I was woken up by Sam talking to Rou. I peeked my eyes open and looked around. I don't know if they were there before, but there were two guards outside our cell, both Pawniards. Pawniards were a dark grey color, with dark metallic red on their arms and legs, and also on the tops of their heads. At the end of each arm was what looked like a blade, and they also had four blades on their stomachs, and a big one on their head. It looks like their bodies are made more for forward-facing combat.
I looked over to Sam and Rou, and Sam seemed to be giving him the gist of what had happened to us so far. I guess Sam found Rou trustworthy enough.
"So wait," Rou said, somewhat confused. "How could I understand Eva last night?"
"I guess because I was wearing the pendant, and I had my hand on your back?" Sam guessed.
Just then, we heard the sound of a door clanging shut. We all turned towards the barred entrance to the cell, and found what looked like a large dragon type Pokémon who was encased in some kind of hard, white shell. It was surrounded on both sides by two Pokémon I didn't know yet. One looked like a floating rock with arms, and the other one was like a large Boulder with a head out on the front and then arms and legs.
"Good morning," the white shelled Pokémon said. "I'm Boss Shelgon. I hope ya slept easy, for I got some good rumble for ya. Ya two, you're free ta drift, just don't tell nobody about 'dis joint, see?"
So this was the big guy? This white capsule? There was probably more to it, so I kept quiet.
"W-what's going to happen to Rou?" Sam asked, gesturing over to said Rowlet.
"Da rowlet? eh ya don't 'ave ta worry about 'm no more. We'll take care of 'm, no charge."
"A-actually..." Sam started, "We do. We decided..." Sam looked at me. "Th-that we'd like to stick with him."
The mob boss looked thoughtful. "Hmm. So ya mean ta tell me that you'd rather stick with 'm than keep yer button clean with us? That's unfortunate rumble ta hear, see?"
The mob boss turned to one of the goons at his side. "Nip 'em all."
The two rock types entered into the cell, the small rock put his arms around my legs and before I could resist, held them all together as he flipped me upside-down!
I looked over to find that the Boulder had grabbed both Sam and Rou in an arm each, and was holding them there in it's likely rock-solid grip. I considered spitting in my rock's eye, but I don't think that would help my situation.
We were about to be brought out of the cell, when I heard the door close again and then a seemingly familiar voice.
"Ah! My little Shelgon! How have you been doing?!!"
I looked over at Sam to see an expression of confusion displayed on his face. I looked back to the source of the voice.
"Now wouldn't be da best time ta chat, pops..." the Shelgon replied as the voice grew closer. "I'm kinda in the mid-"
He was cut off by a hug from none other than... Daddy Butterfree?!!!
"Ahh, son. You have to make time for family! Now whatever you've been up to isn't nearly as important as-" Daddy Butterfree paused as he saw us. "Now what are they doing here?"
The Boss was taken aback, finally joining with us in our surprise. "Pops, ya tellin' me ya know these 'mon?"
"Yes yes! They were the ones who rescued our little Caterpie!"
The mob boss turned back to us. "Crash, Joe, drop 'em."
As the rock Pokémon released us, Sam spoke up. "Wait, so... he's your... dad?"
"That he 's, mah adopted father. He took me in when I had nothin', 'n now I'm a powerful mon, which makes him a powerful mon."
Wow. Well we lucked out.
"I'm sorry for da mixed emotions I must've given ya. No hard feelings, see? If ya need anything, give us a holler, 'n we'll be right there for ya, see?"
"Sure!" Sam replied, obviously feeling relief. "We'll be sure to let you know!"
"Dat reminds me," the Boss said, "where were you two'se headed?"
"Rocket's tunnel." Sam responded.
"Now I don't know 'bout no tunnel, but I do know 'bout a joint called Rocket Cavern. We'll give ya a ride there, free of charge."
After getting our bags back and receiving a few more supplies from what we now knew as the Bagon gang, they set us up on a few large bird Pokémon (I have no clue what kinds they were) then they dropped us off at Rocket's cavern.
