Soul Food

“I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt..” Von couldn’t pull his eyes away from the candlelight. Each wick vied for his attention, and his eyes danced from flame to flame, each swaying in a subtle, captivating dance. He swayed where he stood. Unable to take a step, unable to look away from the candles that filled the pews.

“Are you lost?” came a whisper. “We haven’t seen you in Candle Cay before,” came another. “It’s so nice to have a guest!”

The words of the candle congregation were calm and curious, but they nevertheless had Von’s stomach in knots.“I am lost,” He admitted.

“We’re very good at guiding folks home!”

“Where is home?” Hope flared within the lizard.

“A tunnel runs beneath us.” “It will take you wherever you need to go.” “It’s a maze, so you best stick with us!” “It’d be bad to get lost down there.” “We’ll keep you safe.” “The door to the cellar.” “Will you follow?” “Lets get you home, where it’s nice and warm.”

Transfixed, Von could only focus on the candlelight. It helped distract him from the surge of weakness he felt. Home. Which one? Jake? Would he even recognize me like this? His body began to move and he shuffled after one of the candles leading him down the chancel, to a door, tucked away in the old stone. Home. In my car? Where I was? Where it’s cold. So cold.. At least the fire of the ghostly candle was warm. Home. With my family? In Oregon? There’s a church there, too-

“There is no home to go to,” he said aloud. The crowd of candles kept their smiles of melted wax as they stared at him. Von’s heart thudded in his chest. He had broken their spell over him, but would they let him leave?

He stopped moving and stared, not in fascination, but in shock. He stood at the top of a set of wooden stairs that descended into a darkness he could not will himself to enter. At the foot of the stairs waited one of the spirits whose flame led him downward, its candle hardly able to pierce the darkness that would have swallowed him, had he not come to his senses.

The walls of the cellar were built different from the church. Underground, the stone from which the church was made gave way to ancient clay brickwork. It smelled earthy, but dry, none of the dampness present he expected from a basement. The ghost’s flickering blue light not quite strong enough to peel back the darkness that shrouded the alcoves that lined the walls. Catacombs.

The spirits’ flames flared higher, and a sickness swept through Von. They’ve been sapping my strength this whole time, he realized. He sunk his claws into the doorframe to steady himself. “Home is down,” “Come with us through the tunnels,” “Of course you have a home,” “Everyone does!” Their voices swirled around him, the chorus of the candles cacophonous.

“.. Not this one,” came a whisper quieter than the rest, almost imperceptible, but so, so close. At the base of the stairs, the sole candle below him went dark. One by one, the fires gathered behind him, urging him down, were extinguished, while they all remained quiet, not a single protest among them. When the last light was snuffed out, Von took in a shaky breath of air as their pressure weighed off of his chest.

From the shadow cast by Von’s tail rose a ghost, its body a smokey darkness, its eyes burning of two distant candles, flickering orange this time. It spoke again, addressing the gathered spirits. “This one belongs to me now. Return to your rest.” It was humanoid and stood only two feet tall, but its presence commanded all of Von’s attention. As the candles obediently returned to their places, Von stared at the dark presence with only weariness, too drained to think, or to question.

“Human,” it hissed, “You will perish, if you are not more careful. Your time to venture into the Labyrinth will come, but not today.” It placed a hand on his shoulder, its grip icy, its eyes of fire burning into his. “You are weak of will and body. Do strive to be better than the naive pawn that you are.” A tremor passed through him, emanating from where the darkness held him. Sapped of everything he had, Von could no longer hold onto consciousness, and slipped into unsteady dreams.

The spirit took a piece of Von’s shadow before it drifted into the darkness of the still and silent cellar.

Candle Cay came alive as the sun went down. Ren took a delight in watching it wake. The small black fox disguised itself as a Banette, perched on the fence that circled the pumpkin patch, and the Pumpkaboo that roused themselves from their garden payed him no mind as they slowly rose and drifted off down the hillside to the town. Faintly, Ren could see lanterns as they flickered on, orange and blue, depending on who their lamplighter was that night. The stalls at the night market slowly began to buzz with activity, as denizens of the Cay began their day a little after sunset.

