Chapter 7: Two Sides, One Rivalry

Dread was creeping into the back of my mind as we approached the underground base far from civilization. I really didn’t want to take another beating, especially from the boss…

Ryobi and I were on the way back to the Dark Rebellion base on the south of the Gemstone Continent, named after the number of rare gemstones that could be found in this big mass of land. It only took two days to get from Cavestone Village to the base, it wasn’t that big of a distance but we were healing from the beating we took and delaying the inevitable as much as possible. 

Even if my body had physically healed, with no ectoplasm cells being unstable, my mind hasn’t. I was still fucking pissed. I hate that stupid serpent’s guts so much, I wish I could just rip his heart out and eat it right in front of his calm and condescending face!!!

Deep breaths, Marina, even though you didn’t need to breathe, it still calmed you. You would have many revenge opportunities later…

Still, I can’t believe he robbed me of getting that shapeshifter into the Dark Rebellion, now that blue-eyed stupid boy is definitely getting brainwashed with guild nonsense. His mind is getting filled with lies and deceit just to get him in on their “totally just acts”~!

A load of Tauros shit, they might fool him for now, but once he discovers what truly goes behind their shadows, he’d reconsider…

It’s such a shame too, our group would love having a powerful Pokémon like him around. I could only imagine the endless possibilities that would come with that ability. He could fool anyone if he ever wanted to blend in on certain places, not only that, he could draw out the power of the body that he turned into. If he could turn into one of those Pokémon from the legends, imagine how powerful he could become!

Hm… Could he also be an amazing partner to have during mating? … Perhaps.

His power is unique, there’s not a Pokémon I remember that could have a power like that besides him. He needs to join the Dark Rebellion to finally achieve our big mission of the total annihilation of the Diamond Kingdom Guild Association! But I fucking blew the opportunity to catch him while he was at his weakest because of that stupid serpent! I hate, hate, hate, hate him so damn much!!!

We needed to do something to get him while there was still time. If possible, he could be of great help in retrieving that artifact…

“So… have you thought about what to say to the boss so we don’t get punished that much for acting without orders…?” 

The excadrill walking beside me said, his claws fiddling a bit from nervousness. Poor little Ryobi, such a young and naive mind as well. Lost his parents to a Mystery Dungeon because rescue teams wouldn’t accept his request because of the lack of money, showing the ugly side of guilds to the boy… He had to fend for himself while growing up when he was at his lowest, and nobody helped him, nobody was there for him.

Nobody except for the Dark Rebellion, the group that seeks true justice for the Pokémon who were cast out and mistreated by the authorities of society.

“Well…” I shrugged with my ribbon limbs. “Who needs to have a planned talk anyway?”

Ryobi’s eyes widened as he looked at me. “WHAT!? B-but, you know how the boss acts, right!? He absolutely hates it when someone acts out alone without his orders! I know he wouldn’t kill his own, but still, remember Mar and Paimo? I-I don’t wanna end up like-”

I shushed the excadrill by hugging him from behind and wrapping my ribbons around his mouth. “Shhh, relax already, you’re getting loud again… sure, we might’ve gone a little off course by ourselves… but!” I released the driller and started floating backwards in front of him. “If we hadn’t done that we wouldn’t find such a goldmine inside that ancient village!”

“You mean the brat shapeshifter?” He asked while crossing his arms.

“Exactly! Once the boss hears about that boy, he’ll totally excuse us for such a magnificent find!” I argued before chuckling. “Oh, we’re definitely going to be promoted to a higher rank!”

Ryobi looked aside with a concerned frown. “I… I don’t think that’s gonna be the case. Maybe if we captured the boy, probably, but since we’re going back after our asses got kicked, I don’t think the boss would be so forgiving…”

I grinned while waving a ribbon in dismissal. “You’re worrying too much as usual. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even have the balls to get the shapeshifter, I had to do everything just get that pichu while you drilled your escape.”

“And look how that went, we may’ve escaped our arrest but not our beating…”

“That fucking milotic and his Eye of Palkia… why of all ‘mons, he had to get blessed with that eye!?” I growled a bit as I released a bit of fairy energy onto a tree out of anger, burning the wood a little. “I’ll get him sometime… hehehehe… he’ll see, he’ll pay for ruining my life…”

As I was about to laugh a bit more, Ryobi put a claw over my torso. “Save your revenge plans for later, for now, we have to worry about facing the boss’ wrath…”

I sighed as I adjusted my red ribbon and unruffled my feathers. “You do have a point… let’s just head to the base and get over with this.”

We then continued on our path to the Dark Rebellion base, with no further rants from me, as much I wanted to shout more curses to Quartzo, but that’d have to wait for now… for now.

After a few seconds, we have finally reached the underground base. At first glance, it’d look like we were about to enter the dangerous mystery dungeon called Foggy Meadow, known for the fog that never lifts and that housed many bloodthirsty Pokémon inside, my favorite playground!

However, in front of the entrance of the dungeon, between the two curved trees and hidden in a rug of grass and leaves, there lay the entrance to our home. A wooden hatch that led to Pokémon-made underground tunnels that Ryobi and I called home sweet home. 