After waving them off, Sam, Rou and I all looked at the cave. It wasn't very big, and to call it a cave was almost generous. It was pretty shallow in terms of depth, and it also had a lot of graffiti on it. Next to it was a sign.
"What does the sign say?" I asked Sam.
Sam walked over to the sign and read aloud "Rocket's Cavern. A cave found by a group of explorers over a century ago. They named it Rocket's cavern for an unknown reason, but it is speculated that it had to do with someone the explorers were acquainted with. This memorial is to those unknown explorers."
I pulled out the old book from our bag. I set it down and flipped to the page about Team Rocket's Tunnel. Rou and Sam awkwardly looked over my shoulders as I read aloud. "Team Rocket's cavern. Pos' favorite place. We found it after fighting with some feral meowths, and decided to call it after the comedic bad guys from the Pokémon tv show. In order to enter, you need to solve the riddle: 'What can be launched into space... by a slingshot?'"
I looked at the rest of my team. They looked at me. "What?" Sam asked.
That's exactly what I was thinking. What?
"What'd she say? Come' on, I want to hear!" Rou said, hopping up and down excitedly. He was waiting for Sam to hand him the Elucide pendant.
"Just a sec. Let me think..." Sam said, ignoring the pestering little owl beside him.
As Rou was impatiently waiting for Sam, I thought about the riddle. Because of what the book said, this has to be something from my world. But what could it be? What things do I know that have slingshots in them, and have to do with space?!
"Maybe..." Sam started to question. "Maybe, do you humans use slingshots for Rockets or spaceships?"
"No, we don't..." I replied passively.
Rou seemed to be getting fed up with this. He grabbed the pendant from Sam. "My turn!" He said as he pulled it off of Sam's neck.
"H-hey!" Sam yelped, grabbing the pendant by the string. "Don't! You'll break it!" They started fighting over the necklace.
"Well I want to know what she's saying!" Rou said angrily as he pulled the pendant towards himself.
"But we can share it!" Sam said, tugging it back over to himself. "Just wait a second and we'll share it!"
"But you weren't sharing it before! How do I know you're going to keep your word?!"
"I will! Just let me see it- you're going to break it!"
As I watched this happen, something clicked in my head. "ANGRY BIRDS!" I suddenly yelled out.
We all froze as the ground shook, the rock wall of the cavern trembling. We were shocked when the wall suddenly faded away, leaving a dark tunnel in its place.
Sam and Rou then decided to both keep their hands on the pendant's string, and walk together, with Sam using his tail as a light. We journeyed deeper into the tunnel.
"You guys need to apologize." I said.
"Sorry." Sam quickly said.
"Sorry." Rou replied.
"That's better." I said.
As we journey deeper into the tunnel, a dense purple-blue fog seemed to roll in. It was small and transparent at first, but it soon became thick. Pretty soon, we could barely see each other!
"Sam?" I asked aloud. "Rou? Are you guys still there?"
"Yeah, we-" Sam said before his voice faded away.
I panicked. "Sam?! Sam! You there?!!"
No response.
"Rou?!"
Nothing.
It was at this point that I felt utterly alone. I hadn't really felt this alone since the first time I woke up as a Pokémon. For the first time in a couple weeks, I had no one to listen to or talk to. It was just me, a human in a foreign body, in a different world. I hadn't realized how alone I could feel. I felt tears starting to form in my eyes.
"No." I shook my head, trying to clear it. "You're fine. You got this girl."
I sat there alone for about another minute, until I heard something.
"Sam?" I asked.
"...ello. Why are you here, traveler?" A mysterious voice asked.
"Uh, I am looking for the Relick stone."
"What is the reason you have to search for it?" The far away voice asked me.
"I want to go home?" I replied. Why was I answering so honestly? Who was this?
"What is your name?"
"Um... Eva. What's yours?"
"Nice to meet you Eva. My name is Pos."
I felt the purple mist swirl around me as it cleared a space in front of me. There, standing in front of me, was an Espeon. She was the psychic evolution of an Eevee, and she had a light purple fur. She had a red pearl in the middle of her forehead.
Pos... why was that name familiar?
