We felt our feet touch the ground as the light around us disappeared. I opened my eyes and looked around, and just as expected, we were back at the guild’s entrance, safe and sound.

I sighed, feeling the rush of thrill and adrenaline fading from teleportation leaving my body. I forgot about this feeling whenever I used the Heavenly Fallback Nexus command of the badge, I may not feel the dizziness anymore whenever I use it since I used it a lot when I was still in the team with Alsia, but for first-time users…

I turned my head to Lucas, seeing him stumble to the ground after trying to take a step forward. He looked like a ‘mon who has low alcohol tolerance and tried a single bottle of champagne from the way he walked. The zorua boy wasn’t faring that much better either. I supposed I could wait for them to recover from the teleportation.

“Bro, what the hell boy… why do I feel like I’m in a fucking Lankybox video…” Lucas managed to stutter out, rubbing his eyelids with a paw. I didn’t know what in Giratina’s name was Lankybox or a video, but I assume that both words combined must’ve meant an acid trip. “Geez, my brain feels like it wants to come out of my damn skull…”

I responded to him while motioning with a paw towards my badge. “That’s what happens whenever we use the teleport button. Don’t worry, you will get used to it over time.”

The zorua spoke next, trying to balance himself on his feet. At least he didn’t hear the fire quill Pokémon’s curse. “Ugh… my head… I can’t even puke but it feels like my body wants to…”

“But I can, might as well bend over and just-”

I interrupted the quilava, placing a paw in his mouth. “ Don’t ! Find another place to do that. Not in the place where every explorer of this guild lands whenever they use the fallback.”

Lucas took my paw off his mouth, the top of his head sparking a bit. “Chillax dude, I was joking!” He sighed and lay himself on the ground, stretching his body as he groaned. “What I really want is to lie down and just rest… preferably for centuries. I’m so beat…”

“You know the mission is not done yet, right? We still need to take the kid back home.” I reminded the quilava, earning another groan from him. Actually, about the zorua, that reminded me of what I wanted to ask him in the dungeon but couldn’t because of Lucas’ whining. I turned to the half-dead Pokémon and asked. “Actually, I forgot to ask. What were you doing in that dungeon? Marsh Meadows is peaceful, but you saw what was there, right?”

“I know that!” He responded a bit nervously, looking aside afterwards with a frown. “But still… that scary Pokémon wasn’t always there…”

I tilted my head as my tail raised in curiosity and confusion. “Hm? What do you mean? Have you been to that dungeon before?”

The wispy zorua nodded as he kept his tail between his legs. “Yeah… my momma owns a flower shop near the village. Sometimes she asks me to pick up flowers from the Mystery Dungeon since she knows it’s peaceful there. I’ve been there lots and lots… but… it all changed when I went there today.”

Lucas sat up and crossed his small arms. “I take it that sunbloom isn’t a local resident of the household dungeon, right?”

The zorua shook his head. “No, and neither the other sunflower Pokémon… I-I thought the sunflowers were pretty so I tried to take some of them back home, but then it appeared and…” He shivered, likely thinking back on the encounter with the powerful grass type. “It was so scary…”

I hummed in thought about its specifics. It’s common knowledge among explorers that dungeons themselves are alive in a sense since they constantly shift rooms and move their feral Pokémon and items around. But… making new Pokémon appear on them…

He swore he had been hearing something like that for the past few days… was it becoming more common now? Hm… the Guildmaster might already know but it’s probably best to give our witness to him.

“Heh, not so scary when they’re now unconscious on the floor!” Lucas commented while raising a paw finger before his enthusiasm vanished when he realized something. “... but we could’ve been the unconscious ones instead if I didn’t manage to switch forms in time…”

The zorua tilted his head as he looked at the quilava. “Switch… forms?”

I butted in and smiled sheepishly at the young ghost. “How about my teammate explain all about it while he takes you back to your momma?” I turned to Lucas, still maintaining my smile. “You’d do that willingly, right?”

Of course, the now-fire-type showed discontent. “What!? Why just me? Can’t you just do that instead? I’m so tired dude… remember who got his tail roasted to save our ass-” He gave a glance at the zorua and quickly corrected himself. “I-I mean, butts? Yeah, I should be the one staying here and-”

“Actually, I have something important to discuss with Guildmaster Quartzo, about our little sunbloom problem. And we shouldn’t let poor little zorua just pass on to the afterlife of boredom, should we? Besides…” I put a paw on the quilava’s shoulder. “Didn’t you say you wanted to come back to this guild by asserting some of that… heroic nature of yours?”

Lucas looked at the young zorua for a moment before sighing. He muttered something quietly to himself and grunted. “Fine… hope ya know there’ll be payback next time, got it furball?”

I ignored the nickname and smirked at the quilava. “Don’t worry, I know. Go have fun with our little client, alright? We’ll meet back right here, okay? Don’t forget to check up on the clinic too.”

Lucas did a quiet thumbs up as he walked away, motioning the zorua kid to follow him. “Come on, emo, your mommy is waiting for you.”

The zorua followed, correcting him as he walked beside the shapeshifter. “That’s… that’s not my name.”

“I know dude, just a small nickname, no biggie.”

Once they were out of earshot, I turned away and entered the guild. I sighed, my mind racing with lots of thoughts. The thought that had more intensity was about the fight with the sunbloom, or more specifically, a certain moment within that fight that repeated itself mentally.

The moment when Lucas managed to save me once again.

He didn’t know how or why, but that idiot of a shapeshifter managed to pull through once again in the face of unbeatable odds. First with Valtrus and now with the sunbloom. No matter how strong the enemies were, his power just kept pulling us out of tight scenarios like it was nothing, yet, he clearly struggled even with all that power flowing through his veins. Was he lying to me about only transforming into weak Pokémon? Was there something he wasn’t telling me about his abilities?

Whatever it was, the fact that Lucas managed to transform into the right Pokémon with a lot of pressure put on him just enough to save me and still win that battle is incredible. Moments where we were destined to die, just denied on the spot like they were nothing. Something about him is special and it wasn’t just his amazing powers. Just what was it? Was he chosen by Arceus to bless us or something?

