Archive of Our Own ^beta

"What about my tail?"

She blinks, terror fading under her confusion. She looks back to his tail, where a small flame burns at the tip. Then she looks at his face. He seems annoyed, but not in pain.

“It’s on fire?” She offers.

He rolls his eyes. “You act like you’ve never seen a fire type before.”

Fire type? She sniffs, hesitantly shaking her head.

He stops. Then gives her a suspicious look. “Where are you from?”

She swallows, looking around the forest. It almost seems...narrower than before. Like the trees and plants have closed in on them or something. She must be imagining it.

“I-I think I’m lost?” She says, finally getting her crying under control. “I’m a human, so I don’t know why I look like this or, um...where I am.”

“Human?” The lizard scoffs. “Yeah, sure. And I’m Moltres.”

“I am!” She protests, weakly. She manages to stand again on shaky legs, giving him a pleading look. “Really! I-I don’t know why I’m blue or have weird dog legs but I am human! I just thought I was dreaming all of this!”

The lizard snorts. “Well, you aren’t dreaming. We’re in a dungeon now thanks to you.”

“Dungeon?” She echoes, looking around at the forest.

He gives her another glare. “A mystery dungeon.” He must see the confusion on her face because his glare falters under a baffled look. “You really don’t know.”

She shakes her head. He seems like he still doesn’t believe her, but a distant cry of something birdlike makes him glance nervously into the undergrowth.

“All you need to know is that we’re stuck in this place until we make it to the exit, so we need to find it fast and get out.”

“E-Exit? But it’s a forest. Don’t we just need to retrace our steps?”

“Look around. The dungeon warps the environment, so even if we went back the way we came the terrain would be totally different.”

She blinks, looking again at their surroundings. She hadn’t been imagining the trees and undergrowth closing in on them. The trunks and plants have changed to form a wall-like barrier boxing them into something vaguely like a hallway. It’s still open, though, with leaf-dappled blue sky above them, and she can kind of see beyond the undergrowth, further into the forest. She steps closer to the “wall” and jumps back with a squeak when the undergrowth moves, twisting and interlocking into something more solid.

“You can’t break through the walls,” the lizard says, watching her. “The only way out is to find the exit.”

“O-Okay,” she whispers, stepping closer to the lizard. He may be sharp and aggressive and alien, but he’s all she knows in this place. “So how do we do that?”

“We have to find the stairs,” he says, glancing over his shoulder. “C’mon, we need to keep moving.”

“We’re looking for stairs? Like steps?”

The lizard grunts an affirmative noise.

She swallows back more questions despite her nerves and follows him forward. Okay. This isn’t so bad, right? Sure, she’s in some strange world with talking lizards (who are on fire), and she’s...also a weird animal now, she guesses? A dog? But the forest is soothing and even if he clearly doesn’t like her, the lizard at least knows what’s going on and isn’t leaving her behind. Her heart slows a bit at the thought that at least she isn’t totally alone.

The undergrowth rustles ahead of them, and the lizard stops. She tries to peek around him.

“Is it someone else?” She asks, quietly. “Are they lost too?”

“Shut up,” the lizard hisses. They stay still and silent until the rustling moves away. Then he sends her another glare. “Probably a feral.”

Well, that’s not a calming term. “Feral?”

The lizard groans and pushes his palms into his eyes, muttering something under his breath. Then, he takes a visible inhale before turning to her. “Ferals are Pokémon who get caught up in mystery dungeons and become mindlessly aggressive. If we run into them, we’ll have to fight.”

“F-Fight?!” She yelps, distantly registering the strange sensation of ears pressing against her skull. “I don’t fight people!”

“Well you’re the one who got us stuck in a mystery dungeon so you’re gonna have to!” He snaps back. “We’ll avoid the ferals when we can, but if we get attacked you won’t have much of a choice.”

“I don’t know how to,” she whimpers, tucking her hands close to her chest. “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten in a fight in my life.”

Has she? She can’t remember right now for some reason. But she does know she’s not the fighting type—the thought of it makes her physically cringe.

“All Pokémon know how to fight,” the lizard protests.

She opens her mouth to argue, then closes it again, her curiosity winning out. “Pokémon?”

The lizard’s mouth closes with a click. “Pokémon,” he says, slowly, like he’s explaining a very simple concept to a child. He sweeps a clawed hand between the two of them. “What we are?”

Oh! Like instead of saying he’s an animal, he calls himself a...Pokémon? And she’s one too? All right, that...kind of makes sense. They have different names for things then.