Ryobi removed the rug of greens, revealing the wooden hatch. Of course, I just phased through it since my body is not fully restrained by the laws of the living realm. I could’ve just opened the door for him, but honestly, I wasn’t in the mood. After that battle, I wouldn’t be in a good mood for a while, constantly reminding myself that I had lost to Quartzo of all Pokémon.

And that stupid phrase that he said to me during that incident…

“You will get stronger, but not under my tutelage. You’re out of the guild.”

I never needed your guild anyway you condescending bastard!!!

I heard the hatch close behind me as I heard Ryobi’s voice echo through the narrow tunnel with the metal stairs. “Your curse energy is leaking again…”

I groaned a bit. “It’s nothing, let’s just go.”

With that, we descended through the tunnel until we reached the bottom. The tunnel expanded a little bit to the right, showing a wide metal door with a small square hole in the middle. Ryobi and I walked (or in my case, floated) to it and stopped in front of it. A red and yellow eye from the other side made itself present as a scratchy voice came out of it.

“Password?”

I sighed and just phased through the door, startling the luxray on the other side. I turned around and unlocked the door for my partner. “Hey! What about the password!?”

“Not in the mood.” I said nonchalantly as the excadrill opened it and entered. I turned around and looked at the black and blue feline Pokémon. “Has the boss said anything about our absence?”

The luxray hissed with some electricity running through his mane. “How should I know!? I just guard the door and verify our members! I have no idea what goes on in the other ranks!”

I clicked my tongue and rolled my eyes, floating away as I felt the big feline stare at me a bit annoyedly. “Let’s just go ask him ourselves then…”

The underground base wasn’t as big as Cavestone Village, but it was big enough to house more than 200 members of our group. It was more like a hidden community rather than an actual village. It had the essentials that every base needed: training grounds (even though I used the mystery dungeon a bit more), a large cafeteria, multiple lounges and recreation rooms, dorms, meeting rooms, and much more. Thanks to the earthworms who helped make these tunnels, it was all that we needed to survive in the wilds, away from the corrupt society’s eyes.

The base was populated with Pokémon of different species from each other, even ferocious-looking ones that civilized society discriminated against for being feral and uncontrollable monsters, all wearing a black armband, scarves, or headbands. We’ve all worked with a common goal in mind for years, and we wouldn’t stop until we’ve achieved our ultimate goal…

The complete reformation of the current society.

We fought for a world where misfits like we were accepted, a world where everyone was respected equally, a world where we were truly happy. This group wouldn’t have even been formed if it wasn’t for a single Pokémon: our beloved and respected boss Iblis.

Iblis was a Pokémon like no other. He had an enlightened mind that no other Pokémon in our group, which led to him creating the Dark Rebellion and leading us to a brighter future! Sure, as much as some of his punishments were not to our liking once we went against his orders, he cared for all of us equally.

He was basically a father to us, our light of hope in our darkest moments when we would look up to him.

Ryobi hummed in thought beside me before asking. “Is it just me or does this place feel more lively?” 

I shrugged, not having a lot of interest in the topic. “I dunno, it could be because of new members that joined. I don’t have to keep track of all of them.”

“I don’t think that’s the case. I noticed that most members who are mostly out and about are here today… and it’s been like this before we left too. Are they planning for something?”

“Well, last time the group got together like this, we were preparing for a raid in a big guild. Didn’t work out so we had to retreat.” I then put one of my ribbons over my mouth as I hummed in thought. “If we’re doing another big operation… I wonder what it’s about this time…”

I sighed and just shrugged off the thought for now. It’s not like we were doing it now, I could tell we were still in the beginning stages of preparations. At the moment, there was another important issue to worry about. 

After going through the wide tunnels a bit, we finally reached the boss’ room. He had a normal office, but it was more like a meeting room for those in the higher ranks and for the messengers he sent to the other Pokémon in the lower ranks. After all, no one from the lower ranks has seen what he looks like or what kind of Pokémon species he was.

Even though Iblis was known for great things, he was also known for being mysterious. He usually stays in the shadows, where no one can see what he looks like. Even some members of our groups theorized that he wasn’t a Pokémon, but of course, I never believed them. Imagine a creature that’s not a Pokémon living in our world. Like, sure, that could happen in other universes, but still, a creature like that in our world would be a bit strange…

Although, they’d fit right into our group.

Ryobi sighed and extended a claw to open the red door to the office, however, before he could fully reach it the door opened itself, revealing the male metallade that our boss has for an assistant. Lorvn was a metallade, a very interesting species of Pokémon along with the other artificial Pokémon, hailing from the future because of the space and time distortion issues caused by the incident of 300 years ago. Their biology is weird as well, even though artificial, they have cores in them and can reproduce like any ordinary ‘mon, even though there is nothing organic in them.

Truly a marvel of nature and future technology at play… that I don’t give enough shit to study further.