Well, whatever the case, I owed him two times now… actually, make that three because of that.

Shrugging those thoughts aside for now, I walked to the Guildmaster’s office, greeting other explorers along the way who remembered me when I was exploring with my old team. I noticed that they didn’t look at me the same anymore after the incident, looking at me with pity and concern. It was to be expected of course, who wouldn’t look at me like that after I literally just locked myself in my house for months and only went out to buy food and drink water?

Thankfully, I would recover now. My new purpose is as clear as ever, and that shapeshifter would be the catalyst.

I knocked on the door of the office, sitting on the ground as I waited for a response. My tail swayed as I kept thinking about what I was going to say to the Guildmaster. The main concern of our talk was about stronger Pokémon appearing where they aren’t supposed to, and hm… what else? Yeah, that should cover everything… maybe I should ask for a bonus as a reward for the fight we had with the sunbloom? That could be great, I had a feeling Lucas would love it.

The door opened and a Pokémon I wasn’t expecting walked out of the room. The Pokémon in question was Xenes, the gold and silver gholdengo. I stepped aside for him to walk by me. He eyed me for a moment as I stared at him silently, not a word exchanged before he just walked away, his red cloak flourishing as he walked away.

While watching the coin Pokémon go on his way, I was reminded of the fact that he threatened Lucas before our mission. Why? Sure, he might be a bit stupid and reckless at times but he hasn’t done anything wrong to the village, right?

“Come in.” Quartzo’s voice echoed from beyond his office.

I entered the Guildmaster’s office and walked to the milotic coiled in the middle of the room. I noticed that Kina wasn’t present at the moment. Oh well, it might be for the better, she can be quite a pain sometimes…

I gave a single nod to the Guildmaster and spoke. “Hello, Guildmaster Quartzo.”

Quartzo smiled and greeted. “Hello there, Evon.” He hummed in thought as he stared at me. “You look a bit battered, have you gone to the clinic yet?”

“No, I can handle it. Besides, Lucas is going there after he escorts our client back to his home. He needs it since he took more of a beating than me in our mission.” I started, sitting on the ground and letting my tail sweep slowly behind me.

“I see. I take it that Team Infinity took their first mission today?” I nodded, making the water-type serpent smile at me again. “That is wonderful to know! Pray tell, how was it?”

I looked aside, a frown overtaking my face. “About that… that’s why I came here in the first place.” The Guildmaster’s smile disappeared, a curious expression manifesting. “You see, we went to Marsh Meadows, right? Known for being a bronze rank dungeon filled with low-threat feral Pokémon.”

“Yes, that is common knowledge around these parts.” He shifted his position, his tail flicking down. “But is there something wrong with it?”

“Yeah. From what we heard from our client, he said that he used to gather flowers there. But it changed when he went there today. And when Lucas and I went there… yeah, it showed.” I sighed and admitted. “There was a sunbloom in the dungeon.”

Quartzo’s eyes widened for a moment before a grimace overtook his face, he must’ve realized something. “What happened there?”

“We attempted to fight it. We probably would’ve lost and died… if it wasn’t for Lucas’ power.” I explained, recalling our fight. “We were struggling with it, we took a lot of damage, but if it wasn’t for Lucas managing to transform into a stronger form that exploited its weakness, we wouldn’t have survived that fight…” My ears flattened against my head, imagining the reality where we both lost to the sunbloom and we couldn’t escape in time. “You see the problem, right?”

“Yes, it’s very clear.” The milotic sighed and looked aside. “It seems that everyone’s worries are becoming true… the Mystery Dungeons are evolving.”

I tilted my head at the Guildmaster’s claims. Mystery Dungeons… evolving? How in the world is that possible? “They’re evolving… how?”

Quartzo looked back at me. “You surely must’ve heard what other explorers have been saying, right? They’ve been dealing with more trouble in the dungeons, even in lower-rank missions where ferals are known to be less prone to engage in combat. But after the past few weeks…”

“Has the DKGA mentioned anything about this? Have they started warning Pokémon about this change if it’s the entire continent being affected?” I asked, my ears twitching a bit.

“No, at least not that I’m aware of. But I’m sure someone has contacted them about the issue, it’s just a matter of time to see what action they take on this matter.” Quartzo responded coiling a bit more. He then placed one of his eyebrow limbs on top of my head. “But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll know what to do in this situation, just like they did when the Amethyst City Guild was raided by the Dark Rebellion all those months ago.”

I sighed, forcing a smile. “I sure hope so.”

“Yes, meanwhile, just make sure to talk to Lucas about the matter and avoid any dangerous Pokémon in the dungeons.” The milotic lifted his limb from my head. “Anyway, since you’re already here. I’ve been meaning to ask you about something that caught my attention last time you were here with Lucas.”

I perked up a bit, a bit curious about the sudden question. “What is it?”

“If I remember correctly… Lucas said that he owed you for saving his life back on the beach…” I froze, knowing where he was headed with the question. “There is only one beach close by and you know why it’s dangerous. Why were you there anyway?”

I began growing a bit uncomfortable, thinking back on the peak of my grief and where that took me. I sighed and looked away. “Listen, I know what it might seem to you, but don’t worry. Lucas… he… he gave me a new purpose, a new resolve. I owe him way more than he thinks I do.”

The atmosphere fell silent, an uncomfortable moment between the both of us knowing the severity of the topic. Quartzo definitely knew what I went to do there, but he didn’t press on it further. “I… I understand. I just hope that whatever your new resolve it doesn’t involve-”

“I know. And don’t worry, I’m doing it for her. I’m doing exactly what she would’ve wanted.”

Guildmaster Quartzo hummed with a frown before he spoke. “Alright, I sure hope you achieve it someday.”

I turned away and assured. “Alright, I shall.” I started walking away. “Until next time, Guildmaster Quartzo.”

“See you, Evon.” The milotic replied before I left the room.

I took a deep breath, not minding the earthly damp scent that the cave held. It felt relieving being away from topics like that. It was something hard to talk about, but still, it was just another reminder to not commit the same mistakes ever again. I wouldn’t submit to grief, now or never. I needed to prove to Alsia that I was strong. I needed to prove to her that I was not the same coward who let her die that day. I needed to make Alsia’s dream come true and become strong for her.