“Okay,” she says. “S-So we’re both Pokémon?”

“I’m a charmander,” he adds, still staring at her like he’s trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with her.

“Charmander,” she murmurs, looking again at his orange skin and long, lizard-like body. So that must be like his...species? “You do kind of look like a salamander.”

“No idea what that is,” he huffs, then turns to move down the hallway. “C’mon, we need to go or we’ll run into ferals for sure. If you’re going to be useless in a fight we should avoid them.”

She winces at that, but can’t really argue either. She doesn’t know anything about this place or what she is, and she definitely doesn’t want to fight. They walk quietly down the hall, the lizard—charmander?—peeking around the corner before they step down another hall. She looks around at the interwoven roots and plants and at the sun dappling the mossy ground, admiring the beauty of it all. It doesn’t seem so scary. It’s actually kind of peaceful, even if the moving plant life is unnerving. Maybe they won’t run into any ferals.

Of course, that’s exactly when they step into an open room where another animal—Pokémon—is rummaging through the moss. It’s a...bug? Short and compact, with a white body and an orange and yellow helmet-like head with little pincers. It’s bigger than any bug she’s seen, almost half her size, but it’s weirdly...cute?

“A grubbin,” The lizard mutters.

“It’s adorable,” she coos.

The bug turns to them with blank white eyes and chitters aggressively, before shooting some sort of weblike string at them. The lizard dodges, but she yelps and falls as it tangles around her arms and legs. Okay, less cute.

“W-What is this?!” She cries, pulling at the sticky string. It’s unusually strong and hard to break, like some kind of tape or plastic.

“String shot!” The lizard barks, running at the bug.

A flare of light distracts her from her struggling, and she’s stunned to look up and see the lizard spitting a small cloud of embers at the bug, like a dragon. She isn’t sure whether to be awed by the magical feat or concerned about the bug he’s burning to a crisp.

The bug squeaks and shuffles away from the flames, then braces itself and scoops its tiny legs into the dirt, flinging a clump of mud at the lizard and knocking him away with a hiss. It isn’t even muddy, the forest floor is dry and warm, so how did it do that? She hurries to free herself from the string, stumbling to her paws.

“Riolu, duck!”

Riolu? She glances up at the lizard’s shout, just in time for mud to slam into her face and send her sprawling again. The lizard growls something as she swipes at the mud, spitting it out of her mouth. Gross! That actually kind of hurt. As she shakes herself free, the lizard spins to slam his tail into the bug. The little creature tumbles away and falls still.

“Is it dead?” She gasps, suddenly feeling a lot less calm about being stuck with this fire lizard in the middle of some crazy magic dungeon.

“Of course not!” The lizard snaps. “It’s just knocked out.“

“Is that any better?!”

The lizard rolls his eyes. “Battling is normal. And if we lose, we might not make it out of here, so take your pick.”

She pads to his side to look at the bug herself. It’s a little charred, clearly unconscious, but it doesn’t look as bad as she expected it to after having fire breathed directly on it. Huh.

“Let’s keep moving,” the lizard says, a puff of smoke snaking between his teeth. He heads down another hallway, and she follows behind, trying to decide if she wants to ask the questions dancing on the tip of her tongue. He clearly doesn’t like her, but...he just breathed fire! How is she supposed to stay quiet about that?!

“So...you breathe fire.”

The lizard spares her an irritated glance. “And?”

“So magic is normal here?”

He snorts. “It’s not ‘magic.’ I’m a fire type. My body’s made for flames just like a water type’s would be made for water.”

She blinks, then looks down at her paws. So types are kind of like the magic system? “Do...I have a type?”

“Apparently it’s the type that won’t shut up,” he growls. She winces. After a beat, he adds, “You’re a fighting type, if I remember right.”

“Fighting type?” She echoes, unsure. “B-But...I don’t like fighting.”

The lizard groans, lashing his tail and making her hop a step back from the flame. “You don’t have to fight! Arceus. Pokémon fight for fun sometimes, but no one’s going to force you unless it’s your job as a Seeker or something. Fighting type just means your moves will have like. Fighting energy to them. So they’ll be strong against normal types and stuff.”

She stays silent, biting back a hundred more questions. Fighting energy? ‘Moves?’ Seekers? Why couldn’t she have gotten stuck with someone more friendly? She’s dying over here!

The two of them turn another corner, stopping when they emerge into another small room. A set of ivy-covered stone stairs sit in the middle of the room, going up a few steps before stopping at nothing in mid-air.

