Chapter 1: Insomnia

It was silent…dead silent in an autumn-hued forest…one where life had been drained by some strange force….luckily this silence would soon be filled by the sound of a tree’s rustling and something that fell from some high point landing upon the ground. A Scorbunny. It gasped for air as it landed, soon passing out, laying still on the forest floor. “… … …where am i?…this darkness please…no please stay away…STAY AWAY!—” The scorbunny woke up grasping its chest, its heart best fast and hurried. The only thing that was in its mind after passing out was an empty void. One this rabbit did not enjoy seeing. “…where…where am I?” His voice echoed through the silent woods. A voice of a fire type. Lost. Unknowing of where they are. He stood up, holding his chest and side…luckily his back was somehow fine. His ribs were what worried him, however, what ARE ribs again? Whatever they were, his upper chest hurt and so did his sides.

He stands still taking in the surrounding forest, there are no paths or obvious signs of life, so he begins to walk…what are these things he’s stepping on? Their crunchy and so familiar…leaves. A rush of thought entered his mind. Leaves. He recognized them but once more he didn’t remember much of them, just what they called. He looked around, connecting more things to each other, like a spider web. Leave falls from the big brown thing, big brown thing makes leaves, oh yeah! Big brown thing is named a tree! The things he’s stepping on, leaves, they remind him of what he’s doing. Walking. Walking reminds him of stepping. The rise and fall of his chest makes him remember breathing, as well as other body parts. All simple things. Yet he can’t remember much else that’s not simply named…until he looks towards the sky…

“E L Y S I U M” A loud voice rings through his mind, resulting in him holding his head. “GAH WHAT THE HECK!” It was painful. Soon that word echoed through his mind. ‘Elysium’. It echoed for some time, each echo painful yet becoming more dull by the second. It didn’t stop him from reacting distressed, however. He shook his head around rapidly and stepped with difficulty. “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!” He cried out into the blue…the voice finally stopped. These desperate cries unfortunately attracted some troublemakers. 4 nicket and an eevee had emerged from a nearby thicket. A shiny nicket speaking up. “OI! What the hell are you doing on our turf?!” She spoke angrily, her goons behind her. “Turf?” He asked. “Whats…turf?” She blinked. Looking at him as if he was mocking her, after seeing his genuine confusion she looked back to her goons, then back at the Scorbunny. “…kid…are you stupid?” That word he DID remember. “HEY!” She responded now feeling pretty frustrated at the scorbunny’s lash back. She scoffed and got closer to him, without her goons, trying to be menacing. “Don’t you DARE yell at me! It was a genuine question coal for brains!” Ok, that sent the scorbunny over the edge. “Well, at least I ain’t some grey runt who doesn’t fit in!” Oh hey, good for him. He remembers how to insult folks.

Unlucky for this scorbunny however, that sent the lead nickit over the edge. She used sucker punch on him sending him back a bit. THAT he remembers. Moves. He tried to respond with some sorta fire fire-type attack but nothing happened. He thought to himself ‘CRUD I FORGOT HOW TO USE MOVES.’ The rest of the lil gang came running over, the Eevee speaking up. “NO ONE HURTS MY LITTLE SISTER YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” The Eevee ran forward to use tackle but instincts took over for the Scorbunny. The Eevee glared at him once more. “BEST TELL US YOUR NAME NOW FOR YOUR TOMB STONE!” The Scorbunny suddenly froze. He never thought about what his name might be…Ansel. He remembers it clear as day suddenly. Ansel. The Eevee attempted another quick attack, and the remaining goons attempted to attack as well. The quick attack landed sending Ansel flying, now decently beat up, he got upon his feet once more and began running. Somehow eventually outrunning them. He continued walking. Getting deeper into the forest, more things seemed dead and drained.

