Bliss and peacefulness.
That is what a certain special Galvantula felt as he snoozed away on the comfortable and stuck web that he made, one that he considers a nice comfy bed. Nothing was wrong with the world, nothing bad ever happened, nothing bad will happen. As long as he continued sleeping like that, he wouldn’t think about anything that happened, his current situation, or anything relating to the world's fate.
Wait, the world’s fate?
Of course, that moment of blissful ignorance wouldn’t last. Just that thought alone made John’s six eyes open slowly to a blurry vision. Awareness was returning to the black and white tarantula as his vision began to focus a bit, noticing some blurry object standing in front of him. Once his vision was fully concentrated, the object revealed itself to be Cassidy staring at him centimeters away from his face.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!”
“GAH!”
John, in reaction to being scared like that, shot an Electroweb at the robot Weavile, making him jerk and fall back into his rear. Even though he was being electrocuted while being trapped in a sticky web, Cassidy just took it like he was just trapped in the web and nothing else, smiling at the scared tarantula. Claire also woke up from the scream, looking around in surprise and confusion.
Meanwhile, Cassidy giggled while on the web. “Wow, Johnny! Who knew you were into electrostimulation and constricting? The girls into you must like it rough, eh?”
It was then and there that yesterday’s events flooded back into his mind, but not with the same intensity as before. John slammed his hands onto the floor and Claire jumped into the air with her fur raised from the impact. “Cassidy, what the FUCK, man!? That scared the shit outta me!”
“Come on, Spider Boy!” The Weavile removed the webs from his metal body and shrugged them off. “It’s all harmless fun! Man, you must be super old for you to be this gloomy and unfun, I wonder how fast children fall asleep around you out of boredom.”
John was about to shout at Cassidy again but managed to stop himself in time once he felt a warm paw be placed on his side. He looked at the Vulpix as she spoke to him a bit sleepy. “Let’s uh… let’s not get that heated first thing in the morning, okay? It was just a small scare. He didn’t do something that heinous for you to get that angry at him.”
The Galvantula’s expression softened a bit, his pedipalps loosening a little before he gazed back at Cassidy with a calmer expression. He didn’t know what it was but that grin he always had annoyed him a little. But not like he could blame him, he was forcefully transformed into that and he had no say in it.
John sighed as he rubbed the top of his head with his backhands. “I’m sorry…”
The robotic Pokémon waved a claw in dismissal as he looked aside. “Yeah, yeah, it’s alright. I was just trying to lighten up the mood since you’ve been pretty stressed all yesterday.” He then raised a claw while his ear panels raised. “But hey, that’s why I brought my plan B to cool your heads a bit!”
John and Claire tilted their heads as the Weavile left the shack. They looked at themselves for a moment before the fire fox smiled a bit sheepishly and asked. “Well, good morning John. Are you feeling better than yesterday?”
The Galvantula rubbed his pedipalps together as he mulled over the answer. Although his mind WAS feeling refreshed from the events of yesterday, he just couldn’t help but think about what took place in the Pokémon world, who wouldn’t? … Oh yeah, they weren’t in the Pokémon world anymore too, huh?
He was gonna need LOTS of therapy…
But oh well, he was in a better mood overall, he could handle a few more days without checking his mental health.
John looked aside and responded. “Eh… way better than yesterday at least. The majority of my stress vanished for now.”
Claire’s fan of tails wagged slowly. “That’s good! Maybe you can-”
The shack door opened quickly, revealing Cassidy with two ice cream pots in his claws. The pots were about 500 milliliters or so, having been filled with the plain and basic vanilla ice cream. The robot walked to the duo after closing the door behind him with his foot, all while speaking. “Since your heads were basically steaming with lots of smoke and stress, I thought why not cool it a little with a teensy bit of ice cream?”
As he put the ice cream pots in front of Claire and John, the tarantula couldn’t help but ask Cassidy. “Wait, wait, wait, hold on! When did you get these? Actually, HOW did you get these? You didn’t, like…”
The metal Weavile raised a finger. “Oh, don’t fret, Spider Boy! I didn’t even need to show myself to humans to get these!” He then pointed a thumb in the direction of the convenience store that the shack belonged to. “I just… borrowed them from this store.”
As Claire stopped sniffing her ice cream, she looked up at Cassidy as the Galvantula stared at him dumbfounded. “Uh… how did you get in exactly? Aren’t those stores mostly locked at nighttime?” She then eyed John. “At least that’s how it normally went back in my world.”
“It was locked!” He then spun one of his metal claws around. “But I’ll have you know that these claws are great lockpicking tools! So I snuck in with no issue and found out the store has a nice ice cream machine!” The robot pointed at the ice cream pots. “By the way, eat it before it melts. I don’t have my ice powers anymore so I can’t prevent them from melting.”
Claire nodded before digging into her ice cream. Instead of John starting to eat, he spoke after rubbing his face with his backhands. “Let me get this straight… not only did you break into the store but you actually stole some things too!?”
Cassidy put his claws on his side and leaned in a bit closely to the Tarantula a bit smugly. “I think you forgot our current situation, Johnny. Do you honestly think if we beg with “wil puppy eyes” to the humans they let us give us shit to eat for free?” He tilted his head. “While Claire has the advantage in that role, what about you?”
“But still, I don’t wanna be reduced to what’s essentially a raccoon stealing from people!” John argued, the particles around him bubbling a bit more with an unstable air. The ice cream inside the pot started changing colors with a small static-like effect around it. “It just… it just doesn’t sit well with me!”
