The sun rose faintly over the sprawling meadows below, the sound of Nincada still present as the calls of Pidgey and Starly could be heard as well. A particularly bright beam of light trickled down to the surface, where it slowly stirred awake one particular creature sleeping in the grass.
“Ah! Too bright!” He yelped to himself as he waved in front of his eyes to shield from the rays of the sun. With a low groan, he began to come to his senses and open his eyes naturally.
When he was finally able to see what was in front of him, he saw not a hand waving, but something else entirely. It was hard to tell at first because of the minor case of double vision, but it came more and more into focus by the second until it was unmistakable. It was a paw.
“Huh?” He examined the paw more closely. It was brown and connected to an orange foreleg. Taking a further look, he had another identical brown paw and orange foreleg on the other side.
“My hands! What happened to my hands?!” He shouted aloud. Now sent into a panic, he desperately searched for a method of seeing himself. With a little bit of stumbling, he had located a nearby creek and clumsily wobbled over to it, and what he saw made him take a long, hard look.
What was he looking at? His reflection. But it wasn't the reflection of a human, no. It appeared to be something else entirely. He saw that he had orange fur, black spots around his eyes that looked like a mask, thick, fluffy tufts of fur on his cheeks, long, pointy, brown ears, white fur down his chest and tummy, and to top it all off, a large, thick tail almost about as big as his whole body, orange with a wide, brown, frilly tip. To experiment, he moved the tail around. While he wasn't sure what muscles to move or how, with some effort, he got it swishing it from side to side, verifying that, yes, it was his tail.
“That's me? That's what I look like?” He uttered in disbelief. His eyes widened at the realization, being visible in the reflection as well, the reality of his situation sinking in like a weight thrown into the ocean.
“I… I'm a Nickit. I've turned into a Nickit.”
Distressed to the point of near hysteria, he looked around to get a feel for his surroundings. He seemed to be a lush meadow, some trees in the distance beyond the creek and a few flowers and bushes scattered about, yet nothing looked familiar to him.
“Where am I? Where was I? Who am I? I don't know! I can't remember! What's going on?!”
Practically hyperventilating, he closed his eyes and had a look of strain on his face as he tried to recall anything that happened before this. However, he regrettably couldn't remember a thing.
“This is all wrong! I wanna go home! Wait, was I happy at home? Did I even have a home? Ugh, I can't remember that, either!”
Unable to think of any course of action, he did the only thing that came to mind; run. Run away and look for something, anything, that would jog his memory.
Unfortunately, he hadn't accounted for the fact that he hadn't fully adjusted to walking on four legs, and soon enough, he stumbled over and fell down onto his white, fuzzy tummy.
“Ouch!” He cried out upon impact, the pain making his head spin a bit.
“Great. Just great. I can't remember anything, and I can't even walk properly.”
Feeling hopeless and defeated, he looked down to the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this situation, or even survive.
As if he didn't already have enough to worry about, a chilling wind blew through the area, with a murky fog filling the air. Something about it seemed off… Ominous, even.
This got his attention. His face lifted up, but was then followed by an even more terrifying sight. Pillars of land started to quickly rise up out of the ground all around him, a square of hilltops now surrounding him completely, save for a single gap that seemed to lead into a narrow corridor ahead.
“What… is… happening?!” He practically screamed, his voice piercing across the area and making an echo.
From the corridor in front of him, a figure started to slither forth, and he felt his heart pounding in his chest as it approached him.
When it got close enough, he was able to get a better look at it. It was a serpentine Pokémon, blackish blue in color with bits of yellow, as well as red fangs and a sharp blade on its tail.
“A Seviper…” He muttered to himself, giving a nervous gulp as he stared and watched
When the Seviper had closed the distance between them, she began slithering in circles around him. Eyeing the Nickit closely, she gave a little hiss.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here? A little Nickit, with no pack in sssight?” She spoke in a soft but chilling voice.
(Wait, she just talked! Pokémon don't talk!)
He thought, almost too frightened to even process what was happening. Knowing he wasn't able to run, he could only look upward at her in terror, into her piercing red eyes.