The metallade crossed his arms, being aware of his arm blades and his chest protrusion. “There you two are…” He spoke with a metallic and scratchy voice. Normally, he would speak like a normal Pokémon, but apparently, his ‘voice box’ (whatever that is) got damaged in the raid of that guild. “Master Iblis has noticed your sudden disappearance, and of course, he did not like your little act of rebellion…”

Ryobi fiddled with his claws nervously as he stuttered a little. “U-um… s-sorry. W-we were…”

“I was bored, we went out and found something very interesting that the boss might like.” I admitted, not minding if the excadrill called my name in nervousness. “I’d like to talk to him, I feel like he’s gonna be very interested in it!” I exclaimed while putting one of my ribbons on Lorvn’s shoulders. “You’ll let us meet him, right?”

The artificial Pokémon didn’t budge, his body not even moving a slight millimeter. “Is this an attempt at escaping your punishment?”

“Quite the contrary, it’s an unofficial mission report!” I argued, motioning exaggeratedly with my ribbons. “After all, what we found will for sure help in the operation that uh… what’s the operation?”

“It is private business for now. However, what kind of artifact have you two found that is so important for our master and our operation?” Lorvn asked, his virtual eyes glaring menacingly at me. Of course, his intimidation attempt fell flat for me.

I just brushed the metal green hair of the robot with one of my ribbons while smirking. “It is not an object… it’s a powerful Pokémon that could very well become one of us!” I stopped stroking the cold surface and grinned. “In fact, that little boy is so powerful that he can turn into other Pokémon as well…”

The metallade stared at me for some seconds. He might not have a face to express himself, but judging by the silence, that news got him by surprise. Eventually, he spoke. “Are you sure about that, Marina? Or is your mouth dirty with lies?”

Ryobi shyly raised his arm. “I-I can back her up! I’ve seen with my own eyes his power in action. At first, he was some weird fleshy Pokémon I’ve never seen before, then boom, he became a buizel, then a machop.”

I crossed my ribbons smugly. “And then into a pawniard. One thing that remained the same on all of his forms is his blue eyes, making it easier to tell it’s him.”

Lorvn looked at us for a while longer before turning away. “Excuse me for a moment, I shall speak to Master Iblis…” He entered the boss’ room, closing the door behind him and leaving Ryobi and I with ourselves.

Ryobi stared at the door for a moment before looking at me. “So… do you think that worked?”

“If not… then I hope you enjoy your punishment while I relax somewhere else.” I said nonchalantly while shrugging. 

Ryobi clenched his teeth in anger. “Oh come on! You’re even more guilty than I am for dragging me into this mess! In this case, YOU should be the only one punished!”

“Nah, who’d want to punish such a cutie like me?” I said while forming a heart with my ribbons and winking at the excadrill. 

Ryobi said while unamused. “I’d still punish you hard…”

“Oh my, you love me that much~?” I teased while stroking Ryobi’s natural metal protector.

The excadrill blushed hard and responded with his claws clenched. “Not in that way!!!”

I’d tease him even more, but of course, my fun had to end when the door to the office opened again, Lorvn stepping out of the office and looking at the both of us. Ryobi straightened his posture nervously, pretending like he wasn’t blushing a cherri berry seconds ago. I turned to the metallade and tilted my head, leaning closer to him. “So?”

“Master Iblis has agreed to speak of this matter with both of you.” Lorvn turned around and started walking into the room again. “Follow me, do not keep him waiting.”

We followed the artificial Pokémon into the boss’ office. It was a very dark office, with few sources of illumination, like, only three torches. There were three desks in the room, one with a map of the Gemstone continent that resided on the right on the right, another with a few papers on it and a communication orb, and the last one at the end of the room with some objects that I had no clue as to what they were for.

On the table with the orb sat a red manaphy named Chidori, with a black bandana wrapped around her antennas, talking with another Pokémon on the orb. She looked a bit bored and uninterested, although… she normally looked like that with her monotone face. I wasn’t sure what the topic was about, but I wouldn’t pry too much since it was probably confidential and because I had an important topic to speak with the boss.

Speaking of the boss!

There he was, sitting in the darkness, with nothing visible of his body present, only a vague silhouette of what he looked like and his glowing white eyes that shone through the darkness, also showing that whatever species he was had only two eyes like most other Pokémon. All I could tell from his silhouette is that he was a bipedal Pokémon and had a long tail.

To be honest, this was the first time seeing the boss this close before. I’ve caught a couple of glimpses of his shadow from a distance, but seeing him now this close before with those eyes… it felt a bit intimidating, and that’s coming from a ghost type like me who has won against many intimidating opponents. I don’t know what kind of magic he was using, but even Pokémon who could see really well in the darkness could never see his body, like some sort of shadow was protecting him. I could just feel from primal instinct alone that the boss was on another level of power and that if he were using his full strength against me, there would be a high chance I could be killed.

Just what kind of Pokémon was he…?

As the metallade went to his table to attend to his duties, the boss adjusted his position on his chair and spoke with a deep and smooth voice. “Good afternoon, Ryobi and Marina. Let me ask, have you two been well…?”

The excadrill perked up and rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Y-yep boss! W-we uh… we’re pretty fine alright!”

“I’m the same as usual…” I lied with a sheepish smile. “How are you doing, boss?”

