Whisper-wind Comb

[Jackie Cat]

They say the pokémon of the Taleska Nation take secrets very seriously. Everyone knows the lapines love their gossip, but gossip is just amateur journalism. The truth of the heart, though—

Keep that close to the chest, lest the Comb catches it.

<><><><><>​

 

[Tetra]

Archie was alone. Rows and rows and shelves spread before him, all shiny metal and hard edged. Cool steel floors underpaw and harsh bright lights overhead. It felt almost like a lab or research facility, but the layout and setup was all wrong. The layout was systematic, organized, too many shelves. Maybe familiar... A library? Except... instead of rows and rows of books lining shelves, they were empty. Stretches of vacant space where there should have been books.

"Hello? Where is... Archie? Gone... Archie!..." ​

A faint whisper, barely audible. It sounded like Koa's voice, maybe?

From somewhere ahead came the sound of a television, or a speaker. Words from a tinny speaker. "...not ...harmo.....lagued... hardships. Tha... needs... change! beautiful .ect..!" It was hard to tell exactly where it was coming from, the words were far off and indistinct. Ahead the harsh flourescent light seemed to soften and the library seemed to change. A glimpse of warm light and wood floors, but it was hazy, indistinct. Beyond that, nothing but swirling grayness on either side.

"Can anyone hear me?"​

 

[Weazel]

One second, they were all walking together. Then Archie blinked, and everyone, and everything, was gone. The Dewott found himself alone, in some kind of sterile environment. Bright overhead lights, and cold metal floors. Empty shelves as far as the eye could see, which, despite the brightness of the light, wasn’t very far at all. This had to be an illusion of some kind, some kind of trick of the dungeon.

"Hello? Where is... Archie? Gone... Archie!..."

His ears twitched. Dammit, he should’ve insisted harder on them tying off. Now what were they going to do?

“Koa? I’m here, don’t wander,” he called. Archie took a careful step, in the direction he thought the voice was coming from, and reached out. His paw came in contact with one of the shelves. But that couldn’t be right, it couldn’t actually be here… Right? How many of his senses were being effected? If it wasn’t just his vision, then did that mean the voice he’d heard was also a fake?

Ahead, the scene seemed to change. Wooden floors replaced metal, the light softened, and the vaguest hint of speech. He caught only snippets of words, tinny and indistinct. Then another voice cut through.

"Can anyone hear me?"

“I can hear you,” the Dewott assured. He wasn’t going to get anywhere by just standing here. Either this was the dungeon pulling its tricks, or it was Koa just as lost in this as he was. Either way, there was only one sensible course of action. “Just keep talking to me, and I’ll come to you.”

The Dewott strode forward, into the unknown.

 

[Tetra]

Koa? I’m here...

"Archie? ...going on?"​

As Archie continued, the steely library with its metal shelves and cold floor changed. Like a spread of moss in a forest clearing, a patch of wooden floor occupied one corner of the empty library. It was ringed by wooden shelves, these filled with actual books. Old tomes and leatherbound journals tucked among newer hardback books. A label on the shelves marked their categories. 'Myths and legends' read one. 'Legendary Pokemon' read another. Every book had something to do with legendaries. Clearly a favorite topic.

Tucked into the corner was a beanbag chair and what looked very vaguely like a plush of Mew, quite scruffy and aged. Somehow the air here felt warmer, less cold. Inviting. It was a glade, a sanctuary from everything, a place of peace.

..keep talking... I’ll come to you.

"...can't see you. Where are..."
​

There was a sense of a flickering light, and then Archie could see a small television set tucked into one of the bookshelves (had that always been there?). A staticky, barely visible set of images seemed to be playing on repeat. It was too small and fuzzy to make out the pictures, but the words were easier to hear now.

"We live.... humans -..pokemon...alongside... But... not in perfect harmony- hurt... plagued by hardships.-... this world needs to...-change! Into a beau-... and ...rfect world! cმɑϝcᴉɑɼ ƨϝuმnԍʁƨᴉq continues to ...-hat goal...- for the promise of the ideal world."

A figure sat in the beanbag chair. Jacket, dark gloves, spiked blue hair. Familiar yellow eyes. A human boy, couldn't have been older than seven or eight, reading a book and looking relaxed and happy.

​

 

[Weazel]

"Archie? ...going on?"

The Dewott stopped again, and strained his ears. Alright, it sounded like they were able to communicate, assuming this was actually Koa and not the dungeon. That was a good start.

“I’m guessing this is the dungeon’s way of testing us,” he yelled. “Just… Try to stay calm, okay?”

