Sojaveña Wilds Dusty Highway

[canisaries]

“I…know a thing or two about getting out of tight situations,” he said. “I don’t know what sort of place we are heading to, but if we need to get out of restraints or pick a lock, I can…be helpful there.” He prayed to the stars that nobody would start questioning him right now.

Andre raised a brow. "Are you sure you can do it with paws?" They had their short-range telekinesis, but if Andre had trouble with dexterity, surely the others must have had it, too. Or maybe he was just very unlucky...

 

[HelloYellow17]

Wes sure hoped the Meowth girl—Jade? Was right about not having to fight at all. “How can we be so sure we’ll have a good opening for an escape?” he murmured. He couldn’t keep his doubts to himself any longer. “Look, I know I volunteered, but I didn’t think we’d be trying to infiltrate whatever this place is. Whose idea was this?”

He gave threw Andre a look, not sure what to make of his tone. “I dunno what your experience has been, but I haven’t had much difficulty doing things that I could as a human,” he said. “Chalked it up to weird cross-dimensional voodoo or whatever, I dunno. Haven’t fussed about the how or why very much. I’m just glad it’s worked out this way.”

 

[canisaries]

He gave threw Andre a look, not sure what to make of his tone. “I dunno what your experience has been, but I haven’t had much difficulty doing things that I could as a human,” he said. “Chalked it up to weird cross-dimensional voodoo or whatever, I dunno. Haven’t fussed about the how or why very much. I’m just glad it’s worked out this way.”

Andre sighed. "Ah. Just me, then."

 

[Jackie Cat]

The town's evening chatter had already faded, to be replaced by the chirps and creaking of small insects and wild Bug-types, nocturnal avians, and the steady clip-clop-clip of hooves on impacted dirt. The inside of the wagon, already dim, became truly dark as the dusk settled. If one was already tired, the jostling of the wagon could do as much to induce a half-asleep daze as it could to keep one awake.

Rattata hadn't lied. It was a long journey. Long enough to lose track of time and run out of conversation, as the continuous darkness and bumping and the rest became monotonous...

So, when the wagon abruptly stopped, it would certainly jolt the passengers to their senses.

"What is it?" asked an unfamiliar, bassy, female voice.

"Dunno," replied the much higher tenor of Rattata. "Hush up. Lemme get a gander at it."

And then there was only the squeaking of desert crickets again.

 

[HelloYellow17]

What…?

Wes jolted out of his daze and exchanged looks with his fellow passengers, all of whom looked as startled as he felt. He looked to Jade—perhaps she knew this would happen? But the surprise on her face indicated she did not.

Wes felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

 

[Tetra]

Koa did his absolute best to stay awake, but the ride was monotous. His thoughts wandered aimlessly as the wagon droned on, until finally a jolt shook him from his thoughts.

Something was off. He sniffed the air, flicking his ears in a effort to detect anything.

 

[Jackie Cat]

The offworlder passengers felt a slight, jarring shift as the wagon reversed a little as Mudsdale backed up.

"Don't like this," she said again.

"Shush, you!"

"That's a spooklight," muttered Mudsdale. "A will-o'-wisp."

"That light's a normal flame, moron. Just calm your withers and lemme—"

The wagon jolted again, and cut the sentence off.

"All the Saints," swore Rattata.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave had begun to doze off in the jostling of it all and jolted awake, a spike of adrenaline shooting through him at the unfamiliar voice. Sounded like... they'd bumped into something unexpected?

The unfamiliar voice, he realized belatedly as the exchange continued, was just the Mudsdale pulling the wagon - also sapient, of course, in this world. A 'spooklight'? A flame? He didn't love the sound of this.

His Poochyena heart pounded uncomfortably in his chest, a dumb instinct telling him to hightail it out of there, as if that would be somehow helpful. He sensed battle hormones surging through his body, readying for a fight.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Something's wrong," insisted Mudsdale, with the dull rising fear of a very large herd pokémon, alone at night, fighting the instinct to bolt.