“Oh, but eating a freshly dead squirrel yesterday does?” Cassidy argued back, leaning closer to John. The tarantula’s energy started to dwindle as the robot continued. “You still delude yourself as a human. When are you gonna face the hard facts that you don’t look human, you don’t react like a human, and your instincts are NOT human?”
John looked away as he hesitated to answer. He wanted to believe so hard that he still had a human heart somewhere behind all of those arachnid features. Cassidy was right, and he further emphasized the points from yesterday. He literally ate an animal almost raw, and made silk beds as he went to bed, things that humans normally don’t do…
Humans also don’t normally look like demonic tarantulas.
Claire noticed the discomfort the Galvantula had on his face and whined in worry, her ears flattening against her head. “Don’t mind what Cassidy is saying, John. You’re still you, after all.”
John shook his head and spoke. “No… Cassidy is right. I’ve just been in denial this whole time…” He looked at his pedipalps and flexed them a little along with his weird tarantula mandibles. “I’ve been reborn and got a second chance at life as a different being. If I want to live to the fullest…” His backhands clenched behind him, something forming on them before disappearing. “I gotta embrace who I am now.”
Cassidy flicked his fingers at the Galvantula and chirped. “That’s the spirit, Johnny!” He then went beside the Tarantula and wrapped his arm around John’s head, minding the horns. “Your soul is no longer confined to the vessel of a human, you’re a Pokémon now!” He pointed down to the pot. “And as your new Pokémon self, hurry up and eat that ice cream before it-...”
John looked down along with Cassidy and noticed that the ice cream vanished completely, some kind of green and pink substance forming and swirling around in the pot. Both ‘mons stared before Claire chimed in to stare at the magical potion for a bit. John turned to the metal Weavile and spoke a bit hesitantly… “So uh… could you… um… ‘borrow’ more of that ice cream for me?”
Cassidy unwrapped his arm from the Galvantula’s head and shrugged. “Dunno if I can. Sun started rising recently and I don’t know when the owner of that store opens up-”
Suddenly, the door to the shack opened once more, a chill passing by John’s heart as he froze under the sound of the wooden door creaking. Claire yelped in surprise, her paw knocking the ice cream to the ground as the door finally opened. The Pokémon were greeted with the sight of a tall dark-skinned woman entering the confined shack, immediately taking notice of the Pokémon in front of her.
The human froze, not making a move as she stared at the realistic features of the creatures in front of her. The chittering and twitches of the Galvantula’s pedipalps, the scrunches of the Vulpix’s nose, and the robotic movements of the Weavile’s ears. She eventually managed to speak with a bit of confusion and fright. “Y’all, what the hell…?”
Cass put his hands on his sides and commented. “Oh, so they DO open up early then!”
“WHAT THE HELL!?”
John facepalmed himself before rushing out of the shack while speaking. “Forget the ice cream, let’s get the hell out of here!”
John passed by the human as the other Pokémon followed him in his regard, the woman falling once Cassidy passed by her. She screamed as the trio escaped from the shack, John running up a wall like the tarantula he was and Cassidy jumping to the roof of a building with Claire in his claws.
“Woah!” Claire shouted while in the air.
“Awesome, isn’t it?” The Weavile asked before landing on the roof, John managing to climb to the top not long after. Cassidy put the fire fox down and giggled. “I’m already seeing that as a common occurrence from now on! Oh, it’s gonna be so much fun!”
The Vulpix sighed, knowing that it was probably gonna be the opposite of it. “I honestly feel like we’re criminals on the run…” She looked at John with her tails lowered, a solemn look on her face. “If some animals are similar to Pokémon in appearance, why are they so afraid of us?”
John sighed and rubbed his pedipalps and backhands together, looking aside. “Well, my best explanation for it would be the combination of the fear of the unknown combined with the superiority complex humans built up over thousands of years…”
Cassidy raised a finger as he added. “Imagine thinking you’ve seen everything on your planet and finding no other species with similar sapience than yours. But suddenly, out of the blue, a different species like that does appear out of nowhere.” He motioned with his claws as he mimicked an explosion sound effect. “Boom~! Your mind is shattered and every belief you have goes into question.”
Claire grimaced, processing the situation. She knew that humans had some kind of innate fear of different and new things inside of them, but to think that fear would go that far… “But… it’s not all of them, right? Or else you guys would’ve taken much worse when you guys came into our world.”
“It might not be all of humanity, but it still a lot of people. That’s why we need to hide from most humans or else shit will go south pretty quickly…” John spoke while looking aside in concern.
The metal Weavile leaned closely to the Galvantula and said smugly. “Yeah, Johnny boy, you don’t want the FBI getting their hands on you and getting dissected by the government, do ya?”
John rolled his eyes unamused as Claire chuckled a bit, lifting her mood a little. John sighed and spoke. “Listen here, robo kitty, I was not in the best of moods yesterday and that led me to say some stupid shit, okay?”
As Cassidy giggled, the Vulpix asked John while sitting on the ground. “So… what now, John? Do you have any idea what to do here for now until we get back to the Pokémon world?”
John hummed in thought, thinking about how he should live like this until they managed to find a way back, possibly with his glitch energy ability.