Even through the darkness, I could feel a smile coming out of him. “Couldn’t be better.” Because of his smile, I felt a bit more at ease knowing that he was in a good mood, however, that relieved feeling disappeared once I noticed the smile going away as he continued speaking. “But anyway… I have received notice of your little unscheduled break you had and what you found during that time…” Iblis clasped his sharp claws. “So what is this I heard from Lorvn about a Pokémon that can change shape to become other Pokémon?”

Ryobi took a step forward and motioned with his claws. “You had to see it, boss! That Pokémon has a fleshy form that has pink jynx hair! And not only that, he can turn into other Pokémon too!”

“Yeah, we’ve seen him transform before his our eyes. We would’ve brought him here, but… he was being heavily protected by guild scum…” I said bitterly as memories of that fight returned to me. But of course, I tried my best to contain the tone of my voice and one of my tantrums. 

“Hm…” The boss hummed, his white eyes closing and basically making his body harder to see. It was hard to predict what the boss could be thinking. Because of his mysterious nature, it could be anything related to that boy. “Tell me…” The boss’ eyes opened as he began to ask. “What is the name of that shapeshifter?”

I tilted my head in confusion. Why would be interested in that brat’s name more than what he could do with these abilities? “Well…” I rubbed my forehead as I tried to think back on that boy’s name. I remember one of his companions yelling his name before, but I was too focused on the battle to pay attention to it. “I… I think it was… Lu… Lu…” For a moment, I saw the boss’ eyes widen a bit before I finally remembered the name. “Oh yeah! He was named Lucas!”

Iblis stared for a moment at us, Ryobi noticing something was wrong. “Boss…? Are you okay?”

I could see the silhouette shake his head and get up from his chair. “Don’t worry, it is nothing…” He walked towards the wall and looked at one of the paintings on it. The picture was a bit blurry and I couldn’t see what was in it. “You are dismissed for now.”

“W-what?” Ryobi stammered a bit perplexed. “You’re… not gonna punish us?”

“No… this situation that has arisen is far more important than giving a simple punishment over something so insignificant as acting out for yourselves. He gave a sideways glance at us. “Not like you two have gotten yourselves in trouble while you were out, right?”

A bead of liquid ectoplasm ran down my head as I shook my head along with Ryobi. “O-of course not, boss!”

“Good…” With that, the boss turned to the picture again as Ryobi and I started leaving the office. However as we were leaving, I could hear the boss mutter “Is he back…?” before it all turned into an intelligible mumble. 

We distanced ourselves from the office, far away, so we could sigh in relief and start thanking the Gods. Ryobi started first with his claws in the air. “Thank you, Lord Arceus, for going easy on us…” 

“I didn’t know our boss could be so terrifying like that…” I admitted with a frown. “Not even that stupid serpent has that terrifying of an aura…”

The excadrill turned to me and asked. “Hey… don’t you think the boss acted a bit off? I dunno what it is, but I thought he’d be a bit more objective from how the others describe him.”

“Eh, I don’t pay attention to what the others say about him. He’s an enigma. Although…” I put a ribbon on my chin and thought about it for a bit. That last quote though… “I do feel like he’s hiding something from us… specifically from that shapeshifter.”

“Does that mean the boss knows about him?” Ryobi asked while scratching the side of his head.

“Maybe he does. If we’re lucky, we might get to question him about that but…” I shrugged. “I doubt it.” I started floating away. “Let’s just rest for now, I’m pretty tired and I need to fill my mind with something else before I rip the guts out of a wild ‘mon because of some memories.”

Ryobi sighed. “For once, I’m totally with you…”

---

“ACHOOO!!!”

Evon stopped writing on the paper and looked at me. “Are you seriously okay? This is the second time…”

I sniffled and rubbed my nose with a finger. “Yeah, yeah, I’m Gucci, no worries. Just felt the need to sneeze for some reason.” I shrugged off the uneasy feeling before turning to Guildmaster Quartzo, who was coiled right beside me. “So… I’ve been meaning to ask since I got uh… clobbered unconscious. But like… what’s up with that creepy third eye you got? I may not remember a few things from the fight… but I do remember that.”

“Oh, you mean this?” The milotic suddenly opened his creepy third eye, sending chills down my spine when his eye locked in on me. He motioned with one of his eyebrow limbs. “This is called the Eye of Palkia.”

I blinked a bit, staring at the eye a bit silently. I was nervous for reasons I couldn’t decipher, but probably because of how creepy having an eye on your forehead actually is. Like, literally, no eyebrows, eyelashes, nothing like that. Just… that. And the fact its sclera was also black made this way more unnerving. 

Why do I feel like I’ve seen this exact eye before…?

“Um, that’s a cool name and all but like… except for looking like its namesake owner, does it also give you uh… space manipulation abilities?” I asked, going off a hunch that it gave him a few of Palkia’s abilities.

