Chapter Text
Our pace slowed once I spotted something strange in the distance. In front of us was another patch of forest like the one far behind us, but unlike before, an immense barrier glistened around it. It reminded me of the magical veils in movies that blocked people from entering the unknown. For me, the unknown was a force of nature that lived and changed forever onward, and I didn't know how to feel about it.
Still, there was a lost child in there, and I needed to learn how to use moves fast. Despite the unnerving explanation of a Mystery Dungeon that Saphi provided, I needed to press on for her and for myself.
“Nectar Meadow hasn’t changed a bit on the outside, even after all these years…” Saphi muttered to herself.
When we approached the front of the Mystery Dungeon, she tilted her head up where the veil seemed to shimmer off into the sky. I joined her in gazing upon the barrier, watching as colors of all kinds swirled on its surface and blended in and out of each other. The air seemed to thicken now that we were closer. The surface hummed with an energy like the surface of the sun with tiny flares shining off and fizzling away as it flew further away into the air.
I lifted my arm up and placed my hand parallel to the barrier, inching closer both out of a mix of wonder and unease. The closer I got, the more my senses scrambled. The air buzzed against my skin— fur— whatever. My ears twitched at sounds I couldn’t place. It was like reality frayed at the seams, whispering things just outside of hearing. The barrier shone a reflection, and I noticed our standing figures parallel to it.
I watched the fox that stared back at me, hoping it would change into a human’s face. As if it were layered on top, I thought I could just make out the mental image of my real self.
My hair.
My eyes.
My nose.
My mouth.
My reference was my reflection in the bathroom mirror before I went to bed that night, but I couldn't shake off the sinking feeling of how paradoxically foggy my recollection felt. I didn’t feel it earlier on my first night in this world or before we arrived here. I clearly saw my human face, it was right in front of me. It literally happened a day ago, but it was like I was grabbing a book off an extremely dusty and unused shelf and opening it, somehow reading clean pages.
I shook my head, it was likely just my conscience continuing to adjust to this delphox body. With auras and likely souls being a thing, I was still me, but I still had to deal with whatever inhuman brain chemistry I now had. The best example I had was that blackout before I somehow used Fire Spin. That had to be a side effect; it had to be muscle memory conflicting with me.
Suddenly, I felt a firm grip on my right arm. I quickly turned to see Saphi beside me, her leg already halfway into the barrier. “Alright, enough waiting. Let’s go.” She pulled hard, vanishing in front of me as I stumbled forward in her direction.
“Wait! I—”
For a heartbeat, the world folded inward. My senses blended in a rush of motion that disoriented everything. My weightless body stretched, unraveled, and reweaved together all at once. A low thrumming filled my ears, growing louder, vibrating through my bones until—
Silence.
I stumbled forward, just barely catching myself from falling over with one paw on my leg. I gasped for air as Saphi let go of my other arm, letting me hunch over and heave with relief.
“Does—” I took another deep breath in and out. “—Does it feel like this every time?”
Saphi shrugged lightly, brushing her fur back behind one ear. “You get used to it after the first time.”
Regaining my footing, I stood up to finally see what the inside of Nectar Meadow looked like. True to its name, grassy terrain blanketed in flowers stretched as far as the eye can see. I noticed a few pokémon aimlessly traverse through the fields, specifically some skiddo grazing and zigzagoon nibbling on berries. Upon closer inspection, I saw a silver haze surrounding them as their glassy eyes scanned the environment for food and any signs of danger.
“Saphi, are those the Echo pokémon?” I pointed at them for clarification.
“They are,” she answered. “Don’t worry about them, they can’t hurt us.”
“How come?”
She stopped and glanced up at me. “Because their attacks are nothing compared to the Legendaries Reid and I fought.”
“Oh, right…” I muttered.
“Get your wand out,” Saphi instructed. “We’ll start your lesson now and I’ll try to teach you as much as I can before we reach Bellossom’s child.”
Nodding, I rummaged through my tail fur and pulled out Reid's wooden wand. I still wasn't sure of how to properly hold it as it was my second time ever wielding it. I turned the wand over in my paws, fumbling with it. I held it tight near the base, then halfway at the midpoint, near the end, each grip feeling more awkward than the last.
“What are you doing?”
I flinched at Saphi’s voice before awkwardly turning over to her with a two-handed grip on the wand.
“I… don’t know how to hold it…”
“Hold it like you did back at the docks,” she replied, confused with having to state the obvious.