They’d kept pretty close to one another before this whole mess began. Assuming neither had wandered too far, they should still be near one another now. Hell, they might actually be shouting in each other’s faces. That thought caused him to chuckle.

"...can't see you. Where are..."

“I’m… I don’t really know, a hospital, or a library or something along those lines, I think?” He replied. “What about you? What do you see?”

He stepped forward again, over the transition between the metal and the wood. This area felt more cozy, less sterile. The voice was clearer now, seemingly coming from a nearby TV. The speech… Honestly, it kind of reminded him of one of Ghetsis’s rallies. He could picture it all, those white robed weirdos with their billowing banners, and in the center, a man dressed like a castle, decrying the human abuse of Pokemon. So, when a human seemed to step out of his mind’s eye to materialize in the flesh, he found himself hesitating.

“Uh… Hello?” he said. The child looked familiar somehow, that hair and those eyes. This had to be some kind of illusion, there weren’t any humans on Forlas… But even so, this was the first time he’d seen a human being since his world had died. Would they even be able to understand him? He suddenly felt very naked in just his hat and coat.

 

[Tetra]

“I’m guessing...dungeon’s...testing...stay calm...”

"...okay, uh I'll try--"​

At Archie's voice, the kid looked up and grinned. Looking closer, the boy looked ever so slightly insubstantial. Faded or indistinct around the edges, a little to pale to be fully there. Still, that same smile looked familiar, even on a human. The tv continued to play in the background, the same loop, but the kid didn't seem to be paying much attention.
"-why this world needs to undergo a change! Into a beautiful and perfect world! cმɑϝcᴉɑɼ ƨϝuმnԍʁƨᴉq continues-"

“...library? -... you see?”

"...make sense? Just a dungeon...-you?"​

The kid waved, but his gaze was distant, not quite focused on Archie. "Blake!" His eyes were fixed on something behind Archie. From behind Archie approached a humanoid figure, passing right beside him, close enough to touch. Yet it was equally insubstantial, and edge of the figure passed through Archie instead of bumping him. A phantasm? Trick? ...Or memory?

The kid ran up to the figure, hugging him. "Are they coming?"

'Blake' shook his head, his bob haircut swishing. "Sorry Little K. You know they can't. It's-"

"Hard work. They're making the world a better place," the kid said rotely, oblivious cheer in his voice. Still, it was tinged with disappointment. He looked up at Blake. "Just like you."

Blake nodded, and started to walk towards a back exit to the library, the kid following and chattering about legendary pokemon. Around Archie, the library began to fade into a snowy mist. Ahead, Blake and 'Little K' were still visible, walking towards the libraries exit.

 

[Weazel]

The Dewott folded his arms and frowned. Koa’s words were getting harder to make out. Trying to focus on them as he was, he didn’t notice the second human until the man partially phased through him, causing his fur to stand up on end. But, he shouldn’t be surprised they weren’t real, even if the child’s voice sounded almost familiar. The two humans spoke, acting out a scene that he could only witness. It wasn’t like Lumirror Dungeon, where the tricks had been meant to be engaged with, puzzles the dungeon wanted them to solve.

“Koa? I need you to speak a little louder.” he yelled.

Then the two humans started walking off, and the scene began breaking down around him. Was he intended to follow, or would that just lead him deeper into this mess? Why was he being shown this to begin with? A spiky blue haired, yellow eyed boy, with a name that could be shortened down to just Kay? He could think of one potential source of whatever this was, and he didn’t like it.

“Well, the invasion of privacy aspect is much the same as Lumirror,” he grumbled to himself. Then, louder, “Hey Koa? I’m real sorry, I think I’m going to see some things maybe you preferred I didn’t.”

He set off after the two humans.

 

[Tetra]

“Koa?- need... louder.”

"-just a normal dungeon."​

Koa's voice was slightly clearer, but still far off, whispery.

“-sorry,... see things-... you preferred I didn't"

A long silence. His voice, now faltering.

"Archie? What's..."
​

The two humans stepped outside the library, and the doors swung shut behind them. Archie followed, pushing through the doors just a second later, stepping out into-

Swirling whiteness, and a blast of icy wind. Ankle deep, freezing cold snow covering a rocky slope. Dark skies. Ominous clouds that swirled overhead, more black than purple. The spectres of the two humans were gone now, with the only thing visible a single trail of footprints leading further. Behind Archie the library was gone, replaced by a foggy wall of white.

The only way forward was up.

Then Koa's voice again, smaller and trepidatious.

