Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Two months, and yet they haven’t done any progress.

As the Meowth looked at the ground far below him, his fur shivered violently, both from the cold air and his mild fear of heights, he always knew that the island was big, but it was like a whole region instead, filled full of villages and towns that contained citizens that lived their lifes peacefully, not having to survive.

“Hey feline! Found any information yet?” Commanded the Pidgeotto, who didn’t even look at him, Matthew looked at Pidgeotto before then looking down on himself. “No Poe, we hadn’t have any information.” He answered, as the growling of Togepi’s stomach caught his attention.

He watched with guilt as she squirmed from the pain of malnourishment, her skin looking pale, and even her egg shaped body looked brittle and could easily snap, Matthew always wondered how Saul always gets the apples and berries. “Stupid meanie always saying that we aren’t working hard enough, even though he gets to sit on his butt all day, talking about how much he misses his daughter, why not my daughter?…”

He’s guilt comes more obvious as it looks like Tessa was visibly getting more pale, they aren’t going to survive any longer if they keep having this diet.

“Don’t worry Tessa, if we work really hard, we’ll get-“ Matthew’s comforting words get cut off.

“SHUT IT YOU PRICKS! Be thankful that you’re even being kept alive, plus my wings are getting tired from having to carry you lot…” Threatened Poe, changing his direction for a split second to get his point across. “And call me Commander from now on, or else I’m telling Saul that you scratched one of our higher ranks.”

Matthew held onto Poe, his fear of punishment getting over him as he starts to heavily breathe, his lungs constantly working to keep him conscious. “Ugh…. I can’t keep doing this anymore, I’m gonna die either way…” His mind spiral, wondering if he’s ever gonna get out of this nightmare, but he constantly reminded himself that people always had a happy ending, even if they are at the lowest point of their lives, but he now wondered if that’s ever true at all.

but as his awful thoughts have finally died down, so does his heavy breathing as poe softly landed on the ground next to the mouth of a cave, with moss that invaded its surface, and pointed spikes that make it look like the mouth of a predator, caves are usually for Pokémon that don’t have enough coins to buy an actual home, but a cave is still a home, somewhere that they can stay for warmth, for safety…

“Good luck talking with him you too.” Poe’s serious voice sounded as sharp as needles, Convincing both Matthew and Tessa that they were in serious trouble, and are definitely gonna receive manipulative comments like: “YOU’RE JUST LIKE THE REST OF THEM! FAILING EVERYTHING THAT I TELL YOU TO DO, YOU WORTHLESS BLOODY KIDS CAN’T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!”

Matthew’s fur shivered again as he gulped, lifting his grip off of Poe and jumping off, before going to the other side to wrap his paws around Tessa, who calmed down after feeling her friends warmth. “We’re just kids… why does he expect all these great things from us?” Matthew wondered, he hesitated, before ever so slowly going inside.

Inside was anything you expect from a master that clearly doesn’t care for its subjects, all of the young Pokémon were constantly scrambling to prove their theories across the tables, writing down any information they could possibly find, there were some posters here and there about learning their alphabet, as that was what they used to do before he went insane, it was chaos.

Matthew slowly walked deeper into the cave, he could feel some of the Pokémon eyeing him, feeling their gossip, their insults, but it was nothing compared to the scolding that he’s about to receive.

“Matthew…” A deep voice called out, before a large figure appeared out of one of the passageways, the dark parts of the cave covered his form, it was undeniable, it was indeed Saul, everyone in the cave stopped in their tracks, half of them look at him, while the other half looked at Matthew, who’s fur was faintly covered in sweat. “U-u-uhh… Y-yes m-“ Matthew’s speech cut off on its own, clearly not having the courage to speak up.

“Ugh… let me guess, you didn’t find any information on my daughter again…” Questioned Saul, his sharp eyes piercing into Matthew‘s, who couldn’t help but shake at the site of him, feeling the growl shutter deep into his bones.

“N-no…” Matthew answered, eyeing him and the rest of the Pokémon, it’s weird to say that they are really good at standing completely still, like they think that somehow he will not see them. “B-but master Saul! If you would just give us a bit more-“

“GAHH!” Roared Saul, the loud piercing echo continued as he grabs a table and smashes it straight into the ground, it’s weak form breaking into multiple pieces, before he grabbed the leg and tossed it across the cave, nearly catching one of the Pokémon’s neck.

“I AM TIRED OF YOU DAMN KIDS ALWAYS FAILING AT ANYTHING THAT I TELL YOU TO DO! I DON’T KNOW WHY I CONTINUE TO LET YOU LIVE IN THIS CAVE IF YOU WILL PROVIDE NOTHING TO ME!” Saul threatened before clutching his throat, even a strong figure like him could still hurt his vocal chords.

“I-i…” Matthew stuttered, before stepping his paw down in front of him. “I-i don’t care!” He shouted despite the hesitation holding him back, but he knew he screwed up the second all of the Pokémon audibly gasp, and Saul’s instantly snapped his eyes straight at him, he could feel his fur tense, like it’s telling him to run away.

But… instead of the usual yelling like he expected, Saul simply chuckled. “Wow… I can tell you’re really bold, but there is a line you know.” Saul said with very unusual calm voice.

“H-huh? W-what? W-WAIT NO NO NO N-“ Matthew was instantly cut off the second his Paul’s claws connected to him, cutting deep into his skin and across his entire body, he instantly felt his nerves severely react to the scars, and all he could let out was a blood curdling scream as his blood soaked his fur, nobody moved a muscle, even the water deep in the cave hesitated, before a commander broke that cycle.

“S-SAUL! he’s just a kid! You can’t expect them to do everything that you tell them to do!” Said the Dragonair, her coils wrapped around itself.