“Are those the stairs?” She asks.

“No, it’s some other set of stairs in the middle of the woods,” the lizard says.

She tries not to feel hurt by his tone, instead stepping closer to peer at them. “When you said stairs I was expecting them to go, uh. Down, I guess. Or at least to lead to something?”

The lizard ignores her, stepping onto the first stair and then pausing to wait for her. Seeing her surprise, he rolls his eyes. “If we don’t go together we might get separated. You wanna fight your own way out of here?”

She squeaks and shakes her head, hurrying to follow him up. When they reach the top step, the world seems to tilt and blur for the briefest moment. Vertigo makes her dizzy, and her stomach flips with nausea and—

Oh. They’re standing back on solid forest floor, her stumbling and trying to regain her balance. She grabs the lizard’s arm to steady herself, and he’s quick to shake her off.

“Aren’t riolu supposed to be tough?” He sneers.

When she doesn’t think she’s going to throw up, she squints up at him. “Riolu?”

He stares back at her with a look that implies she is perhaps the stupidest person he’s ever had the pleasure of meeting. “You. You’re a riolu.”

She blinks, then looks down again at her strange dog legs and blue arms with a mound of...bone? On them. There are still a few tiny bits of webbing stuck in her fur, and she takes a moment to try pulling them free. “Oh. So...like, my species is called a riolu? Like how you’re a...”

“Charmander.”

“Y-Yeah. That.”

He sighs, rubbing at his face. “I can’t tell if you’re really this stupid or if you’re just dedicated to not telling me the truth.”

“Why would I lie?” She asks, offended. “I don’t know anything about this place! I’m human!”

“Sure,” he grumbles. “Whatever. Let’s just get out of here already.“

The lizard sets off again, and she follows behind him, looking around. Their surroundings look incredibly similar, all dappled sunlight and lush foliage woven into strange hall-like structures.

“This looks exactly the same,” she mumbles.

“It’s how dungeons work,” the lizard says, distracted as he scans the halls. “The different floors usually look alike.”

She glances at him as he picks a direction to follow. “So do you go into a lot of these?”

The lizard snorts. “Nope. I’m not stupid enough to go charging into dungeons for fun. Maggie’s going to kill me for this little stunt.”

She blinks, torn between a couple different questions. He seems so confident and he knows a lot, which makes her wonder how he knows so much if he doesn’t come into dungeons often, but...

“Maggie?” She asks.

“I’m sure you’ll meet her when she chews me out,” he grumbles.

She swallows back her nerves about that. One thing at a time. “Is her species called a...Maggie?”

The lizard actually barks a short laugh. “Her name is Maggie. She’s a meganium.”

She isn’t sure whether to feel proud for making the grouchy lizard laugh or embarrassed about such a dumb question, so she ignores both impulses.

“Wait, so do you have a name?”

“Of course I have a name.”

She waits in silence as they walk, the only sound the rustling of the wind through the forest and distant animal-like sounds.

“Um. What is it?” She asks.

“What’s yours?” He asks back like a challenge.

She opens her mouth to answer, then stops in her tracks as her stomach falls to her toes.

What...what is her name?

She desperately tries to think, can feel the knowledge deep in her mind, but it’s like something is blocking her from reaching it. How can she not know her own name? She thinks harder, tries to remember her human life, but—

Nothing. It’s all locked away. She knows she used to be human, that this canine body is all wrong even if she can’t quite picture her own face. She knows that the plants nearby look an awful lot like ferns and that the sky is just as blue as she’s used to it being. But when she tries to think of who she is, her name, where she came from, who she might have left behind...

It’s all gone.

“Hey!”

She snaps out of her thoughts, surprised to find herself kneeling on the ground, the lizard nothing more than an orange blur through her tears. She’s crying again, harder, a painful ache like homesickness, like heartache, tearing at her chest and choking her throat.

“Why’re you crying?!” The lizard asks. It sounds like he’s trying to be angry but instead only sounds panicked. “Stop crying!”

“I d-don’t know my own name!” She gasps. “Why don’t I remember my name?! I don’t remember anything!”

“Uh.” The lizard leans away from her, sounding uncomfortable.

She cries harder, curling into herself. It’s hitting her all over again that she’s not dreaming, that this seems awfully real and she doesn’t know how she got here or who she is. What is she supposed to do? How can she get home? She doesn’t even have her own body!

