Chapter 1: Lost, but not alone
by ampthenoise“Liz? Liz?”
A whisper of a voice calling my name.
A soft sensation in my back burns in the dream.
It stung a little, though it left… a relieving sensation.
“I think it’s working…”
A distant whisper, a man whose face I should remember…
“It is! Her wounds are healing!”
Not much younger than me, tending my wounds from…
…from?
I don’t quite recall myself getting injured in this dream.
It takes me out of it, but I guess I need to try and wake up.
The faint stinging sensation made itself sharper, the cool relief slowly overshadowing it.
“I’m glad… but please don’t wake up just yet.”
Uncertainty rising in my heart, I slowly wake.
A green lush forest surrounds the clearing I was in, a tall figure in front of me-
A blaziken…?
Wait, it’s Axel! My starter pokémon!
His skinny, tall build is a dead giveaway.
And the way his feathers are arranged…
“Crud, she’s waking up…”
…and that dorky expressions in his-
Hold on.
“Did… did you just talk?”
Beak open and eyes like plates, he stares back. “Wha…”
“You… just spoke in Unovan.”
No way.
Am I dreaming? Where am I?
Why am I lying on the groun-?
…are those blue paws under me?
Is-is there a pokemon under me-?
I try to get up-
The paws push me off of the ground.
I try to stand, but fall on my face.
I reach for my bruised nose, and again, those blue paws reach instead.
Wh-
Were those- were those paws mine?
“Ok, so, don’t panic, please.” Again, Axel spoke to me.
How could I NOT panic?
“But– uh–” he stumbled his words “This is- This is a dream! Yes! You fell asleep and you’re dreaming right now!”
Is- Is this a dream?
Would dream Axel tell me that it’s a dream?
Hold on, I’m just gonna pinch myself a second-
How do I do this with paws again?
Ah, screw it!
I reach forward and- OW!.
“LIZ! Wh-why did you bite your arm!?”
My tongue has a warm and copper-like taste on it.
And red spills from my arm.
It stings..
“It’s… it’s real…”
My arm begins shaking.
“I… I became a pokémon…”
My breaths come in faster.
And faster.
My head swims.
The ground sways.
“No way. No, no, nonono–”
A wall of feathers is pushed into my face.
“Shhhh, it’ll be alright.”
It’s– it’s Axel–
“I’m here, focus on me.”
My hands tightens on his feathers.
Warm and bushy, it’s even fluffier than I remember.
I…
…
“Better?”
“…I think.”
I push away from him, moving to stand up.
He held my arms to help a bit.
I wince at the bite wound.
… standing up was weird. My feet felt wrong- scratch that, everything felt wrong!
My feet felt longer, my legs felt squashed, my neck felt long, and my hips-
Why– why do I feel something hard on my hips?
Pok– a cap coming off.
Axel was holding a potion in his claw. — For, uh… the bite wound.
…?
Oh, wait. If I’m a pokémon…
I reach forward, and he sprays the potion on my arm.
I wince at the sting, but smile at the cool relief it brought.
“It worked earlier, you…”
He winces.
“For your back.”
My back? — What happened to my back?
“I think… we must’ve fallen on a cliff somewhere, you had some… wounds, uh…”
Actually… it did feel dull. “Were they, like, burns or…”
“Yeah.”
Friction burns, then?
I look around, but saw only trees on flat patches of grass.
No pokémon to speak of, and the sky’s closed off by the trees’ branches
…
…actually, there’s nothing much around here.
Not even the wind made a sound…
“I… don’t like this place.”
“Neither do I.” Axel stood up, “It’s better if we try and find a way out.
I walk to my bag behind him, and put it over my shoulder.
I take a step. And it falls off.
…
“Do you, uh, want me to carry the bag?
“… sure.”
“OW!” I yelp for, probably, the tenth time in ten minutes, as I hit my face in the ground.
Turns out, walking on legs designed for quadruped walk is not easy.
Fun fact! Dewotts are quadrupeds!
I think.
These legs make it seem so.
“Uh–”
“I’m fine alright!” At least standing up is getting easier…
Brushing off the grass off of… my… fur… I look around. I get the feeling I’ve been here before, though…
Not– not because I know this place, though.
Might be because of how similar everything looks here.
I feel like I’m going crazy, we’ve been walking for hours! It feels like I’ve fallen on my face like ten or so times already!
Hold on.
“Do you think we’re walking in circles?”
I turn around, but Axel is distracted, looking for something around us.
“Axel?”
“Wha- oh, sorry, I’m…”
“Distracted? I noticed” I huff.
“Yeah, I…” he looks around again. “I really don’t trust this place.
“Neither do I” I turn to face the path again.