“GET THIS FELINE OUT OF MY SITE!” Ordered Saul, saying it as if the name of cats was poison, Matthew felt two guards pull him upward and then towards the mouth of a crumbling passageway, he wanted to protest, scream, do anything to get his voice out, but his vocal cords withered out due to his uncontrollable screaming.

Tessa cried hopelessly as she watched her friend receive a life-threatening scar as well as being sent away deeper into the cave, knowing that Matthew will rot away just like the rest of the disobedient Pokémon, Saul looked at Tessa, wondering if he should slash her as well, before his thoughts were interrupted.

“Saul! I have something important to tell you!” Cried out a Pachirisu as he ran into the cave, stopping right in front of him, Saul’s eyes widen. “Did you found out any information about my daughter?!” Saul said, but the Pachirisu shook his head. “No… but I think we might’ve found out who your wife might be…”

Chapter Text

Michael felt guilty but relieved as he gently threw Cody’s Luxray card in the fireplace, watching it be consumed by the flames, although the living room begins to slightly smell funny, what kind of materials do they put in that card, he hoped that it wasn’t toxic chemicals in the air as he accidentally breathed it in, coughing it out violently.

“Michael! You done setting up the cards yet?!” Loudly whinged Cody in the distance, yet it sounded so close that he jumped, thinking Cody saw him destroying his stuff. “dammit, I’m getting way too careless if I do stuff like this.” His mind was a bit rattled, but it regains steadiness.

“Y-yea! i’m just waiting for you, hurry up in the damn toilet!” He answered, going to sit in front of the coffee table, Michael look around the living room to distract himself, the old TV that’s shaped like a box, it was the only TV his family could afford back in the day, a shelf full of old stuff that he doesn’t even know what’s called.

And besides the couch is a drawer, and on top of that drawer is a photo of him and dad when we were way younger, he always had that strange warm feeling whenever he viewed the photo, and the memories with him, like when he taught me a story of how he had a full grown beard at 12, which to be honest he highly doubted, and that one time he told him how his first ever Pokémon was a shiny. “I wish I wasn’t such a coward, and that I would’ve-“

“Finally! Took you three minutes to set up like 20 cards!” Bickered Cody, appearing from the doorway and sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Cody looked like a typical nerd boy, basic ass haircut, glasses and dentures, and a shirt with no design other than being a basic blue.

Cody then started to relax, almost completely forgetting what he was talking about 30 seconds ago, that seems to be the case with Cody every time. “Y-yea, a real tragedy…” Michael mumbled, looking at his Pokémon cards.

Michael and Cody prepared their battle, shuffling their cards, laying out different types across the coffee table, and as soon as Michael picked up a dice to see who goes first, and tossed it into the air, the game has begun.

You always get that feeling of excitement when you and your Pokémon are battling something stronger than your typical wild Pokémon, or a rival that you hate, it was dangerous, painful, but fun, especially that pride when you actually win a battle, even if you had that same routine for 1000 times already.

But with cards… It doesn’t really have that same feeling, how would Michael be excited that his small piece of paper had defeated another piece of paper, he wanted to be a Pokémon trainer five years ago, but his mother refused, saying that it’s way too dangerous and that he’ll probably get eaten on the second day.

“Pichu uses thunderbolt!” Michael said, deciding for some reason to smack the pichu card against the Lucario card, bending it, Michael’s breath stopped for a minute, before picking up the card and looking at the damage that it had just received.

“…You got to be kidding me, THAT WAS AN EX AS WELL” Michael said as he cursed under his breath, before looking at his friend, feeling that this night has already been a downpour.

“Cody…” Michael faltered, turning his head down. “I don’t think this card thing is working out, all this card stuff is just way too confusing for me, plus the card pack luck is absolutely awful, I’d be lucky if I even get anything above an EX.”

“Don’t worry Michael.” Reassured Cody, padding Michael on the back. “It’s just that these cards are just stupidly processed by big dumb companies always saying that they care for their customers.” While Cody continued on with his comforting words, if you wanna call it that, he sits back and pulls out another card.

“I’ll choose out Luxury!” Cody cheerfully said as he puts the card on the table…

…WHAT!?

“H-how!? W-why does he have a second copy?” Michael’s mind freezes upon seeing the card, his eyes darting in multiple directions, he didn’t say anything, he can’t say anything…

“Michael? Are you okay?” Pointed out Cody. Looking more visibly worried as Michael stood there, he tried to reach out his hand again to comfort him, but Michael smacked it away, looking offended.

…

WHY IS THAT THING THERE? I GOT RID OF IT, I BURNED IT! IS IT HAUNTING ME?! AFTER WHAT IT DID? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? DO YOU WANT TO TAUNT ME?! GIVE ME NIGHTMARES!!? KILL ME?!?

“Cody, I think you should go.” Michael said firmly. Grabbing Cody‘s cards and putting them back in his bag, even though it felt a bit awkward while Cody watched. “W-why? Why do you want me-“

“CODY! Leave now! I don’t want to hear what you say! JUST LEAVE!” Michael now yelled out, even though he really wanted him to stay and wanted to apologize, but that devil won’t let him.

“U-uh… O-ok… I’ll go then… Bye Michael…” Cody gloomed, Michael could already see the heartbreak in his eyes, as he would honestly feel just the same if he was told to leave out of nowhere, as Cody went to shut the front door, Michael raised his hand a bit, as if he tried to stop him one last time, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

And the door simply closed shut, leaving him the only one in the living room, all alone.

“I can’t just keep pushing them away like this, I’m gonna lose my friend sooner or later… I just want to… UGHHHH! I CAN’T DEAL WITH THIS BLOODY MESS!” As Michael tried to think of what to say to apologise to his friend, he noticed the very few cards that were still scattered across the coffee table, and one of them was the luxury card,

Without even thinking or hesitating, he picked it up and ripped it until it was small enough to be a handful of confetti, and he tossed it into the fire, watching the flames consume it again and coughing from that mysterious material.

