Chapter 3: Living Under a Rock

“Are we close?” 

“Yes.” 

“ How close though?”

“Close enough for you to stop bothering me for good.”

“At least I’m not bothering you every few seconds asking if we are there yet like a child.”

“Maybe something good came out of you transforming…”

“Hey!”

I huffed as Evon and I continued walking through the forest I have dubbed Sweaty Woods (because the atmosphere is so hot that it makes you sweat like the least sweaty Fortnite player), the pace being slow to recover from our fight in the dungeon. I would’ve liked it if we were a bit faster to lower the chance of encountering another group like the Elemental Discount Kongs, but I got why we were going slow. Battle aftermaths are not an easy thing to get over.

Speaking of battle aftermaths, the biggest one that happened was my new charmander body. I couldn’t fucking believe it. I actually turned into a charmander in broad daylight, and it was no dream bullshit. I knew the entire situation wasn’t a dream, but it didn’t overcome the absurdity that it was turning into a Pokémon mid-battle.

… which made Evon’s claim of me turning into a Suicune a bit more valid… holy fuck, this is awesome!

Sure, it was a bit weird being just slightly taller than the eevee, having small legs, and having an extra limb right above my ass, but in all honesty, I just couldn’t complain. I knew that this situation was the dream of millions back in my world, so the fact that I, local internet dumbass that’s hyper-fixated on games and memes, was the lucky one is honestly kind of baffling. 

What kind of drugs were the isekai gods smoking when they looked at me and decided: “That’s him, that’s the one, isekai his ass and give him a broken power too!” Again, what were they smoking and how could I get some of it too?

Oh, silly me, I could just ask the voice in my head that’s probably one of these isekai gods. It was just that simple. ‘Yo, voice in my head. Why the hell did you choose a rando like me to be your isekai hero or something?’  

I waited for a response, my surroundings feeling a bit more silent than it was. However, after a few seconds of pure silence, I realized that I wouldn’t get an answer. No alien intrusive thought nor a whispering in my ear… wait, do charmanders have ears?

I probed the side of my head with a scaly claw until I found a small hole. Yep, they do.

Speaking of hearing, despite the obvious body differences, there were some differences that I also felt in this body. First of all, my feet had some callouses at the bottom that kinda inhibited sensitivity whenever I took steps, secondly, a very warm feeling in my chest; and thirdly, my sight, hearing, and smelling were WAY better. To put it into perspective, I not only could smell the skwovet shit-stain scent on the claw I scratched it with, but I could also smell other scents of dung that I couldn’t even see. It was just that good.

Honestly, I was kinda surprised that I was in a forest and didn’t step in a single pile of dung so far… I hope I just didn’t jinx it for thinking that… quick, universe distraction!

I started walking a bit more closely to the eevee, focusing more on analyzing his body to get my head off the jinx potential inside my brain. I took in Evon’s half-musky and half-sweet smell, looked in more detail at his oily and fluffy pelt, and silently awed at his face that was glaring a bit confused and annoyedly at me… wait a moment-

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked with his head tilted to the side.

I shrugged and looked away, inflating my cheeks a little. “Can’t I appreciate cuteness without getting called out?” 

The eyepatch-wearing eevee rolled his eyes while saying, sarcasm entering his voice. “If you’re gay, you can just say it. After all, you’ve been calling me cute here and there-”

“Actually, I’m bi.” I straight (not) up admitted, not even hesitating. Honestly, at this point, when you look up too much stuff on the internet, your sexuality just gets affected by that. You know who I blame for my case? Sephiroth. Bro might be an evil god or something close to that, but I can’t deny his appearance and voice are hot as fuck.

That stopped Evon in his tracks, making him look at me a bit surprised. “S-so… so that means you were actually flirting with me-?”

I stopped as well and dismissed that claim with a wave of my claw. “Nah, even with the body of a scalie right now, I’m not a furry.” I smirked before booping Evon’s snout. “I was just messing with you because I like to get reactions for the funny.”

Evon had a confused expression on his face, ignoring the boop I gave on his snout. “Scalie? And what do you mean by furry?” Before I could respond, Evon suddenly shook his head and continued walking. “Actually, never mind, I know it’s definitely more nonsense that’s better not to know from your world.”

“Hey, my world doesn’t just have nonsense! It has lots of good things too, like… the internet!” I said with a lot of grandiose, my tail flame burning a bit brighter as I kept following him. “You should see it, almost everyone in my world uses it!”

“I take it is some type of drug that makes people insane then…” He said without even looking at me.

“No, legit, it’s actually goated.” I made a wide motion with my arm. “You can ask on the internet anything and literally millions of answers will be available to you from all around the world! It’s basically an entire library inside your house and sometimes your pocket when you have-…” I fish for my phone inside my pockets. But of course, I forgot, when I transformed for some reason… they fucking disappeared. “Shit, right, my phone forgot to load into the world. Boo-womp…”

It seemed that I achieved Evon’s curiosity because he still kept asking about the internet. “ Anything? Including the most hard-to-answer philosophical questions?”

“Yep! … kinda. They just propose the best answers possible and some theories. But still, results nonetheless!” I put a claw on my chest and pretended to wipe a tear with the other, dramatizing a little. “If it weren’t for such beauty, I wouldn’t be the smart boy I am today… sniffle, sniffle.”

