Dear Diary,
Today our rescue team FINALLY reached Lucario rank! I’m so excited! Pi and I are going to throw a party with everyone who helped us out to get this far! Team Alakazam, Caterpies family and friends, Gardevior, Absol, Dugtrio and Digglet, Mightyena, Mew, Latias, Latios, Ninetails, Xatu, and team meanie’s, it wouldn’t be right not to invite them, since we owe a great deal of our success to them, in a way. Oh what am I saying?! I’ll invite EVERYONE! It will be great! Though it might be hard to get enough food for everyone… But I saved so much money in the Persian bank just for this! Right?! We will finally be able to do something with that money instead of leaving it lying around! Having that much money just doesn’t feel right to me.
Anyway, even though I shouldn’t be having dreams anymore, because we saved Gardevior, I’ve been having… very interesting dreams lately. I can’t really tell much from them, but they don’t sound good… I’m worried.
Ah what am I worrying about dreams for? Tomorrow is a big day! I need to prepare and get a good night’s sleep.
I’m actually falling asleep as I write. I should go to bed.
~Nick
A loud noise made the Marowak jump and spin around quickly, searching for the source for the noise, after a while he saw his bone on the ground and sighed in relief, He must have knocked it with his tail by accident; it was sure hard getting used to this larger body… Must be another reason why Pi had choose not to evolve from a Pikachu, Nick didn’t mind though, he thought Pi was adorable and Nick liked teasing his partner about it on occasion. Upon thinking about Pi, Nick sighed; these nights alone where hard, being a Marowak made it worse. And Nick didn’t have the courage to ask Pi to stay with him of the night. Nick held back a cry of loneliness, he promised himself he wouldn’t cry; when he cried his skull made an awful noise. It was just another night he told himself, he just needed to sleep through it until the morning, then rush outside to see Pi there smiling for him, telling him to do his best today.
Nick picked up his bone and walked over to his bed slowly, thinking about his daily ritual, and how it has changed. Usually they would pick up Mightyena and go on an adventure though a dungeon, but now their team has expanded, and might works with Absol and Ninetails, and, for some reason, they like wearing golden scarfs. Nick giggled at how silly some Pokémon where sometimes. Then he remembered something, Pi stopped greeting him every morning a while ago, eventually Pi stopped coming over and Nick had to get him for any dungeon missions. Sometimes bring a legendary partner along, usually Mew but sometimes either Latias or Latios. Nick sighed again, sitting down on his cushion and getting into a laying position, trying to make himself feel better by thinking about the soon to come party, or how close he is to levelling up again, suddenly bursting out at laughter on the realization he didn’t know what gender Pi was after all this time. Eventually his eye’s closed and sleep slowly overtook him.
Nick woke up with a sudden jolt, feeling panicked for some reason, he swore he saw shadows moving around in the small and dark room. Wait… dark? What time was it? Nick rushed outside to see that it was just before dawn, confused greatly, and panicking for some reason, he stood there for a while to calm himself down, then started wondering why he woke up at such a time, He remembered waking up at midday when he was a human.
Nick ducked to get back inside, stopping when he realized something: “…Oh… Oh no!” He should have realized earlier, His room was smaller; he had to duck to get through the door, usually a sign that you had evolved, but that wasn’t all, he saw shadows dancing in front of his eyes just when he just woke up; like when he was a human, and he could remember! He could remember when he was human! He couldn’t do that before! He remembered specifically asking Gardevior to erase his memory before turning him into a Pokémon! Agh! He did it again! He remembered something again!
Nick, panicking, looked slowly down at his body, counting his fingers and toes… He was human again! No! This is a disaster! Nick took a minute to think… He wasn’t just a human; he was a human from a world without Pokémon! This is why he asked Gardevior to erase his memory, if he just waltzed into the Pokémon world, with his mind full of things from his own world, those things might carry onto this world! Affecting it! Corrupting it! Ruining it! Because he would make this world different from the Pokémon world and more like your world! Innocence! That’s it! Your world isn’t innocent! But this world gets pretty close. “I can’t stay here like this!”
What would Pi do if you were seen like this? Would Pi recognise you? Would your partner attack you even?! Maybe he would recognise you. Maybe he’ll protect you again. But no, you can’t let Pi get hurt because of you! You need to stay away from Pi at all costs! Or you might corrupt him too!
