*Music: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon – Voidlands
The abandoned forest would’ve been somewhat pleasant, if it wasn’t so eerie, for its sole two inhabitants to be walking through.
They saw literally nothing, just barren plains below trees and maybe the odd pond here and there. No life appeared to exist here besides the two Pokemon and the naturistic location itself, searching for the bodies that occasionally popped up.
They were only one or two floors up, and the forest was still barren, when Sanvu began to hear noises in his head. He wasn’t touching any Pokemon, nor were there any around.
“…Don’t you think it’s kinda funny…”
The voice didn’t sound like Pachuku’s or his own, nor was it Daniel’s or Sparky’s. The voice sounded older, masculine, with a hint of sounding a little more laid-back.
“Who was…?” Sanvu wondered, looking about, Pachuku taking note. “Something up?”
“I thought I heard someone say something… but it didn’t sound like you, or any of those other guys I mentioned. You didn’t hear anything, right?”
“N-no, it’s so quiet in here… it makes me worried someone’s gonna come out and attack you. But… what did it say?”
“I… don’t really know,” Sanvu continued. “Is it related to those visions? I wouldn’t know that either.”
“It could be, all this started happening only today, so you could be onto something,” Pachuku mentioned, as they continued walking, paws continuing to fiddle. “This dungeon’s at least easy, for now…”
A couple of floors later, they encountered more bodies of more Grass-type Pokemon, this time multiple, two were right next to each other. Pachuku grew more anxious looking at them.
“You alright?”
“Wh-what happened to these Pokemon?!” Pachuku cried out. “Oh… please don’t let you suffer the same fate…”
“It’s okay, nothing’s happened yet… and I’m not just going to give in,” Sanvu said, masking his own worry. If all of them were Grass-type like him, there was a significant problem with him being there; he didn’t exactly fancy joining them.
But he wasn’t about to let this chance go.
“Cover me, alright?” he was standing in front of a small pokemon with a yellow head, that resembled something more of a plant, a long brown stem body with root-like feet, and two large green leaves, out cold in the manner the other Pokemon were prior to this. Pachuku nodded, and he could hear sparking in his cheeks as he began to feel the heat of touching the fellow Grass-type.
‘Why do I get so hot when touching them, though? It’s not something from them, is it?’
He left the forest in mind only.
~~
*Music: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon – Calm Craggy Area
Instead of the cave from before, it was some kind of crag with even darker purple and blue hues. Again, Daniel looked behind himself, and now accompanying Sparky, and the Mawile and Dedenne, that Sanvu would recognise as such thanks to Pachuku’s clarification, from the previous vision, there were three more Pokemon, a large orange weasel with a yellow ring around its neck, a forked tail and two blue fins jutting out from its paws, a bird-like Pokemon with a large red beak, and many coloured feathers adorning its body, alongside a grey rabbit-like Pokemon with various brown markings and large ears.
‘Who’re all these Pokemon? Daniel seems friendly with them all… I wonder who they are…’
Daniel’s vision turned around to where he couldn’t see them, instead witnessing some kind of dark doorway and a large wall. He could hear panting of some kind from everybody; it was as if they’d all been fighting in some kind of dungeon.
“Hey… Sparky…” he heard Daniel say, pointing with his nose towards the wall. On it was more of the illegible writing that he couldn’t decipher, not even through the eyes of Daniel.
“Over there! On that wall!” he heard a loud squawking masculine voice, presumably from the large bird that Sanvu couldn’t recognise.
“It really is more writing… Sparky,” he heard the Mawile confer. Sparky nodded in the corner of Daniel’s, and Sanvu’s, vision.
“Somewhere in this world exists a Tree of Life,” Sparky read out. “That Tree of Life has become possessed by Dark Matter. Dark Matter snatches away its vitality for growth, and if it continues, it will wither and die.”
‘The… Tree of Life? What’s that?’
Sanvu couldn’t entirely be sure, and as Daniel turned around, he felt himself returning to the forest, as the heat returned in his hand, the cave vanishing all around him.
~~
Sanvu jolted back, shaking off the excess heat despite that it usually vanished within seconds and left no lasting impact on his body. Not that he could know how much it was even doing to him.
“So? Anything?” Pachuku asked, Sanvu providing the details. Pachuku clarified who the new Pokemon were, to the best of his ability.
“Tree of Life… I don’t know what it is… but… I have been seeing a tree in my dreams…”
“Maybe it’s the same tree!” Pachuku guessed, “and if Dark Matter has it, then…”
“Then I must… no…” Sanvu gasped, stepping back as the Bellsprout nearby disappeared. “Dark Matter must be hurting us too, somehow, through this tree being…”
“There’s a Petilil here too,” Pachuku motioned towards the other Pokemon, “maybe it’ll help us too, right?”