We take a few steps, and sensing that Axel was still distracted, I turn around-
Hold on, no. He’s not distracted.
He’s… anxious? He’s scratching his shoulder, and he only does that when he’s ‘itching for a fight’ as he puts it. Or, well, at least that’s how he quotes it, if it’s the one I’m thinking of. If he even quotes it. Hm… maybe I should ask him about it later.
“We…” Uh, how do I say it? “You’re tense. We should find a pokemon for you to fight.”
If we were back… back at home, I’d get Bolt and try to convince him to spar, but…
He perks up at that. He then looks at me-
OH. Gods, wha-
His eyes are way too fierce.
I felt a chill up my spine.
He then blinks the glare away. “I’m– I’m sorry, I’d like that,” he says, looking away.
I let go of a breath– was I holding my breath?
I felt…
…
I remember some time when he had just evolved into a combusken, he went crazy when I asked a kid for a fight and he said no. Usually, it would be fine, but he stayed the whole day mad about that. He used to be moody like that until he evolved again.
He usually glares until he can fight the tension off, but… never like that. Maybe it was…
…because I am a Pokémon now? And he looks more intimidating?
Well, considering that he’s now about twice my height…
He nods, though his eyes never meet mine. “This place is going to drive me insane.”
Hm… “Well… If we find a Pokémon, we’ll fight.”
He took a breath, “Alright! Let’s find someone to fight and get out of this place!” He finishes his sentence with a pump of his arms. It feels like he glows when I look over at him!
And I try to hype myself up too!
But… I’m.
Well.
Half his height.
Less, maybe.
So I’m not nearly as enthusiastic about it.
Though it might take a while, I haven’t seen any other Pokémon around here…
What was I thinking about?
Oh, right, walking in circles.
No need to worry about that now, though. I guess.
…
It… didn’t take long to find a branch in the path.
We look at each other. And then into the new path.
It goes a bit far… But I can see a clearing further in.
So we went into the branching path.
…
A wild pokémon appears!
An oddish stands, looking away from us.
Sigh. “Not much of a worthy opponent, huh.”
“Good enough.” Axel just steps in front of me.
That… that sounds pretty ominous. Does he always sound like that?
And as we approach the clearing, the Oddish turns to look at us.
It has a… blank stare.
… oh, right, I should probably talk to them, right?
Uhh…
“Hey! Over here!”
It doesn’t react.
“My- uh, my friend here is looking for someone to fight, and, uh… I feel- I feel like I’d get my ass kicked if I fought him, so…”
It still doesn’t react.
“Could you- could you fight him instead?”
It stepps closer, well within earshot. Did it not hear us?
“Maybe he doesn’t-“
Puff. A cloud of smoke reaches Axel.
Oh, that’s Stun Powder.
He reacts in time, a small ember burning some of the cloud.
But not enough, I know.
And then-
AH- That’s-
“AGH!· Oh GODS THAT HURTS!
It used Razor Leaf!
And it HURTS!
It stings!
A flash of flames cut it off.
Axel used Blaze Kick.
How–? No, he’s still affected by the spores.
As he lands from the kick, he holds and shudders for a bit.
I stood up-
Ok, maybe not, my body feels numb.
My face hit the ground, but I don’t really feel it.
I try to stand up, but my arms don’t-
I still don’t feel my arms.
Axel gets over the paralysis for a few seconds, which he uses to open my bag and take a full heal.
But the paralysis came back, and he dropps it.
The oddish wastes a bit of time staring at the both of us.
Axel crouches and grabs the full heal, and sprays it on himself.
And he then–
SLAM– And he then punts the oddish with a Blaze Kick.
It hits the wall of trees in the distance, probably breaking something in the process.
Landing with a stumble, he stands back up, and walks back to me. “Liz?! Are you ok?!”
I try to talk, but my mouth only lets out a groan.
He pulls out the potion from before, and sprays it all over my body.
That comforting sensation came back.
…but it’s replaced by a sting all over my skin.
And the fluff of feathers…?
Axel hugs me. That’s why.
But then he pushes me away — I’m sorry, I should’ve-
“It’s fine! I’m fine now!” I was fine, though I could do without the stinging all over.
He sighs, arms falling to his sides.
…
A brisk gust of wind shook his feathers.
…
“Was- was that a pokémon?” He looks around. “It went towards”
Something stops him. What was–?
Oh.
I see.
Stairs. In the middle of the clearing.
Concrete, gray stairs held in the middle of the clearing.
Somehow.
… Axel lets go, and moves towards the stairs. “You’re not planning to…”
“Beats staying stuck in here, no?” He didn’t look back.
…the sting faded away into an itch a bit ago.
It’s annoying. It makes it hard for me to think without scratching myself.
