Shadow Serenity
Lurking
- Pronoun
- He/Him
When Alex had gone to sleep, he'd been thoroughly exhausted. His squad had spent the better part of the afternoon investigating a ghost citing far too close to home for comfort, though the ensuing battle had not been one of the more difficult ones they'd endured. All things considered, a successful rescue mission. That had just left the cleanup and making sure the little town they'd come to defend was still standing; that was the tiring part.
Getting off his feet for the day was something Alex looked forward to. And he wasn't alone in that; Kimiko had crawled into bed and fallen asleep before he'd had the chance to ponder dinner. It was late anyway; with a shrug, Alex crawled in behind her, pulled up the covers, threw his arm around her, and remembered nothing after that save his girlfriend's voice calling his name.
When he next awoke, there was no soreness, no hunger; in fact, he felt like he'd just gotten the best sleep he'd had in months. It was almost too refreshing- no, wait, even before opening his eyes, he knew he needed to cut off that thought then and there. Now they've got me paranoid.
And yet...
Something was wrong - even if that something was not what he'd first imagined. The sound of running water, perhaps? Had he started a shower last night before bed and forgot? Sounded pretty loud for a shower, though. Surely he'd remember that. Opening his eye a crack revealed two different - yet equally startling - puzzles. One, Kimiko was not by his side. Two... was that dirt?
Awareness hit him all at once as he opened his eyes and heaved himself upright, everything from his new, unfamiliar surroundings to his new, unfamiliar body. His first instinct was 'dream' but wrote that off almost immediately. If there was one thing he'd learned from reading, it was that 'it was all a dream' was still the worst possible ending in most cases.
His second thought was, 'I wonder if I can battle with myself?' and immediately shocked himself with a small-but-uncontrolled outburst like a bloody newborn pichu. Not what I meant. He cast about for a proper target, only then realizing he wasn't alone. Servine was not particularly weak to electricity, and would therefore be reasonably safe to test his strength against... if he could be sure it wouldn't fight back. He didn't feel particularly powerful; then again, he was used to gauging skill and strength from afar. He'd never been a pokemon himself before, so what did he know?
He entertained a momentary notion of how he might politely ask to start zapping the grass snake, but the longer he stared, the more it sunk in that something was wrong. The servine didn't look hurt, exactly, but it wasn't moving... and, more importantly, had a shockingly familiar necklace around its throat.
The notion was absurd... but no more absurd than he was finding himself right now. With an abundance of caution and the hope that somehow, the 'mon opposite him might understand him, he called out to her. "Kimiko?"
The sound of her name from a familiar voice roused the servine from her... state of unconsciousness? She didn't remember falling asleep, the last thing she recalled was something absolutely dreadful happening on the mesa...
Speaking of, she felt awful. Which was noteworthy because that had arguably been her best battle performance so far, and she hadn't even felt tired afterwards! Why did she feel like she'd gone seven rounds against zapdos?
It was a struggle to even lift herself into a halfway upright position, her head ringing and yet alarmingly silent at the same time. She mentally called out to Bee, and then to any other Wayfarer within range (which, theoretically, should have been all of them, right?), and got aching silence in return. Opening her eyes revealed a drastic change in scenery, complete with a bewildered elekid staring at her as if mesmerized.
"Shoo," Kimiko urged, weakly waving a vine at the 'mon - ugh, why was simply moving so difficult? The elekid did not flee, however. Before Kimiko could consider the possibility of it being a feral, it spoke her name again, and left her no room for doubt as to who had spoken. His gaze did not reach her eyes (big surprise there) but only when her tiny leafy hands crossed and came into contact with her necklace did she realize that must be what had his attention.
And then the realization of him being there in front of her really sunk in. It had to be. It recognized her necklace. It sounded like him. It knew her name! And last thing she knew, she'd been on Forlas, far from any malevolent ghosts wishing to conjure up some cruel trickery. The urge to lunge and tackle him to the ground in a constricting hug was strong, but stronger still was her confusion. "Wh- how are you here? Why are you here?! Not that I'm not happy to see you, but... how?"
"Where is here?" Alex - for that's the only person he could be - asked in reply. He gestured vaguely to the large waterfalls nearby and the sparkling rainbow effect they were producing. "Not that here isn't lovely, but... I don't recall falling asleep in mud. What's going on?"
Kimiko paused, overwhelmed and paralyzed by a waterfall of emotion and the question of where even to begin to explain what she'd been doing for the last... however long it had been. Would Alex have even noticed the passage of time?
"Do you remember... years ago, that day in the lab, when we were studying the beautifly? And I asked if you'd still love me if I was a wurmple?"
