yellowfire7
New Member
Every time I try to type an intro, it comes out awkward. You'll figure out what it's about pretty quickly. Enjoy.
It’s not like it’s real. That’s just a legend. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be angry at me for doing it. Even if it doesn’t curse me, it might attack me.
I shifted my hand to the various balls on my belt, just to reassure myself that they were there if I needed them. I licked my lips nervously and glanced back at Matt, who was leaning on a rock with a smirk on his face.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re scared,” he whispered so as not to wake the sleeping ninetales. “You said it was just a legend. Are you really afraid the big bad fox is going to get you?”
“It is just a legend. I’ll prove it,” I whispered back, with a little more bravado than I felt. Still, I hesitated for a second before leaning down and stroking one of the fox’s white tails, then jerked backwards as it moved slightly.
Nothing happened. I didn’t feel any pain, it didn’t spit fire. It didn’t even look like it woke up. I grinned triumphantly and turned back to Mark, who was still smirking.
Ha! I knew it was nothing.
“See? No curse. You owe – aagh!” I grabbed my hand as a searing pain went through it. It felt like it was on fire, and as I watched, it actually lit up in blue flame. My friend’s face paled, the smirk gone, and he backed away as a light growl sounded behind me. I turned to see that the fox had actually woken up, and was standing and glaring at me. Its tails were held up behind it, glowing ominously around the edges. I let go of my hand to grab a ball, but as I held it out before me, the ninetales’ eyes met mine, and I froze, unable to move or escape its gaze. I heard footsteps echoing down the hall behind me, signaling that I was now alone with the angry fox.
‘Arrogant human! You dare trespass here and test me? You knew full well what the punishment was for dishonoring me so, and you chose to come anyway. You have brought this curse upon yourself.’
The ninetales opened its mouth and a vortex of blue fire came from its mouth. I closed my eyes, waiting for the flames to consume me, and finally let go of the ball in my hand. There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly I finished the step I had taken. I opened my eyes and ran for the entrance to the cavern, stopping to look back only when a scream came from behind me.
Gardevoir was covered in blue flame, her eyes closed tightly, arms over her chest. After what seemed like eternity, she fell to her knees. My eyes almost met the ninetales’ again, but I ran out of the chamber. I could not escape one last telepathic message however.
‘So you choose to abandon one who sacrificed their existence for you. If you turn back, you may be able to save her. Will you really betray her?’
I kept running straight out of the cave, not looking back.
The ninetales sat and looked at the gardevoir breathing heavily on the ground. The flames had disappeared, but they would soon return after the workings of the curse had fully begun.
“Your trainer is arrogant and cruel. He is foolish and stupid. As a psychic, you knew this. Why did you take his curse for him?”
The gardevoir coughed and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees.
“He is still my trainer, and that is what I do. Kirlia do not evolve for their trainers unless they are prepared to give their life for them. Do not…” Her speech was interrupted by a series of coughs. “Do not insult him. He is misguided, yes, but he was not always so. He still has a heart inside. He did not mean you any dishonor. Please forgive him.”
The ninetales frowned.
“You don’t have long to live. Soon, the curse will come to its full strength and will destroy your body. And you waste what may be your last words on someone who abandoned you? He lives on pride and selfishness, and considers you beneath him. Why are you not angry at him for leaving you?”
The gardevoir raised herself enough to sit against a rock, and leaned her head back against it, closing her eyes.
“As I told you before, that is what my species does. I gave myself to protect him. The fact that he left hurts, but the fact that I would be unable to protect him from you if he stayed would be worse. Forgive him for what he did. He did not mean any harm. His heart is not yet completely hardened, and he may change.”
The ninetales inclined her head, watching the gardevoir with one eye.
“Very well, I will not seek further revenge. You should know, however, that he did not escape unscathed. The moment he touched my tail, he was set apart as cursed. There will be consequences for what he has done, but I will not increase them. I would lessen your curse if I could, but once placed, it cannot be changed.”