This time, he felt only relief, the only thing that could help him is that his friend doesn’t remember that he has two missing Luxury cards, His rage was interrupted as his mother called out to him and his little sister. “kids! Dinner time!” said his mother, Michael looked into the distance where her mother’s voice was called, he looked at the front door, then the photo of his father, before going to the kitchen to eat.

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The table was sat across the kitchen, as they couldn’t exactly afford to have a separate room purely for eating, the table was made of wood with a weird wax coding, at the corner was a vase that desperately needed new water, and as well as his whole family sitting at the table.

As Michael sat down in his rather uncomfortable wooden chair alongside Charlotte, flicking his black hair away from his face, and facing his mother, he looked down to face the sushi which smelled like freshly cut Magikarp, which is unusual for the family, she doesn’t usually get takeaway due to our measly mediocre budget. “O-oh? You got sushi?” Michael said with confusion.

“Yea! Because guess what!? I got a promotion at my stadium job! So I decided that we should celebrate by eating from that Japanese restaurant down two miles, you know, the one that you always say that you wanted to eat from, pretty neat isn’t it?” cheered mom, getting her chopsticks and failing multiple times to grab the piece of sushi, her excitement turning into frustration purely because of the damn food.

“Yet big brother here still can’t leave his dad alone” intruded Charlotte, making the whole room quiet, Michael looked at his sister, his mildly annoyed face becoming rapidly obvious.

“Are you seriously gonna bring it up AT THE DINNER TABLE!?” He thought for himself, he obviously can’t bring the courage to yell in front of his sister, especially right in front of his mother.

“Charlotte! Sigh… listen I know it’s been six months since… yea... But you have to realise that some people hold onto grief for longer than others, but you can’t just insult him for that.” mom said firmly, finally grabbing a piece of sushi and putting it in her mouth.

For a moment, the dinner table was silent, only interrupted by the sound of chewing, drinking, and the worrying thought that his sister hates him even though he’s done nothing wrong.

While Michael puts soy sauce on his sushi, his mother decided to at least try to lighten the situation. “So uhmmm, Michael, Charlotte, how was school, did anything special happened?” mom said.

“I know a good one! I came across 3 giant Pikachus that said that I was the chosen one! And that we have to defeat the great big bluebird from freezing the entire world!” Charlotte rambled, moving her arms around to further deepen the story, even almost stabbing her fingernail into Michael’s eyes.

“Soo… Articuno?” Questioned mom, but Charlotte shook her head, looking at her mother like she failed to answer a kindergarten question. “No! The bluebird name is Moltres! didn’t you learn that at fourth grade!?” Squealed Charlotte as she continued on with her story. “Right… Michael! How was your day at school?” Said mom, successfully picking up another piece of sushi.

“Uhm… Typical mediocre stuff, besides besides winning the spelling bee, an-“ Michael stopped upon hearing his mother audibly gasp. ” you won a spelling bee!? Michael that’s amazing! Especially with your difficulty of spelling.” Cheered mom, but unknown to her, the spelling Bee was insanely easy, stuff like chair, car, and all kind of other words that even a wild Pokémon could spell out.

“Yeah… But it’s not really anything to cheer about, it’s pathetically-“ Upon continuing more about his school day, there was a couple of knocks on the front door, and everyone stopped eating their dinner and turned their attention to the front door, there was silence, so quiet that you could hear your ears ringing for just a second, and it stayed that way before mom spoke.

“Huh… that’s weird, I don’t recall having any visitations or appointments today…” Bewildered mom, slowly walking up to the front door, she crouched and checked in the peep hole to see who it was, Michael got a bit nervous, was it the police, did they actually catch him stealing an apple from the cafeteria two days ago, wait no that was a severely minor offence, there couldn’t be a simple police call from that, but Michael watched nervously as mom then stood up slowly.

“Kids!” Mum said, looking at the both of them. “you’re not gonna believe this! Your uncle Dave is at our doorstep!”

Chapter Text

“Uncle Dave? That’s the name I haven’t heard in a while.” Michael was thinking of all the reasons why he would come here, did he want to chat to us, show us something amazing like mom always he always does, even though he never seen him once in his life. he wondered if mom just really likes him and makes all that stuff up just to make him seem impressive.

As mum opened the door for him, he looked like an average dude, black hair that he dyed orange at the bottom, his position makes him look like he just woke up and drink two coffees at the same time, and official looking scientist clothing, it all looked very strange to him, if this is the guy that mom glazes, then she has very low standards.

“Hey kids!” Uncle Dave cheered, Michael noticed the nervous tone in his voice, but that is normal when you’re meeting new people, especially when you look like you’re gonna tell your friend not to come to school tomorrow.

Dave was then crouching down so that his long figure could be in the same height as me. “I don’t think I ever visited you two before, I heard a lot of good things about you, and that your mother got a promotion at her job! That’s pretty sweet if you ask me!” Dave’s smile looks a bit… uncertain, but it isn’t that creepy, it just looks like he’s been working 100 hours a week.

“Y-yes yes! That uhm… thing, Could you tell us why you’re here, Dave?” hesitated mom, even she was confused on why Dave would be here at all, and it definitely doesn’t help with his poor posture. Michael could see that Dave was a bit panicked, like he expected a bit more of a friendly interaction, but you can’t be excited for someone’s birthday just as much as you own.

“Well… since my boss got fired for… how do I say this in front of the kids? Being a little bit more mean to their employees than the law recommends? So we got a new boss, he’s Uhm… re-really chill, and even allowed us to have a bring your child to work day every year, and it just so happens to be that exact day!” Dave confidently said, even though the explanation sounds like he’s being caught for something.