The elekid rolled his eyes in an unmistakably Alex-like way. "Uh huh...."
Kimiko waved her vines over herself. "Well, um... surpriiiise?"
"...babe, I'm gonna need more context."
Getting off his feet for the day was something Alex looked forward to. And he wasn't alone in that; Kimiko had crawled into bed and fallen asleep before he'd had the chance to ponder dinner. It was late anyway; with a shrug, Alex crawled in behind her, pulled up the covers, threw his arm around her, and remembered nothing after that save his girlfriend's voice calling his name.
When he next awoke, there was no soreness, no hunger; in fact, he felt like he'd just gotten the best sleep he'd had in months. It was almost too refreshing- no, wait, even before opening his eyes, he knew he needed to cut off that thought then and there. Now they've got me paranoid.
And yet...
Something was wrong - even if that something was not what he'd first imagined. The sound of running water, perhaps? Had he started a shower last night before bed and forgot? Sounded pretty loud for a shower, though. Surely he'd remember that. Opening his eye a crack revealed two different - yet equally startling - puzzles. One, Kimiko was not by his side. Two... was that dirt?
Awareness hit him all at once as he opened his eyes and heaved himself upright, everything from his new, unfamiliar surroundings to his new, unfamiliar body. His first instinct was 'dream' but wrote that off almost immediately. If there was one thing he'd learned from reading, it was that 'it was all a dream' was still the worst possible ending in most cases.
His second thought was, 'I wonder if I can battle with myself?' and immediately shocked himself with a small-but-uncontrolled outburst like a bloody newborn pichu. Not what I meant. He cast about for a proper target, only then realizing he wasn't alone. Servine was not particularly weak to electricity, and would therefore be reasonably safe to test his strength against... if he could be sure it wouldn't fight back. He didn't feel particularly powerful; then again, he was used to gauging skill and strength from afar. He'd never been a pokemon himself before, so what did he know?
He entertained a momentary notion of how he might politely ask to start zapping the grass snake, but the longer he stared, the more it sunk in that something was wrong. The servine didn't look hurt, exactly, but it wasn't moving... and, more importantly, had a shockingly familiar necklace around its throat.
The notion was absurd... but no more absurd than he was finding himself right now. With an abundance of caution and the hope that somehow, the 'mon opposite him might understand him, he called out to her. "Kimiko?"
The sound of her name from a familiar voice roused the servine from her... state of unconsciousness? She didn't remember falling asleep, the last thing she recalled was something absolutely dreadful happening on the mesa...
Speaking of, she felt awful. Which was noteworthy because that had arguably been her best battle performance so far, and she hadn't even felt tired afterwards! Why did she feel like she'd gone seven rounds against zapdos?
It was a struggle to even lift herself into a halfway upright position, her head ringing and yet alarmingly silent at the same time. She mentally called out to Bee, and then to any other Wayfarer within range (which, theoretically, should have been all of them, right?), and got aching silence in return. Opening her eyes revealed a drastic change in scenery, complete with a bewildered elekid staring at her as if mesmerized.
"Shoo," Kimiko urged, weakly waving a vine at the 'mon - ugh, why was simply moving so difficult? The elekid did not flee, however. Before Kimiko could consider the possibility of it being a feral, it spoke her name again, and left her no room for doubt as to who had spoken. His gaze did not reach her eyes (big surprise there) but only when her tiny leafy hands crossed and came into contact with her necklace did she realize that must be what had his attention.
And then the realization of him being there in front of her really sunk in. It had to be. It recognized her necklace. It sounded like him. It knew her name! And last thing she knew, she'd been on Forlas, far from any malevolent ghosts wishing to conjure up some cruel trickery. The urge to lunge and tackle him to the ground in a constricting hug was strong, but stronger still was her confusion. "Wh- how are you here? Why are you here?! Not that I'm not happy to see you, but... how?"
"Where is here?" Alex - for that's the only person he could be - asked in reply. He gestured vaguely to the large waterfalls nearby and the sparkling rainbow effect they were producing. "Not that here isn't lovely, but... I don't recall falling asleep in mud. What's going on?"
Kimiko paused, overwhelmed and paralyzed by a waterfall of emotion and the question of where even to begin to explain what she'd been doing for the last... however long it had been. Would Alex have even noticed the passage of time?
"Do you remember... years ago, that day in the lab, when we were studying the beautifly? And I asked if you'd still love me if I was a wurmple?"
The elekid rolled his eyes in an unmistakably Alex-like way. "Uh huh...."
Kimiko waved her vines over herself. "Well, um... surpriiiise?"
"...babe, I'm gonna need more context."