Nick decided it was time for action! He needed to get away from this place, and quickly! Somewhere very far away, into a dungeon possibly… but which one? Team Pokémon has cleared all the dungeons except for… The Ultimate dungeon. He shudders, that place is a hell hole… and a perfect place to go where he won’t be found. Nick knows he has to go as far as possible or it will be useless. Nick laughs to Himself… Hellhole… An appropriate place for someone like him. He leaves a note and runs outside and into the wilderness, thankful that he is wearing the same clothes that he had when he was human, How nice! They saved them for him! Whoever ‘they’ are. He is also glad that it’s still dark; no one will see him leave, or even be out at this time.
Or so he thought…
Alakazam was levitating around aimlessly, meditating on the world, when he sensed Nick run out of his base; he wondered why he was doing so at such a time. Upon closer focus he noticed that Nick seemed extremely distressed, upset, confused, and in a generally not so good mood. Alakazam knew there was something wrong, but Nick was faster than usual today, he couldn’t catch up no matter how fast he was, he couldn’t even see him in this light, and he didn’t know teleport. Eventually he gave up, deciding to go investigate his base for any disturbances. Inside the base he saw footprints that he had never seen before and a note on paper. Alakazam thought it was odd he couldn’t sense anything in the room except for Nick, and figured that whatever was in this room was probably a Dark type Pokémon playing tricks on him, he also found it odd that Nick kept a diary, not something most Pokémon would have, but then again, Nick was once human. Alakazam picked up the note an opened it, reading the words inside with shock.
“Oh my…”
Pi was walking towards the base smiling and humming cheerfully as the Pikachu walked, today was going to be a great day! He just knew it! Mainly because it was told that Nick was going to be throwing a party for everyone today, Pi decided to surprise Nick by waiting outside of their base just like old times. Pi smiles, remembering back to those days…
“HEY! LOOK OUT! ARGH!”
Pi was knocked into the ground by a Delibird flying haphazardly low to the ground.
“Wha- Aaaah! H-hey!” Pi cried out to the Delibird. “Don’t fly so low! Why are you in such a rush?”
The Delibird stopped and flew over to Pi. “Looking for you!” The Pokémon said. “I’ve come to deliver urgent news!”
“U-urgent? Is something wrong!?” Pi said, extremely worried.
The Delibird nodded. “Y-yeah… It’s Nick!”
Pi ran towards the crowd in front of his rescue team base, Huffing and puffing, It thought it was going to have a heart attack! Nick!? Gone?! It can’t be! It can’t be true! Oh please let it be a horrible joke or lie! Please not Nick! “OUT OF MY WAY!!!!” Pi shouted pushing past the Pokémon crowded around, other rescue team member’s where there too, Pi could at least see Mightyena, Ninetails and Absol, and Pi also knew Mew was here too. {PI! Did you hear about Nick!? It’s terrible!} Mew sounded really upset. Pi didn’t know what to say, he needed to talk to someone, anyone who knows what he is talking about.
“Pi! Over here.” Alakazam said to Pi, near the front of the rescue team base, Pi nodded and ran to him. “Alakazam! What’s happening? I don’t…” Pi stopped talking, the poor Pokémon needed to calm down or it have would break down.
“I felt Nick leave his recue base early this morning, he felt panicked and scared. I chased him a bit to ask what was wrong, but he was too fast. I went into the base to see what spooked him, and I figured it was some sort of dark type Pokémon, because I couldn’t sense anything in there, but I found a foot print that I have never seen before. I also found this…” Alakazam took out a small note and handed it to Pi.
Pi, took the note with a shaking paw, It couldn’t believe this was happening. Pi opened the note and read aloud what was on it.
“I am leaving forever; you don’t need to know why.
Don’t follow me, don’t try to find me.
ESPECIALLY YOU PI! Please don’t follow! It’s for your own good; I don’t want to see you hurt.
~Nick”
Pi stared at the note in disbelief, what happened to make Nick do something like this? Just yesterday he was cheerfully laughing with Pi as they talked to Mew about how cool she looked taking on that Exeggutor. And now he’s run away, specifically asking Pi not to follow him? Mew floated behind Pi, reading the note over its shoulder. “I can’t believe this…”
“Well believe it then!” Said a familiar voice.
Pi turned around at who was being so rude, only to see Gengar and the rest of team Meanies walking towards them. “I bet that Nick got scared of the dark! And that he was SO ashamed of himself that he left forever! Kekekekeke” Gengar said grinning.