“So, you are familiar with the Deity of Space, Palkia, huh?” The milotic asked as I nodded. He smiled. “Well, that does cut a bit of the explanation.” He motioned with one of his limbs as he coiled a bit more. “Well, to keep it simple. This eye originated from one of Palkia’s deaths since deities like them can be reborn once they die to keep the balance of the world. 300 years ago, he went berserk and he was forced to be killed. He was killed by none other than Zariel, the hero that hailed from this village.”

‘Goddamn, this Zariel guy kicked ass in the past. Bro could probably win against the one billion lions all by himself.’ I thought, a smile escaping my mouth before I started to pay attention to the history lesson.

The guildmaster continued. “However, before Palkia was killed, one of Zariel’s companions, whom not much is known about, gouged out one of the deity’s eyes and gave it to another Pokémon to protect it. However, once Palkia died, the eye fused itself with the Pokémon, giving them their abilities.” 

“Goddamn… that’s metal as shit…” I muttered to myself, trying to not be heard by the mimikyu who wanted me to use the “rich and noble” language in front of the Pokémon she simps for.

The eevee, being done filling out the form, sat next to me and asked. “So… before that guy died, he passed the eye to someone young and trustworthy for the next generation?”

Quartzo nodded, his third eye shifting between Evon and me. “Correct. This power has been passed down for generations. I am the last one they’ve passed it to.” The water serpent then tilted his eyes. “Well, any questions?”

I raised a finger. “Yeah, I do. What can you do with that eye? I’m still hella confused about what you did in the fight with that insane ghost.”

“I still don’t know if I can do everything with it, but, from what I know, I can still do a lot of things with it; I can pull and push things, create and erase space, and much more.” He said with a smile growing on his face for some reason.

“How much more we’re talking-” I interrupted myself, noticing a change in my voice. For some reason, I felt my voice echo a bit, getting a more ethereal tone from it. I looked around in confusion before locking eyes with someone beside me who was… myself!? “WHAT THE HEEEEEELLLL!?!?!?”

It felt like I was staring at a reflection of myself but without the need for a mirror. The other me had the same features as me, said the same things as me, and copied the same movements I did. It was like an actual reflection, although, I could see that it was lacking something, like some sort of opacity to it.

Quartzo chuckled. “Like I said, much more.”

Suddenly, the other me literally shattered like a mirror, shards of him falling on the ground before disappearing from the world completely. I looked back at the milotic feeling a bit nervous about the thing I just witnessed. Fucking crazy is what I’d best describe that eye ability. Who knew that Satoru Gojo got isekaid and got turned into a milotic? What’s he gonna do next? Summon a pocket dimension out of nowhere and have it named Infinite Void or something? Bro’s literally that but extra! “W-what… what did you just do!?”

Gojo- AHEM! Quartzo responded. “I just simply applied a reflective matter beside you on a very specific area to only reflect you from every angle you’d look at. Of course, there were some small errors like the reflection cutting off on some parts. But it is to be expected since this requires a lot of concentration to pull it off since it uses my energy to do these things.”

Evon was also a bit surprised by the sheer power that milotic contained in just a single eye. He asked a bit hesitantly. “So… is there any restraint to your power or…?”

“Well, of course, there are, or else I would be taking the role of the current space deity, wouldn’t I?” The three-eyed serpent said with a shrug of his eyebrows. “The limitations are quite simple. The abilities only work wherever this eye looks.” He said while pointing at the Eye of Palkia. “So, I only have a narrow field of view to work with. But that’s the only weakness.”

Ah, I get it. He’s Satoru Gojo on steroids AND with a big nerf. Got it… but still dummy OP though. “Ok then, glad you’re one of the good guys and not one with those kidnapper guys… the uh… what is their group called again? I forgor…” I asked while scratching my cheek.

“As a reminder, they’re from the group calling themselves Dark Rebellion. They’re the biggest group of criminals that roam the Gemstone Continent. Since you’re not from this world, I should tell you more about that group.”

“Wait, the shapeshifter hails from another world?” The mimikyu who was analyzing the contents of the form looked away from the paper and l glanced at the milotic who closed his eye. “How is that possible? I thought that every otherworldly Pokémon had been recorded after the frenzy pandemic… happened.”

The water serpent looked at Kina. “He’s a recent one, although… he said that a deity summoned him to this world to fulfill some sort of destiny…”

I crossed my arms and pouted, muttering to myself. “Pretty stupid one if it ain’t about saving the world, that’s for sure…” 

“Anyway, back to what I was saying…” Quartzo looked back at me. “The Dark Rebellion is a dangerous group of Pokémon that are known for destroying guilds and killing rescue and explorer teams all over the continent.” I grimaced at that. “What is interesting is that they don’t target civilians, only the authorities…”

Evon turned to me as his ears and tail dropped. “Yeah, apparently they’re a group that has a serious hate towards authorities and nobility. When they’re not killing, they’re stealing from them.”

I hummed in thought before thinking. ‘Yep, they’re the darker version of Robin Hood in this world. Literally, the version that has decided: “Let’s do some killing tonight!”’ And that was a group I was dealing with because I literally joined a guild and now I’m their new target! Woohoo, go me! 