“O-oh! So you’re here to pick up one of my kids to go to what you do your scientific research thingy.” Mom said, and at that moment, Michael looked speechless. “W-WAIT! YOU’RE A SCIENTIST!?” Michael blurred out, looking impressed and baffled at the same time, Dave looked at Michael with a smug grin. “Yep, only took a bit of research and lots of self-doubt to get myself in this position, y-yea...” Dave said to Michael before looking at his mother, bringing back his confident smile.

“So, do you allow me to take Mikey to my workplace?” Dave asked while he looked like he was instantly pleading for a yes, he seemed so sweaty that you could see the sweat in his skin if you squint just enough, he seemed relieved when Michael’s mother shook her head. “Of course! If Michael wants to go as well!” she responded, she knew the answer as soon as she saw Michael looking excited to go.

Besides wanting to be a Pokémon trainer, like every single kid in the world, Michael always viewed being a scientist as his second choice in life, all that DNA knowledge, biology, the excitement of discovering something new, it was this reason that the only thing he was remotely good at in school is science.

“YES! I would love to!” Michael’s excitement then gets drowned out by Charlotte’s complaint. “Hey! Why can’t I go with uncle Dave! I’m a big girl now!” she said while everyone looked at her, Dave had to crouch down even more to get to her level. “Hehe… Well Charlotte, you’re a bit too young to go unsupervised without your mother, plus I heard multiple times from your mother that you hated science, unlike little Mikey.” Dave explained, getting back up and moving slightly farther away from the door.

Mikey was the name that Dave always called Michael, as they were both similar, and that was actually supposed to be his original name before his parents changed it to Michael, but Dave simply wouldn’t accept that.

“Well then, it’s settled! Put your shoes on Mikey! I’ll visit you in the car” Said Dave as he walked away, slowly out of view, “Coming Dave!” Michael shouted out, running to his bedroom to look for his necklace, his room was painted with light cyan, full of posters of Pokémon, especially the badass kind, even having a incinerator plushy that he puts his blanket over.

as he searched around his bedroom, checking the drawers and even under the bed, he got more and more desperate. “DAMMIT DAMMIT! WHERE IS IT?! I CAN’T JUST LOSE IT NOW!” As he now started to pray that he didn’t lose that precious necklace, he suddenly remembered where it was, he took out one of the books from the small bookshelf, the cover made it look like it was a adventure book, 6 Pokémon walking into the a cave while one of them points at it, he opened the space that wasn’t connected to the other pages…

And the necklace was right there, just as he expected it. “Oh thank Arceus…” he said to himself as he forced himself to calm down, he gently wrapped the necklace around his neck and went off to go with Dave, hoping to receive a lot of scientific knowledge alongside him…

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Michael looked through the car window to view his beloved town he always lived in slowly out of view, and be replaced with trees, he could even see the old looking school in the distance, that one where he stole the apple, only twice did he ever leave town for something important.

The forest was about how you expected, swallowed by the grass and shadows casted by the leaves, as they drove further away from town, more of the wild Pokémon start to appear, from the usual caterpies, Sewaddles and Fletchling, to a Houndoom that he swore he saw when looking away for just a second.

The material inside the car was a bit ruffled up, but nothing too unpleasant, the car was a old model of a bankrupt company that Dave revealed to him, but car stuff was nothing to be excited about for him, he looked at the grey passenger seat right next to him to look at Dave’s Flareon sleeping blissfully, it’s orange and blonde fur moving gracefully, especially with the air-conditioner on full blast.

“Hey Mikey, want to hear the story of how I absolutely humiliated my bully at high school?” Dave said to interrupt the silence, looking at Michael through the rearview mirror, even though Michael was a bit busy looking at the forest, he wouldn’t mind a bit of entertainment, plus it would probably relate to how he also humiliated a bully in middle school. “Uh, sure Dave!” He answered.

“Awesome!” Said Dave. “Okay so there’s one time where-” Before he could even get started, a loud bang was heard on the front of the car, making everyone including the Flareon jump in fright, and the next thing they know, the car came to a halt, Dave looked a little closer to the front of the car and realised that it was now smoking.

“OH COME ON! This stupid car breaks every five minutes! This isn’t worth the 300000 PokeDollars it cost!” Snapped Dave, unlocking his seatbelt and pushing the car door open, almost snapping its poorly designed hinges off, Dave stopped immediately and looked at Michael. “S-sorry dude, this car is old an-and I just took out my anger while you were here… sorry…” he said calmly, shutting the door behind him.

Michael stood there in the car seat for a couple minutes, watching Flareon’s for stand on end from the jumpscare, he wanted to pet the Flareon to calm it down, but he quickly realised that it probably isn’t the best idea scaring a fire type Pokémon while it’s already paranoid, so he decided instead to get out of the car instead.

Dave opened the hood of the car and looked inside the engine bay, his eyes darting in every direction to find any flaws. “Please don’t let this be a bad day, PLEASE don’t let this be a bad day!” Michael’s mind repeated, he knew that he had a recent reputation of having constant bad luck, even though he can’t remember what he did to deserve it.

As Michael stood near Dave, watching him do his complicated work, he saw a bush move at the corner of his eye, he stared at it, not wanting to investigate something that would be useless to do, but his curiosity constantly controlled them to do whatever it pleased, and he felt his feet moving by themselves closer to the bush.

Before he knew it, he was already across the road, he looked back at Dave, the road suddenly felt like it was a kilometre wide, and his mind didn’t want to risk the chance of going across it again, he wanted to shout out to him to check out if he’s finished, but his head quickly snapped back to the bush, and as he looked more closely, the leaves rustled a bit more violently.