“What a delight. We’re all alone, jussst me and my deliciousss new friend,” she said in an almost singsong voice, her eyes inches away from his. “Luckily for you, you arrived jussst in time for breakfassst…”
The hopelessness he had felt before had plummeted to new depths, his eyes widening massively as a sense of doom overtook him.
“No… Please, Miss Seviper, Ma'am… Please don't eat me…” he begged, tears starting to drip down his furry cheeks as he was shaking like a leaf. “I d-dont w-wanna die…”
“Oh, my naive little morsel. What you want doesssn't matter too much, now doesss it?” The Seviper insisted, sticking her forked tongue out and grazing his tear-covered face.
“P-Please! I'm s-scared!” He pleaded. With no way to run, and no way to fight back, the only means of escape he could possibly imagine was that this predator would take pity and spare him.
“And now you'll never be ssscared, ever again,” she answers, her voice giving the Nickit a cold chill.
He let out a soft whimper, unable to think of any way to persuade her. Before, he feared that he would be stranded out in the middle of nowhere, lost and confused, struggling to get around until he starved. Now, it seemed that fate had something much worse in store for him.
Giving into despair, he lies his head downward in front of him and closes his eyes, with only one thing left he could think to say.
“Okay… Just… make it quick.”
With a firm nod, the Seviper began opening up her jaw, expanding to a width capable of swallowing the Nickit whole.
“Down the hatch,” She said just before her jaw reached a width where she couldn't speak, and after it widened ever further, she leaned ahead and prepared to take him in headfirst.
But then, just when he expected to be stuffed into the Seviper's mouth, he was instead met with the sound of a high pitched scream coming from her instead.
“AIIIIIIIEEEEEE! HOT HOT HOT!” She screamed so loud and suddenly that the Nickit almost had a heart attack. His sensitive ears were instantly pained by the unbearably loud shriek, and his eyes snapped open to see what just happened.
And there she was. The Seviper that had almost done him in seconds ago was wailing in pain as she slithered away at full speed. As relieved as he was that his would-be predator is now retreating, he hadn't the foggiest idea as to why.
It was then that he heard the sound of another feminine voice, this one sounding much younger.
“Haha! Too easy! That Seviper didn't even know what hit her!” The voice bellowed out loudly and smugly.
The Nickit looked ahead to where the voice was coming from, where another Pokémon made her presence known. She was about his size with orange red fur, a quadruped build, and six tails swaying behind her. That could only be a Vulpix, even if her eyes were an unusual shade of burning red.
“Alright, now where are the stairs in this place?” The Vulpix seemed to be asking herself as she walks forward toward him.
(Wait, she talks, too? What on earth is… oh, right! I'm a Pokémon now! That means I should be able to understand other Pokémon, right? That makes sense.)
Imminent danger no longer present, he was able to think a little more clearly, and started to make more sense of what happened now. That Seviper ran away because she was hit from behind with an ember attack from that Vulpix.
While he was still not able to walk well, he managed to get up on his four paws, looking at the Vulpix as she approached, still shaken from his experience but feeling a sense of relief wash over him.
“Oh, thank goodness! I would've been a goner if you hadn't come along!” He rejoiced, awkwardly rubbing his face onto his side a little bit when he realized there were still some tears in his eyes left, not yet being confident enough in his motor skills to wipe them away with a paw.
While he wasn't sure what reaction to expect from the Vulpix, he definitely wasn't expecting her reaction here. As soon as she noticed him, she took a startled step back and eyed him carefully, watching his every move.
“Ah! A Nickit! Stay back! Don't try anything funny!”
“What?” He asked, perplexed by how surprised she seemed to be, before it clicked. She didn't know he was here. He thought that she had come to rescue him from that Seviper, but it turns out that she just happened to be walking by at the right time.
Still, while he gladly appreciated any help, whether intended or not, her wariness of him was definitely noticeable.
“W-Why are you looking at me like that? Did I do something wrong?” He asked, making an effort to diffuse whatever conflict there was.
Surprisingly, though, this only seemed to make her look even more angry.