“I promise…” I started heading to the entrance. “Revenge…”

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My legs were killing me, my back burned and, my brain bashed against my skull from how much pain I was enduring… but still, I needed to prove a point to Furball AND ghosty Furball too!

“Hey…” I looked at the hisuian zorua trailing beside me as he spoke. “Are you sure you’re alright? You look super hurt…”

I grinned at the ghost fox, my stoic facade still not fading. After all, I needed to look good and heroic in front of the children! “Heh, please, I received far worse beatings than that overgrown sunflower gave me. I can handle it just fine, besides, I heal super duper fast!”

We were already out of Cavestone Village, the zorua kept quiet all the time when we were in the village. It was pretty obvious he was the shy type, being scared of crowds and mostly keeping it to himself unless alone. Of course, when we left the cave, he started speaking up a bit more.

The zorua’s eyes glittered in awe. “Oooh, that’s amazing!” His tail started wagging a bit. “So, your teammate said something about body shifting… and… if there was a growlithe before fighting the scary Pokémon and you appeared there… does that mean-”

I cut him off, finishing his thought process. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking!” I stopped walking, making a cool Jojo pose with my paw covering my face. “Watch this!” I let the pink light fill my vision as I began transforming. It took a few seconds but once the glittering pink light faded away, I was back into human form, still doing the pose. I looked back at the zorua, my pendant swaying over my chest. “So cool and awesome, right?”

The white fox gasped, stepping back from the situation's absurdity. “Woah… that’s so… strange but… cool and awesome too!” He then approached me, putting a paw on my leg. His body felt cold, like a walking freezer brushing against me. I tried my best not to shiver. “Does it hurt? Morphing your entire body sounds painful…”

“Honestly, when I first started doing this, during the transformation, I was in a lot of pain. But once it’s done, it’s like there wasn’t any pain to begin with! And hey, I’m not even feeling that pain anymore!” I explained, shoving away some details from the explanation.

“Wow! Your ability is so amazing! Could you even turn into my species too?” The zorua asked, his tail wagging a lot.

“Hm… I dunno- just kidding, course I can!” I jumped away from the fox and transformed. Once the transformation finished, I dropped onto all fours and felt… strange. It was a weird sensation, it felt like I was breathing but at the same time, I wasn’t. I felt… incomplete. Did this body… belong there?

I wasn’t breathing.

“M-mister! Your body! You’re… you’re vanishing!” The ghost fox spoke, clearly panicking judging from his expression.

“Va-vanishing…?” I asked with my voice sounding ethereal. I looked down, seeing the grassy ground through my body. I screamed and tried pawing my body, trying to make the sensation go away. ‘What’s going on!? What do I do!?’

“You haven’t hatched a ghost like me, you need to remember what makes you live on! Remember your goal!” The zorua explained, some strands of his fur extending themselves and probing my vanishing body. “You need to do it before you get spirited away!”

My… my goal… that’s right. My goal was a simple one that I needed to see it through. I needed to go back home and tell my family I was okay and…

Live for my mom.

The strange sensations of my body faded away as I felt my senses return to me. I lay on the floor on my side, panting rapidly. A more rational part of me would’ve known that as a ghost I didn’t need to breathe, but I wasn’t in the mindset to know that since I was almost taken to the afterlife just because I didn’t set my goals straight.

The zorua kid looked at me concernedly before nuzzling my chest with his snout. “Are you okay…? That was scary…”

“I… I’ll be fine, you just saved me, hehehe…” I sighed deeply, trying to forget that near-death moment. I shouldn’t forget it completely, it should serve as a lesson that whenever I’m in a ghost form, I need to have my goals in mind or else Jesus- or Arceus, I guess, would greet me to look at my browsing history. “I can’t believe ghost types live like this all the time…”

The fox backed away. “Erm… not necessarily. Some ghosts, like me, don’t need to think about their goals since some were hatched like this, not reincarnated. But… since you weren’t hatched a ghost, I guess the rule applies to you.”

I slowly stood up again a grimace shaping my expression. “Well, of course being a creature not bound by the rules of reality has some setbacks…”

“Was this the first time you transformed into a ghost type?” The zorua asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yep, I got this transformation power recently so I haven’t tried everything yet. I’m even blocked from transforming into stronger Pokémon-” It then hit me. Since I was super occupied by the thrill of the moment and the exhaustion afterwards, I didn’t bother to think about it. But… I had transformed into a quilava… a mid-stage evolution, and I hadn’t gone feral during the entire time I was in that form. Hell, I even dropped Sonic references while fighting that sunbloom. Did that mean… mid-stage evolutions were unlocked for me? Hm… test time later. “Well, at least from what I know of.”

“Alright then, I sure hope you know your limits.”

“Eh, don’t worry kid, I know what I’m dealing with.” I resumed walking, not bothering to change forms again. I wanted to give my body a small rest after all. “Anyway, we stalled for long enough, we can’t keep your momma waiting, right?”

“R-right, follow me, we’re close!” The zorua exclaimed a bit sheepishly.

Once we resumed walking, the silence of the woods returned, only the sound of the occasional wind brushing against our fur breaking the silent moment. Eventually, I decided to break the silence with a question I felt that I should’ve asked a bit before. “So… what’s your name? I forgot to ask.”

“Oh, it’s Xano, nice to meet you.” The zorua, now named Xano, said with a soft smile.

“Call me Lucas, your local shapeshifter human at your service!” I said with a snarky grin.

“Okay, nice to meet you Lucas-” Xano interrupted himself once he saw a patch of flowers up ahead. “Oh, we’re here!”

As the ghost fox dashed away, I trailed right after him, trying not to get left behind. As we got closer to the patch of flowers, I realized that the flowers surrounded a wooden two-floored building, vines stretching its edges as far as I could see. I wondered if Xano’s mother was a grass type or not because I couldn’t imagine something as menacing as a hisuian zoroark being the owner of a flower shop.

