them. Unfolding both wings and taking up some approximation of a battle stance, Seven looked around them. Getting the head rotation of a bird was quite handy – and the increased visual acuity paired with the visor made looking for things quite easy, even at night. Almost immediately they let their gaze fall on a series of nearby bushes: in the dim starlight, countless little red berries glinted.

 

Cheri berries, if I'm not mistaken... Seven thought, readying themselves for a potential hostile encounter. Beyond the artificial ones and computer programs like Porygon, Seven had never actually encountered any organic Pokémon before. As the leaves of the bushes trembled, something small poked its head out into the open.

 

It was some kind of fox-like creature, with a shadowy cloud-like ruff around its neck instead of fur – Eevee, likely. The Eevee tilted its head at Seven, observing them with a curiosity. Relaxing their stance, Seven stared back, wondering what the creature wanted. For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence – though it seemed that whatever night life around was gradually resuming their usual activity. Bug calls rang out faintly around them, as well as some singular, lonely amphibian. It was all almost overwhelming, being able to hear all this – Seven found each new sound fascinating, but wished they could somehow dampen the sounds from time to time.

 

“Oh... you're... you're not one of them. Thank goodness...”

 

Did the Eevee just speak?

 

“What?” Was all Seven could say, dully.

 

“I'm not from around here, you see. Well, I'm not from this dungeon, of course, hahaha.” The Eevee continued, not quite registering the reason behind Seven's confusion. “I came here on an assignment for my team, but I... got lost, and I haven't been able to find any of my other teammates, and I heard there's a ton of the distortion-maddened in this place, and then I saw that awful explosion and thought 'oh no, there must be something scary powerful there', and gods I don't know why we took up that assignment-.”

 

The Eevee stopped themselves, blinking at Seven and realizing their new companion wasn't following their train of thought at all. They stepped out of the bush fully, sending a few leaves fluttering about. All Seven could do was note that the Eevee was not completely material, parts of their body wispy and transparent – was this some kind of new ability? Or perhaps the result of some organic differences?

 

“Are you... alright?” The Eevee said, stopping about a foot away from Seven.

 

“How are you talking?” Seven finally said, voice hoarse. They felt slightly nauseous, like they had just stepped off an uncomfortable car ride.

 

“I... beg your pardon? You didn't think I was one of the maddened now, did you?” The Eevee said, looking taken aback.

 

“What- no. I mean. I don't really know. There are many things I do not really understand in this situation, right now.” Seven said. “First of all – you're a... a Pokémon. An organic one, at that. Your kind went extinct from the Four Great Calamities. And how are you even talking? Pokémon don't talk.”

 

“The Four Great What-Nows? And that's funny that you'd say that about talking,” the Eevee said, sitting down and leisurely grooming a paw, “you sure are one strange Rowlet.”

 

“That's not funny.” Seven said. Something uncomfortably close by made a gurgling noise, loudly shuffling through the underbrush of the forest. Its gait sounded completely irregular, like it was injured or perhaps not in a stable state of being. Upon hearing this, the Eevee's pupils dilated and their ears flattened against their head.

 

“Oh shit. They've noticed us now. You better run.” The Eevee hissed, before scampering off and vanishing into thin air – though visually, the Eevee had disappeared, the thermal sensors on Seven's visor indicated the Pokémon was still there, heat signature dampened considerably. Seven didn't know much about Pokémon abilities, but somehow they weren't sure normal Eevees were supposed to be able to do that. Left on their own again, Seven shifted their feet uneasily as the new presence shuffled closer – much more loudly than the Eevee had approached. What was so frightening that the Eevee simply fled without giving any sort of explanation?

 

Strange Rowlet... Rowlet... that doesn't make sense. Besides, don't Rowlets have brown feathers? Seven thought. They glanced down at themselves again – their feathers were a mix of grays. Yet, there was the characteristic bow tie leaf just barely visible in their perspective – though it was blue, for some reason.

 

Hrrrf. Hrrrrffff.

 

Seven turned to see something approach from behind, walking unsteadily out from the trees. Whatever creature it was, its breathing was incredibly labored and its appearance was ragged and wild. Seven didn't get the chance to look at the creature more carefully to figure out what it was even supposed to be because the next moment, the thing was lunging, horrible maw open wide and full of glistening teeth. For a split second, time stood still and Seven gazed into the beast's eyes: darkened and empty, like fathomless pits.