The gardevoir sighed and opened her eyes, smiling at the fox before her.
“Thank you. He has been through enough.”
The ninetales turned away and went deeper into the cave without speaking another word aloud.
‘He may have been, but you will be through much more. That curse was never meant for you.’
There was no reply. The ninetales settled itself on another rock to resume its sleep, disturbed only by a brief flash of blue.
I kept running through the cave, my hand burning with pain that somehow did not seem to harm it, fearful that if I stopped to look back, I would see that ninetales coming towards me. When I saw the town, I finally slowed down, coming to a stop a few feet past the first hut. Nobody was out; night had fallen an hour before. I finally looked back, to an empty and silent forest. I gripped my hand again, and examined it. The fire had mostly gone out, but a section remained in a faint swirl on my palm. I covered it with my other hand and began walking home.
She didn’t have to do that. It’s her fault for jumping in the way. It’s not my fault.
After a few minutes of walking, I arrived home. I glanced at my hand again; the flame had died down to no more than a spark. Relieved at the thought that I really had gotten away with no more than a fear of ninetales, I walked inside.
It’s not my fault.
“So, who is coming before me now?”
I jerked my head around, and saw nothing but black. I seemed to be standing on something, but I didn’t feel anything.
Where am I? I was just walking down the street! Then… there was someone else…
“You were stabbed. You died a messy death. These last, fading memories are always slow to arrive.”
I turned again, looking for the source of the voice. I still couldn’t see anyone, but a few rocks, some trees, and the ground were coming into view. I was standing on something that looked like grass, but it was just too stiff to be grass, and it felt like I was standing on tiny pins.
“So I’m - I’m dead? Where am I? And who are you?”
A strong breeze blew from in front of me; the first breeze I had felt in this world. Just as suddenly, it returned to a deathly calm.
“I believe I asked you that first. Besides, I just told you that you died; who else would you appear before but the ruler of the dead?”
I gasped and stumbled backwards as a large serpent-like dragon appeared before me. It was every inch the image of death, with grey skin punctuated by marks of red and black. It floated several feet off of the ground; it had no wings or anything else to keep it in the air, but nonetheless it stayed there, almost daring gravity to try and claim it. Several black tentacle-like appendages protruded from the back of its neck, ending in red spikes. A series of gold rings circled its neck, culminating in what appeared to be a crown on its head. Its crown obscured most of its face, leaving only its eyes visible.
As soon as I saw its eyes, everything else seemed to fade. It was impossible to tell if the dragon was sneering at me, as its mouth was coved by a golden plate, but its eyes seemed to say it was. They were a deep crimson, harsh and powerful. Unbidden, a memory of the freezing power of the ninetales’ eyes came to mind, the similarity frightening. When it saw my reaction, Giratina (as I remembered its name was) laughed and floated up and back.
“For your first question, you may guess that this is the spirit world, but we are not there yet. We are in a world in transition; in between.”
“Between what?” I dreaded the answer to my question, but I couldn’t help asking.
The serpent turned and circled me, its eyes locked on mine almost hungrily. I turned my head to follow it, afraid of what would happen if he got behind me. It did not respond until it finished a complete circle.
“That is entirely dependent.” Its eyes continued to bore into me during a few seconds of silence. I felt my heart racing as he studied me, and it sped up even more as I realized something.
I have a pulse? I thought I was dead…
“Sir,” I said, breaking the silence, “if I’m dead, as you say, why do I have a pulse?”
“Why, indeed,” it stated in a slightly more interested tone. “Raise your hand. Level with your shoulder.”
I blinked, surprised at his request, but did so when he growled at me. I flinched as it floated closer so that the plates on its mouth were inches from my hand. Its eyes flicked towards mine, then returned to my hand.
“Do not move.”