Pi growled and snapped at Gengar. “That’s not true! Nick is too strong and brave for that! That doesn’t even make any sense! What are YOU doing here anyway?”
“It doesn’t have to make sense. I’m just saying it’s a possibility, aren’t I? Kekeke” Gengar said grinning widely. “And I’m here to mock you, and save Nick.”
Needless to say, everyone looked surprised. “W-what?”
“Hey! We are a rescue team as well! And something like this has GOT to have a very generous reward. Kekekekeke…”
“You don’t think YOU can find him all by yourself!” Pi said, not feeling surprised at all, it was typical for Gengar to take advantage of a situation like this.
“Ughgegegegh?” Gengar paused for a moment, apparently thinking. “We don’t have to answer to you, let me through so I can examine the scene!” Gengar said, not even bothering to push Pi out of his way, instead just walking through it, giving Pi a shiver. “Brrrr! H-hey!”
Gengar didn’t bother to listen to Pi’s objection, instead started looking at the footprints in the base. He was frowning. “…”
“Is there something wrong Gengar?” Pi said, noticing Gengar’s reaction.
“Do you recognise those footprints?” Alakazam said, staring at Gengar.
“No… It’s nothing.” Gengar said. Phasing into the ground and disappearing to everyone’s surprise.
“H-hey! Wait!” “What just happened?” “That was weird.”
“You don’t have to be a psychic type to know that he is hiding something.” Alakazam said to Pi. Pi agreed. “And he didn’t tell us!”
Absol stepped forward to say something. “Alakazam, we should get going too. Nick is strong, Scary strong, and can definitely handle himself, but that is a disadvantage to us. He’ll be able to get to places not many can go even in teams.”
“I’ve seen him take on entire Monster houses himself with just an earthquake. He’ll probably go to the most hard to reach dungeon.” Pi said to Alakazam as well
Alakazam looked more troubled than normal. “That explains why he was moving towards the Ultimate Dungeon…”
Mew cried out. “That’s suicide! Not even HE could clear that! Even with Pi and myself!”
Alakazam nodded. “What’s even more troubling is that in his haste he left his badge and toolbox behind.”
“B-but if that’s the case… NICK WILL BE DEFENCELESS IN THE DUNGEON! If he faints he’ll be there all alone! Unable to escape! Not only that he won’t be able to carry anything!” Pi shouted out. “We need to get him NOW! And while we are at it; find the Pokémon that caused him to act like this!”
Mightyena stepped forward. “Ninetails, Absol and I will go now, we are already prepared for a mission, and Nick already has a head start on us. But we are fast! We will be able to sniff him out!” Ninetails nodded in agreement. And the Trio ran off towards the Dungeon as fast as they could.
“I’ll help too, we may not be much in comparison, but we should be able to hold out own against any dangerous Pokémon. Let’s go.” Alakazam said to his team as they slowly started off towards the ultimate dungeon. Everyone else walked off too, probably going to prepare to help find Nick, Leaving Pi and Mew there alone.
“What do you think we should do?” Mew said to Pi, who was sitting there crying.
“I-I *Snivel* d-don’t w-want t-t-to lose N-N-Nick again!” Pi said, grabbing mew in a hug, who attempted to calm the distressed Pokémon as best as she could.
After several minutes of that, Pi had finally calmed down enough to talk. “W-we need to find Nick and bring him home! I don’t care about the note! Let’s Grab Latias and get to that dungeon! Tell Gardevior and Latios what happened too!” Pi said in an angry and determined tone that scared Mew a bit. “R-right… Let’s go!”
Nick was running as fast as he could, tears in his eyes as he ran, he found it hard to cry after all that time he spent trying not to because of the noise it made. But now that his skull mask was gone, he felt he needed it. He was running away from everything, from Pi, from Team Pokémon, everything! And he was never going to see any of it again! It was almost too much to bear!
Nick Stopped after a while and sat in a small cave and sobbed there for a while. Eventually picking himself up and remembering that he has no weapon to defend himself from any wild Pokémon attacks, he knows he’ll need one now that he has no Pokémon powers to protect himself with.
He started walking again, the wind on his face felt awkward as it was usually covered, He practised a few swings of a stick he found on the ground and fell over! Without his tail to balance him he might need to alter his fighting style and this stick didn’t feel right to him, nothing like his bone club.