 

In the next second, Seven managed to dart away, just narrowly evading the beast's claws. Throwing their wings open, Seven part-flew, part-scuttled their way across the forest floor. They were still somewhat in denial about the whole situation and much too out of it to be able to control their new body very well, let alone fly coherently. Even if they could, where would they even fly to? How large was this forest – or rather, dungeon as that Eevee had referred to it? Did that mean this place had no end?

 

A howl rang out behind Seven, sending shivers down their spine. They didn't dare look back, even as they were slightly curious about whatever it was that chased them. Stumbling over low-lying patches of vegetation, Seven had to find somewhere to hide or find a way to figure out flying to at least get to higher ground, or risk getting torn to shreds by some raging thing.

 

“Outsider... betrayer... I'll... kill you!” A grotesque voice, laboriously stringing words together.

 

Oh, lovely, even the monsters in this world can talk. Seven grimaced. It was apparently just distracting enough because the thing managed to catch up with Seven, though luckily for them its gait and aim were far too unsteady to pin down one small Rowlet. A burst of wind threw Seven a few meters away as the creature chasing them slammed into a nearby tree, crushing a large portion of the trunk. As it pried itself out and continued chasing, there was a loud bang as the tree collapsed behind the two Pokémon.

 

Now that Seven had gotten another look at their pursuer, they could see that it was a Lycanroc – a lot rougher-looking than normal, like it had already been in several fights or had been dragged arse-backwards through half the forest by something. Despite being smaller and just slightly quicker, Seven was at a disadvantage from being disoriented and unused to being shaped so differently. It wasn't long before the Lycanroc was already just inches behind Seven, snapping at them with their horrid teeth.

 

“Outsider!!” It shouted again, with emphasis.

 

“Why do you have such a problem with that?” Seven shouted back. The Lycanroc, of course, offered no explanation.

 

Unfortunately, Seven's situation wasn't going to get much better as there was an abrupt crashing sound as a second void-eyed monstrosity burst out from the underbrush ahead of Seven, cutting them off. This one looked like an Ursaring – or at least, Seven could only guess that was what it was supposed to be – it had giant metal thorns covering its body for some reason, and its head was almost completely encased in vines.

 

In normal circumstances, Seven would have taken pause to wonder about this phenomenon – was it somehow fused with another Pokémon? How did that even work? But the only thing in Seven's head, with the raging monster behind them and a second one appearing before them, was pure, implacable terror. They probably were screaming out loud without even realizing it – too much was happening for them to register much of anything.

 

Standing its ground firmly in front of Seven and blocking their way, the Ursaring made a bellowing noise, claws poised to strike. Behind Seven, the Lycanroc screamed – only really focused on eviscerating their small target. Something roared back from within Seven and a ghostly aura erupted from their body, extending outward in a vague humanoid shape. The shadow collided with the supposed Ursaring, knocking it clean off its feet and throwing it several meters back. As it lay stunned, Seven continued past it, not once looking back.

 

The sound of rapid pawsteps was still there, so that meant the Lycanroc was unfortunately still in hot pursuit. Trying to recreate the sensation they felt just then, Seven leaped onto a nearby tree, running up the trunk. As the Lycanroc skidded to a halt, attempting to snap upwards, Seven flapped their wings and shot into the air, well above their pursuer. A ghostly aura surrounded them and extended downward, forming a bladed shape and slashing ruthlessly at the Lycanroc. Several chunks of fur went fluttering to the ground.

 

The Lycanroc yipped sharply, surprised by the sudden retaliation and halted its advance to stop (or at least try to stop). The momentum from its sudden change in direction threw it off its stance entirely, sending the Pokémon head-over heels into the midst of some nearby bushes. Leaves and twigs exploded into the air, mixed with little tufts of fur. Seven paused there to gather their breath, focusing on their powers: several glowing blade-like leaves formed around them, poised to strike.