I trembled, but did not move my hand as the plates slid back to reveal the creature’s mouth. Giratina said something quietly that I did not hear, then backed away as my hand burst into blue flame. I shouted and grabbed my hand as the creature cackled, not seeming to care that I was disobeying its order. The flame quickly died out, and the creature returned to studying me from a distance.
“I thought so. The boy cursed by the ninetales. Cursed to wander forever, denied the roles of both the living and the dead. Or, so it was supposed to be, but that doesn’t appear to have been what took place.”
After a moment more, the creature turned away and vanished, leaving me holding my hand. It felt warm, but not burning as it had been. I didn’t move from my spot, because I had no idea where I would go. After a few minutes, Giratina returned.
“Come with me.” The creature didn’t stay to talk, but turned and floated away. I followed it, but apparently not quickly enough; whenever I fell more than a few feet behind, I was pulled forward as if on a leash. By the time Giratina stopped in a clearing (that looked no different than the one we had started in), I was exhausted and covered in bruises.
“What was that for?” I started to glare at him, but quailed as he glared back, ignoring my question.
“You may have not been fully cursed, but you are unable to pass into the spirit realm.” He waited a second for that to sink in.
“Wait… that means I can’t die?”
He gave a short laugh. “Obviously not, as you just did a few minutes ago. No, that means you simply cannot move on after death. And because I do not wish to spend eternity talking to you, I’m sending you to another world.”
“There are other worlds?”
He sighed. “I’m only explaining this to you so shock doesn’t send you right back here after you go in. Don’t ask stupid questions.”
I pondered my next question a moment before asking it. “What world are you sending me to?”
“A world without your kind.” It didn’t seem inclined to expand on that statement, so I let it go.
“So I’m not dead? I’m going to live again?”
“You will not be dead in this world. But alive? That is not entirely true either.”
Before I could ask him what he meant by that, he took a deep breath and roared at me. I covered my ears to try to block it out, but it was painfully loud even through my hands. It even seemed to distort the air in between the two of us; suddenly that distortion grew, and it felt like I was in the middle of a cyclone.
Suddenly the cyclone stopped. I opened my eyes to realize that I was looking at blackness again. Then I realized that I wasn’t holding my hands over my ears; I couldn’t feel my hands. With a surge of panic, I realized I couldn’t feel my ears either, or any other part of my body. I tried to stand up, despite the fact that I couldn’t feel my legs, and found to my surprise that I floated upwards through a rock. Suddenly, I found myself in bright sunlight. I had risen up out of what seemed to be a recently collapsed cave; there were walls all around, with a few holes poking through the ceiling, and the dust still had not settled. An eerie purple dust kept swirling on the edges of my vision.
What is going on? How did I go through a rock? Where am I?
“Hey, there’s someone here!” I turned towards the voice and saw a small blue and white creature walking towards me, with a purple snake slithering behind it. A meditite and ekans, I realized as they came closer. I saw no human who would have shouted those words.
“Are you okay?” With a shock, I realized it was the meditite who was talking to me.
“Yeah, I’m- I’m fine,” I stuttered. The meditite peered at me, unconvinced.
“Are you sure? You don’t sound like it.”
“Of course he is, meditite, ghosts are not harmed so easily,” the ekans stated, his speech slurring a little as he flicked his tongue in and out. “Do you know what happened here? The ground has never before shook like it did a few moments ago. It sounded as if it were roaring.”
“Ghost?” I stared at him, my mouth hanging open in shock. I’m dead again?
Forgetting that they were even there, I hurried over to a chunk of metal I saw in the rubble around me. I looked in it, and sure enough, the face reflected back at me was not my own. My head was a ball of purple gas, my eyes large and black, devoid of color. I had a mouth, and fangs, but beyond that I had no body. So that’s what Giratina meant by not quite alive…
“I told you he wasn’t alright,” I heard behind me.