Evon just gave me a side-eye before his ears flattened. “I think all it did was just make you more crazy…”

At the word crazy, I tried to refrain from reciting a certain infinite copypasta until I tired myself. I would save that for another time. You’re lucky I was tired Evon, you’re so lucky…

Suddenly, Evon and I stopped in front of a large cave entrance under a big cliff. Unlike a normal cave entrance, this one had unlit torches on the sides and above it, and not only that, I could see lit torches lighting up the dark path further in. On the wooden archway that made the entrance, I could see a sign spelling out: “Cavestone Village” written in- wait a fucking second. How the hell could I read that?

Literally, the sign just had random paw prints on it and for some damn reason, I could read it like I was reading in English. Before I could question it out loud, my weeb knowledge activated, and reminded myself that in isekai anime, the protag has stuff translated to them by the isekai god/UI system of the universe. ‘Thank you for translating to me, voice in my head that I’ll eventually name!’ 

I then looked at Evon. “So… the village is actually inside of a cave?”

The eevee shook his head and denied it. “No, the cave IS the village.”

Once I heard that claim, my first thought was about Hollow Knight, however, it was best to keep it to myself. ‘Hopefully, I don’t find an Ultra Necrozma sitting somewhere hidden in this village. But it would be funny though…’

“What are you staring at?”

I got snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Evon, who looked at me suspiciously and confused. I wave a claw in dismissal. “Nothing much, just thinking something funny.” I then put my claws on my side. “Say, you don’t happen to have a villager named Necrozma there, right?”

“W-… what? Who even is this… Necroz… Necrozmus?” 

That question told me enough. “Never mind, just a random question out of nowhere because yes.” I then stretched my arms and back, even hearing a slight snap coming from my back. “Anyways, can we go in? I’m hungry and tired, that berry did nothing to satisfy my belly.” 

Evon sighed. “Yeah, let’s go…” 

With that, we both walked into the lit-up cave. I could practically see in Evon’s face that he was hesitating hard in entering the village again for some reason. He couldn’t sweat, but the grimace and the look of uncertainty just showed it. Was he worried that bringing me to the village was a bad idea? Nah, of course not! Why would it be that? I’m a ray of sunshine to everyone that meets me. Evon can surely agree if someone asks him!

For sure!

I took in my new rocky surroundings to keep myself occupied. I could tell this cave was man- excuse me, Pokémon-made from the way the rocks were carved roundly and there were almost no signs of stalactites or just sharp rocks jutting out of the ground or the walls, not to mention the floor was paved dirt, like part of a road that just passed through a cave. 

I looked away from Evon and did a fake cough to myself before muttering. “Hallownest be like.” I felt the one-eye stare from the eevee before that feeling quickly went away. 

I continued staring at my surroundings for a bit longer, seeing the torches stretch for a bit in the distance before I could see the first sign of life in this tunnel of a cave in the form of a seviper, sweeping away dust with a mop that was wrapped in their tail, from there, the narrow tunnel expanded into a wide area. ‘Woah, sick!’

Suddenly, Evon stopped, making me stop as well and look at him in confusion. “Why we stopping?”

“You’ll see why, it’s gonna be quick.” Evon responded nonchalantly.

Before I could ask more, I could feel the ground shaking beneath my feet. I took a step back and, suddenly, dirt flew from where I was standing, revealing two figures. Actually… six figures. After the dust settled, two dugtrio appeared, one being Owen Wilsons while the other not being Owen Wilsons.

“Unknown footstep detected!” The hairless dugtrio said followed by their counterpart.

“Unknown footstep detected!”

“Identify yourself, now!” They said in unison as both of them inched closer to me, leaning closer to me and sniffing me with their red noses.

It felt weird hearing those diggers just have all of their heads speaking at once. It was like I was hearing the same voice but under different pitches coming from each head, but all the heads were literally the same being. It was with these two that it confirmed some things to me. One: The same brain is (somehow) split into three heads; two: regional variants existed and coexisted somehow. But whatever, each world with its uniqueness.

Also, just like a certain diglett from Explorers of Sky, these guys have a foot fetish. Some things never change, do they?

Before I could respond, Evon got in front of me and responded for me. Rude, I was about to introduce myself with a funny reference! “Well, this here is Lucas, and uh… it’s kind of a wild story but we’re tired and hungry. Don’t worry about him, he’s… um… he won’t cause trouble.” He looked at me with a forced grin on his face. “Isn’t that right, Lucas?”

Me behaving like a normal person just to pass without references or memes? CRINGE!

I sighed disappointedly and spoke… with a pompous tone in my voice. After all, I bet some weirdo in this world still speaks like they’re in the Middle Ages or are part of a Shakespeare play. “Yeah… my name is Lucas and I promise to not be the source of any mayhem in this village.” 

I noticed Evon looking at me weirdly the hairless dugtrio spoke after squinting his eyes for a bit. “Alright, we shall let you pass. Evon, keep an eye on him, will you?”

“Yeah, the village is already in a terrible state, don’t make it worse by bringing troublemakers!” The blonde-haired dugtrio added before the two of them burrowed back on the ground, leaving a small protrusion on the floor. 

I tilted my head at that and turned to the eevee. “I take it that the village is not going well, I suppose.”