Nick went through a process of picking up sticks, testing them out with a few swings, if they didn’t feel right he broke pieces off to make it look like his bone, if they still didn’t feel right he threw them away. This process went on for a while, while he walked towards the Ultimate dungeon until he was finally happy with the stick he held, whittling it away into the shape of his bone with his knife that he held when he was human, he knew that he held stuff in his pockets and checked them first. And it was only just then that he realized that the knife was a pretty good weapon by itself, forcing nick to let out a laugh. After much thought he put the knife away, he wasn’t going to use the knife, it was way too dangerous, he was going to settle to the stick he knows how to use, sort of… Nick still needed to remember that he didn’t have a tail when attacking, but that would come with time, he assumed.
Nick remembered what he was doing and why and suddenly fell into a deep depression. He considered going back, apologising, Heck! Even begging all his friends to take him back! But his thoughts where cut short when he heard a twig snap behind him. Instantly, Nick took cover behind a tree to hide from whoever was approaching. What is it now? He thought to himself, peeking around the tree.
A Blissed stood there, seemingly looking for something or someone…
Nick remembered an entry on Blissed, that they could feel sad people with their fur, and when they felt someone sad with their fur, there was no distance they wouldn’t run in order to reach them and share an egg with them to make them happy. Unfortunately for Nick, He was the unhappy person, and he really didn’t want to be seen right now.
Too bad for Nick, he might not have a choice.
The Blissey turned to Nick, sensing where he was with his four and walked slowly towards the tree he was hiding behind. “Hey… Don’t hide… I’m just here to help… My name is Blissey” The cheerful Pokémon said kindly, with an even kinder smile.
Nick didn’t know what to do. He had to do SOMETHING to get this Blissey to leave him alone, but Blissey are kind of persistent. He was glad that he could still understand what the Pokémon where saying. Let’s just hope he didn’t forget how to speak Pokémon too…
“G-go away! I uh… I’m fine!” He waited for what felt like an entire minute for the blissy’s reply.
“Oh please don’t lie to me… I know you are hurting inside. All I want is to help you!” The Blissey said walking a little closer. Nick felt relieved the Pokémon understood him.
“Stay back! I’m uh… Sick! You’ll catch it too!” Nick said. Thinking it over, that wasn’t smart.
“Oh you poor thing! Just come out and I’ll take care of you and make you feel all better!” The Blissey said now very close to the tree. Man she was persistent!
“I SAID GO AWAY!!!” Nick yelled angrily, his voice becoming nasty like it did when he was only really angry. After that, Nick felt horrible. How could he talk to someone…? ANYONE like that? Especially a Blissey that was only trying to help?
“I am so sorry Miss Blissey! I didn’t mean to…” Nick said ashamed, but the Blissey had already run away crying, making Nick feel even worse than before. “Dammit…” He said, getting up and continuing off in the direction of the Ultimate dungeon. Practicing hitting with his Stick while he travelled.
Mightyena was one of team Pokémon’s first member’s, and was a pretty good fighter too, though unfortunately, he ran away quite often, he’s out evolved that now fortunately. As he and the other two Pokémon that were with him sprinted through the wilderness they saw a Blissey looking rather sad sitting against a tree. They all stopped and walked towards Blissey.
“Are you all right? What’s wrong?” Mightyena asked the obviously upset Pokémon.
“O-oh… I’m sorry for letting myself being seen like this…” The Blissey said standing up and attempting to regain her composure. “I-I’ve just been having one of those days… I’m fine, really.”
Ninetails spoke up. “Please don’t lie to us, what’s wrong?” Mightyena never had any idea how stern she could be when lied to until he made the mistake himself. He made sure to never lie to her in order to avoid another one of those situations.
The Blissey stood there for a moment, thinking about her words. “I was just trying to make a poor Pokémon happy again and he yelled at me! I don’t think I’ve ever heard any Pokémon sound as threatening as he did…” the Blissey said feeling a bit ashamed in herself. “Actually… it was more scared than threatening… Like he didn’t want anyone near him, or they would be hurt. And I ran off in my fear… when a Pokémon is like that you have to know something is wrong, and I ran off…”
Absol tried to comfort her. “You thought he was dangerous, and you fled, you did nothing wrong, he could of really hurt you if he is who we think he is.” Absol said, looking at Might who nodded in confirmation.
“W-what? You mean he is some kind of criminal?” the Blissey said now very frightened.