 

Whimpering, the Lycanroc hobbled out from the bushes and fled, making pitiful noises as it went. Seven kept their leaves with them and took off in another direction, ready to fire at anything that so much as twitched. From there, Seven continued running, continued more or less fighting. They were unleashing their powers completely on instinct – they tried to figure out how to properly direct their newfound ghostly aura on the fly, but it almost seemed to act on its own. A handful of mindless beasts became almost a hoard of monsters, clamoring for Seven's demise – yet the now-Rowlet refused to be taken down. Along with the ghostly tendrils, Seven quickly found they could even control the air itself, whipping up razor-sharp currents with their wings – paired with their bladed leaves, there were few Pokémon that would leave their path unscathed.

 

Maybe – just maybe – this was all starting to feel a bit fun.

 

As soon as it started, Seven found themselves alone again. Perhaps the monsters had gotten the idea that Seven wasn't to be taken lightly and had retreated into the darkness for now. Exhausted, yet still running strong on adrenaline, Seven jogged through the forest, alert for more threats.

 

<Big sib... is that you?>

 

From the cold of the night, a familiar voice cut through to Seven. Perking up, they changed direction to track down the source of the telepathy. Finally, something good during this night. After carelessly tearing through every plant and bush in their path, Seven came across a small clearing – not unlike the crater they found themselves in. Here, there was a much larger open space among the trees where the ground was covered with a layer of flowers.

 

In the center, several of them had been crushed by a small (even smaller than Seven was, currently) metallic device. On one side, the device's chassis was shaped in a trapezoidal prism with rounded edges. Engraved on the raised surface of the device was the symbol of the eclipse, and just above it was a small diamond-shaped indication light (currently unlit).

 

Seven could recognize this device, but they couldn't quite fully remember what it was – yet on top of knowing there was a person stored inside, they knew the device was of extreme importance to them. To... to everyone, really. But who was everyone? Stooping down, Seven wondered how they were going to try and pick it up.

 

The indication light briefly glowed blue and the device floated upwards, flying in a loose circle around Seven before latching onto their back. Seven could feel a light tugging sensation as the device locked into place through some unknown means.

 

“How...?” Seven tried looking at the device by turning their head. It didn't seem to have any straps or extendable bits – it was just hanging onto them now.

 

<I dunno. Something about vectors.>

 

“Fascinating... I suppose that makes sense.” Seven said, feeling the gears of several memories slowly turning and clicking into place. “... Five, was it?”

 

<Yes. How did you turn into this, Seven?>

 

“Can't say I have an answer to that. And you? How did you get here? Where are the others?”

 

<I don't know. There's a lot of creatures here, it's... strange. Maybe something went really wrong with Digital Space?>

 

“Dunno... this doesn't feel anything like Digital Space.” Seven said, frowning to themselves. Five fell silent again, likely mulling over the circumstances.

 

By now, the adrenaline was wearing off and Seven was exhausted, carrying a strange machine containing their sibling, and holding too many questions in their head. And they still couldn't find any reasonable places to hide or better yet – a way out of the forest. They considered asking Five, but given their own visor's sensors were coming up on a blank, they doubted Five would have any better luck with their given equipment. Dragging their feet, Seven continued onward.

 

Damnit... I should have at least grabbed a couple berries before I left in a hurry. Seven thought. I doubt those flowers would be much sustenance...

 

<Seven, watch out!>

 

There was a familiar rumbling sound – that eerie, unsteady gait – and Seven groaned internally. This time, Seven was unable to evade at all as a blurred shape erupted from the nearby trees to barrel straight into them. A barrier made of blue light appeared, just barely separating Seven from the new monster – and as Seven gazed into gnashing, frothing teeth, the barrier flickered as if having a difficult time holding the monster off. They didn't have time to wonder how Five was doing that – reaching into themselves, Seven summoned as much strength as they could and fired several large, bladed leaves at the monster, causing it to fall away for now.

 

Flapping profusely, Seven narrowly avoided slamming into a tree as they tried to take to the air properly for once. Their flight feathers must have been worn and ragged from all the fighting because their wings couldn't displace enough air to provide Seven with sufficient lift. Further exhausted, Seven tumbled back down to the ground, rolling a short distance. When they stopped they were staring straight up at the creature from before.

 

The thing was hideous, like all the others: a Scyther, perhaps – if there were somehow dragon-typed Scythers in existence. Lunging at Seven, the Scyther-dragon thing snapped its jaws at them – Seven rolled to a side, somehow avoiding the teeth. As they stumbled to their feet, they weren't as lucky as the Scyther lashed out with its forearm blades, catching Seven on the side and cutting through a wing.