“Oh, so now you're playing dumb? What are you up to, Nickit?”
He took a nervous (and clumsy) step backwards.
“I-I'm not up to anything. I'm just lost here. I almost ended up eaten by that Seviper. Can you please help me?” He pleaded with her.
“Help you with what? You're not hurt!” She observed, her skeptical and suspicious look growing more intense.
He in turn observed that she just kept seeming to look more upset. He thought he had better watch his tongue if he's going to get her to help.
But how was he going to convince her? Would she even believe what he had to say? Sure, a lie may be more believable at this point, but at the same time, he'd be in some big trouble if he was caught lying, and lying is wrong anyway. So he tried being up front and honest.
“L-Look. I know this will sound crazy, but please, listen. I may look like a Nickit, but I'm not. I'm not a Pokémon. I'm a human,” he said bluntly, looking at her nervously to see her reaction.
Suddenly, the Vulpix's look of suspicion and anger changes. Her frown did a complete 180 degree turn as she smiled, and then burst into laughter.
“A human? Hahaha! Oh my gosh, that has to be the dumbest trick I've ever heard!”
The human turned Nickit was taken aback by her sudden attitude change, but not surprised at all that he wasn't believed. It sounded too crazy to be true, didn't it? Guess humans turning into Pokémon wasn't something that happened a lot around here.
“I'm telling you the truth, honest” he insisted, his eyes looking into hers with even more desperation. “I can't walk too well because humans normally walk on two legs. I'm not used to four. So I need help to get out of here. Please.”
Rather than offer any assistance, she just kept laughing until she was forced swipe her paw over the build-up of water in her eyes. “Oh, yeah? Well, prove it. What's something only a human could know?” She asked in a smug, belittling tone.
“I… I can't remember. I forget what being a human is like. I think I have amnesia or something. Oh, come on! You gotta believe me!”
As he spoke, he could feel his story becoming less and less persuasive. But he also couldn't get anyone on his side by lying. What was he to do? Meanwhile, the Vulpix had that sassy grin on her face.
“Amnesia? That's a pretty convenient excuse, isn't it? Well, go on. What's your name, Mr. Human? Or did you forget that, too?” She said that last part with even more sass.
“Do I remember my name?” The human turned Nickit ponders.
“Okay, yes, I do remember that. My name is Bandit,” he states, still nervous anticipating her reaction.
Still, the Vulpix even blew his expectations out of the water yet again when her reaction was to roll on the ground in an eruption of laughter.
“Oh, this is rich! You're a human, that turned into a Nickit, can't remember anything about what being a human is like, but you can remember that you were a human, and you can conveniently remember your name, and it's a name that perfectly suited for the Pokémon you were turned into? Gimme a break! How dumb do you think I am?” She mocked, laughing so hard that she even coughed up a bit of smoke, making Bandit cough a little himself as he inhaled some of it by mistake.
Bandit couldn't think of anything to say to make his case. His story, true as it was, sounded just so contrived to ever be believed. That fully settling in, he gave a weak, disheartened whimper.
The Vulpix, however, got back up on her paws and continued to mock him.
“I've seen a whole lot of Nickit try to swindle other Pokémon with dumb lies, but yours really takes the cake. Later, Mr. Human! Maybe you'll reel in some other sucker later!” She taunted before leaving on her way.
“Wait!” Bandit called out, lifting up a paw, not realizing he had just thrown off his balance and then falling onto his tummy again, looking up at her while tears formed in his eyes once more. “Please… Don't leave me.”
The Vulpix turned her head back toward him, expression cold and without any sympathy. “And why not? It's obvious you just made your story all up! Why should I help you, or believe you?”
“Because it's only a matter of time before that Seviper comes back, and when she does, I won't be able to get away. Please, I'm begging you. Don't leave me to be eaten,” Bandit said, pleading with his eyes turned massive and round while his eyes drew up more tears. The poor transformed human was now terrified out of his wits. As it stood, he was one wrong word away from being Seviper food, and seeing as how this Vulpix, who was his only hope, was still unconvinced, maybe even closer than that.