She doesn’t know how long she cries, but by the time she feels her tears slowing, her nose is snotty and stuffed up, her head pounding with the beginning of a headache. She lifts her head, wiping at her eyes. She’s surprised to see the lizard still sitting nearby, looking out into the halls. He didn’t leave her?

He glances at her, expression unreadable. “You done?”

“Yeah,” she rasps, sniffing. “Sorry.”

“C’mon then,” he says, getting to his feet. She stumbles to her own feet to follow him as he heads down a hall, still wiping at her eyes.

After a few moments of silence, he says, “Until you give me a name, I’m calling you Riolu.”

She tilts her head at his back. But isn’t her species a riolu? That seems...strange. Like calling a pet “Hamster” or “Dog.” But she supposes if they don’t have anything else to call her it makes sense.

“Should I call you, uh...Charmander, then?”

“Tobias.”

She blinks. “Tobias?”

“No one else calls me Charmander, so you might as well follow their lead,” he grumbles almost too low to hear. Tobias it is. And for now at least, she’s Riolu. She wishes she could remember her actual name.

The two of them find the set of stairs in the next room, and take them up to the next floor. Riolu fights off another wave of nausea and is careful not to grab onto Tobias again.

She glances around at the forest scenery. “How many uh. How many sets of stairs will we have to find to get out?”

“Depends how many floors there are,” Tobias answers. “Hopefully—“

He cuts himself off as they step into another room and find two more feral Pokémon. Riolu steps closer to Tobias as the short acorn-like creature and the purple rat turn to glare at them with blank white eyes.

“Great,” Tobias growls. He shrugs off the satchel looped around his shoulder and shoves it into her chest. “If you aren’t gonna fight, then hold this.”

She takes it, watching with wide eyes as the rat darts forward with a hiss, aiming to bite Tobias’s arm. The lizard snarls in turn and tackles it, the two of them rolling across the ground.

Riolu‘s starting to suspect Tobias has some anger issues to work out.

The little acorn creature turns to Riolu, and she stiffens with a squeak, holding the bag up in front of her like a shield.

“P-Please don’t hurt me!”

The acorn launches itself at her in response, and she dives out of the way, trying not to crush the satchel under her. When she looks behind her, the acorn is already moving to attack again. She stumbles to her feet and runs away from it, a glance over her shoulder telling her that the creature is following on its stubby little feet. How is it moving so fast without legs?!

“Tobias!” She wails, running a lap around the room as the acorn chases her. “What do I do?!”

“Kinda busy!” The lizard snarls, still wrestling with the vicious purple rat. Panicked, Riolu looks around for help. She doesn’t want to leave the room and risk losing Tobias or getting lost, but all that’s around her are the strange walls of roots and vines and—

Oh. Duh.

Riolu slips the satchel over her head and launches herself up at the wall, scrabbling to get a foothold on the shifting branches and plants as they interweave tighter to keep her from escaping. After a moment she manages to hook her dull claws between some branches, panting hard. She glances down. The acorn is hopping up and down trying to reach her.

“Boy am I glad you don’t have arms,” she huffs, risking a smile. She squeaks and almost loses her grip as a sudden cloud of embers consumes the little acorn and leaves it a dazed, crispy heap on the ground.

Tobias huffs a cloud of smoke as he pads closer, nudging the acorn with a foot to make sure it’s out cold.

“Is it okay?” Riolu asks.

Tobias rolls his eyes, looking up at her with an unimpressed expression. “They’ll be fine. Thanks for the help, by the way.”

“I don’t wanna fight anyone,” Riolu protests, feebly. She yelps as her foothold slips and she falls hard onto the mossy ground.

Tobias snorts. “Good, ‘cause I bet you suck at it. Give me my bag.”

Riolu wrinkles her nose at his comment but hands it over, and only then does she notice the blood running down his arm from a gash at his shoulder.

“You’re hurt!” She gasps.

Tobias huffs and digs through the satchel with his good arm. “And you’re observant.” He pull out a round, bright blue fruit. It’s not anything Riolu recognizes, but Tobias stuffs it in his mouth to chew it up, shivering when he swallows.

He turns his head to eye his arm, and Riolu watches in awe as the gash seems to stitch itself up in real-time, stopping the bleeding and scabbing over. The small scrapes littering the lizard’s skin seem to vanish too.

“What was that?!” She asks, fighting back the urge to reach out and touch the injury, just to make sure she’s not seeing things.

“Oran berry,” Tobias says, scooping his bag back onto his shoulder and moving towards the nearest hallway. “C’mon.”