 

Fuck! Seven was panicking again, now with an open wound. Somehow, this new injury brought their attention to all the other little ones scattered around the rest of their body – small cuts, minor bruises, possible cracked ribs – things that originally were so easy to ignore now felt like they were compounding each other. And now Seven definitely had no chance of flying, or more importantly escaping this horrific nightmare of a flying creature.

 

“Hey! There it is! Quick, use a ranged move!”

 

Oh finally. Someone civilized. Seven thought, dimly. A sudden rush of dark energy burst past Seven, knocking the Scyther to the ground.

 

“Salt! Fence it off!”

 

The same voice, commanding others. Something shuffled past Seven – a round... spiky shape? As the Scyther was getting to its feet, the ground in front of it glowed light blue and a series of thin ice-like spikes sprang forth. Caught off-guard, the Scyther growled in pain as a few of the spikes made cuts across its legs and torso. Leaping back, it stumbled again as it fell to its knees – Seven looked more closely at the spikes and realized there was some kind of shining, liquid substance on them (poison?).

 

While the Scyther was momentarily incapacitated, a few Pokémon appeared around Seven. The round one from before turned out to be some kind of Meowth-looking creature – though at this point, Seven was mostly blindly guessing. There were two others with this round person (“Salt”, were they called?): a lavender Pawniard type in flowing robes and a strange, part-metal shrimp dragon.

 

Or at least, they looked like a shrimp to Seven. They were much too tired to think about adjacent Pokémon species.

 

“Hey... you okay?” The shrimp dragon said, floating over to Seven.

 

“... s... shr.....” Seven couldn't form words. It was probably for the best.

 

“Boss. We need to do something about that knife guy.” Salt said, pointing through the barrier of ice they made. The Scyther had just begun to stand again, glaring back at the small group of Pokémon.

 

“Cerussa! Overwhelm it with your shadows! Salt! Carpet the ground!” The shrimp dragon called. The Pawniard – Cerussa – nodded wordlessly and practically disappeared as they darted away, moving at almost unreasonable speeds. As Cerussa wove their way through the ice spikes and summoned curved shadows around the Scyther, Salt went in at the battle from the ground – almost just as quickly. All around the Scyther and underneath its feet, dozens of ice crystals burst from the earth – some longer than the initial barrier of ice, and some short but serrated or fractal in shape.

 

Howling in rage, the Scyther struggled to move from its place in this field of crystalline blades, but one of its legs had been cleanly impaled and locked into place. Above, Cerussa's shadow attacks dove inward, further pushing the Scyther into the ice. Cerussa themselves finally reappeared, bladed fans appearing from within their sleeves. Letting gravity add to their force, Cerussa slashed downward through the Scyther. With a weak cry, the Scyther fell, unconscious. Before it could hit the mass of spikes, the ice receded into nothingness, and the Scyther thudded quietly onto bare ground. Seven glanced at Cerussa and Salt with a perplexed expression – they supposed there was no need to brutalize someone more than was necessary, but it wasn't as if these wild Pokémon were affording them the same kindness.

 

“Should we take this one with us? This definitely confirms the reports on more dungeon madness...” Cerussa said. Their voice was hushed and ever so slightly scratchy, like a whisper.

 

“Mmmm... I imagine it'd be good for research, but the guild probably already has their hands full with the guys Omen sent them yesterday.” The shrimp dragon said.

 

“I dunno, I think one more guy wouldn't hurt.” Salt said. “They're getting so close now, I can feel it.”

 

“You say that every time, Salt...” Cerussa sounded a little tired of something.

 

“Maybe we should send this one to the Stellar folks...” the shrimp dragon said, humming in thought.

 

“Guild? Dungeon madness? Research?” Seven stared. Instead of answering, Cerussa shrugged and went to wrap the fallen Scyther in a canvas, placing the now-bagged Scyther on an odd, floating platform. They pulled a cord from the platform and attached it to one of the spikes on Salt's head.

 

“I'm sure you have a lot of questions. You... look like you've been through a lot.” The shrimp dragon said. “But we need to keep moving. I know a safe spot not too far from here, where we can rest a bit and get our bearings together.”