“It should be fine, but we should keep a full heal at hand next time.”
… “Let’s go, then.”
I’m worried about what the stairs will lead to.
But I guess it’s better than staying here.
The stairs, oddly enough, led to more forest.
And I’d be concerned, but I’m still… shook? From the encounter earlier.
I hated it.
I hate paralysis.
I hate grass type moves.
I hate moves in general now.
Once I get back home, I’m retiring full-time. Screw going back from my vacation!
…I’m just rambling now, huh?
Must be the boredom.
Well. It’s been hours.
“Uuuugh, it’s been HOURS”
My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my EVERYTHING hurts,
Would I get anxious over not fighting, too? Since I’m a Pokémon too?
Whatever, I’m BORED, I’m TIRED, AND I WANT OUT!
“It’s been, uh…” Axel mutters for a second, and then rummages through the bag.
He grabs the- Oh! The X-transceiver!
“It’s been twenty minutes.”
…
Oh.
“I. Think this place is driving me mad.”
“You’re not the only one.” he brushes the feathers of his shoulder back into place” And I don’t think it’s just not the ‘lack of fights’.” he even does the whole ‘quotation’ things with his fingers.
Once more, we turn another corner. “I don’t think we’ve been here before.” I’m pretty sure. It’s hard to concentrate, but my mental map should be right.
Should be.
And the last room should have the stairs, right on our left. The hallway in front of us leading to another room.
The wind picking up certainly thinks so.
Grumble.
And our stomachs sure hope so.
I rub my belly a bit, trying to… not enjoy the feeling. “You sure the hunger thing”
“Is just a Pokémon thing? Honestly, this place is so strange that it might not be.” He puts a claw on his stomach.
He’s actually pretty cute when he’s hungry. He gets clingy, but in the way a kid would beg for a cookie.
It’s cute.
If he wasn’t twice my size.
“I just… let’s go and find the–
“STAIRS!”
That wasn’t Axel.
What?
It was… almost like a kid.
Who else could be in this place?
We hug the tree-based wall, hoping we wouldn’t get spotted by whoever made that noise.
Eventually, a figure appears on the other side of the hallway.
A big, round, yellow dot, with a smaller red dot on top of it.
…wait, that’s just a mareep.
A mareep with a… talonflame? A pre-evolution of one? I dunno, I don’t know Alolan pokemon. He’s carrying a bag too, that’s cute.
I… I smell copper.
“Axel, get the potions, that pokemon’s hurt!”
Upon hearing that, he pushes himself off of the wall. “Hey!” I wave, and I hope they heard us.
They do, and the mareep hurries even faster over here.
The ground shakes with how fast Axel steps towards them-
Hold on, did we check the last room?
Shoot– “Axel, WAIT!”
He screeches to a halt, barely in time for a rhydon, from the room, to tackle right in front of him.
Axel flinches back, and steadies his footing.
“Hey, Mareep! Get over here, he’ll take care of this!”
The pair (or rather, the one carrying the other) runs towards my side, while Axel tosses my bag towards me.
The rhydon tries to get itself unstuck in the wall.
Unsuccessfully.
“Quick! Rushdown!”
He doesn’t even hesitate.
He launches himself off towards the rhydon’s side, High Jump Kick landing in a super-effective strike.
Brick break shatters his armor, Double kick pierces it.
The Close combat might’ve been too much for a finisher.
The rhydon is just. Launched off into the distance.
Thud.
Huh. “What was- did you need to blow off some steam?”
He nods, with minimal movement.
I laugh.
Awwww, my poor birb just needed something to hit.
He sheepishly scratches the back of his neck, a smile on his beak.
And then, all of a sudden, a tiny thud brought our heart rates back up.
“Hand me the bag!”
…
…
Handling human-made medicine is tough as a pokémon, yeah.
But I still needed to do things right.
The mareep had some minor wounds, a few sprays did the job.
The… not-talonflame had it worse– bruises and cuts all over their plumage.
A revive alone wouldn’t cut it here– you have to heal them a bit before using a revive, otherwise they’ll feel the pain when they wake up. Not too much, but just a tiny spray should do the job.
They don’t wake up, though. They’re stable, they’re just sleeping. Sometimes, when a Pokemon’s way too hurt, they stay asleep when a revive is used on them, the exhaustion getting to them.
I sure hope it all goes like that.
“I’m not sure we can get them both out.” And I really, really don’t want to have to priorit-
“I can bring them both, but I might not be able to fight.” Axel walks up, and picks up both of the kids, carrying them in his arms.
Even when carrying my bag, he still can lift both of them no problem…
“I… I’ll scout.” And so, I move forwards to the stairs. Hopefully, the last ones.