“No, actually he is a powerful member of the rescue team, Team Pokémon. He’s our most powerful member, and ran away this morning for reasons we don’t know… We are trying to find him.” Mightyena explained to Blissey.
“Oh… And I let him get away… ”
“Don’t blame yourself.” Absol said. “I probably would have done the same.”
The Blissey cheered up a bit. “Thank you. You are very kind Pokémon. I wish you all the best of luck on your quest!” Blissey said the moment Mightyena picked up Nicks scent. “This way!” he said, following the trail of Scent Nick left behind. The other two Pokémon following.
“GOOD LUCK!” Blissey called out to them, waving.
Latios and Gardevior where best friends, and liked going on missions together when they could, Latias having been taken with the main search team to search for Nick. Latias decided to give Gardevior a ride towards the Ultimate Dungeon, so they wouldn’t have to worry about walking all the way, but not before they prepared and said goodbye to everyone.
“Bye sweetie~” kangaskhan said as they stored all their important items, it wouldn’t matter in the Ultimate dungeon, where all items are removed. Gardevior smiled at her kindly, she really was a mother through and through.
“Please make sure to bring Nick back! He’s out best customer!” One of the Kecleon brothers said.
“And be careful! He’s sneaky! He even tricks us! Buying all out items and then selling them back in order to give us more money… Kind of a weird kid.”
“Oh Brother… *Sniff* my dear brother… I MISS HIM ALREADY!!”
Gardevior had left already, giving them a quick smile before leaving to the Persian bank.
“I don’t understand why Nick would leave all his money behind… Nevertheless! I’ll guard all of your teams Gold Jealously.” Persian said calmly.
Gardevior was in too much thought to say anything. Walking over to Wigglytuff.
“Oh Friendly friends! Please bring my friend Nick back!” Wigglytuff looked upset. “I promise I’ll give you all something great when you get back! Uhh… A new friend zone! That’s it! I’ll find a new friend Zone just for you all!”
Gardevior smiled once again. “It will be all right. I’m sorry but I have to make this all quick, others are waiting on me.”
Wigglytuff nodded, sniffing a bit, Gardevior walked off to Gulpin.
“I’ll be grateful when you bring Nick back, really.” Gulpin said, linking a few of Gardevior’s moves for free.
“Thank you, this will help allot, Thank you.” She said teleporting to the Makhuta dojo and saying a quick goodbye before teleporting back to Latios.
“Come on! Pi and the others have left already.” Latios said, feeling impatient.
“I just had to say goodbye to our friends, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t, and we don’t know when how long we will be out searching for Nick.” Gardevior explained calmly, climbing on Latios’ back.
“Hmm… Maybe I should of said goodbye too then…” Latios admitted.
“I already said goodbye for you. And you are already impatient enough.” Gardevior said, wrapping her arms around Latios’ neck to prepare her for the jolt of speed that is soon to come.
Nick had been walking for a while. More than he could usually walk really. But now he was slowing down. “Ugh… What is this?” he said out loud to himself before realizing that he was hungry. Well this was weird, Nick only felt hunger when within a dungeon, but guessing that he was now human, he was exempt from some “Rules”. This might be an advantage in the future Nick figured, but now it was in inconvenience.
He looked for any fruit or food that he could eat remembering the huge apple he held just for moment’s like these, taking it out of his pocket and eating it happily. At least THIS didn’t disappear, He thought to himself as he finished the apple, feeling how hot it was currently and put up his hood; the last thing he needed was sunburn.
“Hey! Who are you!?” A voice behind Nick made him freeze. Who was it? Someone he knew? He recognised the voice, and they didn’t address him as a human, his hood probably hid that fact. Nick knew tons of Pokémon that wore clothes.
“I said…” Nick recognised the growl immediately. Turning around to face Mightyena, Absol and Ninetails, their golden scarfs shining in the light. “Who are you?! I don’t recognise any Pokémon like you. Lower your hood!”
Absol spoke up. “Mightyena, calm down please!” but Mightyena wouldn’t have any say in it.
“He smells like Nick! And look at those footprints! The same ones we saw in the base. I’d say we found out Dark type prankster!” Mightyena growled angrily.
“I guess you could be right.” Absol said, looking at Nick. “But let’s hear its defence first.” Absol said looking at Nick expectantly.
“Don’t lie to us…” Ninetails said firmly. “I will know if you do.”