Once the last Pumpkaboo had floated off, Ren lingered a few minutes longer, his eyes on the cape, for when the lighthouse flared to life with a purple glow. Dinnertime, he thought to himself, before he hopped from the fence to the soil of the ghost’s garden, his illusion dispelled in a puff of smoke.

Most Pokemon made sure to steer clear of a ghost’s favored haunt, but that only meant more pickings for the daring. Aside from himself and the occasional Murkrow, the Pumpkaboo’s seeds were left alone for the most part, and the trellis on which berry plants grew were never quite picked clean. The true prize of the patch was, however, the plum tree that sheltered the southwest corner of the fence. The rule among scavengers was to never take more than what was needed, and those that frequented the pumpkin patch never overstepped their bounds.

Ren helped himself to two rawst berries plucked from their vines, before he made off with a plum in his mouth. The bitter juices of the rawst berry on his tongue helped dull the plum’s sweetness. He carried the fruit with him on his way back to the night market, until he heard a familiar cry.

A Rockruff’s howl carried through the chill air, an urgent tone meant for him. It was Kaia. He skid to a stop, turned tail, and bolted in the direction of the call, to the great stone building that loomed over Candle Cay. As he ran, he drew up an illusion of a Houndoom, to wear a mask to intimidate were there to be trouble.

He did not expect the sight he stumbled upon. His friend, Kaia, sat proudly upon a prone lizard Ren didn’t recognize. The Rockruff’s tail wagged happily as she saw him approach. “Look what I caught slithering out of the dungeon!”

Ren paced around to its front, examining the creature’s face. Its eyes looked vacant, its breathing shallow. Pupils focused in on the features of the Zorua’s illusion, but belied little emotion. Ren let the plum fall from his mouth with a soft thud against the wet grass. “What is it?”

“Salandit. Used to see them all over the shoals back home.” Kaia sniffed the air. “A female. Weird that it’s alone.”

“How can you tell?” Ren never understood lizards.

“Can’t you smell that sweet scent? Actually- don’t try too hard,” Kaia giggled. “All Salandit emit a sweet-smelling poison gas to lure bugs into becoming a snack. Females, however, can lace theirs with a pheromone that attract males of all species-”

“I’ll be sure to hold my nose,” said Ren dourly. “Anyway, I’ve never known an amalgam to leave Labyrinth.” He waved a paw in front of the lizard’s face. It gurgled incoherently, and its tail swept over the grass, aimless. “It’s oddly passive too.”

Kaia looked down at her prey under her paws, wary. “You’re right, now that I think about it.” She leaned over so she could look the thing in its eyes. “Hey, if I get off of you, do you promise not to run away?” All she got in turn was a confused blink. Cautiously, the Rockruff eased her weight off of the lizard. It remained motionless.

“Maybe a ghost scrambled its brains,” offered Ren.

Kaia looked to the church. “It would’ve had to get past all those Litwick. I think you’re right.”

“… Food?”

Both Ren and Kaia perked up in surprise as the Salandit spoke. Ren hesitated, before he nudged the forgotten plum over to their captive. Timidly, the lizard nibbled at the fruit and, after a few bites, it ravenously devoured the rest. “Must be shock,” Ren whispered. “What should we do?”

“I wonder which ghosts are best at giving medical care.”

“How many residents of the Cay do you think were Chansey in their past life?”

“I wonder if they can still make those eggs.” Kaia’s stomach growled. “Probably couldn’t fill up on ghost eggs though. They’d just pass right through you.”

The two friends shared a chuckle before Ren turned his attention back to their find. “It might be a longshot, but do you still have that expedition bag? I wonder if the medicine in there is still good.”

“Of course, I remember where I’ve buried every single thing,” Kaia said proudly. “I’ll go fetch it. Be sure to plug your nose!” She took off down the hillside, leaving Ren alone as a ward.