“Hey– Liz, hey! You’ll get hurt if you-“
“All I need is to do is alert you, so you can put down those two to start the fight!”
The frown did not disappear from his face, but he still nodded.
Just a little bit more.
I step into the stairs.
Just a little bit more.
Holy GODS above, we’re OUT.
Or at least we think so.
We walk up the stairs, the roots, vines and leaves invading the concrete, the sensation oddly welcome for my bare feet.
The first thing to notice, the leaves on the trees.
They were moving.
Wind breezing past, the cries of bird pokemon in the distance,
It all felt alive.
That just… makes the maze we just left that much worse.
I take a deep breath, the fresh and clear air filling my lungs. It’s hard to remember a place I’ve been to recently that has this much clean air.
Well, not in Unova, at least. Maybe back in Hoenn.
I’m getting sidetracked, right?
Axel steps further ahead, head turning and looking for any potential threat. With a nod, he puts down both of the strangers. They look… tiny. And scrawny.
Mildly unclean, but unlike any wild pokemon, there are some signs of them keeping their looks in check. It’s just that, well… they…
They look like they just took a run in a forest.
It seems the potions have worked well, too. Much of their injuries have healed, but some cuts and bruises are still visible. I want to clean those, but since we’re, well, lost, I’m pretty sure we should be careful with our resources.
I sigh, a myriad of issues coming up in my head. Between one of them, the slight confusion as to why would two pokémon have bags of their own. “What now?”
Should I try going out and look for someone to help us?
No, I’d rather not get lost. Axel also can’t carry them for so long…
I could use my X-transciever, but Axel said there was no signal, and while I wanna check, I’d rather not disturb him.
The rest of the team is with Kyla back at the hotel, and there’s no way we can reach them.
We don’t really have that much food, so we can’t risk staying around for too long.
Should I ask Axel to go search for someone around here? Or– or–?
“Hey!”
Axel was facing me, kneeled down in front of me.
Did I mention that he was tall? Because he’s tall.
“Calm down, you’re not gonna get anything done if you start freaking out.”
“Well-“
“No buts here, we don’t need that right now.” His look was fierce, but warm, “you just need to… relax a little. It’s fine, we have some time, right?”
Relax, huh.
I breathe in…
Hold…
Breathe out…
I was…
Thinking about something, right?
Hmmm…
Now that I think of it, doesn’t the Mareep have a bag? Oh, wait, I just remembered what I was thinking earlier.
I move to check on the bag, praying that they might not mind it much.
So, the bag has… a bunch of berries, one or two orbs made of… something, and a map made of parchment.
Wait, a map?
Does that mean-?
“Hey, there’s a map in the bag!”
Axel smiles softly, and he comes closer, taking out the rolled map, and inspecting it.
“Well, it’s written in…”
Welp, they look like just a bunch of scratches and stuff.
The map itself is sort of elaborate, several shapes and formless-blobs colored in different patterns, likely signifying different terrains and such. Most noticeably, three spots are marked with an inverted triangle, one of them directly next to a dark-green blob.
Hold on, if these blue lines are rivers, and the dark-green blobs are forests, are the yellow blobs cities? The one in, I guess, the coast has a house crudely drawn on top of it, so it probably is.
“I’m guessing these two are from this place, huh.” Axel pointed at the drawn house. “But I’m lost on these triangles.”
“They’re probably hidden treasures or something… if we can find where we are, then we can get to the houses these two live in. But…”
What little excitement I found was quickly burnt out. Looking around, there’s no indication of people moving about. No beaten path, no roads, nothing.
I look towards Axel, his head darting around. Probably thought of the same thing.
I sigh, and return the map to the bag. The two kids were still unconscious, mildly bruised, but otherwise fine. I feel a bit too scatterbrained right now, but I still need to find a way out of here, and into civilization. Find answers, and possibly a way to-
He lets out a long, tired sigh. “I think all of us could use a rest.” He’s looking at the two little pokémon.
“I… I can still figure something out.” I begin to walk to the bag, “I should be able to manage something, it’s not that hard, right?”
Two big arms stop me from getting any closer. And- WHOAH
Axel lifts me into the air! “With what you thought about earlier we should be alright for now, but if we can’t think of something right now, then we should rest.” He turns me around, still in his arms, now facing me “I mean, look at you! You’re still shaking!”
I’m-I’m still shaking?
He sighs. “You’ve done a lot, but for now, we rest.”
He then puts me down, and I don’t want to be lifted like that again. He sits down, patting the grass next to him.
I sigh, sitting in that spot.
And then lay down.
…the breeze’s nice.
Maybe I’ll figure something out later. Maybe I should take a rest, like he says.
Maybe…
…
0 Comments