“Don’t question about it. Just some drama that the guild is sorting over. It’s gonna be over soon.” Evon responded before he started to walk again.

I started to follow him as I thought. ‘Knowing my time on the internet with dramas and all that shit, they might think it will be done once the storm passes, but, of course, will come back stronger when this supposed drama gets brought up again.’ 

We continued walking in silence, passing by some buildings embedded in the rocky walls of the cave. Some signs in front or above some of the buildings indicated that they were miscellaneous public buildings, like a post office, an inn, and an accessory shop. Looking closely at these buildings, they reminded me of a lot of burrows seen in fantasized bug stories. Cough, cough, Hollow Knight.

The tunnel then extended to the point of being a large circular area that seemed like it was the village’s square. Big and small Pokémon lived in harmony, even working together for certain tasks. This was probably a biologist’s wet dream of a symbiotic relationship in action. In the center of the area was the statue of a zeraora looking up proudly. It sure looked like they worshipped some random zeraora or this was some hommage to a legendary hero or something like that, typical isekai world backstory.

However… something felt odd about that statue. For some reason, my head started to ache a little every time it came into my field of view.

But that didn’t matter though, what truly mattered was seeing the large variety of Pokémon in the flesh. From a fierce-looking garchomp to a cute little-… hisuian lilligant? Well, guess the hisuian guys aren’t extinct yet, good for them. It also means more variety!

I continued following Evon while noticing some of the Pokémon giving slight glances at me, some staring longer than others. Wow, it hadn’t been an hour and I was already starting to get attention like a celebrity. If this village doesn’t take well to outsiders, just imagine when they see my true form.

… if I can transform back to it. I’m not gonna get used to being a scalie for the rest of my life, no siree!

After we turned to another tunnel and walked a bit, we stopped in front of a certain house, made from solid clay and rocks. Evon sighed and said. “Welp, I’m home… I guess…”

“Oh, this is your home? It’s… kinda nice!” I said, sugarcoating a little. Sure, I wasn’t used to… well, archaic-looking houses, but hey, shouldn’t complain when you’re at least in the comfort of someone else’s home. I started taking a step forward. “Well, I hope you have good food waiting insi-”

“And who said I’m letting you in?”

I stopped and looked at the eevee walking past me into his home with an annoyed look on his face. He opened the door as I tilted my head. “Wuh-?”

Evon turned to me with a scowl. “Do you really think I’m gonna let you stay in my house after all the shit you’ve put me through?”

“Wha- what do you mean!?” I asked, my tail flame brightening a bit. “I put my life on the line to help you in the dungeon and with that mightyena! Literally, the fuck do you mean?”

“To put it simply. You’re fucking insane. Valtrus wasn’t even gonna kill me and all you did was annoy him! And then, after that, you literally dragged me into a Mystery Dungeon when we could’ve taken literally any other path. And then you fucking mock me after that? And let’s not forget that you treated me like I was just your toy when we met after I saved you. Nah, if you think that I’m gonna let you in after all of that, you’re out of your mind.”

“But, why were you leading me here anyway?”

“You were just following me because you wanted to. I told you that once we got to the village, we would go our separate ways. Here’s a bit of a reality check… the world doesn’t revolve around you.”

With that, the eevee slammed his door on my face, making me flinch and take a step back from the loud noise. After I recovered, I looked back at the door, growling a little in anger. “Bitch, literally!? After all of that!? Well, fuck you too!”

I turned around and started walking away, an angry frown plastered on my face. I just couldn’t believe it. After all, I did to save our asses, and what he did to save mine too at the beginning, that’s how he fucking treated me? If little bro just couldn’t handle the memes and tease, then he honestly was just a little softie who couldn’t handle my humor. Imagine if he got stuck with someone from my world who couldn’t stop saying shit like: “She rizz on my skibidi ‘till I gyat, down in Ohio.”

I physically cringed and felt a sting in my soul after imagining that entire sentence. 

I was pissed. So pissed in fact that I couldn’t say any memes or references to cope with this massive L I took. Of course, I was dumb and stupid. I thought this was gonna go exactly just like an isekai story or a PMD game would, but of course not. This was real life, not some cheap isekai story some manga artist would draw just to fulfill his escapism or perhaps his fetish by making it into a harem isekai. Looking at you Konosuba.

I stopped walking as I suddenly realized the situation I was in. I was alone now, with no money or help for me to have it easy. I had nowhere to go, no one to guide me, no mentor to teach me how to control my powers, and stuck in an alien body without knowledge of how to turn back into a human.

To put it simply, I was softlocked.

I went to one of the tunnel’s walls and sat against it, curling my tail around my legs as I looked down in thought. ‘What the hell do I do now…? I shouldn’t join the guild until I get a hold of my powers. But how the fuck that if I don’t even have an unreliable isekai god voice in my head to help me?’ I rested my head on my short knees, somehow being able to do a fetal-like position in this body. ‘… was… was Evon… right?’