“Did it...heal you? That quickly?”

“‘S kind of the point.”

“That’s amazing,” Riolu breathes. “That’s definitely some kind of magic.”

“It’s not ‘magic,’” Tobias growls, shooting her an annoyed glare. “Now shut up so I can listen. We need to find the stairs, and the more ferals we can avoid the better since you won’t fight.”

Riolu swallows back her wave of questions and nods, looking around nervously at the dungeon walls. After being in a battle herself, she’s not in any hurry to start another one. Luckily, between her silence and Tobias’ caution, the two of them avoid the nearby ferals and make it to the next set of stairs without any issue. This time, when they reach the top of the steps and teleport, it’s clear that something’s different, though Riolu can’t pin down exactly what.

“We’re out,” Tobias sighs, slumping with relief.

Riolu blinks, looking around herself. It takes a moment to be sure, but yes, the forest around them is normal again, no more strange dungeon walls. Instead, she can actually see into the forest beyond the ferns and foliage in front of her, and the ground is more uneven and somehow more natural underfoot.

“S-So where do we go now?” Riolu asks, nervous. Tobias won’t ditch her just because they’re out of the dungeon, right?  She still has no idea where she is or what to do next.

“We find Maggie before she loses her petals,” he grumbles.

That’s when Riolu hears a distant voice shouting. It’s feminine, and after she turns her head and strains her ears, she thinks she can make out Tobias’ name.

“I...I think I hear her? Maybe?”

Tobias gives her a skeptical look, but his eyes follow her gaze before he moves to march deeper into the forest. Riolu hurries after him, and within minutes it’s clear that she was right. A woman is calling for Tobias, sounding worried.

“Tobias? Tobias!”

Riolu stops as they arrive at the edge of a clearing—maybe the same one she woke up in, even. There’s a lime green dinosaur standing in the middle of the field, with bright pink petals wreathing her neck like a mane. The creature is tall, noticeably much taller than her or Tobias even from a distance, with a long, slender neck. A large satchel, clearly made to rest on either side of her broad back, is stuffed to bursting with plants.

“Maggie’s a dinosaur,” Riolu says, shocked enough that her tone loops back around to flat. “Of course she’s a dinosaur.”

“She’s a meganium,” Tobias corrects. He huffs out a breath and moves forward with his hands cupped around his mouth. “‘M right here, Maggie!”

Maggie whips around, and even from a distance Riolu can see the dinosaur’s pinched expression smooth out to aching relief. She bustles towards them, and Tobias moves to meet her in the middle while Riolu stays behind at the treeline. As Maggie gets closer, Riolu can see the creature is oddly beautiful, with large, honey-warm eyes and the slightest of wrinkles lining her face.

“Are you all right?” Maggie asks immediately, voice almost motherly as she cranes her neck down to get a good look at Tobias. To Riolu’s surprise, a pair of vines slip out from under the dinosaur’s flower to better tilt Tobias’ head and lift his arms for inspection.

“I’m fine!” Tobias says, pulling away from her. He sounds embarrassed.

Maggie matches his fiery tone, leaning back to give him a gentle bop to the head with her vine. “Good! Don’t scare me like that. I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“Because the forest is suddenly so dangerous.”

“No, but it’s unlike you to wander off like that and not answer me.” Maggie sighs. “I was afraid something had happened.”

“Well this idiot got us dragged into a dungeon if that counts,” Tobias growls, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.

Maggie looks alarmed all over again, eyes making a quick sweep over Tobias, but then they follow his movement to where Riolu is hidden in the shade.

“Oh,” Maggie says, voice soft. She takes a tentative step forward. “Hello there, dear. Are you all right?”

Riolu should probably be more wary of this stranger who could crush her with a single step, but something about that warm concern being pointed at her makes her eyes water. Riolu swallows hard and steps forward. “Um. Yeah. Sorry, it was my fault we got stuck in the um. Dungeon.”

Maggie’s gaze flits over her too, and then she gives her a warm, comforting smile. “Well, it looks like no harm was done. I don’t believe I’ve seen you around before.”

Riolu laughs, nervously. “Uh, no, I-I’m not from...around here.”

“Fen needs to check her for a head injury,” Tobias scoffs. “She keeps saying she used to be human.”

“I am!” Riolu argues, stung by his disbelief. “Or I was, at least.”

Maggie stares at Riolu with wide eyes, something about her expression looking almost stricken. Before Riolu can panic about it, the dinosaur quickly blinks it away. “You’re...a human?”