I mean, I couldn’t imagine a heatran being an overprotective grandma either so there might be another ‘mon to shatter my expectations.

We got to the front door of the building and the zorua knocked on it with his paws. “Mom, it’s me!” He then just literally phased through the door like it wasn’t even there . “I’m back!”

I just blinked as Xano casually ignored a door and went through it like someone forgot to put the collision on his body or something. I would’ve shivered if I could. ‘Dude… what? Seeing this happen unlike in any sort of media but in real life is weird as shit.’ I muttered to myself afterwards. “Could I… honestly, gotta try that when I’m testing my powers later.”

I was about to walk back since I successfully escorted the zorua back home, however, I stopped once I heard the door to the shop open, making me turn my head torwards it. I froze once I saw a big hisuian zoroark walk out of it with Xano curled up in their arms. They noticed me and spoke in a soft female voice. “Are you… are you the explorer who found my son?”

I analyzed her for a moment. She looked like a normal zoroark from the Hisui variant, however, she had yellow and purple eyes and a red flower beside her ears. To be honest, she looked kinda cute-

I flushed a bit as I thought about what I had just thought. ‘Did I just… on a fucking zoroark of all ‘mons??? Nope! No! Not a furry! They just look cute like a normal fox would look like, yep!’ I then turned to the family and smiled a bit sheepishly. “Oh, yes, I am. The name’s Lucas, nice to meet you… uh… ma’am.” ‘Also, geez, Xano told the summary of it to his mother very quickly.’

The female hisuian zoroark nodded gratefully. “Thank you so much for finding my son! I was very worried he didn’t show up this morning so I was starting to get worried…” Her ears flickered as she analyzed me. “Also… strange, I didn’t think there’d be more of our species around this area…”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Oh, that’s because I’m not a zorua.” I admitted that before transforming back to my human form, I had gone from a quadrupedal to a bipedal stance. Once the transformation was done, I grinned torwards the surprised fox. “I’m basically a guy that can transform into other Pokémon, that’s the gist of it!”

The zoroark was surprised, blinking for some seconds before her son giggled and responded. “Yeah, Momma! Lucas is so cool! He used his awesome powers to take out a very scary Pokémon I was hiding from!”

“Scary… Pokémon?” She asked, sounding a bit confused. Seemed like Xano hadn’t explained everything to her yet.

“So… uh… apparently your son said he went to gather flowers for you on Marsh Meadows but for some reason a Pokémon that’s called a sunboom… sunbloom? Something along those lines.” I corrected with a nonchalant shrug. “Yeah, big viney sunflora evolution was lurking around that place and uh, kinda pissed not gonna lie.” I then smirked and put a hand on my side. “But since my partner and I are so goated with the sauce, we beat it, even if I got partially roasted in the process.”

The mother fox just stared at me, probably in disbelief at what she just heard. “So… you’re telling me that you managed to defeat a sunbloom that was for some reason in Marsh Meadows…” She then pointed a claw at my chest, specifically, my badge. “While also being a bronze-rank explorer?”

“I know it sounds like I’m lying just to gain clout, but hey, your son can back it up for me. He was there to confirm.” I said with certainty, Xano nodding in confirmation. The ghost bipedal fox could only stare in utter silence. “Listen, all I can say right now is that Marsh Meadows isn’t safe for your son to pick up flowers anymore, unfortunately.”

The fox hummed as she looked aside before nodding. “I understand.” She then nuzzled Xano on the face. “I’m just glad that my kit is safe and wasn’t hurt.”

The little zorua struggled, his whispy fur moving like tendrils as they tried (and failed) to push his mother away. “M-Momma! Not in front of the cool explorer…!”

I found that interaction a bit cute, making me chuckle a bit to myself. “Alrighty then, my job’s done, the kid’s safe, and now back to the guild I go.” I did a small finger salute and turned away, starting my walk. “See you two sometime-”

“Hey, wait! What about your reward!?”

I heard the zoroark shout, making me stop dead in my tracks. I slowly turned back to them, seeing the mother putting her kid on the ground. I sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of my head. “Completely forgot about that, hehe…” ‘Evon was gonna kill me if I didn’t get that. Thank goodness she reminded me…’ Suddenly, an idea struck me and I stroked my chin a bit. I then pulled out my phone and clicked on the camera app. “By the way… can I do something real quick?”

Both foxes stared at me curiously.

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Walking back to the village was a bit more boring than before. Since I didn’t have someone to make small talk to or keep me company, I relied on my phone to keep my boredom away. To conserve a bit of battery (which was still fortyish percent or something, strangely…), I fished my Bluetooth headphones from my bag and started listening to some music.

During the walk, I looked back at my phone and glanced at the selfie I had taken with the fox family. The zoroark had Xano wrapped in her arms as she smiled awkwardly at the camera and Xano grinned excitedly along with me as I posed for the camera. 'Ah, another piece of evidence acquired for back home!'

While walking through the tunnels of Cavestone, I noticed that people were looking at me with more weird stares than normal. Well, obviously enough, since I passed by them while humming my songs with a weird device covering my ears. Heh, they’re probably pretty envious I have some cool stuff and they don’t. Too dripped out to them (real).

Eventually, I reached back to the guild and saw Evon lying on the floor with a frown as he looked at the map. I approached him and spoke as he noticed me. “Yo, I’m back, dude.” I said as I lowered my headphones to my neck after pausing the song. “How was the super duper important meeting that forced me to walk even more?”

The eevee folded the map and put it in his bag. “Hmph, you do need to walk more. Didn’t you tell me you used to get tired pretty easily back in your world? Count that as exercise.”

“Nah, that’s just an excuse for you to get the easy way out.” I then put on a sarcastic hopeless man act as I hugged myself. “What about my lil’ super hurt body after I clutched that W against the sunbloom?”

Evon sighed and adjusted his eyepatch. “Have you even gone to the clinic to check on your wounds?”

I glanced aside for a fraction of a second. “Uh… yep! Gonna be back in full shape in a day!” ‘Hopefully, body, you better do your Support Legend magic body!’ With that settled, I crouched down a bit and got on Evon’s level, asking him. “By the way, what did Quartzo say about the whole sunbloom matter? I’m curious.”