“Quiet, we need to help others to get the rewards,” the ekans whispered back, but I still heard it. I floated back from my reflection, unwilling to stare at it any longer but unable to look away from what I had become.
“So, what’s your name?” The question finally tore me away from my reflection, and I looked back at the ekans. The meditite was searching through the rubble, breaking rocks that it could not move with swift punches.
“My name’s Gastly.” Wait, no it’s not! My name is… my name…
I couldn’t remember it. I couldn’t remember anything that had happened. I knew I was human… there was a ninetales, sometime, somewhere… then there was Giratina, and the curse… but then I was here. There was someone else, too. Not a human, a pokémon. I couldn’t remember who it was, but it was connected to the ninetales somehow.
“I’m Ekans, and that’s Meditite,” he said, pointing at the meditite behind him who pulled something from the rubble triumphantly, examined it, and then threw it aside. “Was there anyone else in the cave when it collapsed?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. What else was I supposed to say? “I don’t even know where I am.”
“You’re in the bottom of Beach Cave. We were sent here to find an item, but it seems to have been buried.” He flicked his tail towards the rubble behind him.
“You could look for it, you know.” Meditite had rejoined us, apparently giving up on the rubble pile.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a ghost. You can go through rocks with no trouble at all. You can help us find it.”
“What? Why should I help you?”
“We’ll let you join us,” the ekans supplied before the meditite could say anything else. “As a rescue team, we go around a lot, and we get rewards for helping people and finding items. I’m sure you’d enjoy that, and you would be a great help.”
“Yeah, we get to explore a bunch of places too. Some places are really cool. It’s even rumored that there are pokemon with special powers, or links to other worlds in some of the older ruins,” the meditite added excitedly when I hesitated.
Other worlds? I... came from another world. Didn’t I? It’s hard to remember… I'm still not sure what's going on, but finding out where I am might help, and being alone isn't a very inviting prospect. Maybe doing some exploring wouldn't be such a bad thing. Besides, they mentioned something about rewards, so it's not all bad.
“So… what exactly are we looking for?”
~*~*~
It’s not like it’s real. That’s just a legend. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be angry at me for doing it. Even if it doesn’t curse me, it might attack me.
I shifted my hand to the various balls on my belt, just to reassure myself that they were there if I needed them. I licked my lips nervously and glanced back at Matt, who was leaning on a rock with a smirk on his face.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re scared,” he whispered so as not to wake the sleeping ninetales. “You said it was just a legend. Are you really afraid the big bad fox is going to get you?”
“It is just a legend. I’ll prove it,” I whispered back, with a little more bravado than I felt. Still, I hesitated for a second before leaning down and stroking one of the fox’s white tails, then jerked backwards as it moved slightly.
Nothing happened. I didn’t feel any pain, it didn’t spit fire. It didn’t even look like it woke up. I grinned triumphantly and turned back to Mark, who was still smirking.
Ha! I knew it was nothing.
“See? No curse. You owe – aagh!” I grabbed my hand as a searing pain went through it. It felt like it was on fire, and as I watched, it actually lit up in blue flame. My friend’s face paled, the smirk gone, and he backed away as a light growl sounded behind me. I turned to see that the fox had actually woken up, and was standing and glaring at me. Its tails were held up behind it, glowing ominously around the edges. I let go of my hand to grab a ball, but as I held it out before me, the ninetales’ eyes met mine, and I froze, unable to move or escape its gaze. I heard footsteps echoing down the hall behind me, signaling that I was now alone with the angry fox.
‘Arrogant human! You dare trespass here and test me? You knew full well what the punishment was for dishonoring me so, and you chose to come anyway. You have brought this curse upon yourself.’
The ninetales opened its mouth and a vortex of blue fire came from its mouth. I closed my eyes, waiting for the flames to consume me, and finally let go of the ball in my hand. There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly I finished the step I had taken. I opened my eyes and ran for the entrance to the cavern, stopping to look back only when a scream came from behind me.