"What do you see?"​

 

[Weazel]

Koa only saw a normal dungeon? So, from the Electrike’s perspective, had Archie just vanished? He wasn’t being bombarded with similar imagery at all?

“Is there anyone there with you?” He called. Might as well give it a try.

Then he stepped through the door, and into the biting cold. The howling wind bit into his skin beneath the fur, and he instinctively grabbed onto his hat to prevent it getting blown off. Fresh footsteps in the snow ahead, nothing behind him but the void. Only one way to go, then. The Dewott followed the footsteps on.

"What do you see?"

“A mountain, I think,” he yelled, straining his voice a bit over the wind, “It’s snow capped. Looks like I’m following someone’s trail.”

He paused, wondering just how to break his suspicions to Koa. No point beating around the bush.

“Before, I think I saw you, Koa, as a kid, with a man you called Blake,” he yelled.

 

[Tetra]

“...anyone- with you?"

"No...alone."

With the way his voice seemed to fade in and out, it seemed like not everything was getting through to Archie...
​

The cold and wind only grew more bitter as Archie continued.

“mountain... following... trail... -saw you... with Blake,”

"My cousin?" Koa's voice cracked, confusion mixing with unease. Perhaps the situation was beginning to get to him. There was a sense of wavering. Then his voice came again, but as if he were talking to himself, not Archie.

"...Mt. Coronet?"
...
"-e careful."​

Wind whipped Archie's clothes and cold seeped through his fur. Sometimes through the storm, a glimpse of the summit could be seen. Otherwise, white and gray and a swirling wind and snow. And yet... If Archie's sense were keen, perhaps the fur on the back of his neck would stand on end, and he'd feel the sense of eyes on him. The distinct sense of being watched. Which might give him just enough warning to turn around. To see the dark feline shape stalking him from behind.

Just barely enough time to register it as a Luxray.

Then it pounced, claws outstretched, fur sparking.

 

[Weazel]

If Koa was alone, where was everyone else? Had they all been separated, or were they all still together outside of whatever this was? With the way that dungeons could shift and rearrange themselves at a moment’s notice, either option was likely even if they tried not to move all that much. Walls could spring up, corridors could vanish, doorways could open. He was going somewhere, so he hadn’t hit the dungeon’s wall just yet… Assuming he was actually moving and that, too wasn’t part of whatever this was.

According to Koa, this was Mt. Coronet, Sinnoh’s highest peak. Fur or not, he really wasn’t prepared for mountaintop conditions, and even if the snow and wind weren’t real, the biting cold was quickly becoming painful. Was he going to be expected to trudge all the way to the top? Seeing the peak momentarily through the storm, the Dewott was suddenly reminded of just how small a Pokemon he had become. How much littler his legs were. This was going to suck.

He was almost too focused on moving forward to feel the eyes on his back. Almost. His neck fur stood on end and he wheeled around, caught sight of the eyes just before the figure leapt out of the snow at him. The weight of the blue and black cat bowled him over. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered that Luxray had X-Ray vision. It could see him through the storm quite easily. And he had nothing in his movepool that could possibly counter the Electric Type. That left him with one option, before the cat started really pumping electricity into him. At this close range, it was going to hurt him just as much as the cat.

Archie pulled the blast seed from his pocket, and threw it in the feline’s face.

 

[Tetra]

Bang!

It was fortunate that Archie was both sturdy and slightly further away from the blast that the Luxray was. The force threw both pokemon back, though the Luxray seemed to take the brunt of it. It rolled, then scrambled to its paws and snarled. A gust of wind blew, and storm eased. As the whiteness faded it revealed...

Beyond the Luxray, a silhouette of a human. Trainer. Spiky blue hair and light skin, and the faintest flash of yellow eyes. Luxray's trainer...? Both looked ever so slightly dark, fuzzy around the edgs, like grim spectres. The figure was hard to make out yet familiar. Add a few years... 'Litte K'. Koa.

"-just tricking us..."

Another whisper on the wind, half swallowed by the storm.

"...find a way out... ignore everything-"
​

Luxray growled. Its trainer watched, a cruel light in his eyes. If it was really Koa, something was off. He'd spoken of a Crobat partner, not a Luxray. And the expression on his face... Cold. Harsh. Wrong...?

For now, the storm had abated enough to give a little more clarity. The footprint tail continued right on past the two spectres.

They were blocking the path to the summit. But how to get past?