Ansel located a cave. Deciding to sleep in it till dawn he went into the cave. It was dark and damp, hard to see anything deeper inside but at this point, he just wants to clear his Head. He doesn’t know where he is other than ‘in a forest’. He doesn’t know WHO he is, well aside from his name. He never stopped to think about how he fell from the sky, alongside the fact his side now hurts more, the adrenaline from running away after getting jumped has finally drained from him and he doesn’t know why he’s hurt more, the truth is now his rib pain has turned into a broken rib. What was with the ‘Elysium’ thing anyway? Why was it in his head? He also started thinking about what else he hurt when he fell, “At least it can’t get any worse.” He opened his mouth far too soon. A Ekans from deeper in the cave came out of the shadows and attempted to attack him. The Scorbunny tried to run but it was all for nothing, as it caught up to him. Coiling around Ansel without much room for escape it began squeezing tight, the mon began getting crushed from the tight binding. Unable to escape he just yelled for it to let him go to no avail. The ekan’s grew tired of the noise and attempted to remove the Scorbunny’s head, via a bite, before suddenly getting hit square in the face by a typhlosion using flame punch. A Meowscarada and Sprigatito behind it. The Meowscarada grabbed the Ekans by the throat, causing it to let go of Ansel. He ran out of the cave away from the confrontation that had begun taking place. The Sprigatito however took notice of this and gave chase. “HEY WAit..!” Ansel was faster though, he escaped and farther into the heart of the forest. He suddenly tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. Exhausted. Tired. Ready to give up. He didn’t care anymore he just felt exhausted. He dragged himself over to a soft patch of leaves, the only one around this deep into the forest, and attempted to fall asleep.

Upon attempting to enter slumber, it proved almost instant. He entered his mind. Slipping away into darkness…shadows…the fear and exhaustion he felt…a black void he was, at least in his mind, falling into. Before completely entering the rem cycle he was awoken by something else wrapping themselves around him. It was the Sprigatito. He shook Ansel a bit. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! YOU RUN STRAIGHT TOWARDS A TERA-DUNGEON DESPITE THE DANGER?!” Ansel blinked and tilted his head. “Tera-what?” In response the Sprigatito looks agitated and then says. “TERA. DUNGEON! It’s like a normal dungeon but funky things happen in them! Me and my brother plus his bestie came here to rescue people from the forest and calm hostile folks down! And we obviously came in time ’cause you definitely don’t belong here!” Ansel paused to think…hang on so someone who wants to save him and get him out of here? “YES!” He said aloud before covering his mouth. “What I mean is: thank you. You…did come here to get me out of this place right?” She raised an eyebrow, feeling like that was obvious. “Yes. Away from all this forcefully hostile mon round here, and back to safety.” The sprigatito began walking away out of the forest, away from a massive dead tree that wasn’t too far from where they were. “That’s the Blossoming bonsai tree. A massive Bonsai tree that didn’t really fit in amongst the pine trees of the forest. It was the heart of it till it became corrupted alongside most other Tera-dungeon’s.” She continued walking away, towards the edge of the forest. Ansel raised an eyebrow, then asked. “Corrupted?…like…dying?” The sprigatito spoke up. “Bingo. By the way, my name is Chi. And like most folks, I assume you’re gonna ask why they’re dying? That we don’t know.” Ansel paused…not really sure what to ask next. “How did a bonsai tree get so large, and on a pine forest of all things?” Chi answered. “Normal mystery dungeons occur via time and space distortions, a legendary Pokemon creating them, or large amounts of certain energy. Yes?” Andel shrugs. “Well like a normal dungeon their never the same layout as the first time. Unlike normal dungeons, they appear when a large terastal crystal of a certain type appears, gains enough energy, and mutates into a tree, or a hole in a wall, or something like that and creates a Tera-dungeon. Some mon can use one Terastal move, and the boss at the end is terastalized…and by the way: terastalization i-“ Ansel interrupted her. “Yeah no I remember that part.” Chi continues walking but raises an eyebrow. “Remember?” Pretty calm, or as calm as he could be with a broken rib, getting jumped prior, as well as almost eaten.