‘There’s not much we can do right now. All we gotta do is just find a suitable place to live that’s probably abandoned or something like that while I train with my new body and abilities…’ He flexed his legs and backhands a bit. ‘I already figured out how to control most of them, now all I need to figure out is how the fuck I’m gonna control all that glitch energy inside of me. But that can wait, of course, for now…’ The monochrome tarantula sighed and spoke. “Alright, we need to find a place to rest for a long while so we don’t have to worry about getting into situations like the one that just happened. Then… hm…”
Claire noticed John trailing off, making her tilt her head. “Something the matter, John?”
“Hm… nothing, just a thought that passed by my head. Could be helpful, but it’s very risky so I’m not gonna focus on that right now.” The Galvantula explained, shaking his head in denial.
Cassidy sat on the ground and asked while crossing his legs. “So, ya have any friends, John?” The Galvantula turned to him confusedly. “Ya know, if ya have any relatives or close friends around here, we could probably crash at their place!”
Claire perked up at that and started wagging her tail at the idea. “Oh, that’s right!” She smiled at John. “Harry knows about us, right? We could totally stay in his house while we’re in this world for the time being! He wouldn’t mind that, right?”
John frowned as he looked away, a bit unsure of the idea. “Listen, there’s a huge hole in that idea…” He lifted a finger with one of his hands. “First, we don’t know where exactly we are. We’re definitely in America, that much is a given, but we still don’t know exactly which state we are in for us to go to Harry’s house on foot.” He lifted another finger. “Second, he doesn’t have a car so he can’t just come here to pick us up. In fact, I don’t think any of my friends can for a multitude of reasons.” He lifted a third finger. “Third, how would we even call him? Payphones are hella rare these days.”
“Counterargument to first one!” Cassidy raised a claw, like he was a student in a class. “We’re in Roseburg!”
As Claire tilted her head, John’s eyes widened at the realization. “Roseburg!? Like… the one in Oregon?”
Cassidy nodded and crossed his arms. “Yep! While you two sleepyheads were snoozin’ on that shack, I flew around to check some important stuff. And before you said anything, Johnny, no one spotted me.” He lied before continuing. “So yeah, welcome to Oregon!”
The monochrome tarantula sighed. “Yep, still so far away from any of my friends.”
Claire put a paw on her chin in confusion. “Uh… is that a city…?”
John shook his head and corrected. “No, there are some differences between the Pokémon world and ours in terms of nations. We separate the five continents here into countries and we separate these countries into states for all the political power to not be in the hands of a single person. After all, our history goes very deep when it comes to bad people in power…”
The fox rubbed the back of her head as she heard the explanation. “I see… humans had it rough if Alice was right with her claims as well…”
Cassidy stood up again and made a quick motion with his claw while responding enthusiastically. “Oh, Foxy, we have barely scratched the surface of what humanity has been through their entire existence on this planet!” He then looked at John and spoke nonchalantly. “Yo, Johnny, you’re glitching more than usual, by the way.”
Claire looked at the Galvantula, her eyes widening when she saw his glitch particles more riled up than before. They were morphing the air around him as parts of the tarantula's body started getting mangled and morphing in ways they shouldn’t. “Oh shit! John, it’s happening again!”
And indeed John felt it, besides the rumble of his stomach. His body was starting to get chills all of a sudden as a tickling sensation was growing over his body. He looked at one of his legs, seeing stretch and morph in ways that it shouldn’t. John shouted before mouthing hastily in panic, remembering what solved the issue yesterday. “I-I need to eat something now before it gets worse!”
“But where do we go to eat then? We can’t go back to the forest to hunt or scavenge for berries at this rate!” Claire said a bit panicked as well, seeing a mass of white glitchy particles wash up on John’s face for a moment before vanishing.
“Y’all stretching it too much guys.” The metal Weavile said with a dismissive claw wave, snapping both ‘mons attention to him. “It’s simple. It’s like… five or six in the morning. And you know what places open that early? That’s right, cafes!”
The fox and the tarantula stared, both of them blinking blankly before John spoke. “Haven’t you heard what we just said about hiding from humans-”
The robot raised a finger while interrupting John. “Hold your giant spider butt, I ain’t done speakin’!” He pretended to cough before continuing. “So, since cafes are probably open right now… how about one of us sneak into one of ‘em to grab grub for you guys?” He glanced at the Vulpix as he put a claw on the side. “Ain’t that right, Claire?”
Claire’s fur rose a bit, getting a bit nervous. “Huh, w-what do you mean by that?” Cassidy’s grin seemed to stretch a bit further before he casually walked to Claire and scooped her up in his arms.”H-hey! Where are you taking me!?”
John asked as the effects of his glitch energy intensified a little. “Hey dude, what are you doing?”
“Don’t stress over it, come on follow me.” The metal Weavile’s back opened up, letting out his jet booster. “You’ll get your meal in no time!” With that, the Weavile started flying, Claire in his grip as she screamed from the height and speed she was increasingly gaining.
As much as John could think how bad and reckless Cassidy’s actions were and how much attention that would attract, John didn’t and instead followed them as quickly as possible, letting his instincts guide him as he tried his best to keep up with them. The tarantula jumped from the building and started shooting webs at the edge of buildings so he could catapult himself forward, swinging in his webs as he tried to keep pace with the robot. However, the tarantula was obviously slower for self-explanatory reasons.