The eevee responded. “Well… he said that this is becoming a common matter in some Mystery Dungeons where stronger Pokémon are manifesting in the dungeons as if they were evolving in some sort of way.” I tilted my head at that claim confusedly. “Yeah, I get it, it’s kinda weird when putting it that way, but it does make sense when you think about it for a moment.”

“Okay, so basically put… they’re getting hella more dangerous.” I received a nod of confirmation and I sighed. “Welp, more work put out for us than when doing missions… well… hopefully I can continue accessing more mid-evolution ‘mons then. Way less deadly hopefully.”

The brown fox Pokémon hummed. “I guess so. But the Guildmaster just recommended us to avoid the really strong Pokémon that appear in the dungeons.”

“Oh, the pacifist way, got it. Should be pretty easy for me if I just…” I transformed in front of Evon, getting smaller and smaller. Once the light faded away, I saw that the eevee in front of me was gigantic … well, not really, just bigger than me in general. I expected it since I became just a small little Joltik (also, my eyes felt weird). “Become so small they ain’t gonna notice a thing!”

Evon blinked for a moment before letting out a snicker. He then smirked at me. “You know they’re just gonna try to eat you in that form, right? So small and powerless, almost can’t fight back, could be just an appetizer that was there at the wrong time…”

My eyes shot wide open and I immediately transformed back into my human form. Once the glow faded, I blinked for a bit. “Uh… on second thought, better to just casually avoid them…”

The eevee chuckled. “Yeah, it is better that way. Anyway… have we gotten the reward from the job?”

An idea flickered back in my mind, reminding me of a trolling plan I had formed for Evon when he asked that specific question. I tried my best to suppress a smile and just stared at the eevee. I blinked a few times and said nothing to him.

Evon’s smile dropped as the silence was getting to him a bit. “... Lucas, where’s the money…?”

I faked a nervous expression and looked away. “Uh… um… how do I say this…” I glanced at Evon’s nervous expression. It felt like he was about to start growling or just pounce at me at any moment. “I uh… I didn’t come back with the reward…”

Evon just stared at me, his eye widened and twitched a little. He stayed silent for a moment before he tried stuttering. “L-Lucas… you…”

I just decided to rip the bandaid off. “SIKE! Hah, look at your face!” I giggled to myself a bit as the eevee slowly came to his senses. “Relax, Foxy, I was just trolling dude, hihihi.”

The eyepatch-wearing eevee just stared at me for a moment. Based on previous after-trolling reactions I garnered from my siblings and some school friends, I expected Evon to either shout at me a bit angrily, laugh a bit annoyedly, or straight up just hit me. Instead, none of that happened. He just simply stared for a moment before muttering. “Alsia…”

My laugh died down a bit as I began to feel a bit bad. Even though it was out of nowhere, it seemed that my troll triggered something in him. Then again, he did say I reminded him a lot of his dead friend. “Uh… are you alright…? I’m sorry that-”

Evon noticed and shook his head. “Nonono, don’t apologize. I just… ugh, I just got caught in the past again. I need to move on eventually or else it’ll…” He paused, thinking about his words a bit. “It’ll just get in the way of my goal.” I tried to say something but before I could say anything, he swiftly changed the topic. “Anyway, can you pass me the money, I can store it for you since I could tell your backpack is full of…” He stared at the headphones in my neck a bit. “Strange human artifacts…”

“Um… sure.” I pulled a sack of coins from my backpack and handed it over to the eevee. He checked the bag and got a bit confused about the quantity of coins in the bag. “So uh… the reason I tried to troll you is because uh… I wanted to tell you the good news about the fact that I didn’t come back with the reward but double.”

Evon blinked before he looked at me with a tilt of his head. “Why did we get double the reward?”

“Well, I told the kid’s mother about our ordeal, she felt bad so she added a lil’ bonus on our reward. And now we have a hundred Poké. Dunno how much that values but well, that’s a good amount, right?” I asked with a grin.

“Yeah, it is a good amount.” Suddenly, the eevee’s belly grumbled, a silence with small miscellaneous voices in the background lingering afterwards. “... I do know where to spend a bit of it.” He looked at me again. “Are you hungry?”

I nodded instantly. “Yep, definitely. Didn’t even eat breakfast this morning because I was so excited, heh.”

“Alright then, I know a place we can eat.” Evon put the sack on his bag and started walking away. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”

‘Is he taking me to a restaurant or something? If so, I wonder what kinds of food there’ll be in there? Please be something good, I don’t wanna get stuck eating the same plain old foods and… raw meat all the time.’ I thought to myself before I began following Evon and putting my headphones on again.

While setting up another song, a green blur registered in the corner of my vision. I tried getting a look at it in more detail but I only saw jagged rocks and stalactites next to the walls of the tunnel. I hummed in thought before ignoring it and paying attention back to my music.

Burn My Dread, my beloved.

It didn’t take that long until we reached the place Evon took me to. There wasn’t a building or anything of the type, just a big door on the wall of the tunnel and a sign above it that read “Rockin’ Dine” in the strange translated alphabet. I paused my playlist and put my headphones around my neck. “This the place?”

“Yeah. This is a restaurant that’s close to the guild. I used to go here with Alsia a lot after our missions. It’s cheap and the food here is decent enough.” Evon looked back at me as his tail shifted. “I don’t know what human tastebuds preferred foods are, but if you liked all the food you ate until now, I’m pretty sure you’re gonna like this place.”

“Eh, if I don’t like it, I can just shift into a form that I’ll probably like it.” My stomach rumbled and I started walking inside the place. “Come on! I’m starving, dude!”

Evon followed me inside. While he went to get a table for ourselves. I inspected the inside of the restaurant and was a bit surprised by its interior. Wood lined the edges and corners of the entire area, torches illuminated the place with their flickering fire. The tables were lined up with each other, their materials consisting of wood and stone. They were closer to the ground since the seats were piles of straws for any Pokémon to sit on. The smells were very attractive and only made my stomach grumble more every time I sniffed the air.