“I’m not sure if it was the right way to hold it since I don’t remember how I did it before,” I responded, holding the wand out and letting it roll slightly on my paw.
Without another word, Saphi walked behind me and pulled my arm up parallel to the ground. She held onto my paw with her own, staring forward in the direction the wand aimed, ignoring how flustered I reacted.
"Hold it like this and keep your arms straight," she explained, her voice even and practical. With how close she stood by me, she was either unaware of it, or she likely just didn't care. "You're not swinging it, you’re guiding it. Let the wand do the rest.”
I tried to follow her instructions, though the wand still felt foreign in my grip. Saphi adjusted my fingers with careful precision, not rough but not exactly gentle either. "Reid used to hold it like this. His grip was looser than yours. He didn't try to choke the wand."
“I’m not choking it,” I muttered.
“You are. You’re clenching like it’ll bite you. Relax,” Her paw hovered over mine again, then stopped just short. “The wand’s a channel, not a weapon. You force it, and it’ll stutter. You match it, and it’ll sing.”
I blinked. “That sounded… poetic.”
Saphi smirked faintly before it faded away. “That’s how Reid always explained it. I hated it when he worded it like that every time, but he loved it for that reason.”
I shouldn’t have said that.
With my arms still raised, I exhaled slowly and tried to ease the tension in my shoulders. Holding it in the way she showed me felt much more natural. Instead of wrapping my whole paw around, I stuck my middle digit out in the direction of the wand, with my two other digits curling around it.
“In a battle scenario, I specialize in one-on-one combat and Reid handled crowd control, and you're nowhere close to his skill level yet. Because of that, you'll start with Ember. Now, there’s a shroomish over there,” Saphi pointed at the mushroom pokémon by a bush, “all you need is a quick rush of Flamance. Gather out from within, channel it through your body, and expel it out from Reid’s wand.”
I focused on the Echo pokémon. Now, without the pressure of accidentally revealing myself, I actually managed to find the concentration needed to use a move. All I needed to do was to will it. Just a flicker, a spark, anything. Saphi said it didn’t take much, so I did my best to do what she told me. I imagined a flaming heat gathering inside and moving it outward. From the pit of my stomach to my chest, then through my arm, into the wand.
Nothing at first.
Then, heat.
It ignited only for a moment, but I felt it like a tiny pulse. My paw twitched as the wand’s tip glowed a blend of orange, red, and yellow. Smoke curled up from the light like incense as I saw a tiny flame light up like a lighter.
‘H-Holy shit, I’m doing it! I just summoned fire by myself!’
My brief moment of joy broke my focus, and the warmth collecting in my arm and the wand surged. The flame grew faster and sharper, far too large to call it an Ember. I failed to keep my aim and the fire leapt out of the wand in a burst of startled energy.
The move flew completely past the shroomish and slammed into a tree far off to the side. The bark blackened instantly from the burst of flame, startling the Grass-type away.
“…I missed,” I muttered, staring at the scorched mark.
“You launched it,” she corrected, “with much more force than I expected.”
I frowned, feeling the residual warmth still tingling in my arm. The move had technically worked, but it was messy and unrefined, but it happened .
“I thought I was handling it well. I imagined my ‘Flamance’ like a candle but then it just… yeah…”
“That’s Reid’s power overpowering your precision. You need to balance his strength and improve your aim as well," she jabbed before staring down an open path. "We need to start moving, so learn to control your Flamance while we find Bellossom's child. I'll tell you when to attack an Echo pokémon so you won't get mixed up with other pokémon that live here."
“Do you mean the combee and beedrills?” I asked, glancing around for any in our surroundings. “I always wanted to know, but how come pokémon can live in Mystery Dungeons?”
“Because the Mystery Dungeon benefits from them staying,” she replied, glancing ahead as she began to walk forward with measured steps. “The hive keeps the fauna and flora alive with their pollination, and the Mystery Dungeon keeps them safe from intruders with its maze structure and Echo Pokémon.”
“So, it’s like symbiotic mutualism?” I recalled, remembering what little I could from my science education.
“…what?”
“N-Never mind,” I waved off, rubbing the back of my neck as my ears involuntarily flattened slightly.
She didn’t need to know something stupid like that, and I really needed to remember to keep my mouth shut when the situation demanded my silence.