Michael then had a quick feeling of dread as anything could be in that bush, especially a deadly Pokémon, he didn’t even know why he was here, his mind just told him to, as the bush now started to move, a small figure popped out of it, Michael backed off, his elbows just inches away from the road, as he looked at what had approached him.

It was a Shinx, a rather big one, as it was a few inches taller than a regular sized Shinx, it was like this Pokémon also had an absurd amount of curiosity, why did this Pokémon dare to approach him, it should view us as predators, AND WHY IS IT HERE?

“S-stay back!” Michael said desperately, he couldn’t go any further due to the road and potential danger of getting run over, he felt even more afraid as the Pokémon took a slight step forward.

“Shinx?” The Pokémon greeted quietly, it tilted its head, Michael looked into its eyes, was it concern? Does this Pokémon actually want to interact with him, it’s like it was acting completely out of character, as he looked around the ground, he found a large stick, and didn’t he hesitate to grab it and point it at the Shinx.

“I’m warning you! Back off!” Michael said, but it felt wrong threatening a wild Pokémon even though it did no harm to him yet, plus its parents could be nearby, and the result would be disastrous if they see Michael threatening it’s young, the Shinx backed off, it looked hurt, even if it was physically fine, it’s fur faintly glowed when it was threatened by Michael, but it quickly died down.

“Lux…?” The Shinx softly growled, it looked at Michael for a few more seconds before going back into the woods, Michael then calmly dropped the stick. “That was wrong of me… I shouldn’t threaten it like that i-“

“Hey Mikey! What are you doing over there? The car is ready to go!” Said Dave in the distance, shutting the hood and going back to the car

Michael looked at his uncle’s car across the road from a moment, he felt sorry for the Shinx, but he just couldn’t control his hatred for their species. “Why?…” he said to himself, going back to the car. “Why do I hate you? Even though you did nothing to me…”

Chapter Text

As he waited at the back of the car feeling that awful tension of hurting that little Shinx, but feeling warmth on his leg which was coming from Dave‘s Flareon curling besides him. The car came to a halt, but this time, it was on purpose.

“We’re here!” Dave said, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the car door, before the hinges finally gave away and the car door slammed onto the gravel. “Dammit… well it’s about time anyway..” He said with disappointment, and that expression increases looking at the building, but Michael wanted to see what it looks like.

He imagines laboratories to be futuristic and full of expensive bulletproof looking window, those buildings look like the kind that you could build a whole Time Machine inside, the kind where they could actually cure cancer, there were a million possibilities and he just couldn’t think of which one it was, as Michael happily unbuckled his seatbelt and open the car door to look at the building.

His expression went from excitement, to confusion, to absolute disappointment.

The building was just a giant rectangle, with a small strip that were windows, he expected laboratories that look like they were from movies, not a grey mesh that look like it’s still under maintenance. “Uhm… you’re pulling my finger here are you?” Michael asked Dave, but that look of disappointment gave him the answer before he responded.

“Uh nope, t-t-this is it Mikey, I know it looks bad… really bloody bad… B-b-b-but wait till you see inside! You’re gonna love it! I hope…” He reassured very poorly, while muttering the last sentence. “Great… I spilled coffee on myself this morning. ON A WHITE SHIRT, then I invited and kicked out Cody, threatened a wild Pokémon for no reason, and now I’m starting to think second thoughts about science” His mind said with gloom.

“Yea… I hope you’re telling the truth… uhm, Davie?” Michael responded, before feeling that warmth on the lower part of his leg, he looked down to see the Flareon affectionately rubbing it’s body on him before walking alongside Dave towards the laboratory, the whole thing was a disappointment, but at least one thing is going right…

______________

The entrance was a little… creepy, it was just a white narrow corridor that occasionally switched directions, they were filled with photos of the scientist doing their job, with some posters that “encourage” them, despite the fact he has physical proof that it was a waste of money, as they turned to the last corridor, at the end of it was a door, and a camera at the corner of the hall.

Dave moved right in front of the door and pressed the metal button besides it, and he stood there, nothing happened for a few seconds. “Uhm, I feel like we might’ve went the wrong-“ His next word turned into a high-pitched scream as a rather loud voice from the camera completely caught him off guard.

“Show me your ID” The Voice said, Dave reached into his pocket scrambling around, before pulling out a gift voucher that he thought was an ID. “Sh-uhm! Sorry! not my ID- c-c-crap!” He spluttered, scrambling around his bag again. “*sigh* a gift voucher for clothing with cartoon characters? Really?” The voice grumbled, the tiredness in the employees voice becoming also really obvious.

“gosh, is being employed this awful?” Michael muttered, he could help but laugh at the stupid situation, he had a bit of a weird sense of humour, but Dave was making a pretty good impression on him, his giggles died down as Dave finally got his ID and showed it to the camera.

“Mm, welcome Dave and your… friend there” The voice said, before the camera light shuts off and the door made a weird clank, Dave wrapped his hand around the door handle and swung it open, jump scaring the scientist right in front of them.

“GAH HOLY MARY! U-Uhm, hi Dave…” Screamed the scientist, quickly calming down upon looking at the memorable face of his partner. “Hi Donald! Hey! Say hello to Mikey!” Dave said

“Michael, and hi…” Corrected Michael, looking around the lifeless room, the photos were replaced by doors leading to different rooms, but it still reminds him how empty this place is, it’s like a bad dream where expectations don’t exist.

“I forgot to mention, our boss gave us the approval of a bring a child to workday, and well I don’t really see any children walking around, why‘s that?” Said Dave with a hint of confusion, looking around, maybe if you looked a little harder, you would discover ideas to how to make this place not a asylum.

“Well, first of all, none of our employees brought their child, second of all, they’re not allowed in the employees only areas…” Donald revealed coldly.

…

WHAT!?