The Galvantula hoped that, since it was so early in the morning, there would be little to no humans looking up to see a robot cat flying around and an overgrown bug zipping away like he was Spiderman. Speaking of Spiderman, geez, his new body literally made him feel like the Marvel hero. As a Joltik, his web had such limited distance, that he could only grapple better onto opponents and walls over very short distances. But after evolving that range was tripled .
As John l̘͔͚͎̈́̉͛̌̀ͅa̱̦̗ͮ̾͆̎͋͢͡u̷̧͈̫̠ͧ̎͑́̐n̶̗̫̟ͪͣ͆̎̏̔c̹͕̳͔͌̉ͩ̉̉͛ḣ̦͓ͨ̉͐̇̑ͤ̐e̢͉͈̙̔͗́ͭ͏͌d̘̞͚̿ͨ̍̀ͣ̓̑ ̣̠͔̺͗́ͦ̅̒͠a̼̜̅ͥͤ̍̚͟͡͡n̛̮͚̗͆̄͂͊͊ͅõ̷̼͇̖̊̀͛͢͢ṫ̞̽̔ͨ̎̋͛͘͘h̬̬̼͕ͬͧ̃̀̔̀e͍̰̳̺ͩͧ̈́̑͋r̷̫̬̺̳ͬ̎͒̽̕ ̷͚̫̤̋̚͜͟͠͞w̢̨̪̪̫̫͓̟ͥͪê̴̙͕̥̪̫̂ͮ͘b̙͍̼ͥ̇̄͂̔̾̓- started falling, the Tarantula screamed. “W-what the FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-”
The tarantula landed in the middle of the street with a splatter, pain erupting in the lower part of his body as he slammed against the hard concrete floor. However, because he was a Pokémon now, it was just that, just a large amount of pain that he got from landing on concrete.
He groaned as he slowly got up from the ground, rubbing his head with one of his backhands. ‘The hell just happened? I was shooting a web, right? Did the glitch energy just-’
“What is that thing?”
John was snapped out of his thoughts as he looked around, spotting three humans that were scattered around the sidewalk staring at him. John’s eyes widened as he took the shocked and frightened look on the human’s faces. ‘Shit!’
“I-is it some sort of alien!?” A woman asked.
“It looks like some sort of… alien spider thing…” A man said, starting to back off a bit.
“Yo, I need to record this!” A young man said as he started preparing his camera app.
John was frozen like a deer in the headlights, taking in the humans’ reaction to him. Why…? Why was he seen as a-
“Yuuuhuu, Johnny!” The Galvantula’s attention was diverted to the sky, seeing Cassidy flying in place with Claire still in his hold. The humans looked at the robot as well, more shock visible on their faces. “What was that about staying out of sight from people? Celebrity complex caught your mind?”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
John didn’t pause to think about what had just made him freeze, all he needed to focus on right now was getting the hell out of there.
As the metal Weavile started to fly away while laughing, John shot a web to a nearby tree and zipped away from the human’s sight, resuming following the robot feline. After a few turns here and there, Cassidy finally decided to land on a dark and narrow alley, followed by John who this time managed to land on his feet (although barely).
The robot put down the Vulpix and did a small twirl in place before gesturing to the building on the other side of the road. “And here we are! The place where you’ll put your acting skills to the test for you two to get that sweet morning breakfast!”
As John rubbed his underside with one of his legs, Claire asked while trying to shake off the almost traumatic experience of flying. “W-what kind of acting skills…?”
The Galvantula groaned from a bit of pain before asking Cassidy. “What are you planning now…?”
“Simple, Spider-Boy!” The metal Weavile started making motions with his hands, like a mimic. “Our little Claire buddy over here is gonna casually walk into that cafe while staying in silence to not arouse any suspicion. Once infiltrated, she’s gonna walk to an employee who’s at that building and-”
“Wait, why do you want me to go there and reveal myself to a human-” Claire interrupted before getting interrupted by Cassidy who put a claw finger on her mouth.
“Shhhhh, wait until I’m done.” He said before retracting his claw and continuing. “Ahem, as I was saying… our buddy Claire is gonna walk to an employee and simply stare at him with a whine. Not just any whine, however, the most adorable and soul-crushing whine you could ever muster!” The Weavile put the back of his claw on his forehead, posing dramatically. “And once he sees that poor little state of yours, battered, bandaged, and hungry, he would have no other option instead of just giving you the best meal you could ever ask for!” Once he was done, both John and Claire were staring at him with complete dumbfounded stares, just taking in everything he spoke. He stopped posing and asked innocently. “Great plan, am I right!?”
Claire snapped out of her trance, her ears rising and immediately flattening against her head. “Uh… so, basically… you just want me to go in there and pretend to be a feral dungeon Pokémon and beg for food… without giving away that I’m a Pokémon?”
The robot flicked a finger at Claire. “Correct, my dear!”
The monochrome tarantula rubbed his face with one of his backhands (geez, was he getting used to those quickly) and responded hesitantly. “Ok… so… why do you think making Claire pretend to be a normal dog is a good idea?”
“Duh, don’t you see the obvious?” Cassidy asked before motioning to Claire. “She’s clearly the most animal-looking Pokémon of the three of us! I bet she can definitely fool some people if they don’t squint their eyes!”
Claire put a paw on her chin as she hummed. “You’re kinda right… last time I was here, I almost fooled a kid’s mother.”
“Last time?” Cassidy then shook his head. “Actually, never mind, I’ll question later, John’s the priority right now. Now… let me tweak you up a bit for your facade to work even better!” The metal Weavile then approached Claire before slashing her uniform a bit, along with a bit of the bandage around her torso.