As we traveled further into the reality-warping environment, Saphi continued to lecture me on proper move usage. Whenever we spotted an Echo pokémon, she would point at it and I would shoot Ember. The further I worked with the strange sensation welled up from within, the more that I felt a sear or scorch begin to fill in short intervals. Back at the village docks, I had no clue what Saphi meant by 'kindling dwelling within me,' but I think I did now. My first shot of Ember was akin to throwing a bowling ball with my left arm like a shot putt. Now, thanks to Saphi's guidance and the lack of anyone else pressuring me, my control of 'Flamance' steadily grew. After a few shots, Saphi looked marginally more satisfied than when I used Ember for the first time, so I considered that a step forward.
It didn’t matter whether it was a huge step or a small one. At least I was making progress.
She also spent the time we had alone explaining the rest of how Mystery Dungeons worked. I kept my mouth shut the whole time, only replying with nods and hums of affirmation to let her know I was listening, and I paid my best attention . She answered lingering questions I had about the PMD series and others I didn’t even know I had, much to her disapproval.
My first surprise was learning about why Mystery Dungeons kept pokémon lost inside them. For how the games always showed the end of a dungeon or allowed escape via badge or escape orb, it didn't make sense why pokémon were lost and required help. The pokémon of this world discovered it to be because the Mystery Dungeon would capture them and eventually consume them in its endless labyrinth. It chose its prey based on its inability to fight back against the enclosing jaws that would eventually sink in on them. Saphi highly expected that to be the reason why Bellossom's child was lost inside here.
An unasked question I had answered was about the different danger levels of Mystery Dungeon, especially with ones that had sapient pokémon living within them and those that didn’t. Because of the combees and beedrill living in tandem with Nectar Meadow, it had a lenient reaction towards outsiders. It still defended itself against intruders, but compared to how other Mystery Dungeons reacted to outsiders, Nectar Meadow was a walk in the park.
As we moved deeper into the Mystery Dungeon, I kept my focus sharp, determined not to let Saphi down again. I tuned out the background noise, the rustle of grass under our feet, the creak of branches, and the distant cries of Echo pokémon somewhere just out of view. It wasn’t until Saphi bent down to pick up a purple emera that she glanced over at me and paused. She stared for a moment, and in a way I couldn’t quite read, she stifled a small smile. A moment later, that brief smile shifted into a frown, one more tense than usual.
“…Does that branch taste good?” she eventually asked, as if waiting for a reaction.
“Huh?”
She didn't say anything, just pointed to a nearby tree. I followed her gaze and saw one of the branches had been torn off like something had yanked it loose. In my other hand that didn't hold Reid's wand, I firmly held onto a branch. The end was jagged, with bite marks carved into the bark. I wiped my mouth and glanced at my arm, spotting bits of bark and sawdust clinging to my fur.
Did I… just eat wood?
The oaky aftertaste in my mouth sure proved so… No… more like a light spruce…
Wait. How did I just differentiate tree flavors?
“What the hell?!” I immediately threw the stick to the ground like it was on fire, kicking it away in shock. “When did I even grab that?!”
“Just now,” Saphi answered, eyeing the tree I broke it from. “Fennekins eat twigs to power themselves up. Delphoxes don't have to power up that way, but it’s a habit they have.”
“A habit? ” I gawked at Saphi, the broken branch, the poor tree I snapped it off from, and back at Saphi again. “I-I didn’t even notice I was doing it!”
“Ever since I met Reid, it took him forever to stop chewing on sticks. In the end, he was never really able to fight his instincts,” she added, nudging the fallen twig with her foot to observe the bite mark.
That last word scared me. I hadn't even realized the implications of bodily instincts at all until now. Being in a completely different, non-human body meant I now had more than just the tangible stuff to deal with. Now that I was a fox creature, was I going to do anything… foxy? I never felt anything like that up till now, but was that because I hadn't yet? What do foxes even do? Hunt mice? Roll in the dirt? Eat trash? No— that's raccoons. Were foxes sneaky? Cunning? Smart? Because that definitely didn't sound like me in the slightest.
“You're doing it again,” Saphi pointed out as the slightest of grins briefly returned.
I looked down. My paw now firmly gripped onto a branch from a completely different tree.
I sighed through my nose. “Oh, come on —” I flung it away. “Is there a way that you can help me stop this?”
“I can’t stop a habit for you,” she countered. “I didn’t stop Reid either. He only noticed whenever I said something, and I always stayed silent.”
“But… why did you warn me then?”
Saphi turned away as she held onto her arm, walking ahead of me. “Let’s just go, we’re almost at the hive’s center.”