 

[Weazel]

The Dewott tucked and rolled, springing back to his feet once he’d gotten a good distance. And that’s when he was finally able to take stock of the situation he found himself in. He was face to face with, well, Koa, more or less. Though, this one seemed off, somehow, in a way he couldn’t quite place. Not that this was a particularly good time for pondering, the shadowy trainer’s Luxray was already back on its feet.

"-just tricking us... ...find a way out... ignore everything-"

“You’re not exactly making that easy for me, Koa,” Archie grumbled. He reached down to grab his hat where it had fallen while he rolled, brushing snow off the brim and placing it back on his head.

The trail continued on past the hostile duo. If he wanted to progress, he’d have to get past them somehow. And, while he didn’t like his odds in a straight fight against a Luxray – not to mention whatever other Pokemon Evil-Koa might have on him – that didn’t mean he didn’t have a few tricks up his sleeve. The Dewott hopped back and forth on his feet, warming himself up, and leaving afterimages in his wake.

Archie used Double Team!

Then, he cloaked himself in water, and rushed forward, crashing into the Luxray -

Archie used Aqua Jet!

- only to clamber up and over its back, and use the feline as a springboard to launch himself onwards, just missing the cat’s trainer as he flew past!

Archie used Flip Turn!

Landing on his feet, the Dewott took off running towards the summit, glancing back at the pair only briefly.

“Alright you overgrown Meowth, what’s it gonna be? Gonna chase me?”

 

[Tetra]

“-not exactly making that easy,...,”

Barely audible, more wind than words.
"I'm sorry..."
​

The feline tensed, fur still sparking, gaze never leaving Archie as it studied him. Double Team seemed to briefly catch it off guard, as its gaze flicked between the multiples Archies, trying to discern the real one. For a hunter pokemon with such keen eyes, it seemed to struggle more than expected. Perhaps the spectre couldn't match the real thing...

At a shout from its trainer (that voice was almost familiar), Luxray's gaze snapped onto the real Archie just as he exploded forwards, cloaked in water. With lightning jaws, it met the attack-

Biting down on nothing but a piece of Archie's jacket as he vaulted over the feline and past its trainer. For a brief moment as he passed, he could see the trainer better. He wore a cold expression and high collared longsleeve outfit, light and dark Grey. A yellow symbol.

"-overgrown Meowth...Gonna chase me?”

"Archie are you okay? I'm trying-...What's-...see?"
​

The trainer Koa? stared for a moment, and the Luxray looked ready to give chase, but the trainer calmly raised a hand for Luxray to stop. He tipped his head, studying Archie. The wind swirled and picked up, obscuring them. Barely visible now, the trainer appeared to make a dispassionate wave of his hand, as if allowing Archie to continue. More snow and swept past. When it cleared, they were gone. All that remained was the snowy mountaintop.

And the trail of footprints leading towards the summit.

Around Archie, the storm grew distant, but a sense of pressure and turbulence remained.

​

 

[Weazel]

When it became obvious the Luxray wasn’t, in fact, chasing him, Archie slowed to a stop, and looked back down the slope again. He met the trainer’s eyes, the seconds seemed to stretch into minutes. Then the man waved him off, and vanished into the storm. The Dewott allowed himself a single sigh of relief. He’d been prepared to engage in a deadly dance of Aqua Jets and Flip Turns all the way up the mountain if he had to, but thankfully it seemed it wouldn’t come to that.

"Archie are you okay? I'm trying-...What's-...see?"

“Your doppelganger attacked me with a Luxray,” Archie called back, before turning and starting up the mountain again. He’d heard that air at the tops of mountains was thin, but here it felt like the air alone was almost crushing him. The storm was well and truly beneath him, but things still felt unsettled. The fur on the back of his neck was still standing up. Something was going on up at the summit, of that he was sure, but what?

“I’m almost at the top, now.”

 

[Tetra]

Pressure. The air itself thick, heavy. Unnatural. Pressing around Archie, as if gravity had decided to work overtime. Ever onward, following the footprints, higher and higher. Air thin. Not unbreathable, but certainly uncomfortable. Quiet, broken by the soft crunch of paws on snow.

If Archie studied the footprints, his experience as a ranger might tell him something seemed a little off. There was only one set, but the step... the depth... it was wrong. Like smaller steps inside slightly larger ones. Following...?

-doppelganger attacked me with a Luxray

"What!?" Confusion, his voice cutting in and out. "Doppleganger? Luxray? I-...I- What-"​

Time dragged.

“...almost at the top....”