“H-hey, what gives!?” Claire blurted out, stepping away from the robot. “Even though I won’t need the bandages anymore, this is still my school uniform!”
“Ah yes, you’ll definitely need it when you’re hiding like a criminal in another world from a psycho furry bait. Who knows if you’ll even need it anymore.” Cassidy stated before approaching the fox again. “Just one more thing…”
Claire closed her eyes as she saw the Weavile’s claws approaching her head. However, she felt some swift movements on her head tufts. She opened her eyes and tried to look around, noticing she had some fur covering her sight a bit. “Did you just…”
“I know, perfection!” He did a chef kiss motion. “So, you know how to play your role on this very important mission, right?”
“I mean… I do, but like… do I really have to do this?” The Vulpix asked, a bit concerned. With her new unkept look, she looked like she survived in the streets after being abandoned by a human owner for months.
“‘Course ya have to! It’s for hungy Johnny over there!” Cassidy motioned to the tarantula, who just stayed silent for a moment, eyes lost deep in thought. John snapped out of his trance and looked silently at the Weavile, an acknowledging stare in the robot’s eyes. He then turned back to Claire. “Look at the poor bug, he’s so hungry that he can’t even utter a word!”
Claire glanced at John for a moment and the tarantula sighed before shrugging with his hands. “I just hope you can grab something for me, at least…”
The fox then nodded in determination, already growing more on board with the robot’s idea. “If it’s for you, John, I’ll do it!”
“Atta girl~!” Cassidy chirped before pointing at the cafe ahead. “Good luck on your mission, soldier!”
Claire nodded and began walking in the direction of the cafe, mission in head. Once she was out of earshot, the Weavile released a metallic sigh before turning back to John while crossing his arms. “So… why not tell me what got you all zero-volume?”
John frowned and attempted to play dumb. He just couldn’t be bothered to think about those thoughts at a time like this. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh don’t pretend to be a Slowpoke! Don’t go thinking I didn’t notice ya staring blankly at nothing. You didn’t even comment on my amazing plan once, and I know you ain’t the quiet type!” Cassidy stepped closer to the spider. “Tell me, what got you so quiet all of a sudden?”
John thought back to what those humans were saying to him, eyeing him like he was some sort of monster that could attack them at any moment. He shrugged those thoughts off with a shake of his head. “It’s nothing, alright? Just some dumb thoughts.” He sat on the floor, tucking his legs under his body while looking away. “Anyway, I need to focus a bit to try and hold off the glitch energy before it-”
He interrupted himself when he saw that the lid of the trash can he was looking at had just completely melted after being covered with glitch particles that bubbled around the lid. He stared at it for a moment before Cassidy commented. “Say… I kinda wanna test some of that stuff up for… fun purposes only.”
John stared sternly at the robot weasel. “No.” He sighed afterwards and spoke while tapping his fingers on the floor behind him. “Hope Claire doesn’t take too long…”
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Claire stood in front of the cafe simply called “My Cafe” in cursive letters. She felt nervous about the whole situation as she crossed the street, making sure no cars were crossing.
She could feel the smell coming from inside the building, there were definitely some pastries inside, ready to be devoured by any customer who walked through these big doors (from her POV). Those pastries were what John needed right now, and if she failed to acquire them, John would remain hungry, and his new energy would probably spiral out of control. She needed to do this and succeed, failure was NOT an option.
Before entering, she gazed at both of her sides on the sidewalk she was standing on. She noticed a few humans walking around, some looking at their phones and some with their attention directly in front of them. She noticed one of them glancing at her for a small moment (or did they? This fur in front of her was making it a bit hard to see) before moving on with their business. ‘Seems like it’s working so far. Just gotta keep quiet and do… dog… things, just like John taught me that time.’
With that mental reassurance out of the way, Claire waited until there weren’t any humans looking in her direction before finally pushing open the doors, throwing her whole body weight forward in front of them. Once she managed to enter the push doors, she gazed around the place, taking in its sights.
Claire felt like she would fit in right in with the place. Unlike the beige-yellow exterior, the place sported a color that stuck out to Claire the most, rust-brown. The wooden ceiling, floor, and walls all made the place feel like a fancy wooden cabin, with a combination of yellow and white lighting illuminating the place in contrast to the brown. Potted plants were scattered throughout the building, along with some vines that came down from the ceiling, to really sell out the cabin-in-the-woods feel of the place.
No humans in sight either so that was good for her.
But the interior wasn’t what she was here for, no way. What she was here for bombarded her nose with a delicious smell she only felt when her mom cooked a delicious dinner for a celebratory day back in her world (nostalgia later, mission now ).
The Vulpix ran up a bit further into the place as her eyes locked on her objective s. Lined up on glass containers were muffins, donuts, bread with fillings and so much more. Her mouth watered from just the smell alone while her body started to move on its own to the containers that were on a wooden desk. She put her forepaws on the wood, tails wagging as she continued smelling the delicious and creamy food-
“Hey!”
A voice snapped out of her hungry and intoxicated trance, making her look to the side. She froze once she saw a human wearing an apron and uniform with the cafe’s logo on it. He had the shadow of a beard and wore a small beanie on his head.
Judging from his face, he wasn’t taking Claire’s presence here very well.