Not wanting to continue the conversation further, I silently followed behind. I understood that she was dodging my question, so I didn't speak up. As much as having to deal with a new bad habit was, at least she made me acknowledge it. If she hadn’t said anything, I might’ve finished that whole branch off.
And I’m beginning to dislike the fact that I'm realizing birch branches sounded more appealing than spruce.
Unlike in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, there was a huge difference between the beginning and the deepest part of Nectar Meadow. In the game, the environment always remained the same as a field of grass and a variety of flowers. In real life, the center of their base of operations had honeycombs covering every inch of the area. Weedles cast silk from tree to tree as kakunas hung on branches, patiently waiting to evolve. Combees flew from tree to tree, storing honey away as beedrill guided them around in an orderly fashion.
Saphi used her aura as a protector on her feet, forcing the dripping honey on the ground away with each step. I had to carefully follow her exact footsteps unless I wanted to get all my skirt fur sticky.
By a patch of flowers, a pair of beedrills and combees spotted us approaching, and they all exclaimed in shock at our presence.
|[Get ready to defend yourself,]| Saphi sent an auric command, summoning two large bones made of aura in each paw, |[I can defend you, but dealing with an entire hive myself is another story.]|
I frowned at myself as I brandished ‘my’ wand forward. If only I had learned to use my type energy faster and more efficiently, I could've learned a more powerful and useful move than just Ember. I tightened my grip and tried to steady my breathing. My Ember wouldn’t do much in a real fight, not unless they gave me time to line it up perfectly. And that wasn’t going to happen in a swarm. I braced myself for buzzing wings and stingers flying in every direction.
“Intruders!” one combee buzzed.
“Two trespassers just entered!” The other combee rapidly shook their wings.
“No, you dolt! They’re here for that child!” A beedrill pointed behind them.
“Alert the Queen! Alert the Queen!” The second beedrill rushed away, leaving the others behind.
I stared in surprise as the group swarmed away from us and towards the clearing far from us. “They were expecting us?” I glanced at Saphi in confusion.
Saphi lowered her aura bones to her sides, letting them dissipate into faint light. She exhaled and muttered, “At least we don’t have to fight. I don’t want a repeat of past events again, especially with the state of your skills.”
I nodded silently.
A few seconds later, one of the beedrill returned, hovering lower than before. It gestured silently with one of its arms, and without waiting for us to respond, turned and flew ahead in a slow, deliberate path. Saphi gave me a look before following. I stuck close behind her, still careful about the honey trail.
Eventually, we stepped into a wide clearing shaded by thick layers of golden wax stretched across arched trees. At its center was a circular patch of flowers surrounding a shallow pool. Sitting beside it, legs tucked under her, was the child we were looking for, a young oddish. She looked up as we entered but didn’t run. Maybe she didn’t need to.
Hovering protectively above her was a massive vespiquen, her wings fluttering in composed, rhythmic beats. Around the queen and the oddish, combees and beedrill formed a soft perimeter, but none of them looked aggressive. Their stingers stayed down. Their eyes watched.
Then Vespiquen slowly descended from her perch, her voice cutting into the air with regal calm.
“So… you’ve returned again.”
I blinked, not understanding, but Saphi took a slow step forward.
“You remember us.”
“Of course,” Vespiquen responded, her gaze scanning over both of us. “All those years ago, you came to save a young child in search of honey to soothe her mother. It seems that the story has repeated itself yet again.”
Her words hung in the air, heavy with memory. I didn’t remember it the same way the two did, but Saphi stayed quiet. She was likely remembering more than I could imagine.
"Now, there's a child that I believe that you have been looking for. Lilac?" She called out, slowly hovering to the side, letting the oddish step forward.
Upon seeing Saphi and I in front of her, the child began to tremble, unable to look up as she tightly clutched the pouch of honey closely with her leaf.
"I-I didn't mean to bother anyone. I just wanted to find honey for my mom…" The aptly-named oddish's voice shook.
Vespiquen tilted her head slightly. “A pure intention, even if misplaced. Just remember to not stray far from your mother, ok?”
The child nodded once, her face shifting between a smile and a frown.
“Thank you for keeping an eye on her,” Saphi bowed with gratitude as I picked Lilac up, holding her in one arm. “Again, we apologize for the inconvenience.”
“It’s no trouble,” The queen bee shook her head. “In fact, I am relieved that this time, the rest of the hive didn’t react violently like last time. Perhaps they’ve learned a lesson all those years ago,” She let out a chuckle, regally covering her mouth.