I HAD TO COME ALL THIS WAY TO A LIFELESS BUILDING FULL OF MISERABLE PEOPLE, JUST FOR ME TO NOT EVEN SEE WHAT THEY ARE DOING? WHAT KIND OF SHIT IS THIS?

“W-what do you mean?! That’s the entire point of bringing your child to work day! To let them explore and teach them about our job!!” Protested Dave, but Donald didn’t budge. “Sorry man, I know it’s rough, but it’s not all bad, we have a room especially designed for them, it’ll be lots of fun!”

“I seriously hope they have something actually worth paying attention to in whatever room they’re talking about” Michael’s mind spiral, if stuff like this continues to happen, it might just affect his taste for science…

______________

No wonder the employees didn’t bring their child to the laboratory, it’s quite literally a prison, wait no, more like a preschool classroom, it had a gigantic rainbow ribbon that connected across the room, and a bunch of multicoloured toys and puzzles was scattered across the room, and the mat was rough, but it looked like a cartoon styled town, it was a little bit nostalgic, but not enough to relieve his disappointment.

He sat down on the red couch, thinking of how to escape this room and convince Dave to leave work early, but like he was thinking about earlier, it’s like a prison here, the only remotely good thing in the room was the sleeping sylveon, it’s ribbons gently resting against its back, even the snoring seemed to lighten the mood slightly.

He decided to distract himself, because sitting still in a room for hours would probably affect his health in someway, he looked at each toy across the floor, searching for one that would be worthwhile, but the only thing that would even challenge him remotely is a Rubiks cube, but instead, it was a two by two and the simple flat colours were replaced by poorly printed faces of Pokémon that represented the colour, he feel hesitant, but he sigh and mixed the colours.

As he twist and turned the cube, his mind turned to many different questions, “Why have a bring your child to work day if they’re just gonna sit in a room for two hours? Do they hate kids to the point that they want to kill them out of boredom? I wouldn’t blame them but this is still-“ His questions stopped the moment one of the pieces of the Rubiks cube broke off, rendering it useless. “OH DAMM IT!” He yelled out, throwing the puzzle into the ground.

He was then utterly shocked upon seeing the Rubiks cube smashed into million pieces, even the plastic snapped despite them being usually resistant, but somehow this laboratory has the weakest plastic he has ever seen in his entire life. “Man they REALLY hate children.” Michael said, before feeling something fluffy and soft wrap around his hand, he was so distracted by the week Rubiks cube that he didn’t realise that smashing it jolted sylveon awake, and it tried to calm him down with its feelers.

The aura and that’s soothing energy from the feelers made him feel less tense, but he still wanted to escape. “Not right now sylveon, I’m going to tell Dave to get me out of here!” He said, pulling his hand away from the feelers, sitting up from the couch and walking to the door.

As he turned the handle of the door, it wouldn’t open.

He tried again.

The same result.

“HEY! Open this damn door you sleep deprived skeletons!” He yelled out, now banging on the door, the sylveon looked at him with a mild concern, its feelers tried to wrap around his hand to calm him down, but Michael waved them off. “I said not right now!” He shouted, backing up slightly. “I’m so sorry, I really hope this doesn’t go in your paycheck” He said to himself, before sprinting to the door and kicking the side where the handle resides, and to his luck, the lock snapped, but although it is still intact, the next kick breaks it clean off.

He peaked his head out to look around the corridor, there were a few doors there and there, and posters and photos, but no signs of Dave, so he stepped out of the room which was labelled: “Children’s Play Area! For ages 4-12!” Michael had to stop for a moment to look at the sign, he was baffled to think that the scientist thought he was still a child, he literally had a beard growing at just the very bottom of his chin, it’s like a personal insult to him.

“H-hey kid!” Said a scientist who spotted him just now, Michael snapped back to look at the scientist, they both stared at each other for a few moments.

Michael ran off.

“HEY!” The scientist yelled out, although Michael doesn’t see that man chasing him, which probably means he’s warning the others, much worse than a single person going after him, for a few moments, it felt weird to run around empty corridors that will only companied by doors, posters and what else, but it started to feel a little bit scary, someone could pop-up right near corner and jump scare him, and his jump scare tolerance is not exactly the best.

“Dammit DAMMIT! I didn’t think this through! I’m gonna get in huge trouble, as well as Dave, please don’t drag Dave into this…” He was now panicking, frantically looking around to find any rooms that look like a good hiding place, he even tried a few doors, some were locked, some were open, one of them leads to a cafeteria full of scientist, none of them looked like a good hiding spots.

As he heard faint footsteps nearby, he knew that the scientist were coming, they were going to catch him and scolded him as well as Dave for “letting a brat let loose.” He looked around one last time, and discovered a weird looking door that looked different from the rest, he ran towards it and looked at the front, it was covered in what looks to be police tape, and a big sign that says: “RESTRICTED AREA! DO NOT ENTER.” He hesitated slightly, but the approaching footsteps were just too much, and swung the door open, not even being shocked that it was unlocked before running into the room and closing the door, trapping him inside.

Even though it was pitch black, he felt like it there was a second pair of eyes staring at him, but the first thing he had to do was to find a light switch, so he moves his hands around until he felt a wall stop him, so he felt around the smooth walls, there are times when he felt something that wasn’t smooth or felt blocky, but none of them were the light switch, so he continued, until he felt another smooth bulge, “I think this is it…” He said to himself, as he pressed his hand on the middle of the bulge, and and something clicked, the next thing he knew was that the whole room was swallowed by the light.

He had found the light switch, but he also found out those eyes belonged to that same sylveon, it’s face is now riddled with concern and fear. “W-YOU!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?! HOW DID YOU GET I-oh my gosh what the hell is that?” He stopped in the middle of his rant, and looked to the left of him to find a highly advanced looking machine, with a giant gaping hole in the middle that looked intentional, with all the complicated looking mechanics and buttons that even a professional engineer wouldn’t know of, it was fascinating to say the lease.