“Huh. Give me a break. You can walk. You just want to swipe something off of me and make off with it,” she said accusingly, clearly having had her laugh already and no longer being amused.
Then, just as she turned back around to leave Bandit behind, something began to strike her as odd that halted her in her tracks.
(Hold on. This is a Mystery Dungeon, isn't it? I know Nickit are known con artists, but if this is a Mystery Dungeon, why isn't this Nickit feral and trying to attack me? He couldn't have just wandered into this dungeon. It just formed, and I had just wandered into it. There wasn't enough time for him to come in and put on this act.)
The Vulpix then recalled something her teacher taught her about the recent phenomenon of Mystery Dungeons. These dungeons, forming all across the land lately, take over the minds of all the Pokémon inside them once they form, making them feral until beaten badly enough to be brought to their senses.
(These Mystery Dungeons, they corrupt the minds of Pokémon. If he wasn't affected, does that mean… No. It can't be. He doesn't have the mind of a Pokémon. He has the mind of a…)
Her jaw drops in realization.
(Shoot. He really is telling the truth, isn't he?)
Unaware of her internal monologue, she is cut off when the situation becomes too much for Bandit to handle. As far as he saw it, he might as well just wait for that Seviper to come back and finish what she started. He couldn't take it anymore and loudly bawled his eyes out.
“Waaaaahhhhh! I-I-I'm g-g-gonna be eaten and y-you d-don't even caaaaare!” Bandit shouted as he cried, his tears flooding down off of his fluffy cheeks and onto the grass below, his nose running heavily as well as he snorted and hyperventilated, barely able to breathe.
It was then that the Vulpix had felt something she never would have felt for the way she treated a Nickit– Guilt.
(Great. Now look at what you've done. You were so mean to him, and he was telling the truth all along.)
Reacting quickly, she approached him and crouched onto the ground again to his level and patted him on the back.
“Come on, don't cry, don't cry,” She said, her tone conveying her guilt as she tried to comfort him. “Look, I believe you, okay? I believe your story about being a human.”
Hearing that, Bandit sniffles and tries to catch his breath, a glimmer of hope coming into his pleading eyes.
“R-R-Really? Y-You m-mean it?”
“Yes, I mean it,” she said with an assuring nod as she now had her paw firmly placed onto his back. “I'm so sorry that I doubted you. See, there's this band of Nickit that live just outside our village, and they're always pulling tricks and stealing stuff. It's just expected that seeing a Nickit means trouble. But it looks like you're not one of them, after all.”
Bandit awkwardly tries to wipe the tears off of his face with his body, but then the Vulpix stops him short and wipes them away with her paw.
“Thanks”, Bandit says, taking a light sniff when she is done, having calmed down more. “I don't blame you for not believing me before. I probably wouldn't have believed me, either.”
“Your story still sounds strange to me, but sometimes strange things happen. I think you're telling me the truth. And true or not, I'm not going to let any mean old Seviper make a meal of you. I'll help you get to safety,” She offered, lifting her paw up from his back and offering it to help him up.
Bandit grabbed the paw of the young Vulpix and her paw felt soothingly warm to the touch, her presence and promised assistance warming his spirit just as much.
“Thank you so much, um…” he said as he lifted up his legs and got up, before realizing he had forgotten something. “I'm sorry. I got so caught up in my trouble that I didn't ask your name.”
“Ah, it's alright. The whole becoming a Pokémon thing was probably a real shock to your system, so I get it,” she assured him, helping him stand up and offering a paw for support.
“You have no idea,” Bandit replied as he lifted himself up with her aid.
“So, Bandit, the name's Clover,” The Vulpix introduced, giving a warm smile.
“Nice to meet you, Clover,” Bandit said while giving a smile back, his tears finally all gone. With this new development, he was now a lot more confident that everything was going to be okay. Even if he was a human, now in a new body and in a completely different world with no memories– or even basic motor skills– he had one thing now that he didn't have before, something valuable enough to make all his worries seem much smaller, something he couldn't ever begin to put a price on– He had a friend.