I raised my head and looked back at my actions with a grimace. I remember the actions that I did to piss him off and only trying to come off as justified… I wondered to myself. ‘If I was that much of a jerk… why the hell a lot of people online were friends with-’

Then it hit me. Of course, I would’ve been seen as a jerk here. I knew that could be the case but never thought that would’ve happened to me. I grew up in an environment built on brainless humor, dark jokes with sarcasm and irony that would be so toxic if someone wasn’t used to it. The internet is not a place for people who can’t handle that sort of humor, I literally grew up on it and my entire personality was molded by it. The only reason why I would feel like a jerk to these people is because they didn’t grow up in the same environment as I did. They DON’T have internet, not only that, this world was supposedly way less toxic than my world.

Shit, I really was a dick, wasn’t I?

“I need to-… is it a bit late for an apology? … And I just did an alternate version of a verse of Justin Bieber’s song, just my day…” I sighed and looked back down, not realizing some heavy footsteps approaching me. “First day in a new world and you already blew it, Lucas. Good stuff, good stuff. What’chu gonna do next? Speedrun getting evicted from the village, any%?”

“And why would you get evicted from the village?”

The smell of burning iron entered my nostrils as I heard the deep and raspy female voice. When I looked at the source, I recoiled a bit with an inaudible scream. The four-legged and iron-faced creature in front of me was a heatran, with pink eyes instead of the normal orange-eyed ones. From the voice and the noticeable traces of rust on her face, I could hazard a guess that they were female and probably a bit old as well…

The heatran chuckled, probably from my reaction to her. “What? Not used to seeing big Pokémon like me before?”

“Uhm… uh…” I looked aside and thought. ‘Oh no, definitely not because of the title your species carry on their back with those absurd stats that make a competitive player like me shiver.’ My eyes darted back to the heatran as I gathered the will to respond. “No, it’s not that. I was just deep into my thoughts and didn’t see you coming.”

I’m not gonna explain how a being three times bigger the size of a human snuck on me and I didn’t notice because I don’t even know how I didn’t notice her. 

“Ah, I see…” The heatran then tilted her head. “Say, I don’t recall you being from this village. Are you new here, child?”

“Um… my name is Lucas and I’m a human-… or was before turning into a charmander out of desperation…”

Confusion entered the magma’s Pokémon face. “Wait… you… weren’t a charmander before?” She hummed in thought with her eyes closed before opening them again after finishing her thinking. “I’m afraid I never heard of these “hueman” before. Can they turn into other Pokémon?”

I ignored the butchered pronunciation and responded. “No, it’s just me.” I crossed my arms and sighed. “It’s a whole mess and I’m not in my right mind to explain everything. I’m hungry, I’m tired, with nowhere to go and stuck in this scalie-ass body without signs of me turning back…”

The heatran grimaced. “Oh my, I’m so sorry for you, child…” She looked down in thought before perking up. “Oh, I know!” She took some steps by me, her strange feet giving the ground beneath her a few rumbles. She then stopped and looked back at me with a toothy metal smile. “Come with me. A lonely child like you shouldn’t wander into our village without a place to stay, especially with the few recent commotions happening in the shadows.”

I tilted my head at that, looking at the magma Pokémon in confusion. Did I even look like a child as a charmander? “Where are you taking me?”

“To my home, of course. I might be the village’s elder but that doesn’t mean I get to have someone to take care of until they find their place.” She responded cheerfully before she prompted me to follow with a foreleg.

I was a bit surprised and confused by this outcome, scratching the side of my head as I got up. What were the odds of this entire situation? No shit, tell me, what are the damn odds? Local elder legendary from a cave village sees me in a weak moment and decides to take me to her home? I thought that I’d have to just get up, dust myself, take the L, and then move on until I discover what to do in this world and how to get my humanity back. But no, after being such a dick to the guy that saved my ass, the universe treats me with an easy way out? 

It honestly didn’t feel deserved, but I was in bad conditions right now so I couldn’t complain, only accept it.

I got up, dusting the underside of my tail a bit before following the heatran. Looking better at the fire and steel type, I noticed that the media did NOT do it justice. Molten pieces of steel were melded with her brown flesh, some of them having a bit of rust in them; her four-fingered feet left behind a sizzling and sticky substance whenever she stomped. There were even some cut scars on her body, but they looked like glued pebbles.

Yeah, I’m definitely not touching her in my human form. Just by being beside her, it felt like I was on the streets, wearing a bunch of black clothing under the 100° sun… or was it me feeling it because I was also a fire type so I could sense her heat? Either way, thank goodness I was a fire-type lizard, or else I’d be sweating balls right now.

While we walked onto another narrow tunnel, on the opposite side of the tunnel where Evon’s house was located, the heatran spoke. “Oh, silly me. Forgot to say my name!” She looked at me and said joyously. “My name is Basidian. Nice to meet you, Lucas.”

“Um… nice to meet you Basidian. Hm… can I call you Basi? Your name is a bit long for my liking.” I requested with a bit of nervousness. I knew she was quite the carefree elder based on the few minutes I’d been with her… but what if she had some kind of hidden side of herself that hated that people were casual with her?

My worries were cut short when a churning laugh came from her. “That’s the first nickname someone ever gave to me!” Her laughing was toned down as she looked back at me. “Sure, you can. That’s a nice abbreviation for my name.”

“Alrighties then, glad you likin’ it!”

It wasn’t long before we reached Basidian’s house. Unlike what I’ve seen in other houses, the heatran’s house was made of rocks with some steel connecting the stones. There were some splotches of mud on some of the stones for some reason too. The door was big and wide as well, fit for someone her size to pass through it.