“Woah… this is like the movies.” He admired, walking up to it to touch it, his curiosity now spiking up to beyond his expectations, he felt the sylveon trying to wrap it feelers around his arm again, but he pulled his hand away. “I SAID NOT NOW DAMMIT!” He snapped, quickly lost that feeling of anger at the moment he saw sylveon’s face, it looked hurt, it was just trying to do his job, and and he hurt the Pokémon simply for that.

He sighed silently and leaned against the machine. “I’m so sorry, n-no… that doesn’t mean anything if I keep hurting everyone around me, you’re simply doing your job to protect me, and I keep hurting you for that, I don’t know what to do, if that’s stupid-“ His breakdown was quickly interrupted as he heard the machine make a weird crunching sound, he and sylveon backed off, he felt his hair stand on end, exactly like Dave’s Flareon, scared to the point of unconsciousness.

Slowly, the giant circle connected to the machine begin to spin, increasing in speed each time it completed a loop, and the hollow space in the middle begin to glow a neon blue, he looked at the bottom of the machine.

It was a portal generator…

“OH SHIT! HELP! JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE HELP!” He turned the door handle to open the door, but it was firmly shut, like the rusting lock finally gave away and became stuck, he was stuck here, he felt like 1 million hands was pulling him forward, like metal.

To the absolute whore of any possibility, it was pulling him in, it was acting like a black hole.

“HELP! DAMMIT, HELP ME!” He shouted out, pulling and turning the door handle in every way in hopes of somehow unlocking it, the sylveon was at the corner of the room behind the portal, where gravity does not seem to be pulled in, it was getting so strong to the point. His legs were lifted off the ground, the only sort of resistance being his arms holding the door handle with dear life, he hoped that somehow in some way, the generator will break like any other object in this laboratory.

But it didn’t…

His arms couldn’t take the restricted blood access and stress put in his fingers, and despite holding on with all of his strength, his body couldn’t take it anymore, and he let go…

He screamed, kicking his feet against the ground for even the slightest distance away from the portal, but it was only a short while until his feet were consumed by the massive energy, he couldn’t scream for help, for it was too late, he could only watch as the corners of his vision turned to white.

The last thing he could look at before being unconscious was the horrified face of the sylveon, who failed its job to protect him…

Chapter Text

For awhile, darkness was all he could see, he couldn’t open his eyes, nor move his body at all, he couldn’t even fill the air around him, like he was in a void full of misery, or maybe he really did die, and Arceus was waiting for him to wake up so he can judge his sins, and he knew for all the awful stuff that he did, it was certain he was going to hell.

So While he was quietly unconscious, he began to think of all the stuff that he did in his life, all the bad stuff that he did, even stuff that isn’t his fault, he thought of himself as such a coward, even letting his dad…

“… Wait… What did my dad do again? W-WAIT A MINUTE, I just was remembering what had happened to… WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? I CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING, wait if I just… DAMM IT! OH GOD OH GOD, I STILL CAN’T REMEMBER, no… No no no no m-maybe this is the process of portals, so if I just wait until I-“

“W-wake up! You’re not breathing right!” A voice called out, but it was barely audible, it wasn’t coming from his head, and he haven’t heard that voice before, what was going on, wait a minute… am I starting to hear again?..

That seems to be a fact, as some of his senses are slowly coming back, what he felt on his back was cold and smooth, but at the same time it felt like he could move his hands into it before it hesitated, like… sand… was he in a beach?

That question seems to be answered as his sense of sound was getting stronger, and he could hear the water crashing down, even touching his weirdly cold finger tips, making the sand unpleasantly wet.

“P-please wake up! You don’t sound good! WAKE UP!” The sudden increase of volume frightened him for a second, even though his body doesn’t show that, but ever so slowly, his sense of vision was back, he slowly was able to open his eyes to see who was calling out to wake him up.

And he was then met face-to-face with a Espurr.

He screamed loud enough to hear the sound of wings flapping into the air, he accidentally seem to scare the poor birds, he backed off until his back was abruptly stopped by a large rock wall in the beach that coiled between the sand and the grass, separating them, but also cornering him, his scream also frightened the Espurr, her fur standing on edge in fear.

“OH… Oh… It’s just an Espurr… Uh.. You’re rather large… And where is your trainer??” He asked, he also noticed that she seems to be wearing a pure red bandanna around her neck, but he doesn’t care about that for now, so he waited for her to respond, but the response caught Michael completely offguard, not like a chirp or body language signalling him to follow it, but she SPOKE.

“Uhm? What trainer?” She said, tilting her head and having an obvious expression of confusion, Michael stood there for what felt like years, years of absolute shock, the breeze from the calm blue sky drafted up upon them, making the Espurr’s fur wave to synchronise with the rhythm of the sky, and when he absorbed what just happened, he exploded. “W-WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW CAN YOU SPEAK!!!? WHAT WORLD IS THIS?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! OH GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” He screamed, backing off despite the boulder blocking his escape.

“W-woah woah! It’s okay buddy! I’m not gonna steal from you or anything! I was just making sure yo-“

“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!” He screamed, trying to push away the espurr despite not making any contact, he continued before catching a glimpse of his hands, he stopped his mental breakdown to look at them again.

They were the colour of green, the green that belonged to healthy shining grass, and the 3 pointed tips are where his fingers are, he knows whose hands they belong to, it belonged to a Snivy, but if that means that he has those hands, then it must mean one thing only.