“At any rate, from the way you two handled Marina, I’d suggest staying away from them until you two are ready.” He tilted his head towards me. “Lucas, you need to learn how to transform into stronger Pokémon. If you keep transforming into first-stage evolutions for battle purposes, you’ll lose against stronger Pokémon. Not only that, you need to improve on your combat abilities as well.”

“That’s what I’m plannin’. And by being in an exploration team, I feel that I’d grow stronger!” I said with a grin and thumbs up.

The milotic nodded before turning to Evon. “Evon-”

“I know… grow stronger and evolve. I was planning to do that anyway. And this time, I’ll not back down.” For some reason, I could feel some kind of strong aura coming from the eevee. The bitterness in his voice sounded like he was planning something in his head, something that involved chopping someone’s head, probably that outlaw from last time. I deduced that because I was like him before… “I need to do it for her, after all.”

The milotic frowned, probably noticing it as well. “Evon… I told you to let it go; if you’re planning to go after him…”

The intent disappeared before he looked away with a frown. “N-no… I’m not, sorry…”

Quartzo sighed before leaning his upper body close to Evon and patting his head. “It’s alright Evon, I know it’s hard, but you will overcome your grief.”

“Yeah, I did it (for the most part), and so can you!” I said to the eevee, reassuring him that everything would turn alright. “You’re a strong ball of fluff, so I bet you’ll overcome it in less than a year!” 

Evon looked at me with his remaining eye widened a bit like he saw something on me, maybe. He looked down. “I… um…” His tail and ears dropped with a grimace before he forced himself to smile and look back at me. “Thanks, guys.”

“No biggie, and remember that I do owe you for saving my life back at that beach, alright?” I said with a grin.

Quartzo tilted his head. “The beach? Why would you-”

He got interrupted by Kina, who looked at the three of us. “Apologies for the interruption, Guildmaster Quartzo, but I have finished registering their team on the guild. They are now officially a part of the guild.”

The milotic smiled at the mimikyu. “That is good to know.” He turned to us again and shifted his position. “Lucas and Evon. As the Guildmaster of the Stalacta Guild, I welcome you two warmly to our base of operations. Welcome, Team Infinity.”

‘Why do I feel like I’m in those anime scenes… eh, gonna be like them since I’m literally experiencing them IRL.’ After that thought, both Evon and I said simultaneously: “Thank you, Guildmaster Quartzo!”

---

‘Welp, back here again… I sure do hope she wasn’t that worried… and that she hasn’t messed with my stuff, of course.’ I thought to myself as I stared at the house in front of me.

I had gone back to Basidian’s house, parting with Evon on the way as he went to his home. I was standing in front of the rock-made house, looking at the door with a bit of hesitance to knock on it. That heatran was probably worried as hell about me. I left the house just to take a quick bath and boom, I was absent for 2 whole days because of a fight. Speaking of baths…

I sniffed my armpit and, to my horror, it was starting to stink a bit. I should’ve realized sooner when my armpit started to sting a bit before. I groaned disappointedly and limped while looking down. “Ugh, she’s gonna force me to bathe again, I’m a gamer, my sweat is my shower!” 

Since I wasn’t looking, I went to knock on the door, however, I felt my hand knocking on something waaaay harder and hotter. I looked up again and saw Basidian staring at me, giving me a bit of a scare when I realized I was knocking on her steel forehead. “Oops, m-my bad, Basi-!”

“Lucas…!” The heatran muttered before her eyes started watering a little. “L-Lucas I… I WAS SO WORRIED!”

“Gah!”

The old Pokémon tackled me to the ground, pinning me down with her claws as she nuzzled and even licked me with a sticky magma-colored, and frog-like tongue. Sure, not like she had saliva and wasn’t coating me with that sizzling oil, but still, she was using her tongue on me!!! ‘Geez, why’s she such a clingy motherly crybaby instead of a knowledgeable old sage???’ 

This felt embarrassing. I didn’t know they handled licks in this world, were they like hugs for quadrupeds or kisses? If it was the latter, then why the fuck was I getting kissed!? I have known her for barely one day and she was already treating me like I was her child!?!?

If I was getting licked by a dog or a cat, this wouldn’t be as bad… but this was a sentient creature from another world for Christ’s sake! “O-okay, okay, that’s enough! I’m alright, I’m alright, don’t worry!”

Elder Basi stopped licking me, however, she didn’t release me but instead started to nuzzle her head against my face, tears akin to hot bath water falling on my face. “You don’t know how worried you made me! Once I visited you at the hospital after hearing you were in there, I almost had a core freeze once I saw you in that state!”

“N-no worries tho…” Since her body was pressing down on me again, it was getting harder to breathe. “I-I’m alright… P.S. y-your… body…” I gasped the last word out.

Thankfully, she heard my pleas and got her body mass out of the stick mass of mine, letting me breathe again and process the earthly air of the cave. Is there something wrong I’m missing with her species? Do mama heatrans tend to crush their babies or something? “Sorry, child, you have no idea how much I worried about you…” Even if she got off me, she still nuzzled her head onto mine. “You spent two days there and I thought you’d be in a longer coma…”

I sat up and sheepishly smiled at her. “Don’t worry, never been in a coma and not planning on it.” I jumped up. “Sorry if I worried you, I’ve been uh… through some guild stuff and got caught up in a mess.”