The heatran turned the door handle with her mouth and pushed the door open. She then turned to me and motioned inside. “We’re here, child!”

An invisible tugging sensation tried to prevent me from entering the house because of last time, and it worked. Before stepping into it, I stopped and turned to Basidian, looking a bit sus to her as I questioned. “Why are you being so nice to me? Actually, the better question is, how can you trust me so easily after all I said? Doesn’t it sound… a little silly? Doesn’t it sound… a little goofy?” 

The heatran chuckled. “Oh, Lucas. When you live for such a long time, you start to develop a certain hunch for those nasty liars. Call it the elder sense.” She smirked. “And if you want a bit of evidence… you managed to enter the village, passing by the guards. Not only that, you don’t seem affiliated with them.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “Them?”

“Better not to worry you for now.” She replied before motioning inside. “But enough about that, come on in, judging by your wobbly stance, you must be pretty tired.”

Damn, it was already that noticeable? I wasn’t, like… shivering my timbers, was I? 

I rubbed the back of my head with a sheepish grin. “Well… if you say so…” I entered the heatran’s home and took in the surroundings. There wasn’t really that much furniture for a living room, not a sofa to relax, not a shelf to store things, only some candles and torches on the wall, a few patches of hay around a small rocky piece of furniture which I assumed to be the table and a strong smell of ashes and sulfur… well, what did I expect, honestly? Look at her shape and size, how could she actually sit on a sofa or in a chair? She just can’t, that’s the answer. 

But honestly, her house could be WAY worse. At least it’s not a sex dungeon.

“Being legit… I thought there would be more but somehow it feels homely and welcoming.” I wasn’t sugarcoating, despite the issues the house had, I still felt… safe in here. Was it just a Pokémon instinct or did I actually feel this way? 

Basidian smiled as she entered her home, closing the door with her back legs. “I’m glad you find it welcoming, Lucas. There’s not much in here since I don’t need much, but if you want to, I can get more things so you feel more comfortable around here.”

I extended my arms and shook my claws in dismissal. “No, no, no! There’s no need to. I’m just a freeloader, literally, don’t put that much effort into taking care of me!” I looked aside and thought. ‘Besides, I’m a literal teenager, I could already work a minimal-wage job.’

“Nonsense! You were in need so I took you in. No need to repay me for having some sympathy common ‘mon lack today.” She said as she took a few steps to a room separated by an arc on the wall. “Besides, you’re not the first one that I took in…” She then sighed a bit melancholic now, her movements slowing down a little bit. “Too bad he’s gone now…”

Before I could ask about it, the heatran entered the other room, making me interrupt myself as I started to think about asking or not. I decided against it, because of the tone alone, that Pokémon probably kicked the bucket… 

As Basidian was taking her time in the other room doing… something, I just sat there and fiddled with my tail a little bit. I looked at the fire at the tip of it and let curiosity get the best of me trying to answer one question in my mind: “Do I get burned by my own flame?” With that question, I approached a finger to the fire, feeling the heat around my finger increased. However, when touching the flame, instead of feeling the sting of the burn, it felt… warm and comforting to touch it. 

Before I could put my entire claw on it, I heard heavy footsteps getting closer, prompting me to turn to it. I saw Basidian walk silently to the rocky table before she opened her mouth next to it. From her large maw, came in some berries, bread, and even some veggies… all covered with a sizzling saliva.  

I subtly cringed a bit in disgust before the heatran turned to me, masking my disgust entirely with a sheepish smile. “Eat up! I know you’re hungry, so eat as much as you like!”

This had the same energy when a bird mother barfs up their entire food directly into their child’s mouth, and the fact that I made that comparison now, only made the situation even worse. The worst part is that I had no other choice and HAD to eat the food.

At least I’m not Ethan Winters and I’m forced to eat raw entrails against my will…

I slowly nodded and approached the table, muttering a simple “Thanks…” while passing by the jolly heatran. I got to the table and took a sniff out of the food. A steamy smell was emanating from the drool-covered food, making it a bit better to be close to it after seeing that all of this was inside someone’s mouth.

But well, I couldn’t just keep staring at it or else my stomach would bonk me in the head to make me eat it. 

I sighed through my nostrils before grabbing a bread piece, cringing once the sticky and moist touch spread through my claw. ‘Okay, fuck this.’ I thought before tightening the grip on the bread. ‘You’re not a lil’ bitch who’s disgusted by everything happening around you, you’re a MAN and you’re gonna eat the food, all drooled or not!’ 

With that, I steeled my body and chomped on the bread, munching it a bit even with a bit of discomfort. The discomfort then faded away once my tastebuds noticed something interesting about the bread. It was like had been dipped into a deep frier and now was crunchy and delicious as fuck!

As I started chomping on the rest of the bread, Basidian sat beside me, folding her legs so that she could sit in a loaf-like position. She tilted her head and asked. “I take it that you’re enjoying the food?”

“Yeah, I am. Legit thought this goop was your saliva.” I gulped before asking in confusion. “Wait… is it actually your saliva?”

The fire and steel type chuckled. “Not quite. You see, my species doesn’t salivate, however, we produce a sizzling substance to help us chew a lot of food.” She then winked. “It can be used to achieve a certain temperature on some foods to make it even tastier. It helps a lot on cooking.”