He turned into a Pokémon…

“OH GOD! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME?! WHERE ARE MY REGULAR HANDS?! WHY AM I GREEN?! WHY DO I LOOK WEIRD?! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?! DID YOU DO THIS?!” He accused the espurr, he became more and more panicked that a heart attack could kill him any second, as his blood pressure got more violent, and his new heart went into exhaustion to handle the sudden burst of pressure, even feeling the corners of his vision coming into a blur.

“N-no! Calm down please! N-NO NO STOP DON’T DO THAT!” The Espurr shouted while witnessing Michael trying to scratch his body out of him, she rushed forward and wrapped her grey paws around him, trying to prevent him from harming himself, even if his little fingers haven’t done any visible harm to him.

“GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME PLEASE GET OFF ME!” He repeatedly shouted, squirming and pushing in anyway he can, but despite his struggles, the Espurr surprisingly had a iron grip, slowly, he’s shouts started to get weaker, and then they disappear, and the grip around him loosened into a more gentle hold, almost like a hug.

“It’s okay… do you mind telling me why you screamed like that? Did something happen?” She said with a smooth and trusting voice, her tone seemingly calms down Michael’s nerves.

“I don’t know! I was somewhere before here but I can’t remember! No matter what I can’t remember what was on the other world, but for some reason… I still remember that I’m a human, I-“ He abruptly stopped as he looked at espurr’s eyes twitch into confusion, maybe even a sign of amusement.

“Human?… isn’t that a myth?” She said, now fully releasing Michael and sitting right next to him, it’s really weird that even though they were in an entire different world or dimension, humans were technically still a thing, then that means this world is purely Pokémon… It’s kind of strange in a way.

“W-wh-no no no! I am a human! I got here because… B-Because…” He tried to remember as hard as he could, but that memory simply doesn’t exist anymore, and probably never will, but even if he somehow remembers, or if he will, she’ll probably never believe him, not well acting like a bloody maniac.

“Breathe… Breathe alright?…” The Espurr calmly said, holding Michael’s hand, even though he hesitated a bit, he took a few deep breaths, which calmed him down even more… although he was still wary. “Uhm.. uh… What’s your name?” He asked, while continuing to breathe normally.

“Oh! I forgot we are complete strangers! Hehe… My name is Eve, and what’s yours?…” Eve replied, letting out a charming but rather forced smile.

“M-Michael… Uhhh, N-N-Nice to meet you. I think…” He stuttered, as he looked at the beach around him, he suddenly sat up and went to the rushing water to look at his reflection, although it was faintly covered by bubbles and the salt in the ocean, he can clearly see that he turned into a snivy.

“I look so… Stupid…” He said to himself, feeling around his face and body, then saw as Eve stood right beside him. “Is it really true that humans are real, if so, is any of our residence really Pokémon?… or humans… am i human?” She said, her tone suddenly changing to suspicion, but she quickly puts on a smile. “Nah… I’m obviously born in this island… But still, is it really true that you’re telling the truth.. Michael?” She asked.

“I am telling the truth! I really am a human, I wouldn’t put this much into acting paranoid if I was a real born Snivy… Even I know I’m horrible at acting.” He sniffled, distracting himself by looking at the blue waves crashing into each other, while Eve copies what he’s doing.

The silence despite the waves seems really relaxing, even though his memories are gone, he can still feel that memorable feeling watching the ocean continue it’s routine, he imagined all the Pokémon that were thriving in the shimmering corals, swimming around all day, with not much worries other than food and predators.

But the weird thing is, they are all talking and they do seem rather intelligent, so they must have some sort of society, then does that mean that they have laws? Laws against killing other Pokémon, it seemed like our own world, but what about the carnivorous Pokémon? Are they forced to eat fruit or vegetable despite their systems not being used to them, it’s just-

Suddenly, a faint growl appeared, and it seems to be coming from Michael’s stomach. “Ugh… forgotten I haven’t eaten all day, not that I can remember that…” He said, talking about food seems to remind him of his own hunger, he then heard a chuckle coming from Eve. “Op! Sorry, h-hey! I can go get you some apples from the market, it’s just a bit of a long walk from here.” She offered, feeling honoured upon seeing Michael’s smile for the first time since he appeared on this weird island.

“That’s… Awfully kind of you, you didn’t have to do that, but.. Wait hold on, did you come to enjoy the beach, or something else?” He asked, politely waiting for a response, while looking for a stick to draw on the sand.

“Oh… Well you see… One of our residents got kidnapped last night, but not just anyone, our town’s best detective, Buttercup the butterfree.” She revealed, continuing on with her story.

Michael stopped completely, and turned to her direction in mild interest, but he also caught something else that was really weird, a Espurr is named Eve, and the Butterfree is named Buttercup. Does everyone have a name that corresponds to their first letter of their Pokémon name, it was extremely weird, just… why?

“He was… A weird fellow, he was beloved by most of the citizens, although he was nervous, he… Nervous but just such a talkative butterfree, he would spend all of his hours into a single case just because it interests him, he doesn’t care about money or appreciation from people, I used to be such good friends with him, but as I said, he got kidnapped…” she took a long deep breath before continuing.

“And since I wanted to rest my mind about this incident, I went to the beach to calm down, and then I found you unconscious! It’s just… So many things happening at once… It’s insane really… I don’t know how I’m gonna help everyone.” She sat down besides him, probably thinking of what to do to help Buttercup. Michael tried to say something, but he shut his mouth when Eve stood up, brushing the sand off her fur.

“OH! right right the market! I’m so sorry that I forgot I’ll… Let’s just go there, all right Michael?” Eve said, encouraging Michael with a swipe of her paw and walking towards the forest that blocked the view of the island. “All right Eve… i’ll try to help you with your case… however I… can...” He insisted, although he might be a coward, and he was known to break a couple of promises, this time he’ll promise to keep that word, even if it is not his business.