Gardevoir was covered in blue flame, her eyes closed tightly, arms over her chest. After what seemed like eternity, she fell to her knees. My eyes almost met the ninetales’ again, but I ran out of the chamber. I could not escape one last telepathic message however.
‘So you choose to abandon one who sacrificed their existence for you. If you turn back, you may be able to save her. Will you really betray her?’
I kept running straight out of the cave, not looking back.
~*~*~
The ninetales sat and looked at the gardevoir breathing heavily on the ground. The flames had disappeared, but they would soon return after the workings of the curse had fully begun.
“Your trainer is arrogant and cruel. He is foolish and stupid. As a psychic, you knew this. Why did you take his curse for him?”
The gardevoir coughed and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees.
“He is still my trainer, and that is what I do. Kirlia do not evolve for their trainers unless they are prepared to give their life for them. Do not…” Her speech was interrupted by a series of coughs. “Do not insult him. He is misguided, yes, but he was not always so. He still has a heart inside. He did not mean you any dishonor. Please forgive him.”
The ninetales frowned.
“You don’t have long to live. Soon, the curse will come to its full strength and will destroy your body. And you waste what may be your last words on someone who abandoned you? He lives on pride and selfishness, and considers you beneath him. Why are you not angry at him for leaving you?”
The gardevoir raised herself enough to sit against a rock, and leaned her head back against it, closing her eyes.
“As I told you before, that is what my species does. I gave myself to protect him. The fact that he left hurts, but the fact that I would be unable to protect him from you if he stayed would be worse. Forgive him for what he did. He did not mean any harm. His heart is not yet completely hardened, and he may change.”
The ninetales inclined her head, watching the gardevoir with one eye.
“Very well, I will not seek further revenge. You should know, however, that he did not escape unscathed. The moment he touched my tail, he was set apart as cursed. There will be consequences for what he has done, but I will not increase them. I would lessen your curse if I could, but once placed, it cannot be changed.”
The gardevoir sighed and opened her eyes, smiling at the fox before her.
“Thank you. He has been through enough.”
The ninetales turned away and went deeper into the cave without speaking another word aloud.
‘He may have been, but you will be through much more. That curse was never meant for you.’
There was no reply. The ninetales settled itself on another rock to resume its sleep, disturbed only by a brief flash of blue.
~*~*~
I kept running through the cave, my hand burning with pain that somehow did not seem to harm it, fearful that if I stopped to look back, I would see that ninetales coming towards me. When I saw the town, I finally slowed down, coming to a stop a few feet past the first hut. Nobody was out; night had fallen an hour before. I finally looked back, to an empty and silent forest. I gripped my hand again, and examined it. The fire had mostly gone out, but a section remained in a faint swirl on my palm. I covered it with my other hand and began walking home.
She didn’t have to do that. It’s her fault for jumping in the way. It’s not my fault.
After a few minutes of walking, I arrived home. I glanced at my hand again; the flame had died down to no more than a spark. Relieved at the thought that I really had gotten away with no more than a fear of ninetales, I walked inside.
It’s not my fault.
~*~*~
(Many years later)“So, who is coming before me now?”
I jerked my head around, and saw nothing but black. I seemed to be standing on something, but I didn’t feel anything.
Where am I? I was just walking down the street! Then… there was someone else…
“You were stabbed. You died a messy death. These last, fading memories are always slow to arrive.”
I turned again, looking for the source of the voice. I still couldn’t see anyone, but a few rocks, some trees, and the ground were coming into view. I was standing on something that looked like grass, but it was just too stiff to be grass, and it felt like I was standing on tiny pins.
“So I’m - I’m dead? Where am I? And who are you?”
A strong breeze blew from in front of me; the first breeze I had felt in this world. Just as suddenly, it returned to a deathly calm.
“I believe I asked you that first. Besides, I just told you that you died; who else would you appear before but the ruler of the dead?”