He walked a bit closer to the fire fox, not taking notice of her unusual fan of tails that differentiated her from the canines of this world. Claire stepped back a bit before the man spoke again, his voice a bit commanding and tired at the same time. “I know you’re hungry and all, but this place isn’t for animals. Shoo, scramble, don’t make me force you out.”
Claire was about to speak out of habit but managed to stop herself just in time before her cover got blown. That man called her an animal, meaning that the plan was working at least. She knew what she had to do but she was starting to panic a little. Whoever this human employee was, he was threatening her to leave the cafe without anything! No, she would not let that happen! John needed those meals as much as she wanted them!
Um… shit, what did those feral canine Pokémon do again when being docile and asking for sympathy? Uh… yeah, yeah, they just stared and occasionally whined. Yes, Cassidy told her to look like a beaten and defenseless dog who was hungry for something to eat! She just needed to put her role into action!
Praying to Arceus that her endeavors would pay for something, she sat on the ground and stared at the human in the eyes. She remembered the times she made a certain face to Reya when she wanted something so badly, basically begging her without words. Sure, she was but a small kit back then, but if she could still replicate it, then she could probably get away with it on a species that knows nothing about a Vulpix’s expression.
And to add insult to injury, she tilted her head and whined, her stare burrowing deep into the man’s soul.
The human just couldn’t help but stare at the fox, feeling the effects of (almost) Baby Doll Eyes already digging into his mind and messing with his thoughts a little. Claire didn’t know if her plan was working or not, both human and fox stared at each other for a few seconds before, eventually, the winner of the staredown was decided.
The man sighed before rubbing his temples. “Fine, fine… you win.” Claire’s tails started wagging subconsciously as he walked behind the desk while muttering to himself. “Freakin’ hope the manager doesn’t notice some missing pastries…” Once he opened the glass container, the human asked Claire, not expecting an answer. “Anything specific you want? Bah, who am I kidding, in your conditions you’d probably eat anything…”
The worst part about that was that Claire was so close to responding again and revealing that she could talk. But, with another stroke of luck, she was saved once again. She just had to continue silent until she was out of that place with the snacks.
The man filled a small paper bag with some already-made snacks and went back to the Vulpix. He crouched in front of her and offered the bag. “Alright, here it is. Hope you can fill your stomach with this.”
Claire picked up the bag with her mouth and nodded to the man, enticing a surprised reaction from the man. The fire fox knew that she messed up slightly so she decided just to book it to the door since she already had her objective with her. Unfortunately for the Vulpix, once she tried to open the door again, the door wouldn’t budge. It was a push from the outside and pulled from the inside type of door.
“Did you just…” Claire silently yelped at the voice, looking at the human who stared at her awkwardly and confused. He approached her slowly while scratching his cheek. “Did you nod to me?”
Claire was about to disagree silently with a shake of her head but managed to stop herself just in time, playing it off with a tilt of the head.
The man stared at her suspiciously for a long and uncomfortable moment before scratching his cheeks and speaking. “That tail… man, I should’ve slept more, I’m imagining things…” The human sighed before walking to the door and opening it for the Vulpix. “Go now, I don’t want to see customers seeing me giving away food to animals.”
Claire, finally seeing the exit open for her, thought about nothing else but to bolt out of there, the paper bag on her hold. She was taught to be polite and to thank Poké- beings when she was given anything, so just running away like that without the opportunity to thank him or wave goodbye to him didn’t sit right with the fox.
She couldn’t let it stand like that.
Once she crossed the street, she turned around to see the cafe once again. She checked both her sides, no humans were walking around the perimeter and she could see the human still staring at her. She took the opportunity that was set up for her by Arceus (or whatever god the humans worshipped) and waved at the man, his expression arching back in surprise and shock.
A bus passed by the area on the street, and with that, Claire stopped her wave and went back to the alley. Fortunately for her, the bus masked where she went.
----------------------------------------
John wasn’t an impatient person while growing up. Sure, even though he grew impatient at times when certain things were taking over an hour, like the bus, a doctor’s appointment, or any activity that revolved around waiting. Even with those things, he wasn’t that much of an impatient person, he would willingly wait for one thing in his spot without fidgeting too much.
But considering who he was with at the moment… Claire, for the love of God, be faster, please!
“Honestly, glad ya evolved Johnny, could’ve used you as a pillow if I needed to sleep!” Cassidy said as he hugged the Galvantula’s abdomen, running a claw through his long white and black fur, not bothered by the glitchy particles around him.
“I still don’t get why you’re doing this in the first place…” John spoke meekly, getting uncomfortable by the iron claw of the robot running through what was essentially the most sensitive part of his body. “Why are you not even scared by my powers in the first place?”
“I’ve seen some stuff back in the Pokémon world, this is one of the least scary things I’ve come across so far.” The metallic weasel explained before nuzzling his head on John’s fur. “And since I got nothing better to do at the moment, the autism program in me is controlling me to do this!”
“What if you accidentally get deleted from the universe by my instability?”
“Eh, if you avoided capture from an evil furry overlord with dummy power, I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to spawn me back.”
John couldn’t help but groan in this helpless state that he was right now. Well, at least it got his mind out of those previous thoughts-... never mind, they were back, shit.
Fortunately for the Galvantula however, he heard the shaking of a bag and the footsteps of bare paws in the concrete. He looked to the side and saw Claire running towards them with a paper bag with a logo on her mouth. As she got closer, John could smell from a distance the delicious taste of the pastries inside.