I saw that Evon took a table next to the corner so I casually strode there with my hands in my pockets. Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t that filled, only some Pokémon were just eating their meals so, fortunately, there were fewer eyes on me. I sat on the seat beside the eevee and he looked at me expectantly. “I don’t know what your restaurants look like in your world so I wonder how much you like a place like this.”

“Well, it’s got that humble honest-work vibe so it ain’t that bad. It’s nothing compared to like, restaurants on top of towers but I didn’t expect that in a village like this.” I admitted while stretching my arms after sitting on my seat.

“Wait, humans build all of their restaurants on top of literal towers?” Evon asked with a tilt of his head.

I waved a hand in dismissal. “Nah, only a few of them for the rich people. I was actually just making a very exaggerated comparison.” I chuckled to myself. “But still, I really don’t care about the aesthetics of the place. As long as the food tastes good, it’s already a good restaurant in my book.”

Evon smirked while folding his paws beneath his body. “Wow, for a creature with so much technology at your disposal, who knew that you wouldn’t care about getting the most pristine eating conditions like most nobles do.”

“Heh, what can I say? I’m a simple guy with simple needs… most of the time.” I said while leaning my head against the dirt wall. “If that were the case, you’d see me complain like a Karen.”

“I don’t know what that means but I assume a very annoying person.” Evon said before we let the silence consume us and we started listening to the flickering of the fire from the torches and the idle chatter around the restaurant.

There was no need to guess what they were talking about.

“Is that the shapeshifter I keep hearing so much about?”

“I wonder what those strange garments are around his body. So strange-looking…”

“I thought that their form would be monstrous, not something so squishy and visibly frail…”

“Are they another form of a jynx?”

I glared at the last Pokémon who spoke who was crustle that sat a bit ahead of us along with a slither wing. The rock-shelled bug noticed my glare and quickly glanced aside. I sighed, trying to ignore the fact that I was still getting compared to such… let’s say a Pokémon not recognized by their beauty.

“Excuse me.”

A different and slightly familiar voice called our attention. We turned to look at the new voice and I got a bit surprised when I saw Ino the lycanroc explorer from earlier wearing an apron and a clipboard. “May I take your order?”

“Ino!? You work here???” I asked the rock canine, slightly confused about the matter.

She sighed and crossed her arms. “Surprise, surprise… I do. My dad owns the place so I help out whenever I can.” She sounded tired like she had gone through this exact scenario multiple times. “I take it that this is your first time here?”

“Uh… yes, it is.” I turned to Evon and asked in a hushed voice. “How come you never told me she worked here?”

Evon shrugged nonchalantly. “Hm, I don’t know. Maybe… wasn’t in the right moment when you met her. ”

“I… guess so.” I said, memories from the first encounter with the Dark Rebellion resurfacing. “Yeah… wasn’t the moment.”

“Speaking of that. How have you two been, by the way? You two got hurt pretty badly after the battle against that crazy misdread.” Ino asked, sounding a little concerned.

‘Mis… dread? Wait, is that how they call flutter mane in this world?’ I thought to myself before ultimately responding. “Uh… we’ve been fine. We fully healed, trained a bit, and went on our first mission today. Been doing pretty good.” I smiled sheepishly, after trying to not think about the sunbloom. I glanced at Evon and shifted the tone of my voice a bit so I got my intentions across. “Isn’t that right, dude?”

“Well… could be a bit better but we’re mostly doing fine.” Evon said while glancing aside for a moment before questioning the lycanroc herself. “And how have you been after the fight?”

“Eh, wasn’t that hurt or anything so I just went to the clinic, got a few bandages after some healing, and got out. I helped my dad move around the restaurant since one of the healers said to take a day off guild work. After that, back to normal for me.” She explained before sighing and gripping her clipboard and feathered pen. “Anyway, I stalled for long enough. You two gonna order anything or…”

“Yeah, we will. I’d like for a herbivore course with some tofu and oran juice.” Evon requested as Ino noted down his order.

As the punk dog looked at me, I started thinking about what I wanted. But I stumbled upon a problem… what was there available for me to order? They could’ve handled me a menu or something, but oh well… guess they didn’t expect any outsiders to enter the restaurant. “I uh… I’ll uh… ya know what.” I pointed a thumb at Evon. “I’ll take what he’s taking.”

Ino nodded and noted that down. She then holstered the clipboard and spoke. “It’ll be delivered in some minutes.” She then walked away from our table, leaving me and Evon alone again.

I leaned my back against the wall again and thought about Ino for a moment. Who knew that such an emo-looking Pokémon would actually be so kind to help out her father by being a waiter in his own restaurant? Well, she was very soft-spoken so like… it’s like she wants to look tough but has a softer side. I thought that was kinda cute-

My eyes widened at the thought before I lightly knocked on my head. ‘Not again dude, get a fucking grip . ’

Evon looked at me confusedly and asked. “Are you okay?”

I groaned a bit and waved in assurance. “No worries, I’m fine. Just a super dumb thought.” I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and highlighted it to the eevee. “Anyway, while we wait, wanna see some funny memes on my phone to pass the time?”

“No thanks. I rather keep my brain intact than have it corrupted by complete human idiocy.” Evon said while turning his head to the side like a cat rejecting their food.

As the door of the restaurant opened, I glanced at it for a moment while responding to the eevee. “Nah, you’re the baka here for rejecting the inevitable- what the fuck???”

I tried my best to blurt the last part as quietly as possible. But legit though, how can I not blurt out when that appears from the door? Entering the restaurant was fucking shiny Zygarde in his doggo form, ya know, like the legendary ‘mon whose whole deal is that it’s powerful as fuck to just spread order around the planet???

‘That’s a Zygarde. And it just entered this place casually, what in the actual fuck?’ I asked myself mentally while I just stood completely frozen staring at the white and green canine.

“Lucas.” I snapped out of my trance and looked back at Evon. His voice sounded a bit hushed. “Are you sure you’re okay? Why are you staring at that guy like a statue all of a sudden? And that reaction you had…”

“Wha-?” I asked confusedly before leaning close to Evon, shooting occasional glances at Zygarde while whispering to the eevee. “Dude, don’t you know who that ‘mon is!?”