I gasped and stumbled backwards as a large serpent-like dragon appeared before me. It was every inch the image of death, with grey skin punctuated by marks of red and black. It floated several feet off of the ground; it had no wings or anything else to keep it in the air, but nonetheless it stayed there, almost daring gravity to try and claim it. Several black tentacle-like appendages protruded from the back of its neck, ending in red spikes. A series of gold rings circled its neck, culminating in what appeared to be a crown on its head. Its crown obscured most of its face, leaving only its eyes visible.
As soon as I saw its eyes, everything else seemed to fade. It was impossible to tell if the dragon was sneering at me, as its mouth was coved by a golden plate, but its eyes seemed to say it was. They were a deep crimson, harsh and powerful. Unbidden, a memory of the freezing power of the ninetales’ eyes came to mind, the similarity frightening. When it saw my reaction, Giratina (as I remembered its name was) laughed and floated up and back.
“For your first question, you may guess that this is the spirit world, but we are not there yet. We are in a world in transition; in between.”
“Between what?” I dreaded the answer to my question, but I couldn’t help asking.
The serpent turned and circled me, its eyes locked on mine almost hungrily. I turned my head to follow it, afraid of what would happen if he got behind me. It did not respond until it finished a complete circle.
“That is entirely dependent.” Its eyes continued to bore into me during a few seconds of silence. I felt my heart racing as he studied me, and it sped up even more as I realized something.
I have a pulse? I thought I was dead…
“Sir,” I said, breaking the silence, “if I’m dead, as you say, why do I have a pulse?”
“Why, indeed,” it stated in a slightly more interested tone. “Raise your hand. Level with your shoulder.”
I blinked, surprised at his request, but did so when he growled at me. I flinched as it floated closer so that the plates on its mouth were inches from my hand. Its eyes flicked towards mine, then returned to my hand.
“Do not move.”
I trembled, but did not move my hand as the plates slid back to reveal the creature’s mouth. Giratina said something quietly that I did not hear, then backed away as my hand burst into blue flame. I shouted and grabbed my hand as the creature cackled, not seeming to care that I was disobeying its order. The flame quickly died out, and the creature returned to studying me from a distance.
“I thought so. The boy cursed by the ninetales. Cursed to wander forever, denied the roles of both the living and the dead. Or, so it was supposed to be, but that doesn’t appear to have been what took place.”
After a moment more, the creature turned away and vanished, leaving me holding my hand. It felt warm, but not burning as it had been. I didn’t move from my spot, because I had no idea where I would go. After a few minutes, Giratina returned.
“Come with me.” The creature didn’t stay to talk, but turned and floated away. I followed it, but apparently not quickly enough; whenever I fell more than a few feet behind, I was pulled forward as if on a leash. By the time Giratina stopped in a clearing (that looked no different than the one we had started in), I was exhausted and covered in bruises.
“What was that for?” I started to glare at him, but quailed as he glared back, ignoring my question.
“You may have not been fully cursed, but you are unable to pass into the spirit realm.” He waited a second for that to sink in.
“Wait… that means I can’t die?”
He gave a short laugh. “Obviously not, as you just did a few minutes ago. No, that means you simply cannot move on after death. And because I do not wish to spend eternity talking to you, I’m sending you to another world.”
“There are other worlds?”
He sighed. “I’m only explaining this to you so shock doesn’t send you right back here after you go in. Don’t ask stupid questions.”
I pondered my next question a moment before asking it. “What world are you sending me to?”
“A world without your kind.” It didn’t seem inclined to expand on that statement, so I let it go.
“So I’m not dead? I’m going to live again?”
“You will not be dead in this world. But alive? That is not entirely true either.”
Before I could ask him what he meant by that, he took a deep breath and roared at me. I covered my ears to try to block it out, but it was painfully loud even through my hands. It even seemed to distort the air in between the two of us; suddenly that distortion grew, and it felt like I was in the middle of a cyclone.
