Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds
Interlude 1 — Without A Trace
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Human.
That was the second word that popped up in Lopunny’s mind, right after Abhorrent. At once her paw went to her chest, legs rearing up as she swallowed her breath. The mouth of the cave was only several paces away, the dim night sky willing to obscure her if she needed to escape.
Wasn’t that the name of that bizarre skin-creature sleeping at the end of the shallow cavern? The one wearing clothes all over its body, with trimmed brown fur covering the top of its head? At first she thought it was an Abhorrent Sawk — or at least, some other bipedal Pokemon that’d been turned into one of those horrifying mutants — but the longer her eyes had to adjust to the dark, the better she could tell this was no ordinary mutant.
Pokemon didn’t wear this much clothing. The legends said that was a tradition of humans. She was facing a live human in the flesh.
And every part of her wanted to panic at the impossibility.
Why was she still here? Was it foolish curiosity that kept her rooted, or paralyzing fear? It seemed the creature had been in this part of Peakcrag Island for a brief time, judging from the ample berries it had scavenged and left lying in a corner. If Lopunny was afraid, so was this creature, judging from the taut frown it wore.
Its tossing and turning kept her jumpy. Lopunny peered out of the cavern for a moment, past small stony hills that fell downward, until they reached the ocean that ran throughout the horizon. It was faint, almost imperceivable, but there was the familiar shimmer of the distortion field that ran around her archipelago home. If she’d been outside, maybe she’d be able to see the ocean towers too. The ones that kept humans out in the first place.
Surely the human hadn’t been living here all its life — the idea of humans living in secret within Haven Archipelago, that was just a bunch of tall tales. So why was this terrible being here? No, how could it be here? Did the towers stop working, or had they never been built to block out humans after all? Maybe the Ruptures, those terrible distortions some years back, had disabled them?
She didn’t know, and she didn’t care. It was an ill omen, they said, for one of the humans to discover and infiltrate their home. Come to think of it, there’d been a nasty thunderstorm that brewed just yesterday, coming and going without warning. A coincidence? She thought not.
One side of her demanded she leave now — this was a dangerous being she was dealing with, one well beyond her reckoning! Should it awaken, she’d likely become the next subject of the strange, foul magic that humans wielded. Why would it give her time to escape and warn others of its evil presence?
Yet another side felt perplexed. It looked so fragile in its sleep, and so cold, its attire damp from the earlier storm. A strange, motherly compassion made Lopunny come closer, descending into the cave’s belly, until she was beside the fabled creature. Was it just her, or did this human seem quite young?
It could be a lost child. How was she sure the poor thing wanted to harm her, anyway? It was all superstition that she heard about humans — no one really knew what they were like, or what powers they had.
Her fear inched away as she watched the admittedly cute creature. It returned in full force as its eyes shot open and stared at her.
Had her fur been a shade of gray, Lopunny would’ve blended almost seamlessly with the stone, her posture still as a statue. It was awake. What would it do?
The human never took its eyes off her, aware of her presence but seemingly unable to see well in the dark. “Hello?” it uttered in some alien language. Lopunny saw it make a sharp movement, and nerves got the better of her.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Her fist glowed in warning, a shock of white light flashing throughout the cave, and the human scrambled back with a gasp. The pity Lopunny felt for it didn’t last long — its hand was reaching toward an object she hadn’t noticed in the cave before, a red-white ball that looked to be a capsule of sorts.
A device known as a ‘Pokeball,’ supposedly meant to capture and enthrall her kind. The cold air seeped deep into Lopunny’s bones — she let its youth deceive her! The child was a threat!
Down came her Mega Punch, the human rolling away from both her attack and the hideous contraption. “No, wait!” it cried in fright. “I-I didn’t mean to—”
Lopunny swung again, and the human scampered back, yelling out an array of words. Whatever it was saying, it didn’t sound like it was chanting any magic spells. Its powers must be weak overall, for it wouldn’t fight back or use any elemental abilities, instead trying to edge away and reach the Pokeball. Either it planned to capture her, or there already was an enslaved Pokemon inside, which it’d combat her with.
Deathly afraid of either outcome, she grabbed it for herself. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” the human whimpered, raising its arms as it backed up against the cave wall. “I don’t even know where I am, please don’t hurt me!”
Some kind of False Surrender? Lopunny didn’t know, but she kept a firm grasp over the Pokeball. The human cowered as she came closer, fist still glowing with brilliant energy.
A twinge of sympathy aroused in her heart for the young human, but she bitterly shoved down the emotion. “Sit,” she commanded, pointing so it would understand, and the human wasted no time slumping to the rocky ground. Good to know it was obedient.
Without the Pokeball, it seemed defenseless. Now what? Bringing this creature to the authorities sounded wise. Maybe she could use the capsule against it — it’d be poetic, imprisoning the human within its own machinery.
Of course, there might be a Pokemon trapped within. Was it suffering in there? Lopunny inspected the object, wondering if she could safely let it out without risk of being attacked by it, when something crashed into her forehead.
YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE.
The booming mind-voice startled Lopunny. Her fist cocked back, ready to strike the human, only to find it in its own state of abject fear as its eyes ran everywhere. It didn’t do that to her, did it?
The voice rang out again. AND YOU, LOPUNNY, HAVE SEEN SOMETHING THE ISLANDS OF HAVEN ARCHIPELAGO WERE NEVER MEANT TO WITNESS, it declared. DO NOT RESIST. FOR YOUR SAKE, I SHALL CLEANSE YOU.
“What?” cried Lopunny, forgetting all about the human as she dashed to the cavern entrance. No creature stirred in the silent, mountainous landscape of Peakcrag Island, nor the nearby ocean. “Who’s there? What are you?”
“W-What’s happening?” she heard the human say, whatever its words meant.
WHAT I AM, YOU SHALL NOT REMEMBER FOR LONG, answered the voice. NOW, HUMAN, YOU AND YOUR DEVICES MUST BE BANISHED. PERISH FROM OUR LANDS. BEGONE!
A shocking sensation came afterward, and Lopunny felt her mind split, as if struck by lightning. Instantly she fell, noise ringing through her ears. The air screamed, ripping itself apart, and the yells of some other creature were torn away.
There she lay for a while, paws clamped over the tremendous aching in her forehead. One eyelid fluttered open, finding herself level with pebbles and dirt. The night sky shaded the world, darkness bouncing along each and every hill she could spot from her vantage point.
She got up, trying to put herself together, and faced the nearby cavern. Her paws clasped themselves, her brows furrowing at something beyond her recollection. Hadn’t she been holding something just a moment ago?
Come to think of it, what was she doing at this cave again? Something had happened, but she didn’t remember — maybe it had to do with her unusual headache. It was important, wasn’t it?
All she remembered was coming to this cave, then noise, lots of it. Looking around, however, there was nothing special to see. The ground was barren, and an inspection at the cave’s inside only showed an odd pile of berries, left behind by an unknown visitor. The only conclusion she could make was that someone had tampered with her mind, then scurried off.
What a worrisome thought. Strange she wasn’t hurt in any way, though, save for her memory issue. What had she forgotten?
Lopunny walked away from the cavern, considering if she should ask a trained psychic to help her remember. A frown creased her face — there was one other thing she recalled, for some vague reason. A single word that made no sense to her, one that left her muddled and uncomfortable, yet somehow relieved.
Human.