I stared at her, blinking a little. Bro… she’s an oil factory. If her saliva does the same as kitchen oil but better , a lot of people would want a heatran in her home. You don’t own a deep frier? Well, heatran’s right there! “Well… that’s really interesting… to say the least.”

Basidian chuckled again. “You had the same reaction that younglings have when discovering that fact.” She then took a bite out of the portion on the table, and without chewing, she swallowed it in one gulp. She then looked at me again. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask…” She tilted her head again. “How did you manage to find our village? The forest is a bit tricky to navigate so I take someone was guiding you through it?”

My expression turned with a frown as I looked aside, twisting my leg a little bit. “Yeah, you’re right.” I sighed before looking back at the heatran. “An eevee with an eyepatch was guiding me. He-”

“Wait, Evon? He was guiding you through the forest?” Basidian interrupted before I nodded. “Strange… I remember running into Valtrus at the village’s entrance and hearing from him that Evon had gone missing. He said he was gonna find him to take him back to Cavestone.”

At the name Valtrus, I froze a bit before asking. “Valtrus…? As in like… a mightyena named Valtrus?”

“Yeah. Strange… if you’re here… that means Evon is probably back. So why haven’t I heard from him-”

“Basi… I think he might’ve lied to you…” The heatran raised an invisible eyebrow, silently asking more. “We encountered him in the woods.” I sighed, clasping my claws. “I’m gonna be completely honest. I don’t know how Valtrus normally is in front of you or other villagers, but from what I’ve experienced from our small interaction together… that dog is a straight-up PSYCHOPATH!” I shouted, my tail flaring a bit.

Basidian blinked and had a look of surprise and disbelief on her face. “W-what? What do you mean by that?”

“Look, I don’t know what he told you. But finding Evon to bring back to the village? Hah! My ass! I’m not sure what Evon was doing, but he sure as hell wasn’t missing! When we encountered Valtrus, he not only injured Evon, he tried to kill me!” A look of horror passed through the heatran’s iron face, I grimaced as the realization passed through my mind. “If what Evon said is true then I would have my guts ripped off had I not turned into Suicune…”

Silence filled the room afterwards, the heatran still processing what she had just heard. Honestly, I get it, if I heard someone close to me suddenly turn bad to the point of killing? I wouldn’t believe it myself until I talked to the person. And once I confirmed that was true, I would block that person and report them to the authorities. I’m not having killers in my friend list, no siree.

After some seconds, Basidian muttered to herself, however, I could very well hear what she said. “It can’t be because of Alsia… can it…?”

“Uh… what…? Who’s… Alsia?”

Her attention was turned back to me, grimacing as she looked at me in pity. “Oh, child… I’m so sorry that happened to you…” She sighed. “Since you’re involved… there’s no point in keeping it from you…” She hesitated a little, looking aside for a moment before glancing back at me. “So… what if I told you that Evon had an exploration partner?” I raised an eyebrow… or the best I could do with my skin without having one. “Her name was Alsia. She was a poochyena that had a little knack for adventures. She was curious and really brave… she was also Valtrus’ younger sister.”

I frowned at that, having a slightly bad feeling as to where this was going.

“One day, Evon and Alsia went on a mission to catch a wanted outlaw known around these parts… a very dangerous outlaw. I really don’t know what made them come up with that decision, but it was the deciding factor of a fatality…” She sighed and looked down. “Only one of them came back that day…”

I sat there, trying to process what had just happened. Evon… went through some shit, didn’t he? And thinking back on what Valtrus said before our fight… it seemed that he was bitter that his sister died instead of her teammate and now he blames her death on him…

… I needed to apologize to Evon.

I then looked back at the food and started putting a ton of it in my mouth, chewing it rapidly before gulping it. I wanted to have my stomach filled before going out again. I looked back at the heatran and spoke confidently. “I need to speak with Evon.”

---

Why couldn’t I just go to the beach with no interruptions? Why did I have to meet that insane creature? Was this Arceus’ way of mocking me? I still didn’t know what in Giratina’s name I did to deserve all this torture…

It had to be worse when a certain part of that idiot reminded me of her…

I was lying on my bed, back against the hay as I stared at the ceiling just reminiscing past events, especially recent ones. This day could be summarized with one word, and that was insanity. I saved a random shape-shifting creature from another dimension, we both got away from Valtrus, and I got dragged into a Mystery Dungeon against my will… all in one day.

It was exhausting, honestly. Just when I wanted a break from all this crazy shit, it keeps dragging me back, like it was some sort of divine message saying that I was meant for this, I needed to keep at it despite… that incident.

‘But I don’t want it anymore. I don’t deserve to keep going after not managing to save her… ’

I held back tears. I’ve already cried too many times about this topic. I told myself today would be the last day that I’d cry about that incident, and I’m still trying to hold to that promise, even though the day didn’t go as planned. I wasn’t gonna let some jerk creature stop that-

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

The sound of knocking on wood made my ears flicker, making me look towards the door. I grimaced as my mind already started to imagine who was waiting for me on the other side. But well, it could very well be someone else and not the personification of insanity that is Lucas. 