Sanvu was hesitant.
“You alright?”
“Y-Yeah, just… gimme a moment.”
“Anything wrong?”
“No, no, I’m just… mentally preparing myself.”
“We’re so lucky that nobody’s here,” Pachuku looked about, hissing. “What’re they leaving us this for?”
Sanvu steeled himself for a moment. To be honest, he was terrified. The more he learned from these Pokemon, it became increasingly clear that Dark Matter was not only relevant to their predicament, but his own. How, he couldn’t be certain, but it felt right, and that terrified him.
He noticed Pachuku was also a little anxious, despite that nobody had been following them to their knowledge, he was still holding his guard up, and he noticed Pachuku’s paws twiddling as the small squirrel tossed his head around to protect them if anything were to interrupt them.
After a long moment of calming his breathing, he stepped towards the Petilil, and experienced yet another vision, fading once again into the back of Daniel’s head.
*Music: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Void Shadows
Daniel and the others were in the same place as before, but he was staring at what looked like the Buizel. The Bunnelby was right next to him.
“I seen it!” he cried out, “Some creepy-lookin’ thing went and captured Buizel! This here not Bui-“
In a split second, the Mawile had spun around and kicked Bunnelby in the head with her large hair-jaw, Daniel having gasped. “Mawile, what-why?!” he heard Sparky shout.
“You’re the imposter around here! Bunnelby would never sound like that!” she snapped, towards the downed Bunnelby.
Immediately after, Bunnelby melted into the floor, and was replaced by a black blobby, liquid-like creature that resembled some kind of oil in terms of its body, as it swelled and bulged into growing spherical ‘hands’, its face formed out of carvings in its own liquid that resembled facial features. He could sense that Daniel’s breathing had increased; he couldn’t blame him, given he was seeing it too, equally afraid despite only spectating.
‘What… what IS that?!’
The question was echoed by the Archen, alongside the Dedenne, as more of these creatures grew from the ground, surrounding the group. He saw Daniel preparing some kind of battle stance.
“I think these are the Void Shadows…” he heard the Mawile say.
“What happened to Bunnelby?!” he heard Sparky cry out, fearful.
“I think it’s too late for him now…” he heard the Mawile speculate.
“Sparky… help fight them off,” he heard Daniel whisper, as he saw Daniel reach into some kind of bag that was tied to him, grabbing something that he couldn’t quite see that well.
‘What are those things… Void Shadows?’
“Here they come!” he heard a squawk from the Archen again, as he saw Daniel charge forward, before he was ejected right back to the forest, to provide Pachuku once again with news of this vision.
~~
“What?! What did you say they were?”
“They were huge, black, and… liquid-like… do you know any Pokemon like that? It ate up the… Bunnelby, I think.”
“N-No, not that I think of. I’ve never heard of a Pokemon who can do that! You’re sure that’s what you saw?”
“Yeah, one of them called them “Void Shadows.” They were surrounding the group, they looked ready to fight.”
Pachuku looked ever increasingly worried. “What does all of this mean?” Sanvu could only share in his concern, since he was worrying about the group himself.
“I hope they make it out…” he murmured, in a low voice, looking down. The forest around was still calm and peaceful, as if creating the moment of silence for them.
“Something’s targetting Grass-types,” Pachuku asserted, his paws shaking. “I honestly don’t know how any of what you’re seeing relates to this, but…” he looked about. “What’s doing this to them? How come you’re able to see… all of this through them?”
Sanvu couldn’t be sure himself, shrugging silently. “Is there anything that defeats an apparition without it immediately… disintegrating?” Sanvu postulated, to which Pachuku slumped.
“I haven’t seen it, but… I wouldn’t know if there is… and you…” Pachuku looked directly at Sanvu with large eyes. He looked genuinely afraid but Sanvu didn’t want to relent, somehow, someway, he had to know more.
“We haven’t seen anything yet,” Sanvu maintained his position, firm despite his internal worry. “If either of us were to see anything, we’d defend ourselves, right? So what’s got you so worried?”
“I… I don’t… know…” Pachuku warbled, “Every Pokemon we’ve seen here is Grass-type in some form or fashion, the forest is totally empty, and we’re leaving ourselves exposed!”
“Calm down,” Sanvu told the little squirrel in a firm, neutral voice as best he could manage. “Both of us have barely done anything, alright, and I feel fine,” he gestured towards himself.
“C-Can we leave if anything really bad happens, then?” the squirrel squeaked, with Sanvu giving an uncertain shrug.
“Sure, but you’ll have to ask this place that, won’t you?” he remarked back, as they continued onward now that the room was empty again.
As expected, nothing happened. It was about two rooms later they encountered another Grass-type lying on the floor. It was large, and shaped like a large mushroom.
“Amoonguss…” Pachuku whispered, Sanvu mentally preparing himself again.