"I detect that you have one of our books with you. That is probably where you've read my name before." Pos said, reading my mind.
"Wha... yeah! How did you know?"
"If you remember, I am not only a psychic type, but a very experienced one. I have excelled the normal abilities of psychic types, and have found a way to keep my spirit alive all these years." She winked at me. "I have learned a thing or two in my days."
"All these years? How old are you?" I asked.
"Keep in mind that some Pokémon age differently than humans." She said. "I am nearly 130 years old now."
Gosh, 130 years old! "How long have you been in here?"
"Only about 100 years. This is not my physical form though. I found a way to preserve my life energy after I passed. Now I am like unto a ghost or spirit, if you will."
"So then, why are you here?"
"I have been waiting to guide you, actually." She replied. "Your travel here had a few bumps, and I was placed here to ensure that we got a few things taken care of for you. For example, when you first arrived here, you were able to speak and read in a Pokémon tongue, but when you jumped off that cliff and hit your head, you reverted back to your human speech, and your Pokémon tongue doesn't know how to cope with that. I prepared for this and sent the Elucide stone to you, so that you could arrive here. And now I can fix that issue."
She took a step closer. I stepped backwards.
"Am I supposed to just believe you?" I said, feeling a little out of place. "How do I know that you're actually telling the truth?"
"Well, that's the thing, isn't it? You can walk away, or you can make a leap of faith. This is your choice."
After a minute of thinking, decided to go for it.
"Alright." I said, stepping forward. "Go ahead."
She walked towards me and put a paw on my forehead. She then slowly moved it down to my muzzle while saying something I couldn't understand. My brain flipped, and I suddenly had a bad headache.
"Ow!" I said aloud, clenching my head.
"There." Pos said, finishing whatever ritual she was doing. "That headache should be gone by the end of today or tomorrow morning. Most of the changes will happen immediately, the rest will happen tonight."
"So I will be able to speak normally and read normally now?" I asked, my head still throbbing.
"Yes, and now I can bring the others over here."
The pearl on her forehead glowed, and the fog to my left was lifted. I saw Sam and Rou see me, and Sam came rushing over with the pendant, dragging Rou with him.
"Eva! I was so worried! What happened?!" Sam said, relieved.
"Well, I met Pos here and she made it so u can talk right and stuff." I said, gesturing over to the Espeon.
"Wait," Rou said, looking at the Espeon and then back at me. "So we don't need the pendant? Does it still work?"
"To answer your questions." Pos said aloud, this time to Rou and all of us. "The pendant still works, and you may still need it. I will endow another power upon it so that I may communicate with you from time to time. You can contact me if you know not what to do. I can't guarantee I will have the answers to all things, but I can give you some advice."
Sam was starting to pick up on who Pos was. "So are you like a sage or something?"
"I guess a sage is similar to what I am, yes."
"So can you tell us what's wrong with Rou? Why he's hungry all of the time?" Sam asked. Rou perked up at this expectantly.
"Let me see..." she walked over in front of Rou and closed her eyes. Rou stood there, not sure what to do. After a beat, Pos finally opened her eyes again.
"So," I said. "What's up doc?"
"It seems that Rou is overeating. The only other issue I see is that he doesn't have enough electrical charge."
"Wait, what?" I asked. "I thought Rowlets were grass type!"
"Well they are!" Sam said. "Unless..." he trailed off.
"That's right." Pos said, finishing Sam's spoken thought. "Rou is a delta species, electric type."
Author's note:
Hey everyone! Happy late easter! I am currently starting writing in a Drabble, which is a thing on a discord server we do to write a short story for another writer, to expand our skills and ideas. I have somehow never written a short story before, and so I will be doing a lot of that in my free time right now. Because of this, the next chapter or two might be a little delayed, but I will try and get it out as soon as I can! I have been trying to release a chapter weekly, and I don't want to break that streak!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it has been a long time coming. We are maybe a sixth the way through this story, if not less! I normally have no clue where I'm going, with only a vague idea of where I need to get to. Having said that, this has been very fun to write, and I don't plan on stopping at any time soon.
As always, thanks for reading and stay safe out there!
Alexander