I sighed and got out of bed, walking to the door slowly with a lot of thoughts filling my mind. I didn’t know who it was, but still, it would be the same as usual, bottle up those feelings and just see what they want. Simple enough.

As I got to the door, I tilted the door handle and opened the door, getting a bit surprised when I saw Elder Basidian standing outside. I perked up a little before asking. “Elder Basidian? What… are you doing here?”

For some reason, she was looking at me with pity, like she knew that I endured something bad by just looking at my face. I wasn’t crying without noticing, was I? 

“I… I came to talk to you about something.” She then looked aside. “However… there’s someone else who wants to talk to you as well. He wants to apologize to you about something…”

I tilted my head at that, silently wondering who wanted to apologize to a failure like me. “Huh? Who-”

I interrupted myself when a charmander came from behind the heatran. However, instead of having that jerkish expression, he had on his face a… sorrowful one? He looked at me and spoke with a single wave of his claw. “Hey… Evon.”

I scowled a bit. “Tch, what are you doing back here? I told you-”

“Look dude, I just came to say I’m sorry.” Lucas interrupted, and with heavy breath, he continued. “I don’t want to sound like I’m making a fake apology video or something and not really guilty for my actions, but you gotta trust me, I am!” He sighed. “I didn’t really want to feel like a dickhead, I was just trying to be funny for… reasons and I failed to realize that my entire humor is way different than yours so…” Unexpectedly, the charmander bowed , making me take a step back from the suddenness of it. “Sorry for not taking you seriously…”

I silently stared at Lucas with my eyes widened a bit from surprise, the only sound filling the area was the crackling of fire from the charmander’s tail. Was I… was I hearing this right? Did he actually come back to apologize after cursing me for thinking he was in the right? I always thought ‘mons that did that would never go back on their actions and apologize. I assumed he was faking it at the beginning, but to say all of this hesitantly and then bow like he was apologizing to royalty was something that I would never see an asshole of a Pokémon ever do.

“Do you… do you really mean all of that? You serious?” I asked with a hint of suspicion.

Lucas stood up again and balled his claws into a fist. “‘Course I’m being legit or else I wouldn’t even bother coming back here!” He sighed. “I didn’t want to sound like an asshole but I did. I ended up being dumb, and stupid, made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgment… but unlike others, I don’t just wish to apologize and go back to being the same way.” He looked aside and scratched the side of his head. “So like…” He then extended his claw to me. “Can we start over? I still owe you for saving my life on that beach.” 

I looked at the offered claw in front of me, thinking about the apology. At first, I didn’t want to accept it, but after thinking about it a bit more in-depth… Even though he dragged me into those kinds of situations against my will, he… he did help me sometimes. He saved me from Valtrus’ wrath, he helped me against that staravia…

Was I too harsh on him?

I looked aside, thinking a bit more before ultimately deciding with a sigh. I looked back at him and shook his claw with a forepaw. “Yes, we can. I just hope you don’t act like that anymore.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.” Lucas said with a smile. 

“Awwwww.” We both released each other limbs and looked at the elder who was smiling proudly at us. “I’m so glad the both of you managed to make it up for each other! I have no doubt you two will become great friends from now on!”

I rolled my eyes while saying forcefully. “I guess…” I then glanced back at the heatran and asked. “Anyways, what did you come here to talk about?”

Basidian’s expression slowly turned into a grimace as she turned her head away. “Well…” Her eyes darted back to Evon. “It’s about Valtrus…”

My eyes widened as my heart dropped once I heard the mightyena’s name. “What… what about him?”

Lucas sighed and crossed his arms. “I told her what happened when we encountered him and, because I got caught in the crossfire, she told me what happened between you two.”

My eyes widened as I looked at the elder a bit annoyed and disappointed. “You told him about Alsia?”

She sighed. “If Lucas told me correctly, Valtrus would’ve killed him because he was with you. He deserved to know why.” The heatran looked aside, a bit ashamed. “I guess it’s also partially my fault as well. I should’ve checked in more with Valtrus to know what was going on with him after Alsia’s death…”

I denied. “No elder! It’s not your fault! It’s… it’s mine…” My ears dropped as I was reminded of that gruesome scene I witnessed with bleeding and almost blurry vision. “If only I had been fast enough to not get hit… I would have been able to save her and… none of this would’ve happened…”

“… dude.” I looked back at Lucas who had a grimace on his face, his claws clenched. “Do you want to know why I do most of those jokes and a lot of teasing just to entertain myself?” I tilted my head in confusion as the charmander continued. “I did all of this without realizing I went too far because I was trying to distract myself from someone… my mom…”

I perked up a bit. “W-what…?”

Lucas rubbed his arm. “Five years ago, I was just shopping with my mom when I got a bit hasty and ran too far ahead of her. I… got caught by someone undesirable and almost got kidnapped.” His fist clenched way harder than before as his tail flame crackled louder. “She… saw me getting taken away, he tried to stop the guy but he… he had a weapon and…” He growled and stomped madly on the ground. “Gah, just thinking back at that scene just makes me more fucking pissed than sad!” He calmed down a little and crossed his arms. “I still blame myself for what happened…”

I stayed in silence as I processed the information. Lucas… Lucas had something similar happen to him. He lost someone he held dear and blamed himself for it… just like I did for Alsia… “Lucas…”

Lucas smiled a bit. “I’ll never forget her… she was the best mom I could ever ask for…” 

Suddenly, the charmander started getting covered by a blinding pink glow, forcing me to squint my remaining eye a little bit. From what I could see, the charmander started growing in size, growing a new layer of skin(?) around the torso, losing his tail, and gaining long hair while the structure of its face and minor details in his body morphed. The glow faded and Lucas was fully visible again, however, his body was back to a human one with all his strange clothes and his bag in the same place they were before. 