 

Seven made a noise – they weren't sure if they could continue moving in this state. They knew they had to, yet their body felt like lead now. The shrimp dragon seemed to understand this and gestured to Salt, who conjured two poles from ice (it could have also been metal. Seven was much too out of it to tell the difference). Cerussa reached into a messenger bag they were carrying, pulling out a second, smaller canvas and tying it to the two poles, forming a makeshift stretcher. How anyone was holding this much material in their bags was beyond Seven.

 

“... I am going to pick you up now.” Cerussa said, approaching Seven.

 

“... g... go for it.” Seven said. Cerussa gingerly moved them from the ground to the stretcher. As Salt and the shrimp dragon picked up the two ends of the stretcher, a distorted scream rang out nearby.

 

“Go first. I will hold it off.” Cerussa said. “Make haste.”

 

“R-right. Please be safe.” The shrimp dragon said. “Come on, Salt!”

 

Rushing through the forest (but carefully so), the two Pokémon quickly made their way onward with an unconscious Scyther in tow as well as Seven on the stretcher. As they moved, blood steadily dripped from Seven, staining the fabric of the stretcher.

 

“Drat. I should've asked Cerussa to staunch that first.” The shrimp dragon hissed. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

 

“We have time. We're almost there.” Salt said, trying to sound encouraging. Seven had only now just realized that like the shrimp dragon, Salt could also levitate. Whether or not they had legs to run with was a mystery for now.

 

“This place... it's like a fever dream.” Seven said, slurring their words.

 

“I know. Mystery dungeons, eh?” Salt said.

 

“Wh... whazzat?”

 

“What do you mean what's that? What's a mystery dungeon?” The shrimp dragon sputtered. “Everyone's heard of them by now, it's almost impossible to not at least have hear of them or worse yet, run into one yourself.”

 

“Too many Pokémon...” Seven said.

 

“You're not making any sense.” The shrimp dragon said.

 

This world doesn't make any sense. Seven wanted to say, but lacked the strength to do so. On the other hand, Five had been oddly quiet – they wouldn't be surprised if something about this place interfered with their mechanisms.

 

<Five, are you still there?> Seven reached out mentally. The Pokémon helping them probably thought them strange enough, they didn't need to add 'talks to seeming imaginary friends' to the list of offenses.

 

<... yes. My core is not charging as it should, I'm sorry I haven't been very helpful.>

 

<That's okay. Just hang in there. I don't exactly have hands anymore, but maybe I could direct one of these strangers to fixing->

 

<No way!>

 

<Alright. Well just hang tight, then. We'll figure something out.> On one hand, Seven wanted to address Five's malfunctioning core as soon as possible, but they didn't want to risk strangers (let alone strange Pokémon) damaging the core further with clumsiness or poor understanding of the schematics. Seven would do it themselves, but they didn't want to chance it with a set of owl talons designed to crush things (if only they had some convenient psychic power).

 

One slightly bumpy ride later, the duo carrying Seven finally stopped at a little alcove in a rock formation. The alcove led to a sheltered space within the rock formation, partly open to the sky so that the stars were still visible, but mostly hidden away like an open-ceiling cave. As Salt put the stretcher down, the shrimp dragon rushed to examine Seven. Salt unhooked themselves from the floating platform and went to check on the Scyther.

 

“This doesn't look good... I hope Omen is still around.” The shrimp dragon said.

 

“I'm sure they still have some blood left.” Salt said. The shrimp dragon smacked them lightly with their tail. Almost as if on cue, a ball of light appeared, melting away to reveal some kind of Mew with white fur. The Mew floated around the group happily before looking around inquisitively, possibly wondering where Cerussa was.

 

“They'll catch up. They always do.” The shrimp dragon muttered. “Omen! This one – they're not part of our team, but... they need healing. Bad.”

 

“We bagged another mad 'un, too.” Salt waved.

 

Omen nodded solemnly and drifted over to get a look at Seven. The Mew focused on Seven, mismatched eyes glowing softly. A similar glow enveloped Seven and steadily, the pain and discomfort simply melted away. The bleeding stopped almost immediately and somehow, Seven felt almost reinvigorated – but incredibly tired. The glow faded again and Seven sat up – a little too suddenly – and looked around. Meanwhile, Omen moved on to tend to the captive Scyther.

 

“Shrimp man.” Seven said (why did they open with that). “Who are you? What is this mystery dungeon business? Why are you in here, if it's so bad?”