‘What will I see? What is this terrible feeling?’
He shook himself out of it. Pachuku motioned with a paw towards it, nodding. Sanvu figured it would be okay, as he began to feel that tell-tale dizziness, alongside that terrible hot sensation that he had to put up with.
All for the sake of information he knew they wouldn’t be able to share.
*Music: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Void Shadows
“NOOO!”
When Sanvu once again found himself in Daniel’s eyes, he could only watch as a tearful Sparky was shouting towards an extremely large Void Shadow. Mawile appeared to be restraining him from the Void Shadow, as he cried, attempting to resist, despite her strong grip. He thought he could see tears manifesting in Daniel’s own eyes.
“I swore it… I swore we would all go together!” he heard Sparky wail.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened when Sanvu couldn’t see anyone else.
“Don’t worry about that! Get out for our own sakes!” he heard the voice of Dedenne from inside that extremely large Void Shadow, before it melted into the floor leaving nothing behind but dust. Sparky screamed an extremely loud wail after that, which was only slightly drowned out as he heard the large ears atop Daniel’s head shuffle to block out the noise.
Less than a second later, it wouldn’t just be his ears though that would be doing any blocking.
Sanvu’s own vision darkened as one of the Void Shadows absorbed Daniel, blotting out the vision of both humans as Sanvu became witness to Daniel’s own demise.
That wasn’t the only thing that was happening. Sanvu, bearing witness still to the inky murky darkness of the inside of the Void Shadow, now began to feel that heat coursing through his real arms. He thought for a moment that the vision was fading, but he remained holding on, the inky black vision still visible.
“It’s… so black and sticky… ew….” he heard Daniel whisper.
Muffled, he could hear the voice of Sparky saying something. He thought he heard Mawile as well, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
‘Is Daniel… dying?’
He thought he saw the vision jerk about; he figured Daniel was trying to struggle free, to no avail. The heat grew hotter and hotter, the vision still pitch dark. Sanvu attempted to blink his own eyes, which were still open, despite what seemed to the contrary.
Then he heard Daniel whisper something, something strange.
“Who’s… that…?”
‘…What?!’
~~
*Music: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon – A Trio of Sacred Legends
It wasn’t a second later that his vision exploded into light after hearing a mighty roar, once again seeing the crag. Daniel appeared hunched over-Sanvu could only see the floor as his eyes opened, as he turned around to see three huge large beastly creatures, which at best could be described as cat-or-dog-like. Compared to Daniel, all three of them were huge.
The heat had lapsed for a moment while Daniel’s vision had recovered, but returned in full force once Sanvu saw him slowly approach the large imposing beasts he couldn’t name.
~~
“So he survived?!”
“Yeah. There were these large… were they cats? Dogs? Anyway they were huge, and there were three of them. I think… they saved him.”
Pachuku looked down, face forlorn. He said naught a word in response; not even to tell Sanvu who they were.
“Hey, what do I look like, when I’m… doing this? How long does it take?” Sanvu wondered. Pachuku responded.
“You just… I dunno, it’s like you’re just touching it for a small while, nothing about you’s different. Why?”
“When he was… almost eaten, I tried to blink, cause the heat came back again,” he shook his hand again, as if it were still present, despite it feeling normal. “it was literally nothing but black. I’m just wondering… what the heat was for. What it’s been for; all of them, I feel it before it starts and right when it ends.”
“What did you say this Daniel looked like? Some kind of… yellow… what now?” Pachuku asked. Sanvu hadn’t described Daniel’s appearance properly yet; his prior description of the first dream had left that part out due to Sanvu’s own shock.
“I dunno, some kind of… yellow-furred quadruped? He had a big bushy tail, I think. White muzzle, some kind of dog?”
“…Fennekin?” Pachuku guessed. “The only thing I can think of is that he sounds like a Fire-type.”
“Fire-what?! So then, I’m feeling the… fire?!” Sanvu exclaimed in surprise.
“Maybe? I’m just guessing though.”
Both sat on this a moment, before agreeing to continue on, onward through the barren forest, Sanvu contemplated as he walked what he’d witnessed.
‘Did he… see me?’
Sanvu couldn’t be sure. Probably because of their circumstances, he wouldn’t know if Daniel had known that he was seeing these things. Or that they were even present events, they could be from the past, or the future, and he’d be none-the-wiser.
Onwards they went; providing themselves so much of an item store that eventually, they had just sat down to eat to lighten the load. Pachuku continued to fiddle and twitch, and Sanvu was worried himself, but he couldn’t understand what had Pachuku so on edge. Especially given their previous ventures where they had actually fought. How would doing nothing be worse than battling?
Sanvu couldn’t entirely understand a Pokemon’s point of view despite being one. He was simultaneously more laid-back and more frightened than he’d been in a long time, and the possibilities swirled in his head.
