Diglett Cave (3/3)

[Words: 1394]

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Without any rhyme or reason, Lora blinked and was suddenly dropped on her ass like a sack of potatoes.

"Ow! What the hell is- Where are we?" Her memory had never failed her before.

The NPCs were breathing hard, holding onto the cave walls, especially Izan who was visibly sweating his ass off. He looked like he was in pain. Why was he in pain? Holding his leg, he-

"What the hell is going on? And what's wrong with your leg?" She blurted out.

That… never happened. She didn't blurt things out. That was not what Lora did.

And she didn't forget things either. This… this was wrong. Completely, utterly, gravely wrong.

"Oh, great, and now she's got memory loss. Arceus, fuck me." Izan said to no one in particular, lying against the cave wall.

No, no she didn't. Lora didn't get memory loss, and she would prove it. By

They were going into Diglett's Cave to find out why the Diglett were getting rowdy as a part of a mission. As a group, they invited Izan along, whom she discovered was a Mystic. And he was an NPC with high LUCK.

After a pretty short journey, they entered the cave, got chased by a horde of Diglett and Dugtrio, and successfully managed to run away with Izan's help.

Then, they encountered the… they encountered the…

It had no name. It had no station in reality. It wasn't a PLAYER, nor an NPC, nor a… thing. It shouldn't exist. It shouldn't. According to every law within reality imaginable, it was wrong.

And it was so filled with maliceragewrathfury that she couldn't… she couldn't…

It was getting hard to breathe. Why was it so hard to breathe? Where was Natu?

"Oi." Someone said something. Who? Why did they sound so far away? "You're hyperventilating. I don't know how to help but maybe just focus on me and not whatever you're thinking about. Focus usually helps me calm down."

Focus on them? On who? It was getting harder to hear them, and her vision was getting blurrier. Where were they? All she could see was-

"Gold." That was… her, right? That was her voice.

"That's right, just focus on my eyes. Or the color, whatever you wanna do to calm down." And that voice was… Izan.

That's right, Izan. She was starting to remember now. Whatever that thing was, Izan lashed out with a kick after it roared its loneliness and confusion at them.

She remembered its head snapping back from the impact, and that was when three cats clapped at the same time, stunning it.

It was Joe's cats, his squad of Meowth.

And that move was his secret technique.

A combination attack he designed to try and stun an opponent so badly they fainted. Two [Fake Out] attacks and a [Helping Hand].

That would never actually cause something to faint, but it was amusing that he thought it did.

And then she just stared at the thing for what felt like an eternity. It was so foreign, so odd. Pink, bipedal canid with a flat face and huge canines protruding off its muzzle. If it wasn't so terrifying, she would've thought it was cute.

"Hello? You stopped hyperventilating but you're still not all there, are you?"

Cute? That thing looked… familiar. It was… a Pokemon. Obviously.

"Okay, just continue ignoring me then."

And if she cross-referenced its features to the descriptions she knew of every Pokemon in the Pokedex, it would be…

"Granbull." She blurted out again. That was getting annoying, now. And it couldn't be Granbull, that didn't make-

"Yep, that was a Granbull. Though I don't know why it looked like that. That was one ugly sonuvabitch. Literally, in its case." Right, Izan was still there.

Sitting next to her. Staring straight into her eyes. Barely inches apart.

"Gah!" She pushed him and scurried back, forcing down her blush. Now was not the time to be thinking about… that. And in any case, he was just a lowly NPC, and she… she-

A loud smacking sound echoed in the dimly lit cavern. Her cheeks began to burn at the sensation.

-She needed to focus. First, she couldn't remember things and started having a panic attack, and then she almost considered Izan a person. Someone capable of receiving her affection.

If anything, he'd just be a cute pet. Wait, cute? Eww, if anything he looked like… like… honestly, he just looked like the average person.

Her brain obviously must've been scrambled by that Granbull's roar.

And even if it hadn't done so, she refused to be manipulated by something as common as the suspension bridge effect. Well, common among Pokemon trainers.

"No, that's impossible. It couldn't have been a Granbull." She finally replied, getting back on track.

He gave her a blank stare before sighing. What was that about- Oh yeah, she just pushed him. Sorry, not sorry. "Well, why couldn't it be?"

"Because it was way too tall. Plus, Granbulls are notorious for being cowards. It wouldn't have used an attack on us since we outnumber it. Unless…"

"Unless…?" Joe asked- Oh, right, the other two were still here.

"Unless it was enraged and felt cornered. But even then it shouldn't have reacted so violently." She explained. "If I recall correctly, the Snubbul line is one of the first Pokemon to be documented as trained by people. They are not like… that."

Izan snorted. "Yeah, no shit it wasn't acting correctly. It looked more like a ghost Pokemon with its red eyes and weird aura."

The conversation paused as everyone turned to stare at Izan.

He blinked, perking an eyebrow up. "What? Was it something I said?"

"Izan…" She began slowly. "There was no 'weird aura'. Nor were its eyes red. And speaking of eyes, why are yours… pulsating? And an entirely different color."

At that, his face went uncharacteristically blank. As in, absolutely zero emotion behind that look.

He wasn't that emotive of a person, but he wore his emotions on his sleeve.

This entire thing better not have been a part of his stupid elaborate backstory or something equally dumb.

Arceus, she hated dealing with high-profile NPCs. Everything they did would just escalate further and further into one big saga of stupidity.

The moment they were done here she was finding a new Party. Joe and Robin were easy to deal with but they weren't worth dealing with Izan.

It was nothing personal to Izan, she just couldn't deal with the stress he brought with him.

"Okay, clarifying question." He began hesitantly. "Did you happen to get a glimpse into its mind? Is that why you were freaking out so badly?"

The moment he said that her breathing picked up. B-but she wouldn't… She refused to lose control.

She clenched her fists and grit her teeth as she thought back with perfect clarity. She was fucking Lora the absolute. THE Player.

A simple question would not incapacitate her.

"Yeah," She spat out rather than spoke. "Disregarding how… wrong it was, it was like someone closed its heart off, forcing it to live in apathy. It's trapped in a labyrinth with no exit. A maze with no prize.

"It probably doesn't even realize it's… well, here. Most likely? That Granbull is just attacking anything it can sense, scared out of its mind."

…

"…What the fuck." Yes, thank you Robin for that intelligent summary.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Izan sighed, flopping back onto the ground. "I'm pretty sure I know what's going on, then."

"Whatever it is, we need to leave and get help. If it stays like that, someone is gonna get hurt. And Granbull will probably hurt itself in the process." Joe suddenly spoke up.

"You guys can get out of here, but I'm pretty sure that I'm supposed to deal with that dog myself," Izan replied, holding his hands over his face.

"Are you stupid?" Robin blurted out. And Lora couldn't help but agree.

He continued, ignoring her completely. "That 'thing', if what Lora said is correct, is a Shadow Pokemon."

…A what?

"And if it's a shadow-" He held up a hand, glaring at it for a few seconds.

Abruptly, a thrumming sound filled the room as a golden light enveloped his hand, brightening up the dimly lit cavern.

"Then I'm the light." He huffed.

A/N:

Oddly enough, I find writing characters other than Izan easier. Also, panic attacks aren't that easily resolved, but she IS a psychic in another world where people evolved from Pokemon so...

I have a question- What's the last fic you read before this one? Last one I read was Yamcha RPG. Made me wanna write my own DBZ system fic tbh.