 

“My name is Echo!” Echo said, ignoring the initial remark. “Mystery dungeons are mysterious places, distorting natural landscapes into nightmarish dungeons! We are here, because we are an exploration team!”

 

“We were an exploration team. And we were here for a personal reason.” Cerussa's voice drifted over from the alcove entrance. Omen rushed over to aid them, because whatever the Pawniard fended off had left them badly injured.

 

“Cerussa! Shit- are you-.” Echo said.

 

“Relax. Omen's here.” Cerussa said, wincing. They came over to join the group and sat down on a nearby rock. Omen flitted around them, fussing over them and tending to their wounds.

 

“Okay. We're all here.” Echo said, heaving a sigh.

 

“I can imagine you all... have been through much, but could someone please explain to me just what is happening?” Seven said.

 

“I'm the healer.” Omen said.

 

“Thank you, Omen.” Cerussa said.

 

“That... doesn't answer any of my questions, but that's good to know.” Seven said.

 

“Well, first I'd like to know a bit about you, actually.” Echo said. “How exactly did you end up in this mystery dungeon? And how is it that you know nothing about them, let alone what they are?”

 

“I...” Seven glanced among the various Pokémon watching them. They were all sitting or floating a short distance away, letting the Rowlet have some space. “I'm... I really don't know. I don't think this is even my original world.”

 

“What?” Cerussa said, incredulous.

 

“Called it.” Salt said, lifting a paw.

 

“I remember being somewhere else. I remember being... something else. A human.” Seven said. “There are gaps in my memory for some reason, but I remember some things. It's really patchy and doesn't make much sense to me – not that any of it would help me in this place.”

 

“Like what? What do you remember about your world?” Echo said.

 

“Do humans grow flowers?” Omen said.

 

“Why do you keep asking all the ex-humans that?” Echo said.

 

Ex-humans?? What do you mean, are there others like me? Seven thought, but held onto that question.

 

“I remember that it was... a world of metal. There were no Pokémon. None that were organic, that is.” Seven said. “The only Pokémon that still existed were artificial. Or entirely digital, acting as AI or basic digital assistants... and no, there were no plants around. So no flowers... I think.”

 

“Sounds kinda harsh. Terrible, even.” Salt said, looking downcast. “... did you like being there?”

 

Seven paused for a moment and thought about it. Through the tattered patchwork of memories, they could still catch glimpses of their own feelings – enough to see a crude image. Likely not a complete image, but it was something nonetheless.

 

“It was something I was used to.” Seven said.

 

“Well. It was nice to meet you, but we all need to leave this place.” Omen said, bobbing up and down in the air. “Echo.”

 

“But-! I still need to-.” Echo stammered.

 

“No. We are going, now, Echo.” Omen said, firmly. “I sympathize with you. I truly do. But your team is tired. Your supplies are low. And we have this stranger and dungeon-maddened Pokémon to escort out and take back to the guild.”

 

“Omen's right. We must leave while we still can. We can continue your mission another day.” Cerussa said, gently.

 

Their mission? Seven wondered. Echo looked conflicted, pacing around in the air for a moment before letting out an exasperated noise.

 

“Right. Right, I know. You're right.” Echo sighed heavily.

 

“Wait. I still don't really understand-.” Seven blurted out.

 

“The summarized version is that this place – this part of the world is known as the Grass Continent – odd name, I know. Echo, you really need to work on your explanations.” Cerussa said, shooting Echo a look. “Here, there are only Pokémon. However, lately there has been a rise of cases involving mystery dungeons: strange labyrinth-like distortions that suddenly envelop an area and drive Pokémon mad. Not only that, we have been receiving reports of Pokémon appearing, who claim to formerly be humans, appearing out of seemingly thin air.”

 

“We come from the Malakhe Guild – one of several organizations working to deal with these problems.” Echo added. “See, I can do good explanations!”

 

“You could have started with that.” Cerussa pointed out.

 

“Anyway – that's not even all of it!! But I think... for now, we'll leave it at that.” Salt said, waving their paws in the air. “Come on, we really gotta get moving.”

 

“Mystery dungeons... and humans turning into Pokémon...” Seven said. “It sounds ludicrous.”

 

“Well, it's happening now, and we may as well deal with it.” Echo said, gruffly. “Now let's get us all back to the guild...”