“You’re not that stinky,” Ren murmured as he studied the lizard. It was a pretty pathetic sight. Salandit didn’t seem like a very proud species at the best of times, and this one had been put through the ringer. He took pity on it and he let his illusion fade.

Von’s cognizance dredged itself back up into existence. His memory of the past few hours was fuzzy, at best- almost as fuzzy as the black-furred fox he found himself following. Key details clicked into place; they found him outside of the church, they fed him, and they meant him no harm. Relief swelled up inside of him- until a few more snippets of info bubbled to the surface. The dog-like Pokemon that sat on him mentioned something that bothered him. Did she say ‘female?’ His self-exam on the beach didn’t account for this possibility, not that Von had any idea how to determine the sex of a lizard in the first place.

“Here. Rest here.”

Von’s attention snapped back to the fox, who had led him to the base of a gnarled old tree. He found a crook in its roots that looked comfortable enough. He curled up within it, thankful to be taken away from the site of his agony.

“Thank you so, so much. What’s your name?”

“Zorua,” came a curt reply.

“Is that, like.. your name, or your species?” He waited, an uncomfortable silence lingering in the air. “.. I’m Von. It’s nice to meet you.”

He gave up the pretense of keeping an eye out for danger, and instead he turned around to fix him with a perplexing stare. “What did those ghosts do to you?”

“I don’t know,” he said meekly. He averted his eyes- he didn’t like being stared at.

Zorua must have seen the hurt in his eyes. “Well, ah.. I’m not sure what customs you’re used to, but here, names are reserved for friends.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Where are you from?”

“Oregon.” Not a hint of recognition showed on Zorua’s face. “Um. America?” The fox cocked his head. Von tried again, with mounting desperation “.. Earth?”

Both Pokemon looked and felt uncomfortable. “You’re in Candle Cay right now,” Zorua said to break the silence. “North of Murkmoor. East of Green Mills?” It was Zorua’s turn to be on the receiving end of blank stares. “Goodness, you’re far from home.”

“I’ll say,” Von muttered, before speaking up louder. “Are there any humans around?”

Zorua furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, that ever since I woke up on an alien shore, in a body not my own, the only things I talked to today were a bird that sorts everything it sees into the two categories of ‘food’ and ‘not-food’ and a church full of ghosts that I think tried to eat my soul.” Von surprised himself with the anger and frustration that boiled over and spilled into his voice. “I’m a human, Zorua. Or I was? I don’t know how it works, but I’m not myself, anymore.”

Zorua just stared for a time. Von wanted to curl up tighter, to disappear. He hugged his tail to himself, and squeezed his eyes shut, tears burning down his cheeks.

“I’ll talk to you about this later,” Zorua finally spoke up again. He must’ve heard the dog approaching before Von did. When he opened his eyes again, the other Pokemon trotted proudly up the hillside, a satchel held in her mouth, stained with soil from the ground. She dropped it to the grass before Zorua, and wagged her tail.

“See? I remembered where it was after only digging two holes!”

“I’m very proud of you,” Zorua said as he pawed the fastener. He tugged the flap open, and stuck his nose into the earthy bag, pulling a stoppered glass vial from it. The liquid inside swirled a misty blue. “Should still be good, right?”

“Iunno. You’d have to ask Braixen.”

Zorua gently tossed the vial to Von. It rolled along the grass and hit a claw. “Drink up.”

Maybe if I drink enough Pokemon mystery drugs, I’ll turn back into a human. Von was too tired to argue. He gripped the vial in claw and pulled the cork stopper out with his teeth. The potion tasted like a blend of blackberry and grass clippings. Despite this, he drained it.

Von felt revitalized. The sensation reminded him of the way he used to chug a carton of orange juice when he got sick with the flu, finding that it helped him feel alive again, before he was told high acidity could actually make things worse for him. No longer chilled to the bone, he pushed himself up onto his feet, and shook the stiffness from his legs and tail. “Whoah. Got any more of that stuff?”

Zorua beamed happily at the end result. He turned to his companion. “Kaia? I think it’s time we reform Night Vision.”