“I woke up on the ground and saw a hole in the trees that was above where I landed. I also remember falling from…a pretty high height…I’m not sure why but I just did.” Ansel finished his lil rant before seeing Chi absolutely BLOOMING with joy and excitement. She placed her paws on Ansel’s shoulders. “TELL ME YOUR NOT PULLING MY LEG!” She yelled, Ansel blinked. The sudden grab caused him to squeeze his wound by accident. He sucked on his teeth in pain but Chi was more focused on what he’d say next. “N-no I’m not…mind not doing that whole grabbing my shoulders thing, however?” She responded brushing it off. “Yeah yeah, whatever now LETS GO!” Without much patience, the sprigatito grabbed the scorbunny’s free paw and began running as fast as possible towards the edge of the forest. Ansel watched as it went from lifeless and dead, to slowly dying, to alive and well, and finally on the edge, flourishing and thriving with green hues and even flowers blooming. Chi soon began shouting. “MAKI! TYPHOON! LOOK LOOK!” The Meowscarada reacted first upon hearing Maki, and the Typhlosion did the same upon hearing Typhoon. “What is it, Chi?” The Meowscarada asked. “MAKI I FOUND THAT SCORBUNNY!” She hastily replied, answering Maki’s question. Soon however Typhoon asked his own question. “It’s great that he’s still alive but why are you so bent out of shape over it? You’ve never reacted this way to saving another Pokemon before?” He tilted his head lookin at the lil feline. Chi soon responded, stumbling over her words, however, turning into a jumble of sounds over anything. Ansel waved still holding his side. Meanwhile, Chi finally stopped stuttering and stammering on. “THIS SCORBUNNY IS NAMED ANSEL, A-AND HE HAS AMNESIA, P-PLUS HE SAID HE FELL FROM THE SKY AND— can you use moves?” Ansel shook his head at her question. “A-AND HE CAN’T USE MOVES AND ALL THIS TERA-DUNGEON STUFF BEEN GOING ON AND, A-AND, AND—“ Suddenly a hand covered Chi’s mouth. It was Maki’s hand. “Sis, this is the third time in two months you’ve found an amnesiac and claimed they could be a human turned pokémon. Give it up already. Yes, the legends of Human to Pokemon heroes are true, and their Pokemon partners. But that doesn’t mean its fine for you to just yoink every amnesiac and call them a human turned mon.” Typhoon chimed in. “Yeah, Lil Chi. It ain’t fine, unlike your brother, to go yoinking up amnesiacs like collectible toys.” Maki chimed in on Typhoon’s chime in. “I HEARD THAT!” Typhoon cackled at Maki’s response. Before getting serious again. “But for real Chi. Leave the poor guy alone.” “BUT—“ she interrupted before Typhoon glared. “No. Buts. Maki, can ya try to heal Ansel?” Maki stretched before he began to walk over. Ansel put his hands up in protest. “N-no I’m fine please you don’t have to—“ Before getting picked up by the scruff of his neck and laid down on some sorta of blanket. “Just rest and I’ll heal ya. Maybe sleep if ya wanna. It’s gotten real late, and it would be best for you to try to. And don’t worry we’ll protect ya while you do.” Typhoon also interrupted. “And make sure Chi doesn’t wake ya up.” Chi meanwhile looked angry, located behind the other two.

Ansel closed his eyes…this time sleeping was harder…they were right. It went from the afternoon to a star-filled sky so fast…then again, the day was also so fast-paced…he decided to just let those around him do their thing. After some time eventually Ansel fell asleep…hours later after the other three had fallen asleep. He began to feel himself slip into slumber. He looked at his paws, only the edges had color, they glowed flame orange, while the rest was see-through…he could feel himself fall into the darkness from earlier…but this time he felt calm, confused, but calm. As well as protected and safe. He could swear he heard the black abyss behind him shatter like glass, before dispersing into sparkles. He soon landed in an endless expanse shifting between light yellow, blue, and cyan. Laying in a thin layer of water, he entered the rem cycle, never dreaming, only seeing the expansive horizon around him, and what he assumed was the outside world as the sky…weird…bur he didn’t care. Not soon after he woke up: Only getting roughly two hours of sleep. The three folks he had met hours prior stood above him. “Yo dude! Wakey wakey eggs and bakey! It’s off to Rainfall Village!” Chi then said afterward, the other two goobers high-fived for getting the in unison speaking part right. “It’s actually a decently small city, that never changed its name! It’s not too far away and it’s an hour’s walk. Ya wanna see it despite how you’ve probably forgotten what it even is?!” Ansel…wasn’t too flattered or happy thanks to the circumstance of his awakening, but he nodded. “Sure…guess we’ll do this…”