Suddenly the cyclone stopped. I opened my eyes to realize that I was looking at blackness again. Then I realized that I wasn’t holding my hands over my ears; I couldn’t feel my hands. With a surge of panic, I realized I couldn’t feel my ears either, or any other part of my body. I tried to stand up, despite the fact that I couldn’t feel my legs, and found to my surprise that I floated upwards through a rock. Suddenly, I found myself in bright sunlight. I had risen up out of what seemed to be a recently collapsed cave; there were walls all around, with a few holes poking through the ceiling, and the dust still had not settled. An eerie purple dust kept swirling on the edges of my vision.
What is going on? How did I go through a rock? Where am I?
“Hey, there’s someone here!” I turned towards the voice and saw a small blue and white creature walking towards me, with a purple snake slithering behind it. A meditite and ekans, I realized as they came closer. I saw no human who would have shouted those words.
“Are you okay?” With a shock, I realized it was the meditite who was talking to me.
“Yeah, I’m- I’m fine,” I stuttered. The meditite peered at me, unconvinced.
“Are you sure? You don’t sound like it.”
“Of course he is, meditite, ghosts are not harmed so easily,” the ekans stated, his speech slurring a little as he flicked his tongue in and out. “Do you know what happened here? The ground has never before shook like it did a few moments ago. It sounded as if it were roaring.”
“Ghost?” I stared at him, my mouth hanging open in shock. I’m dead again?
Forgetting that they were even there, I hurried over to a chunk of metal I saw in the rubble around me. I looked in it, and sure enough, the face reflected back at me was not my own. My head was a ball of purple gas, my eyes large and black, devoid of color. I had a mouth, and fangs, but beyond that I had no body. So that’s what Giratina meant by not quite alive…
“I told you he wasn’t alright,” I heard behind me.
“Quiet, we need to help others to get the rewards,” the ekans whispered back, but I still heard it. I floated back from my reflection, unwilling to stare at it any longer but unable to look away from what I had become.
“So, what’s your name?” The question finally tore me away from my reflection, and I looked back at the ekans. The meditite was searching through the rubble, breaking rocks that it could not move with swift punches.
“My name’s Gastly.” Wait, no it’s not! My name is… my name…
I couldn’t remember it. I couldn’t remember anything that had happened. I knew I was human… there was a ninetales, sometime, somewhere… then there was Giratina, and the curse… but then I was here. There was someone else, too. Not a human, a pokémon. I couldn’t remember who it was, but it was connected to the ninetales somehow.
“I’m Ekans, and that’s Meditite,” he said, pointing at the meditite behind him who pulled something from the rubble triumphantly, examined it, and then threw it aside. “Was there anyone else in the cave when it collapsed?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. What else was I supposed to say? “I don’t even know where I am.”
“You’re in the bottom of Beach Cave. We were sent here to find an item, but it seems to have been buried.” He flicked his tail towards the rubble behind him.
“You could look for it, you know.” Meditite had rejoined us, apparently giving up on the rubble pile.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a ghost. You can go through rocks with no trouble at all. You can help us find it.”
“What? Why should I help you?”
“We’ll let you join us,” the ekans supplied before the meditite could say anything else. “As a rescue team, we go around a lot, and we get rewards for helping people and finding items. I’m sure you’d enjoy that, and you would be a great help.”
“Yeah, we get to explore a bunch of places too. Some places are really cool. It’s even rumored that there are pokemon with special powers, or links to other worlds in some of the older ruins,” the meditite added excitedly when I hesitated.
Other worlds? I... came from another world. Didn’t I? It’s hard to remember… I'm still not sure what's going on, but finding out where I am might help, and being alone isn't a very inviting prospect. Maybe doing some exploring wouldn't be such a bad thing. Besides, they mentioned something about rewards, so it's not all bad.
“So… what exactly are we looking for?”