Riolu nods, desperately hoping Maggie will believe her. “I know I don’t look like it now, but I am! I don’t know how I got here or where here even is but...”

The meganium’s face softens. “Do you remember your name?”

Riolu swallows back another wave of sorrow at the loss of memory sitting like an open wound in her mind. She shakes her head, blinking hard. “N-No. Tobias said I’m a riolu? So...”

“Wait. Maggie, you aren’t saying you believe her?” Tobias interrupts, clearly incredulous.

“I certainly am,” Maggie scolds. “Do you have a reason not to?”

Tobias throws up his arms. “Aside from the fact that I have a working brain?!”

Maggie sighs. “Tobias, we’ll discuss this later. Right now all that matters is that we make sure she’s all right.”

Tobias huffs out a wisp of smoke before stalking a few feet away and pointedly plopping himself down with his back turned. It would be funny if Riolu wasn’t such a mess.

Maggie gives Riolu an apologetic look. “Don’t worry about him. He takes a while to warm up to you.”

“I’m still here, y’know!”

Maggie ignores the comment. “Did he explain anything to you about this world?”

Riolu blinks up at the dinosaur. “Um. A little? He said you guys are...Po...Poke...”

“Pokémon.”

“Yeah.” Riolu gives her a grateful smile. “And that there are dungeons and...types?”

Maggie laughs softly. “Don’t worry about getting it all figured out right away. You’ll catch on quickly enough. I’m guessing you don’t have anywhere to go, if you’re from the human world?”

Riolu slumps, looking down at her feet. Her paws? “No.”

“In that case, how about returning to the guild with Tobias and I?”

Riolu’s head snaps up. “What?”

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Maggie says. “But I’d at least like for you to get a health check-up and eat some food. We have a place for you to rest for the night, and resources about the Pokémon world as well, if you’re interested.”

Riolu tears up again. “That would be great. Thank you.”

Maggie smiles, warm and open. “Of course, dear.” She turns to call to Tobias. “You coming too, stormcloud?”

Tobias pushes off the ground and walks by without looking at either of them, arms crossed and grumbling all the way. Riolu shoots Maggie a nervous look, but the dinosaur just looks fond of the prickly behavior.

“Come along then,” Maggie says, moving to follow Tobias into the forest. Riolu hurries after them, keeping close to Maggie.

As they enter the trees, Riolu takes a moment to once again look around, calmed by the tall trunks and endless maze of foliage painted with dappled sunlight. She isn’t sure, but she thinks some of the plants look...familiar? Like maybe they‘re the same, or at least similar, to what she’s used to. Everything feels a bit...tall, though. Like Riolu is smaller than she’s used to being in her own skin. It’s strange.

Even more than that are the sounds and smells. Once again familiar—the rustling of leaves and distant birdsong, the smell of fresh air and nature—but everything feels a bit...sharper. More distinct, and almost a little overwhelming. She felt ears on her head earlier, and she has dog legs, so she guesses she’s basically in a dog body? Maybe that means she has a better sense of smell and hearing too. That’s pretty cool, at least. Like a superpower!

“You aren’t the first human to pop up in the Haven, you know,” Maggie says eventually. Riolu jumps at the sudden sound.

“Really?”

“Mhm.” Maggie’s gaze lifts up to the trees, a sad smile gracing her face. “I was quite close with one, actually.”

Tobias looks sharply over his shoulder, brow furrowed. Riolu blinks, excitement and hope curling like a tiny flame in her chest. “Was? Did they get back to the human world?”

Maggie’s expression drops. “No...unfortunately not.” She turns her head to give Riolu a soothing smile. “But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way!”

“Haven’t ‘humans’ been showing up for decades now?” Tobias growls, turning forwards again. “You’d think if there was a way back they would have found it by now.”

Riolu’s heart drops. Decades?!

Maggie frowns. “Well…yes, but with more and more humans showing up, surely together they’ll find a solution sooner or later.” Maggie ruffles her petals and gives Riolu a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry, dear. One thing at a time! Humans like you are certainly a rarity, but not unheard of. You aren’t alone.”

Riolu tries to smile back instead of breaking down crying. She doesn’t even know how to feel. She’s relieved, of course, that there are others like her, that this isn’t the first time this has happened to someone. And that she ran into someone as kind as Maggie. But she also can’t get rid of the blooming fear at the thought that she could be stuck here for years until someone figures out how to get back to the human world. She doesn’t remember her life as a human, but there’s an ache building in her chest when she thinks of it, a longing for something or someone she doesn’t remember but already knows she misses.