I couldn’t help but huff in amusement as well, remembering what happened in the games. However, from Saphi’s glare, I quickly stopped.
With a farewell nod, Saphi took out an Escape Orb and began channeling energy into it, causing it to shine brightly. A split second later, a pillar of light beamed above us, teleporting us out of the Nectar Meadow. Everything around us converged into a blended mesh of colors, distorting any tangible sense of direction or space. I couldn’t tell where or what I was looking at as a rushing sensation blew all around us, but thankfully, the sensation that pulled against my entire body was far less intense than last time.
It ended as quickly as it began, and we were back out into reality. Nice, solid ground, where nothing shifted underneath our feet and where I didn’t need to be so observant about any sneaky Echo pokémon hiding away, ready to strike.
Saphi watched as the Escape Orb disintegrated before she dusted the rest away. With a sigh of relief, she turned to Lilac in my arms. She leaned forward with a paw on her thigh, tapping the oddish’s forehead.
“Your mother’s been very worried about you, you know that?” Saphi chided gently, her eyes soft but firm as she met the young pokémon’s gaze. “Don’t run away like that again, understand?”
“S-Sorry, Miss Saphi,” Lilac’s voice cracked, her eyes watering. “I won’t do it ever again…”
“Hey, don’t cry,” she warmly comforted the Grass-type, wiping a tear away. “All that matters is that you’re safe. We’ll get you back to Serene Village soon.”
Saphi then gently picked Lilac up and without warning, placed her on top of my head, right between my ears.
“Hey, what are you doi—”
|[We’re going back by walking since we can’t run while holding Lilac,]| Her gentle smile for the oddish vanished immediately as her usual cold eyes pierced mine again. [|Besides, this is how Reid always held rescued pokémon of this size when we went back to our clients.]|
I looked up without tilting too far. Lilac giggled as she gently held onto my ears for support. She nestled into the fluff like it was a hammock. I wasn’t going to admit it aloud, but she really did look comfortable up there. With how light she was, she barely made a difference.
We started the long walk back. Compared to navigating a twisting Mystery Dungeon, the stillness of the real world felt unnervingly quiet. Peaceful, but somehow beginning to grow hollow as well.
A while passed. My stomach made a soft noise I tried to ignore, but Saphi caught it anyway.
“Catch,” She pulled a large apple from her bag and tossed it toward me. I grabbed it with one paw and held it up.
“…Do you want a piece?” I reluctantly asked her.
“I’m not hungry,” she bluntly replied.
I didn’t argue back and I bit into the apple. Its juice was far more crisp and sweet than any other apple I’ve ever had. Like the water I drank at that pond, the lack of human contact must’ve made it far more delicious than any ordinary apple. After a few chews, I broke off a small chunk and held it up to Lilac.
“Wanna try?”
She perked up. “Really?”
“Sure. Here.”
She leaned forward, plucked the piece out of my paw with her leaf, and happily munched on it. “Thank you!”
“No problem,” I gave a small grin, happy that she enjoyed the apple.
After a few more bites and a longer stretch of quiet, Lilac began shifting around. I felt her weight bounce side to side as she swung her leaves in a restless rhythm.
“I’m bored,” she mumbled.
Saphi reached into her satchel, pulled the Expedition Gadget out, and held it up. “Here.”
Lilac grabbed the device with her leaves and held it like a tiny game console, using one leaf to play while using the other to balance. I felt her making dragging motions against the screen, hearing wet slicing noises against what sounded like tossed items. After hearing a few more items get cut, I realized what kind of game she was playing.
I squinted upward. “Wait… is that—”
“She’s playing a berry-slice game,” Saphi answered with a sigh. “One of the few Nene coded in, I never liked it much.”
‘…Nene?’ I carefully repeated in my head.
|[The dedenne. Our Head of Communications. She coded everything for the Expedition Gadget, including the games on it because members got bored during long-distance trips. She also made a tile matching game and a maze crawler like a Mystery Dungeon simulator.]|
So that's why Saphi knew what video games were that night. I never expected that the Expedition Gadget would be able to double as a gaming device like a mobile phone.
As berries exploded into juice every time she swiped, with the sound effects unnervingly satisfying, I tried my best not to think about the growing thought in my mind. She didn't list my comfort game earlier, but I wanted to know if it was there anyway. I wanted to ask badly, wanting to know the answer early, but I stopped myself. I could find out for myself in the future when things got better.
If things got better.
If things got better at all.