“I’ve… heard some things about it when I went looking for you. Kidnappers beat you and Evon unconscious…?” Basidian asked concernedly.

I looked aside, a frown entering my face as I debated telling her that those guys were from the most dangerous group on the entirety of the continent… yeah, she’d never gonna let me out again if I told her that those guys wanted my head now. “So… yeah, random kidnappers not from the village snuck in, kidnapped a kid, we saved the kids, they beat our asses, Gojo- I mean, Quartzo beat their ass, and then took us to the hospital. That’s all that happened in a nutshell.”

“Oh, Arceus, you have been through so much, child, and with only so few days in a new world to you… come now, you need to rest, even if for a small while.” Basi said while hushing me to her home. 

“I feel fine, really! Sure, my arms were a bit sore earlier today but-”  

I got interrupted as I got pushed from the back lightly. “No buts! You’re going to eat some food and rest until you’re fully healed! Got it?” 

‘Since when you’re my new mom? New world, new mom?’ I thought for myself before I accidentally said it out loud. “Yes, mom…” I just realized what came out of my mouth and turned to the heatran, who wore a surprised expression on her face. “M-my bad! You just reminded me of Mom for a bit and uh… it came out on instinct…”

The elder blinked a bit and became a bit embarrassed. “Um… sorry if I reminded you of your mom, I just wanted to see you taking care of yourself, child. You’ve endured too much…”

I waved at her a bit dismissively. “Nah, it’s all good.” I put my hands on my short pockets, realizing they were filled with dust. “You’re right to worry. Ever since I was a child, I was a reckless mess and my family was there to just take me out of some mess here and there, Mom especially.” I smiled sadly as I looked aside, remembering a certain scene of my mother unwrapping me after trying to do cool jump rope tricks with a rope. I don’t even remember how I got into that state, but I did. “She was such a lifesaver…”

I felt a sticky metallic claw take a light grip on my arm. “Lucas…”

I saw the heatran looking at me with pity before I turned around and tried to lift the mood (specifically mine). “Welp, you were right, I can already feel the eldritch horrors of the universe, AKA, my stomach wanting the consumption of food.” I looked back at Basidian and grinned. “Where the food stash at? Imma grab some goodies for us.”

Basi sighed and motioned at the area at the end of the house. I gave her a thumbs-up before heading in the direction she pointed me towards. I was feeling a bit more sweaty being in the heatran’s house so I debated taking my shirt off. ‘Would she mind if I took it off? I… don’t think so because I don’t think they understand the concepts of clothes, only accessories.’ I thought with a shrug before taking off my T-shirt, feeling a bit more exposed like when I was in the body of a machoke or a charmander. I felt a bit more free.

I threw the shirt at the door to my room, that hot feeling from before disappearing. I went to the back area and saw mainly the food stash lying… on the dirty ground… you know, what else I expected? 

I sighed and went to grab some of it, not before noticing in the corner of my vision a certain rectangular wooden chest with a very strange lock on it. The lock had a circle in the middle with four horizontal and vertical extensions. It reminded me a bit of those strange locks that needed some very specific artifacts to open.

I shrugged it aside for now before going to the berry and bread pile and scooped a chunk of it with my arms, a few falling off my hold and landing back on the pile. I went back to the living room and put all the food I managed to scoop on the table. I looked at the elder with a grin. “Bon’ appetit!” I noticed she was looking weird at me, making my grin drop a little. “Uh… you good or…?”

She realized she was staring at me with that concerned face of hers. “Oh, it’s nothing, child. It’s just… I always thought that piece of cloth was a part of your skin since you never took it off…”

I snickered a bit. “Well, you see, my species likes to wear clothes that cover most of our bodies. It’s because, like, we’re kinda insecure about showing some parts of our body, so when we’re in public we wear some clothes to not only protect us from certain weathers but also for fashion and the main thing I talked about.”

The heatran tilted her head. “Why would you want to hide certain parts of your body?”

I was starting to get a bit embarrassed about the topic. How the hell should I explain body privacy to a species that has their asses exposed for the whole world to see? “Um… you see… it wasn’t like that at the beginning of our species existence and all of that, but uh… we just don’t reallylike others seeing our reproductive organs since we’re really exposed.” ‘Kinda hypocritical of me to be saying that since one of the first things I did to the being that saved me when I came to this world was looking at his genitalia. If he was anyone from my species, he’d had me dead on the spot.’ I then continued. “Then it evolved to not showing our bare torso in some places, especially females of our species.” ‘Please just let that be enough to satisfy her…’

“Oh, I see. Different world, different cultures after all.” Basi said before leaning on the table and taking a huge bite out of half of the food on the table, swallowing everything whole. She then smiled at me. “You should talk more about human culture, I’d love to hear more!”

I sat down on the table and grabbed a piece of bread. “If you want to hear about our ‘crazy human behavior’ as Evon says it, then I’d love to talk about it more.” ‘Oh, just wait until I talk about the wonders of the internet, and of course the MEMES!’ 