"Look, it's probably just a weird Ghost-type," snapped Rattata. "That's what you got me for, you big lunk." The rat cracked his tiny knuckles, and called out, "Hey, asshole! Back off! We don't want no fuckin' pranks tonight, y'hear me?"

Silence, for a moment.

"...Okay, good, I think it pissed off."

Then—

"Saints alive," swore Rattata as Mudsdale whinnied and reared up, jostling the wagon.

A rush of hot air, and the inside of the wagon lit up flame-orange, suddenly enough to hurt one's eyes. Mudsdale screamed, Rattata let out a string of curses, the wagon jolted—

"Help, help me!"

The draft horse thrashed desperately, the wagon shook, and the front of it snapped away as she fled into the night.

For several, tense seconds, all that could be heard from outside the canvas was a wet thump, a vile crack, and a shrill whimpering, cut short.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Oh god, what.

Jade's heart was pounding, every hair standing on end. This wasn't the sort of trouble they were supposed to run into, if there even was going to be any trouble. What the hell was... some kind of wild Pokemon?

Jade dropped to the floor of the wagon, creeping forward until she was close enough to the front to peek out through the canvas. Where was it, was it distracted, could they...

 

[Jackie Cat]

Crouched on all fours in the sparse, dry grass, something stared back.

A few feet tall at most – or longer with the full, reptilian tail – and dimly red-scaled in the lantern's weak light. The torso, the single back-swept horn, the bowed forelimbs all suggested Charmeleon, but there was no flame. Or, no— There was a tail-flame, but it was very faint, discoloured somehow, and seemed to cast no light at all.

The wind had stopped. The plains were silent.

Then the creature turned its head, and looked directly at Jade.

 

[Butterfree]

"Help, help me!"

The draft horse thrashed desperately, the wagon shook, and the front of it snapped away as she fled into the night.

For several, tense seconds, all that could be heard from outside the canvas was a wet thump, a vile crack, and a shrill whimpering, cut short.

Dave flinched physically at the noises, heart thundering. Jesus fuck. Had something just-- just fucking killed that Rattata driver?

He peered wildly over Jade's shoulder and saw -- a Charmeleon? What kind of flame was-- What the fuck, what the fuck. If the fucking Mudsdale had run, a fully-evolved adult with a type advantage, that was a pretty big fucking hint they were going to be outmatched.

"Okay, how about we get the fuck out of here," he hissed, inclining his head towards the back of the wagon.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Slowly. Slowly. No sudden movements. Jade inched her right paw back from the canvas, not taking her eyes off the... the charmeleon. She clenched her left paw, drawing on her Assist. Felt a swirl of sand gathering for a Sand Attack, but then held onto it, keeping it ready.

No sudden movements. Maybe--maybe it'd be distracted, chewing on... on the body. Just had to make it to the back, and then she could go for a Quick Attack, and if they all scattered, it wouldn't be able to catch up.

 

[HelloYellow17]

Icy horror clenched in Wes’s gut as he looked over Jade’s shoulder and saw—whatever the hell that thing was. Malicious, feral, predatory. Killer instinct coming off of it in waves.

This. This was not a creature they could fight and win.

“Go,” he said, his voice barely more than a hoarse whisper. When nobody moved, he spoke again in a forceful snarl. “I said go, dammit! Let’s get out of here!”

 

[Hap]

Despite his best efforts, Ridley had drift off from the combination of the long journey and the endless expanse of landscape.

The sudden jolting stop of the wagon, however, shocked him right back to consciousness.

Crouched on all fours in the sparse, dry grass, something stared back.

...was that a...?

Any semblance of fear Ridley might have felt was distant, abstract, a mere whisper in his hindbrain, because oh wow was that a Witching Beast right there-

Or, no— There was a tail-flame, but it was very faint, discoloured somehow, and seemed to cast no light at all.

Well that didn't seem healthy. Was this a wild pokemon or a person? Could he talk to it? How was Ridley supposed to tell?