She needs to get back home.

“Sure, you aren’t alone,” Tobias mutters, breaking Riolu out of her thoughts. “But no one likes the humans.”

“Tobias!” Maggie snaps. “Even if you haven’t met a human before, you know that isn’t true. Most of them have settled here just fine.”

“Yeah, but no one trusts them anymore, either,” Tobias says, turning to give Riolu a cold look. “Not since everything really started falling apart.”

Riolu’s shock elevates into real fear when Maggie doesn’t immediately respond, looking conflicted. The dinosaur sighs, a vine slipping out from her petals to touch lightly at Riolu’s back. It feels almost protective.

“Unfortunately,” she says, “He...does have a point. I suppose it’s only right that I warn you now. There have been some...unfortunate things happening in our world over the last few decades. And some have theorized that the increase in humans could be the cause.” 

Riolu swallows, wide-eyed. Maggie‘s vine moves up to settle over Riolu’s shoulders.

“Fortunately, most of us at the Haven have enough sense to realize how ridiculous that is,” Maggie soothes. “You shouldn’t have any issues around here, but you should be aware, especially if you end up traveling away from this area.”

Riolu forces herself to nod and breathe, beating her panic back with the mental equivalent of a baseball bat.

Maggie squeezes her shoulders with the vine. “Of course, we will help you any way we can, even if no one is entirely sure of how this transformation happens to humans, or why. But until you decide what to do next, the guild should be a safe place for you to stay.” 

Riolu blinks back tears and tries to collect herself. She can sort through her emotions and thoughts later. For now, she should learn everything she can about this world, and about what she has become.  “S-So we’re going to this...guild?“

“Ooh, careful Maggie, she’s a sharp one!”

Maggie sighs. “Tobias, be nice.”

Tobias barks a laugh. “When am I ever nice?”

Maggie’s vine leaves Riolu’s shoulder to pull Tobias back against her leg. The dinosaur cranes her neck down so she can nuzzle him. “You’re sweeter than you let on.”

Tobias yells, embarrassed, trying to push her away as his cheeks flush red. Riolu can’t help smiling. It feels good to smile. When Tobias frees himself and stomps forward again, Maggie and Riolu follow.

“To answer your question,” Maggie says, “The Lexym Guild is where Tobias and I live and work. Considering it’s housed in a tree many stories high it’s usually easy to spot. When the leaves are less full, you can see it in the forest from miles around. It’s a wonderful place. Busy, but the Pokémon are lovely.”

“‘Lovely’ my tail,” Tobias grumbles.

“On a wider scale,” Maggie goes on, ignoring Tobias, “The forest we’re in is called Bethoc’s Haven, named after the same eldegoss who founded our branch of the guild. The territory spans half of the forestland on this edge of the continent, with the Lexym Guild at its heart.”

Riolu nods, confused but trying to look like she understands. Bethoc the…eldegoss? A Pokemon, she guesses. She wonders what kind of creature that is and if she’ll see one herself. 

“Many of the Pokémon at the guild are types acclimated to the forest environment,” Maggie continues. “Grass types like myself, as well as bug types. But thanks to the Seekers division, we have quite a variety of other types wandering around as well! No other riolu, unfortunately. Having an aura expert around would be ideal for you.”

Riolu peers up at Maggie’s face. “Aura?”

“Aura is a kind of...energy. With a little practice, your species can harness it to do amazing things. I remember it being rather important for young riolu to learn to control their own aura.”

Riolu looks down at her hands again, hardly able to believe that she could use a power like that. “What does aura do?”

Maggie hums and looks up into the trees. “You know, that I’m not sure of. I know it’s related to your emotions, and that it can be used in battle. I think you’ll have to ask Alastair or Tawny about that down in the archives.”

Riolu perks up. Archives? “Like a library?”

Maggie must see the enthusiasm on her face, because she laughs. “Yes, exactly. We have quite the collection of texts at the guild. As long as August is all right with us housing you then you can peruse them all you like.”

“Like August would turn anyone away,” Tobias says. Riolu can’t decide whether the lizard is saying it as a positive thing or not.

Maggie smiles, looking down at Riolu with a twinkle in her eye. “August seems scary at first, but he has a soft heart. He’s the guild’s leader, so you’ll meet him today.”

Riolu nods, nervously twisting her fingers together as Maggie and Tobias guide her deeper into the woods. They don’t seem to be following any path that the riolu can see, but they lead her confidently, weaving through tree trunks and thickets of plants with ease.