Once Claire reached them, she dropped the paper bag on the floor, tails wagging as she spoke happily. “I brought your meal, John!”
The Galvantula got up, shaking Cassidy off his abdomen before speaking in excitement a bit of surprise too. “Y-you did it!”
The metal Weavile jumped up and exclaimed proudly while pointing a thumb to himself. “‘Course she did, my master plan was perfect for someone like her! Failproof!”
Claire tried to scrub her head fur back to how it was, however, she couldn’t since there were no grooming products to aid her. “Well… not really. I almost blew my cover for the most part, but uh… hey, I did get the grub, so it went pretty well in my opinion.”
John opened the bag with his backhands and took one of the first items he had felt. The pastry was just a simple muffin, decorated with bits of strawberry cream. John didn’t even think further before simply just devouring the entire muffin piece, paper, and everything. His jagged fangs and teeth sank into its meal and munched quickly, tearing it asunder before gulping it. “Oh… oh this is so damn good, how I missed having cafe meals like these…” He then quickly shot a glance at the Vulpix. “Uh… no offense to your mom’s cooking though.”
“It’s alright, pretty sure she wouldn’t have taken offense.” Claire said with a smile before sighing, her smile turning into a frown as she looked aside. “I’ll miss her…”
John frowned (to the best of his ability with his weird-ass mouth) and placed a hand on Claire’s head. “We will return to them one day. We just gotta think positively about this, alright?”
Claire smiled warmly and nodded. “Yeah, we’ll get through this together.”
John nodded before taking a croissant out of the bag and started munching on it slowly, now that his hunger had been quelled and his glitch energy was put in check. Meanwhile, Cassidy approached Claire and asked while putting his claws on his sides. “So Claire, how did it feel playing your role? Did the man give you any pats for being such a good actress?”
The Vulpix sighed and rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. He almost shooed me out of the store before I did what you asked.” She then motioned to the top of her head. “Anyway, since you did this, can you fix my fur to how it was? I have no mirror for reference.”
The metal Weavile clasped his claws together and put them beside his head. “Awww, but you look adorable like that, just a few scratches and bruises and you’ll be the perfect example of a street dog!” The fox watched unamused before he giggled. “Sure, sure, let me…”
Cassidy started to work on the fox’s fur, just grooming and brushing it so as not to look like a tangled mess. Once it was done, the metal Weavile removed Claire’s bandages and what was left of her uniform. The Vulpix looked different from the look she rocked earlier. Gone were the curls of fur on the top of her head, getting replaced by her hair being completely brushed to the side, passing by her ear, and the tip landing on the bottom of her head. She looked like she had a fringe, but the look did look good on her.
The robot glanced at John while speaking a bit proudly. “I may not be a professional, but hey, tell me, it looks good, doesn’t it?”
Claire looked at the Galvantula expectantly as he munched on the last piece of the croissant. After gulping it, he opinionated. “Huh… surprisingly, it does look good, well, at least in human hair standards. Hopefully, you’ll get a mirror or something to see it for yourself-”
Out of nowhere, John’s glitch particles started bubbling and vibrating faster as a static-looking wall appeared between the trio, making them step back in surprise. Once the wall disappeared a second later, a five-meter-tall white and reflective crystal stood in its place, jutting out of the concrete beneath.
John blurted out. “The fuck!?”
Cassidy stared a bit before pointing a thumb at the crystal while looking at John. “Can I have a piece of your powers? They seem real convenient when not deleting stuff from the universe.”
“No, and no they aren’t!” John argued back.
Claire stepped closer to the crystal, seeing her new look through the reflection. Upon further inspection, the crystal was just a normal one, although a bit jagged at the edges. The Vulpix ran a paw on her newly styled fur, seeing that it was mostly thrown to the side of her head, a bit messy sure, but it would suffice for now. She could also see on her cream-colored chest the two slash scars she received from the Ceruledge, forming an "X" mark. “Hm… I dig it. I’ve never been one to style my fur, but I dig this.” She looked at the boys. “At least it makes me look even more unique than other Vulpix!”
John sighed. “If the scar wasn’t enough of a difference.” He grabbed the bag of snacks in one of his hands and checked the inside of the bag. ‘Hope people won’t mind this random crystal in this random alley.’ The tarantula then turned to Claire and asked. “There’s one more in here. Do you want it? I had my fill.”
Claire perked up and walked to the Galvantula, a smile on her face. “Yes, please!” John ripped the bag open and laid it on the ground so Claire could eat her fill. Once she was done, the Galvantula started climbing up the wall of a building, his backhands tucked on his abdomen. “So, are we gonna look for a place now or…” Claire asked uncertainly.
John glanced at Claire and shrugged. “Might as well do it now since we don’t have anything better to spend our day with.”
Cassidy put his claws on his side. “What do you mean we don’t? Don’t you realize what we’re missing here? We’re Pokémon in a world of humans! We can do stuff in this world that all inhabitants can only dream of doing them!”
John sighed before turning his body around on the wall, facing the metal Weavile. “Cass, please, don’t start. I know you love the fun and all that stuff, but please, we just entered a new situation and we need to adapt. Save all your ‘fun’ for later. Right now, we gotta go-”
“Who’s there!?” The trio heard a gruff voice male voice coming from outside the alley.
“Roseburg Police!” A woman said next, making the trio frozen like deer in headlights as they saw silhouettes entering the alley. “We know you’re there. If anyone is smuggling or smoking weed, we’re gonna have to arrest you!”