“Um… not really. Seems like an ordinary Pokémon to me.” Evon said while shortly inspecting the white dog who sat at another table. He then turned to me as his ears flattened against his head. “Lucas, you’re worrying me…”

“Dude, I don’t get it. That’s not an ordinary Pokémon, that’s Zygarde! Like, the legit one!” I said in a hushed whisper.

Evon’s eye widened before a look of suspicion befell on his face. “Seriously, are you okay? I’ve seen murals with their depictions in books. They do not look like a canine Pokémon from what I saw.”

“Bro, it’s legit the truth! Remember that I can-” I glanced at Zygarde again and I flinched when noticing he was approaching us. I muttered lowly. “Fuck!”

I immediately straightened my position with a nervous smile on my face as I waited for the white dog to come over. Once they got to the table, they spoke with a growly male voice. “Hello there! My apologies for bothering you two, I just couldn’t help myself when I saw you and I wanted to ask some questions!” He asked cheerfully, if it had a tail, pretty sure it would be wagging a lot.

Evon looked at me with a face that basically just read “Don’t you look stupid right now?” Oh, if only he knew what I knew! This felt so absurd, but whatever, my expectations were already shattered beyond repair with Grandma Heatran and Yandere Flutter Mane . “Uh… sure dude…!” I replied sheepishly, hoping the lord of order wouldn’t see my nervousness. “Um… firstly, what’s your name?”

“Ah, silly me, I forgot to say!” He sat on the ground and raised a paw. “My name is Zephaniel and I’m just a very curious traveler! Nice to meet you two!” He tilted his head. “What are your names?”

‘Sussy name… still starts with the letter Z… what are you playing at here?’ I asked myself mentally before just answering. “Lu-Lucas, and this is my teammate, Evon.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Evon tilted his head as he inspected the zygarde with more detail. “Huh… not often I see canine Pokémon with scales instead. What species are you?”

“Oh, uh, just an ordinary species called an acaniz, we’re more common in another continent.” Zephaniel replied with an awkward grin. Is… is he really trying to come off as a normal Pokémon in front of everyone? “Anyway, enough about me and more about you!” He said while looking at me. “I’ve been hearing rumors all around this place about a certain Pokémon that can shapeshift unlike any other! Is it true that you’re that Pokémon?”

I considered my options of how I should tell him stuff. It was very clear that he knew about my reputation here, which made it seem that he was in this town for a short while. How come I never saw him? Whatever, I needed to play along for now and play his game since lying was super out of the question else I’d want to get a Core Enforcer on the face. “Yep, it’s-a me indeed! Still learning about my powers though, so don’t expect anything crazy to come out of me, yet!”

“Interesting…” His excited and cheerful tone dropped for a moment once he muttered that. However, his attitude quickly returned once he approached me and inspected my clothes closely. “I wonder where you come from to have such strange and…” He trailed off and sniffed my shirt. “Very musky cloth and objects.”

“Uh…” I turned to Evon and asked since even I didn’t know how to answer his question. “Should I…”

“Eh, not like you have anything to hide. You didn’t even keep your powers secret from everyone.” Evon said with an uncaring shrug. He then smirked at me. “Or do you still believe that dumb delusion of yours?”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. There was no convincing the eevee for now, but maybe later.

I turned back to the real and true “ acaniz” and smiled sheepishly at him. “Well, in truth… I’m a Pokémon from another world.” That made the dog’s hexagonal pupilless eyes widen a bit. “But don’t worry tho, I’m a good alien who’s not gonna destroy the world or some shit like that, dunno how Pokémon see interdimensional beings.”

“T-that’s…” Zephaniel’s tone faltered for a moment before he quickly readjusted himself. Bro, is this the first time he’s undercover or something? Bro is so bad at this. “That’s interesting!” He quickly recovered his fake tone, at this point, it was so damn obvious that he was investigating me. He either thought that my powers were a threat to the planet or some shit along those lines. “It explains all those weird-looking clothes and objects much better now!”

“It’s better for you to stop questioning him now before he shoves some terrible culture of his world into your face.” Evon said to the scaly-white canine with a chuckle. As the zygarde tilted his head, I lightly punched Evon in the side, ignoring his soft grunt of pain. “Hey!”

“Anyway, erm… any more questions besides the basic ones? Or do you wanna see my powers in action?” I asked, trying to sound a bit proud.

Zephaniel hummed in thought, his eyes narrowing for a moment before he spoke. “Honestly… I do have one more question.” He then smiled sheepishly at me. “Of course, if you wanna answer it. It’s a bit personal.”

“Eh, I don’t care. I got asked worse back in my place so ask away.” I said with a confident grin.

“Well then…” He looked aside for a moment. “Have you…” He looked back at me. “Have you ever heard of the name Lumi before?”

… what? Okay, first of all, what the hell was that question? Like, that just came out of nowhere and had nothing to do with any of my body functions or powers. Second, what the hell did he expect the answer to be by asking me a name I never heard before? Third and most obvious of all… who the hell was Lumi? Wait, was this some kind of trick question for me to slip up or something?

Oh, I get it! Like, since I’m a shapeshifter, it probably wants to know if I’m a super bad guy or something, and that Lumi guy must be a really dangerous guy that he knows about. It was a trick question to see if that’d tick me or not. And well, it really didn’t, heh.

I tilted my head and straight up asked the question since I was a bit curious about who this Lumi guy was. “Uh… who is Lumi…? Is this a personal question to you or like…”

The white scaly dog blinked for a moment before he looked away. “Ah, I see.” He waved a paw in dismissal. “Nevermind. To be honest, because of your name, I mistook- I mean, I thought you knew someone else.”

Holy shit, I called it.

“Won’t you even tell to who this Lumi ‘mon is for you to be having that thought?” Evon asked, judging from the look on his face, he was starting to get sus vibes from Zephaniel as well.