“Almost there, dear,” Maggie says eventually.

Riolu blinks, looking around for...something. Maggie said the guild was housed in a tree, but is it literally just a tree, or will there be like...structures built onto it? Like a treehouse? So far they—Pokemon—seem as intelligent as humans, but she doesn’t want to assume anything either.

It’s not much longer before their group stops by a tree, its roots twisted and arched above the dirt and creating a small space underneath. Is this…the guild? It doesn’t look like there’s anything here. Just a hollow and some dirt.

“Guild members Magnolia the meganium and Tobias the charmander returning,” Maggie announces.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then, the ground under the roots bulges, and the top of a flat, hippo-like head emerges from the crumbling dirt as if it were as thin as water. Riolu can’t help stepping back behind Maggie’s leg, wide-eyed. It’s huge! And hippos are really dangerous, right?

The creature blinks red eyes at the group, then lifts its head further and smiles with blocky teeth. “Maggie! How was the haul today?”

Riolu is surprised to hear the voice is deep but friendly.

“Hello, Abana. We found plenty of the herbs we were running low on! And we brought back a little something extra.” Maggie shifts her leg to reveal Riolu, still cowering.

Abana’s nostrils flare with interest. “Oh! And who’s this little thing?”

“A human,” Tobias says, in a mocking tone. Riolu winces. She isn’t surprised by now that he doesn’t believe her, but still. Ouch.

Abana’s tiny ears perk up. “Oh? Well that’ll be sure to shake up the guild. Come on in, scrap, I won’t bite.”

Riolu swallows, unconvinced, but Tobias moves first. He slips under the roots and steps up onto the hippo’s gray head. Maggie ducks and follows him in, crouching to the side of Abana and urging Riolu forward with an encouraging smile. Riolu hesitantly steps after them, joining Tobias on top of Abana’s wide head. She feels rude literally stepping on someone, but if that’s what she’s supposed to do…

“All set up there?”

“Looks like it,” Maggie says.

“Then down we go!” Abana crows.

Before Riolu can ask exactly what is about to happen, they drop into the earth. She screams at the top of her lungs, squeezing her eyes shut and scrambling to cling to the first solid warmth she can find. The sound of earth rushing up around them is deafening, and Riolu gets the distinct feeling that her stomach is flipping like she’s on a rollercoaster.

This is how she dies, on the back of a magic hippo.

But then they’re slowing and coming to a stop, and Tobias’ voice is sharp in her ear.

“Get off!”

Riolu peeks her eyes open, and all she can see is orange. She leans back, and realizes that the warmth she’d ducked into was Tobias’ shoulder.  “O-Oh! Sorry!” 

He gives her a cross look and turns away.

Wait. Riolu realizes she can see. Underground. She turns to look around, marveling at their new location. “Oh...wow.”

They’re in some sort of underground tunnel, ceiling of earth closing up from where they must have come barreling down. Roots and traces of leaves are everywhere, intertwined within the rocky walls, and patches of surprisingly lush grass dot the ground. Most impressive of all are the light sources—bright blue-green cuts of crystal, some as small as coins and some as large as her. They’re everywhere, jutting up out of the ground and imbedded in the walls, glowing bright and beautiful. Even the leaves look luminescent, like some kind of fantasy movie!

“Is this the guild?” Riolu asks, turning to see Maggie finishing up a quiet conversation with Abana. The hippo nods to Maggie and winks at Riolu before digging into the wall as easily as if it were melted butter. The rocky wall closes up behind her, surprisingly stable.

Maggie walks over, no longer having to duck in the spacious tunnel. “In a way. The guild is one central area, mostly within the trunk of the Lexym Tree, but there are many entrances to reach it. Quite a few are tunnels like this, branching out under the forest.”

This is just a tunnel into the guild? Riolu knows that Maggie mentioned how huge the guild is, how it can be easily spotted from miles and miles away even amidst the other trees of the forest, but it’s still hard to imagine.

“This is amazing,” Riolu whispers, feeling like she should be quiet in such a magical space.

Maggie smiles. “It is, isn’t it? Sometimes we forget, with how used to it we are.”

“You know what really sounds magical?” Tobias grunts. “Food.”

“Agreed,” Maggie laughs. “We’d better get moving then, so we don’t miss out!” She turns and heads down the tunnel, Tobias following. Riolu hurries to catch up, feeling her curiosity begin to override her unease.

Well...while she’s here, she may as well try to enjoy it, right?