I stared at the human , seeing his brownish skin, his strange clothes covering most of his body, and his face. His face reminded me of a gallade combined with the hair of a jynx, however, unlike those, he had a visible nose, but everything else was strange, where the similarities to other Pokémon ended. “You’re back to human…?”

Lucas stared at his skinny hands in surprise, analyzing them from the back and the front. “I… I am back… holy shit, I am back!”

“That’s your original form?” Lucas and I looked back at Basidian, who stared at Lucas with an analyzing glance. She took a step closer to him and took a whiff of him. “It looks… interesting. It reminds me of other Pokémon but… skinnier?”

Lucas let out a sheepish snicker as he rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, humans are weaker than Pokémon, that much is a given. But that’s not important right now!” He said with a smile, pumping a fist upwards. “I figured out how to go back into human!” 

“By just thinking about your mother?” I asked while tilting my ears.

Lucas rubbed the back of the head. It seemed he realized the problem in that. “Guess so… but still, I just don’t need to think about that scene and I’ll be Gucci.” He then perked up, remembering something. “Oh right, um…” He looked at me again, a frown entering his face. “So what I was trying to say earlier was like… don’t keep thinking that your friend died because of you. I had this experience with my own and uh…” He looked aside, gritting his teeth. “You do some pretty stupid stuff… really stupid stuff that your friend wouldn’t like to see you do if she was still alive.”

I tilted my head at that before thinking about it for a moment. In a way, he was right… I was just eating Valtrus’ claims as if they were true… but they really weren’t… it was that damn grimmsnarl that who was the true killer! If I died today, I would never be able to avenge her… ‘I promise Alsia… next time I find that bastard, I will destroy him.’ I looked back at Lucas and nodded. “You’re right… I… I won’t succumb and accept what Valtrus says to me. I’ll live on for Alsia!”

Lucas grinned and gave a thumbs-up. “That’s how you do it!”

A raspy sniffle was heard beside us. We turned to the source of it and saw Elder Basidian crying. “You children have gone through so much, yet you force through the pain… waaaaahhhh!” 

Lucas suddenly took a step back, startled when the heatran stood up on two legs, the human knowing what was about to happen. “Heyheyheyheyhey!!!” 

Basidian tackled both me and the human to the ground, pinning us under her body weight as she rubbed her metal head against ours. “I’m so proud of you two! You are such strong children for standing up and forcing your way through this cruel world!”

“E-elder… we-we can’t…” I gasped. “We c-can’t breathe…!”

“S-so this… this is how a… sub feels like?” The human said as he struggled, trying to wiggle out of the crying heatran’s hold.

Thankfully, my pleas were answered once I felt the huge weight of the heatran get off me, making me gasp loudly for air and cough a little bit as I got up. “T-thank you, elder…”

Basidian sniffled a bit and said. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” She sniffled again, swallowing a tear that fell onto her maw. “You both endured so much. It’s a wonder how you two keep standing despite everything…”

“Listen, ma’am, back in my world, if you don’t get up after crying and taking the L, the world would take that opportunity to smack you to the ground even more so you would never stand up and live happily after traumatic events like those.” Lucas said, putting a hand on his side. “It took me years until I was over it, and the sting of it still lingered…” The human noticed the heatran tilting her head and clarified. “Also yes, I’m basically an alien from another dimension.”

I looked at Lucas with a frown. I didn’t know why but from his words… it seems like he went through a lot more than he’s letting on about…

Lucas suddenly yawned, snapping me from my thoughts. “Man, I’m exhausted… and all of this drama has made my head pound even more…”

“Oh, I see… do you want to go back home now?” Basidian said, my curiosity flaring.

“Wait, what do you mean home ?”

The heatran turned to me and responded with a smile. “Oh, it just means that I offered Lucas over here to stay with me for the time being. I found him lost and alone in the tunnels of our village and a certain feeling came over me to just help him!”

I sighed as one of my ears twitched a little. “You’re too soft, elder…”

“Kindness and forgiveness take us far, Evon. I hope you remember that.” Basidian turned around and called. “Come on, Lucas.”

“I’m coming!” The human said before starting to follow the elder, however…

“Lucas, wait!” I shouted to him, making him turn to me and tilt his head in confusion. I… I needed to ask him this. Even if I said to myself that I would never go exploring again… I wanted to do it… I needed to . I was still weak. If I ever ran into that bastard again, I would never be able to defeat him and I would never be able to avenge Alsia… 

Lucas… he was the Poké- I mean, creature that I needed for this. He would be able to help me get stronger. He would put me on the right path if I ever fell off again and decided to be weak until my death… maybe he wasn’t sent by Arceus to torture me… he was sent to guide me to the right path, the path of power… that’s why I needed to ask him.

The human stared at me with his head tilted. Not wasting any more time, I asked. “Would… would you like to form an exploration team with me?”