The nervous look on the shiny zygarde’s face vanished as he tried playing it cool by shrugging. “Ah, just a Pokémon I knew, nothing much.” He turned his head at me. “So yes, it was kind of a personal question to me.” He then smiled. “But anyways, to finish it off, I’m curious to see how you transform! Some Pokémon think of illusions as shapeshifting, so I wanna be sure that the people of this town aren’t getting confused or something. I am curious if you’re just lying to me too…”

It was then that the show-off side of me flared a bit more than the rational brain part of me. “Heh, let me tell you, doggy, the rumors you heard ain’t no lie! Just watch!” With that, I started to transform. I thought that I ought to do one of the tests already. With that, I transformed into another mid-evolution, one I often found cool and very badass. Dewott. Once the light of transformation ended, I grinned and brushed a tuft of fur above my eyes. I then crossed my arms and looked back at the awestruck dog. “Pretty cool, isn’t it?” ‘Oh hey, I ain’t going feral, nice!’

The zygarde had his eyes widened for a moment before recomposing himself. I’m pretty sure he was thinking hard about what he just saw. Eventually, he nodded to himself. “Very interesting… it’s just like-” He cut himself off and shook his head. Bro, speak, don’t leave me hanging like that. What the hell were you about to say??? “Thanks for the demonstration. I do not doubt that anyone that stands in your way trembles before such a mighty power like that...” He then turned away, going back to his table. “It was nice meeting you, Lucas and Evon.”

Even though he was shady as shit and obviously expecting something of me, I just waved back at him, a smirk on my face. “Buh bye, Zepha… something!” Bro must’ve looked stupid thinking that I was some sort of threat to the environment. Heh, I know I have such dangerous and fine looks, but please, I couldn’t even hurt a defenseless fly if I could. I leaned close to Evon and whispered. “Please, fucking tell me you noticed he was being sus as hell.”

The eevee sighed as his tail swayed. “Yes, I obviously noticed. The question is… what did he want out of you?”

“Since he’s a zygarde, no doubt he probably saw me as a threat to the order of the world or some shit like that.” I whispered back while leaning against the wall again.

Evon looked at me confused and whispered back. “You honestly still think he’s the deity of order? What are you on about, he looks nothing like a ten-meter-tall reptile and he doesn’t even speak or act like a deity!”

I raised a paw digit. “‘ Never judge a book by its cover’. Do Pokémon not have that line here?”

“We do, it’s just… what you’re saying is a bit unbelievable.” He then glanced back at Zephaniel, noticing he looked a bit more sour than what his original personality showed. “But… then again… your abilities and claims were quite unbelievable too…”

“I told you I knew how your God looked like, and the game I showed you had them in it too.” I crossed my furry arms. “If I had another game… I could prove to you that I wasn’t lying about it.”

Evon hummed in thought, just discreetly eyeing Zephaniel. However, before he could say something about my claims, Ino arrived with the goods.

She hovered both our food and drinks with a flat rock slab. The rock dog eyed me for a moment of awkwardness before she shrugged. She put the slab on the table and distributed our stuff. “There you go boys, I hope you enjoy it.”

I flashed a thumbs up at the lycanroc. “Thanks! If Evon was a frequent customer of this place, I might enjoy it too.” I looked at the food itself. Surprisingly, there were a few items that caught my eye from familiarity. There were a few leaves that could probably be lettuce or something else, there were tomato slices (maybe or probably another berry from the inside that resembled tomatoes), and a few potatoes strung around the plate too. Additionally, there was a strange purple slimy block in the middle of the plate that I didn’t recognize. I tilted my head at the last item and pointed at it. “What’s this?”

“That’s tofu. Not sure if you ever ate one before but they’re the vegetarian replacement to actual meat.” Ino said before dissipating the stone slab.

“I know what tofu is, but like… back where I came from they didn’t look… like this.” I said. Not to sound like a disgusted complainer, but like, this shit looked like an unblurred Dubious Food from Breath of The Wild. How the hell did this world tofu become like this?

Evon smirked and remarked. “What’s wrong? Looks poisonous enough for your refined human tastes?”

I leered in annoyance. “Shut up, I’m in Pokémon form right now.” I grabbed the block with my paw and eyed it. “I’m pretty sure this is just gonna taste just fine for me!”

“Well then, hope you enjoy the meal.” Ino said with a nod before walking away from the table.

I nodded at the rock canine before focusing on the tofu. Hesitantly, I bit on it and tore a small piece of it. It felt like I was munching on something gelatinous but it was… salty. The taste… reminded me of a piece of grilled cheese, which… yeah, it was the next best thing to a piece of meat. I gulped the piece and hummed to myself. “Honestly, not that bad. Reminds me a lot of a certain type of cheese back home.”

“Heh, and here you were thinking it was about to make you die or something.” Evon said before started gobbling on his fill.

“Ain’t my fault human stomachs are weak as fuck.” I put the tofu back on my plate and started focusing on the leaves on my plate. “If you were born a human, you’d know the fear of food poisoning.”

“Thank Arceus I wasn’t then.” He chuckled to himself.

I sighed playfully. “Oh, you lucky bitch.”

----------------------------------------

Scenario one: he either got hurt very badly or potentially lost his memories.

Scenario two: his new life replaced him and obtained his powers.

Scenario three: that was not him and that was just another creature entirely from another dimension with the same powers.

After my meal in that restaurant, I started aimlessly wandering the tunnels of this underground village, trying to reason with what I just heard. I’m glad that as the deity of order, I am not disturbed by mortal things such as a headache, but still, if I were a mortal, I would probably have one from the amount of thoughts I was creating about the subject.

My interview with that creature… Lucas hasn’t gone the way I expected. I was so sure that he was his new form, but it just left me more confused than ever. The way he spoke, the way he causally acted just like a mortal Pokémon, and the way he didn’t know who Lumi was just confused me even more. He was supposed to know, he was supposed to be guided by him. Has he not even met him?

It didn’t make any sense. How had he never met him yet he knew who I was behind the form I used to hide myself amongst mortals?

I was missing some context- no, a lot of context about this. There were missing pieces for me to pick up to know the full lore about this Lucas figure. Something about him just felt familiar to me and that aura I picked up… no, that boy is definitely hiding something that he might not even know or he has been lying pretty well about it.

I should watch him more closely… and I have just the way to do that. But I’m going to have to stay in this form for a while…