"Okay, how about we get the fuck out of here," he hissed, inclining his head towards the back of the wagon.

"Everybody be prepared to run, because I'm about to do something very fucking stupid to attract its attention," Ridley said absently, a thrill still racing through his body. He wasn't the self-sacrificial type, but there was no way he was about to pass up this opportunity. Besides which, he was a mimikyu, right? He could probably take a couple of hits.

How lucky was he! How incredibly, absurdly lucky!

Why didn't he have his rotomphone here? Here he was, in a whole new world, meeting a cryptid in person, and he couldn't even document it! What was the point of that? Hey, Voice, I'd like to register a customer service complaint!

He started to climb, slowly, out of the wagon.

 

[Tetra]

Koa's ears flattened and his whole body tensed, heart thudding erratically as the Mudsdale cried out and the Rattata swore and- His stomach lurched. Was... did... did he just hear the Rattata get eaten? No no no.

He must have heard wrong or... He edged forward until he could he could see out the front of the wagon.

For a single long second he could only stare, uncomprehendingly. Some pokemon instinct him him screamed danger! His human instinct screamed not a Charmeleon. Run. This wasn't like a territorial wild pokemon back home this was more. Worse. His legs didn't work. The sight felt more dream then reality. Like he would step closer and it would move and then he'd wake, and he'd be back, back somewhere far away. And he could forget the sounds he'd heard.

The voices of the others hissing that he should run rang too loud in his ears. Not a dream. Not a dream. Except when he tried to back up his legs felt like jelly. Get a grip, he begged. He managed to inch back a little more, trying to stay quiet. RUN!

"Ridley, no. Get on my back," he hissed, not moving.

 

[Jackie Cat]

The Charmeleon reared up a little and pulled away from the small, black mass it had been crouched over. It glanced at its claws – stained dark – clenching them in apparent fascination. Then back to Ridley, with a sort of frenzied emptiness in its eyes. The lightless ember of its tailflame flickered once.

Its head thrust forward, jaws snapping open as smoke-filled fire billowed from its mouth. The plume of flame engulfed Ridley, hot enough to burn, dingy enough to choke, then the beast lunged—

—and vanished.

Shadow Charmeleon is attacking.

 

[Hap]

The plume of flame engulfed Ridley, hot enough to burn, dingy enough to choke, then the beast lunged—

Fuck, it hurt, even through the safety layer of his disguise. Ridley curled in on himself, coughing on smoke, his eyes stinging.

—and vanished.

The fear which had been so absent only a moment earlier was hitting hard now. It felt bigger than his body could possibly hold, surreal, almost dreamlike if not for the pain, as though he'd been transported outside of himself and was merely observing his own terror through an outsider's lense.

He was suddenly, excruciatingly aware of how small he was.

 

[Tetra]

It was dead ohhhh the Rattata was dead-

Fire.

"Ridley!" Koa yelped and tried to scramble away from the flames as they engulfed him and struck the wagon as well. Smoke and flame. No no no- Koa's body moved almost without thinking. He sprang towards Ridley. Smoke burned his lungs and heat seared his pelt, stinging him. He ignored it. His jaws closed around something then he threw himself away from the wagon and the Thing haphazardly, landing roughly.

Please be okay. In his minds eye he saw the Entei, flames rushing toward him, eyes cold. Thoughts spinning erratically, he scrambled to his paws to try and take in his surroundings and see if Ridley and the others were okay. Alive, at least, the Mimikyu was scorched but alive but- Koa's head whipped around frantically, his mind racing. Flames licked at the wagon. Darkness surrounded them. Where were the others, where had the thing gone-?

 

[Butterfree]

Shit, shit, shit, why were people moving towards the fucking front of the wagon? A burst of flames lit up the night, an icy chill running down his spine. "Get back!" he snarled, and then after a moment's hesitation -- he leapt towards the front too, firing off a Sand Attack in the direction of where the flames had come from.