"no...turn back..."
Talking to himself or Archie? He sounded strained.​

A warp of the dungeon, distorting everything (or a trick of the vision? Impossible to tell). Archie abruptly found himself at the summit, somehow slow and all at once. One moment just climbing, the next standing on a flat patch of snow, approaching some kind of ruins. A stone expanse lay ahead, guarded on either side by broken pillars. Remains of some once great temple, reduced to rubble, a shadow of its former glory.

Behind, swirling stormy whiteness.

There seemed to be nowhere else to go but forward to the ruins...

 

[Weazel]

Trudging up the snow, ice forming on his whisker tips, his breath escaping his muzzle in foggy puffs. His paws were going numb from the biting cold. He’d taken to walking in the existing footsteps as much as possible, but his legs weren’t long enough to match a natural human stride. He felt as much as he saw the difference in depths. He wasn’t the only person to follow this trail up.

"no...turn back..."

And then he blinked, and the summit was before him. The ruins – that’s right, Mt. Coronet had ruins, hadn’t it? – were breathtaking in and of themselves. It made him remember Relic Castle back home. If the climb wasn’t so treacherous, this would’ve probably been a popular tourist destination itself. But he couldn’t take time to enjoy it. The way the air pulsed and hummed, it sent tingles through his fur. Something big was happening.

He glanced behind him, and was confronted with a wall of white. Forward was all there was.

“Sorry Koa, I don’t think it’s going to let me go back,” he said. So he turned back towards the temple, and then trudged onward, and up the temple stairs.

 

[Tetra]

“Sorry Koa... don’t think ... let me go back."

"-just mind games... none of it is real... trick."
Somehow he didn't quite sound confident.​

Thunk.

Just before the ruins, Archie would run into... Something. A wall. Insivisible, hard, blocking the way forward... Or.... Not a wall, it was like being on the other side of a huge screen, like watching a grand television set. On the other side, three figures. Dressed in those gray uniforms. Two guarding either side, and one at the head, arms folded behind him, watching the sky. Pale spiked hair and a high collared uniform. No... four...? The Luxray trainer from before, a short ways from the pale haired man. Standing with him.

A shiver of something- Right beside Archie, there was a fifth figure, a boy with spiky blue hair and yellow eyes. Little K....? Older now though. (Where had he come from? Had he always been standing there?) He was silent, watching with a hollow expression. It was hard to gauge if he was just a spectre or somehow substantial.

But then... that made two of him. This one, and the one with the Luxray. Which was the real one? Or was it all another trick of the dungeon?

...So much pressure now, the air thick and humming, almost alive.

 

[Weazel]

He took a step or two back, rubbing at his nose. Had he found the dungeon wall, after all? Whatever it was, he couldn’t see it, but running into it still felt… Embarrassing. He was glad no one could see him. Well, no one real anyway. The Dewott pushed at the barrier with a paw, looking up at the humans standing guard. Two women in ridiculous space age get-ups, one red headed, the other with purple hair. Further back, a man with his back to them, and the trainer he’d faced earlier. Something about the outfits seemed almost familiar, like he’d seen it on TV once or twice in the past. That stylized chest logo, it was a letter, wasn’t it?

-just mind games... none of it is real... trick."

“Koa, it’ll be alright, don’t worry,” he said. No matter what it was the dungeon was going to show him, he'd resolved that he wouldn't think any less of the Electrike for it. He was just a kid.

And then a shimmer to his right caught his attention, and there the human Koa was again. Except he was still standing in the ruins with the man, too. Interesting.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a twin, would you?” Archie asked, staring at the human beside him, unsure what kind of answer he was expecting.

 

[Tetra]

“Koa-... be alright, don’t worry,”

"...."
The silence felt heavy.​

“You-... happen - a twin, would you?”

"No." A breath. "...it's not me." Of the first part that sounded certain. And yet...
​

What did it all mean? If there was two of him, why? Beside him, 'Koa' tensed and briefly put his hand against the invisible wall. He seemed frustrated, somehow. Before Archie could further consider what was going on, a flicker of something red shimmered in the air above the ruins. The scene before Archie distorted and shifted. Rippling portals formed in the sky, ringed by red chains. And always, more pressure building. It felt like he was both there and as if he were watching a show play out.

"Try... get out of there. Ignore-"
​

All around, yet far away, the wind howled and the pressure built. Darkness began to gather around the ruined temple and the portals tightened. The leader watched, wind ruffling his cropped spiky hair, while the other Koa remained an ever present figure. Both gave the sense they were pleased. Whatever was happening was part of histheir? plan. Who were they? Why were there two?

Beside Archie, the second Koa clenched his fists. Anger? Shame? ...longing? Second-Koa didn't make a move, his body rigid as if rooted in place.