“Crap!” John started to climb up the wall quickly, looking down to see Cassidy grabbing Claire and jumping high with her. Once the robot landed on the ceiling of the building the Galvantula was standing on, John looked back down to look at the officers, muttering to himself. “Did they…”
The two police officers looked up, locking eyes with the monochrome tarantula, their expression morphing into surprise and shock as they stared at John’s face. The woman suddenly pulled a pistol as she spoke. “W-what the hell are those things!?”
John immediately recoiled back, away from the officer’s sight as he turned to the other Pokémon. “We gotta get out of here! We’ll just attract attention at this rate!”
The metal Weavile groaned and rolled his eyes, carrying Claire in a bridal style. “Ugh, you’re no fun. I could’ve played peek-a-boo with them, ya know?”
John just ignored Cassidy while speedwalking off the roof and starting to swing around on the trees and buildings. Claire looked at Cassidy with a frown and asked the robot feline. “Do you want humans to know immediately that we are in their world?”
“Well… I kinda did… somewhat while you were sleeping.” The fox let out an audible and questioning “ YIP ”. “Eh, don’t worry, not like people are gonna believe those brats.” He then winked at Claire. “Don’t tell John, ‘k?”
With that, Cassidy started flying again, following closely after John who swung around above the city. While traveling in the air, the spider tried to find something, a good enough location that wouldn’t be bothered by humans for a while. He didn’t know much about Oregon but he was pretty sure the place had cities with some abandoned buildings. There should be one somewhere, even in forest areas somehow… though he preferred to leave that part for emergencies, he shouldn’t fully embrace his monster side for now-
“W-what the hell are those things !?”
John’s mind drifted to what that woman said. She… she had called him a thing… not even just a wild animal or something, a thing . The fear she had in her eyes as she pulled out her gun, looking at him like he was some kind of monster that would pounce at her and maul her at any moment if she dared make the wrong move…
What was he to those people-?
Suddenly John realized he missed a web shot at a building and started falling, his limbs flailing around as he muffled screamed, the string of his web still coming out of his mouth. However, before he could hit the floor, he was pulled upwards by an unknown force. He opened his eyes and saw Cassidy above him, holding his web with a claw while still carrying Claire with an arm close to his torso. “Caught ya lackin’, Johnny! Don’t want another round of that , do you?”
John rolled his main eyes and crossed his back arms as he let himself get carried by the robot.
“Where to, by the way? Still want to find a place to crash at?” The robot asked and John nodded, a small strain on the back of his head as he still held the web in his mouth. “Loud and clear, Spiderman, knockoff! And I might know a place based on the time I went to scout the city!”
The metal Weavile’s metal booster flared as he dashed through the city, John dangling from his string. The Galvantula closed his eyes since the speed made him tear up a bit.
“Are you doing well down there, John?” Claire asked a bit concernedly as she looked down. John merely flashed a thumbs-up with one of his hands to her.
Eventually, the trio reached a park area that was pretty vacant at the moment, since it was yet early morning. Cassidy hovered a few meters above the ground, holding John’s string with a claw. “You can release now, the floor is as close as I am to your mom, hehehehehe!”
The tarantula rolled his eyes and released the hold of his string, landing on the ground with his legs. The tarantula looked around the place, taking in the scenery around him as Cassidy descended with the Vulpix, letting her fall off his arms once on the ground. At a glance, one might think they’re in the woods with a single stone cabin surrounded by trees, but buildings some meters away could be seen and a dirt path leading to a park nearby.
“What is this place…?” The Galvantula asked as he analyzed the building next to them a bit better. It was 25 meters or so, made mostly out of stone but a bit of the foundation being wood. It looked like an old church, given the cross at the highest point of the building. The smell of moss and mold was very present, with vines being seen draping over a bit of the roof. It looked like nature was starting to take hold of this place.
“It’s the place you asked for! Old and abandoned, just like you want it!” Cassidy spoke before smugly rubbing his claws. “Detected no heat signatures inside, meaning no light AND no humans!”
Claire grimaced as her tails lowered along with her ears. “This place looks… uh… a bit eerie, not gonna lie…” The fox looked at the tarantula. “Are you sure you wanna reside here? It’s giving me the creeps by being here…”
“Eh, you’ll get used to it.” John rolled his head, trying to alleviate the pain after holding onto a string for too long. “Beats sleeping in populated places and receiving a rude awakening from humans screaming monsters…” He heard the robot hum, receiving a curious stare from him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Cassidy shrugged. “It’s nothing Johnny, just thinkin’. ANYWAY!” He skated close to a barricaded door. He rolled his eyes before simply delivering a powerful kick, breaking the slabs of wood and sending the door tumbling down. “Let’s check what this place is rockin’, shall we?”
The Vulpix tilted her head. “Uh… are you sure the humans won’t-”
“Nah, don’t sweat it, Foxy. This place was prolly barricaded to stop some dumb teenagers from entering the place and ruining it. But oh well…” He posed fancily as he motioned to the door. “Ladies first~!”
Claire sighed before cautiously entering the door, her ears flickering as she went into the darkness inside. The robot Weavile glanced at John before casually walking inside with his usual playful and smug demeanor.
John sighed and followed them both inside. Even though this old and decrepit-looking building was the furthest thing from homely, he… he could live in a place like this for now. He just hoped that there wouldn’t be that much trouble going forward…