A couple more floors of the boring old forest later, Sanvu began to hear something.
“…human is…”
The voice sounded somewhere between masculine and feminine, echoing in his head, and once again, Pachuku raised a brow when he noticed Sanvu’s frantic glances around in response.
“Another one…” Sanvu murmured, clutching his head. “I wish I knew how I’d gained this, this isn’t normal.”
“No, of course not! I haven’t the faintest idea. I’d guess and say your humanity might have something to do with it, but…”
“No, what do you mean, of course it’s that.” Sanvu huffed, away from Pachuku, who furrowed his brows in confusion for a moment before opting to continue walking along.
The only tiring that was being done was the wearing down of their patience, and their legs, as they continued onward.
A couple of floors of empty dungeon later, they finally encountered what would be their final Grass-type apparition, in the same condition as the rest. Knocked out, dead, lying out cold. This one looked like a large plant that resembled a Venus flytrap, though Sanvu only thought it looked particularly like some bizarre grass monster.
“Let’s hope…” Pachuku started, unsure of what to say. “Just… do what you gotta do,” he mumbled, in such a low voice that Sanvu had to tilt to hear, but he heard it.
After a moment, it all came back to him for one last time.
*Music: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon – Reverse Mountain
At first, it attempted to fizzle back, but it instead looked like some sort of fast forward. He heard the words “astronomical bodies” and “stars” but nothing came into clarity until it settled on the same eyes in a red-pink mountainous area.
Daniel appeared to be caught between staring at a wall filled with illegible scribbles-the writing that Sparky could read while hardly blinking-and the floor. His vision was shaking, and he could only see Mawile, Sparky and those other large Pokemon from earlier. Mawile had moved over closer to the larger Pokemon. Meanwhile, Sparky had come closer to Daniel, who Sanvu had guessed was resigned for no reason other than the difficulty he had maintaining eye contact with Sparky, who wore his worry on his face.
“Daniel, are you alright? What’s wrong?” the yellow rodent asked.
“It-It’s nothing, it’s just…” Daniel vacillated, shaking his head.
“You can tell me…” he heard Sparky whisper.
“If… If I wasn’t human…” the Fire-type started, but Sanvu had to strain to listen to the rest because of his own surprise, “I wouldn’t have broken the barrier… we wouldn’t be turned to stone… we could’ve… I don’t know… but… we wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t my fault!”
‘If he wasn’t what?! Human?!’
“That’s not true!” he heard Sparky whisper in response. “Someone summoned you to this world to help save it. Don’t let them get to you,” he asserted with conviction. “It’s like you said earlier, right? Mawile has nerves of steel, so you should be like her. They’re just being rude cause they only care about themselves!” he heard the Pikachu whisper, only in a soft voice.
“Thing is… there’s something else…” he heard Daniel start.
‘Something… else… like what?’
“There’re these voices I hear… this whole time we’ve been here… and… these strange things I’m seeing, and it makes me wonder… What does Dark Matter want, besides power?”
‘Voices? Wait… seeing?’
“Seeing? Like what?” Sparky asked, Daniel explaining what would shock the two Pokemon bearing witness to this to their core.
“What?!” he heard the Pikachu shout, and Sanvu almost couldn’t believe it himself.
‘No way… he can’t be… he can’t be serious!’
“Well… I don’t know about all that… but whatever Dark Matter wants, it can’t be good. You know that better than anyone, right?”
He saw Daniel nod. “R-Right.”
He noticed one of the larger beasts, the one with brown fur and odd shackles around its legs move closer to them.
“We don’t have all day. You,” he was looking directly at Daniel. “Lead.”
He saw Daniel eye a box that looked suspiciously like the one outside Pachuku’s house, moving closer to it, as the recognisable heat burned right back through the spectating Grass-type’s arms.
And he was back in the forest.
~~
When Sanvu was back in the forest, he had to take a moment. If only to calm his head which was practically awhirl with thoughts spinning in a literal twister.
‘I can hardly believe myself… he…’
“Well?” Pachuku inquired, as he watched Sanvu’s utter stare of terror. Sanvu was hardly able to explain what Daniel had said.
“He what?!”
Sanvu explained the rest of the vision, how Daniel was also a human, and not only that but Daniel’s deep secrets that he had shared with Sparky.
“He… repeated the words from today’s dream… saying he heard them… preserve, eviscerate, and incinerate…”
In front of them was the final set of stairs for this dungeon, unbeknownst to them, and Sanvu turned to Pachuku, looking at him with furrowed brows, Pachuku slumping in resignation.
“I won’t stop you, but… you know what I think. Any danger, we turn out of here,” Pachuku muttered, as they both went and touched the final stairs.
Neither would be prepared for the reign of emptiness to end.
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