The heatran just smiled at me before noticing something. “By the way… what’s that pendant you’re wearing? I haven’t seen it before since your cloth was obscuring it.”

“Oh, this?” I said as I lifted the necklace up. “Well, it’s a friendship necklace that a little Pichu named Raina gave me. She gave the other half to Evon as well so we do be matching.”

As I started to eat the bread, Basi responded. “That’s good to know! That means you and Evon will be best friends in the future!”

I looked back at everything I did to Evon and how he kept looking at me with his face like my mere existence was an annoying mess to him. “Um… yeah.” I smiled sheepishly at the heatran. “I hope so.”

With that out of the way, I resumed eating my portion of the food, wincing a bit at the taste of the berries I didn’t like. Of course, not everything in this world would be the most amazing thing… kinda made me miss the milk, the sandwiches, the hamburgers, the pizza… ‘I’ll miss you all. I’ll be back for you, my pogchamps of the food dimension, don’t worry!’

Once I finished the food, I went back to my room, grabbing my T-shirt along the way. I gave it a couple of sniffs, before realizing it was a bit stinky, and its sleeves were the worst part of it. There were also tears on some parts of it, made from scratches and other things. I sighed and muttered. “There are no washing machines here and no other clothing shop… I need to get some kinds of clothing for later.”

I went to my backpack and put my T-shirt in one of its pockets. After that, I decided to grab my phone before a certain thought made me change my decision. ‘Actually, wait a minute, I need to test something out.’ 

I distanced myself from my backpack and stood in the middle of the room. Damn, this world is really changing me. Making me do something else instead of choosing to look at my phone… woohoo! I escaped the Redditor allegations!

I grinned for a bit before stretching my body a bit. I needed to test why I couldn’t transform into stronger Pokémon than what I could transform. ‘Why is he so scared of me turning into the big boys? Scared that I won’t be able to control the body’s instincts? I could…’ My thoughts were interrupted when I thought about that time I turned into an eevee… scratching behind my ear like an actual dog… 

Still, that didn’t deter me, my mind was set on finding out why I was prohibited from turning into the bigger and stronger Pokémon. As they say, “fuck around and find out”!

‘Who to choose… hm… maybe a dragon.’ I went with dragonite, already picturing myself as one in my head. I imagined myself punching rocks like they were nothing, soaring into the air with my wings and exploding things with a powerful Hyper Beam. Even though it took a bit longer to activate… the transformation triggered.

Pink filled my vision as I felt my body morph and shift inhumanely. My arms and legs started growing thicker, my skin getting covered with a new and hard layer, my stomach size increased a little, my head changed shape with two a horn and two antennas emerging from my head, and a large tail appeared on my back along with two bat-like wings. The pink flash disappeared from my vision letting me see my surroundings again. I noticed that the transformation lasted longer than the last ones…

I looked down at my own body seeing the orange scales covering my body, my tree-trunk-shaped arms, my sharp claws, and my large tail. I flexed my claws for a bit before grinning and squealing silently in excitement. “Holy shit, I can turn into a fucking Dragonite!” I ran a claw on my belly and then tried moving my wings a little bit, testing out every movement this body could do. “This is so fucking awesome, haha… ha…”

Suddenly, I felt my legs give in out of nowhere, my body feeling heavier than ever. I dropped to my knees, supporting myself on my claws as I started breathing hard. I clenched my teeth as my tail lashed out from the sudden pain. “W-what… what the hell is this…!?”

I felt weak like some outside force was sucking all of my strength and telling me to just cease all struggling.  Not only that, but some kind of alien voice made itself present.

“Give in to instinct, it shall guide you and take your pain away. No need for struggle, you shall be free…”

“NO!” I quickly thought about memories of my mom before the flash of pink quickly filled my vision. My body reverted to human after some seconds, leaving me panting and sweating on the floor. I rolled on my back and kept panting like I had run ten miles without any breaks. “Yep… never doing that again until I get stronger… you win this time, shadow god guy…”

Thankfully, I didn’t shout that loudly so Basi shouldn’t get that worried. I frowned a bit as I thought about the event. What the hell was that voice? It didn’t seem like it was shadow god guy telling me that crap, but they sounded a bit like… myself? I dunno, the voice felt way familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

But welp, this experience warned me of something. Don’t transform into powerful Pokémon or else you might turn into a wild animal. That’s what I get for fucking around and finding out!

I sighed and just crawled onto the hay bed, feeling the straws poking into my bare skin. Irritated by them, I debated in my mind. ‘Should… should I transform to sleep again? Actually, fuck it, Imma do it. It’s clear I only get minor urges and nothing major like what almost happened.’ 

I thought about the Pokémon and transformed into it and after some seconds, the transformation had finished. I looked down at my body, seeing blue and black fur and a small snout coming from below my eyes. I had turned into a riolu. 

And of course, the musk followed me to another body…

I sighed and got myself comfortable on the hay bed, sleepiness taking over my body once it had registered that I was on a bed in addition to being tired as hell. I was about to take another scolding from that guy, wouldn’t I?