Nick had no intention of lying to them; Ninetails would know the moment he lied. But he also had no intention of telling the truth either, or anything really. Anything he said could give him away; even his voice might be recognised. He didn’t want it to come down to this, but he knew he had to fight them. Silently, he picked up his wooden bone and got into a pose that accounted for his lack of tail.
“I see…” Ninetails said. “I’ll fight you with pleasure!” Mightyena said, growling. “This is for Nick!” Absol cried as he charged at Nick.
Nick Knocked the poor Pokémon in the head harder than he really would of liked, knocking it out with one hit and sending it into the ground, almost falling over himself in the process. Immediately he knelt down to see if Absol was ok, to Nicks relief he was, but his relief was short lived as Mightyena had leapt at him also knocking him to the ground and attempting to crunch him with his jaws, only getting Nicks wooden bone. Needless to say, Nick was surprised that he was able to last this long, he gave any encounter’s with other Pokémon about 2 seconds as a human, so this was surprising to say the least. He figured he should work it out later, given the situation.
Nick threw Mightyena off him into the ground and stood up, dodging the fire blast coming at him with a duck roll, Nick knew that if he was hit with a Pokémon move, he could be in real trouble; clothes are commonly flammable. While Ninetails attempted to throw another fire blast at Nick, Nick swung his club at her neck, the perfect hit caused her to fall to the ground coughing terribly, Nick was feeling like the worst person in the world at this point, but knew that she would be fine later, he had the same thing done to him as a human.
Mightyena was back up, and jumped at Nicks back, biting the back of his neck, trying to get through his hood, Nick spun around trying to throw Mightyena off him to no avail, when Nick was certain that skin had been pierced he knew he had to do something or he was a goner.
In one last ditch effort, Nick stood up straight, and leapt backwards, falling and landing on Mightyena who was on his back with his full weight and crushing him enough to cause him to let go of the back of Nick’s neck. Nick quickly got up and ran for his club, grabbing it and spinning around just in time to knock Mightyena away from his jugular with it with a th-doink! Nick proceeded to finish Mightyena off, stepping on his stomach until he passed out. It was ugly and risky, but it had to be done, Mightyena was looking for blood and that was going to be very problematic in the future, he needed him to pass out to stop him.
When Mightyena did pass out Nick immediately checked the pulse of his friend. He was alive and breathing too, but out cold. Nick used this moment to run away, and fast too.
Team Alakazam eventually came across Absol and Might, Ninetails was nowhere to be found, but her tracks told them that she went to continue her quest. Upon seeing them, they immediately rushed to them, using revival seeds to bring them to.
“Hey! Are you all right? What happened?” Charizard said to Absol who was coming to quickly.
“Who did this? Did you find Nick?” Alakazam asked Mightyena, who took slightly longer to come to.
“M-man… My head… That thing can hit.” Absol admitted, shaking his head slightly. Mightyena just growled slightly.
“What thing?” Alakazam said.
“We found what spooked Nick, It’s a Dark type all right, and fight’s dirty enough…” Absol said.
“That thing… It smelled so strongly like Nick…” Mightyena turned to Absol. “Do you think… that thing ate Nick?”
Absol looked worried. “There WAS only one pair of footprints at the base…”
Alakazam interrupted. “What thing?! Tell me already!”
“It was bipedal… And held a club of some sorts, it was large; I couldn’t see its face.” Mightyena said to Alakazam.
Absol squeaked. “You just described Nick! You don’t think he evolved did he?”
Alikazam’s thoughts span. “No, it couldn’t have eaten Nick; I followed him as he ran, unless he was alive in the creatures’ stomach for a few minutes after being eaten. Which is unlikely, I should have been able to catch up with it then and he most likely would have suffocated in the creatures gut by then. And Marowak don’t evolve, nor are they a dark type and he wouldn’t have attacked you either without good reason… the only solution I can come up with is that the creature kidnapped Nick and carried him, and is still carrying him.” Alakazam sighed, this theory was much more likely, and it was one of the better ones that didn’t involve Nick getting eaten.
“Then…” Mightyena said trying to get up. “I’m going to go save him!” he said before falling back down.
“In your condition, you are going back to your Rescue team base.” Tryanitar said.
“NO! WAIT! WHERE IS NINETA-” Absol cried out before Alakazam raised his badge and sent them back to their base.
“… … … Well at least we kind of know what we are up against.” Charizard said before team Alakazam started walking towards the Ultimate dungeon again.
Nick stopped to catch his breath and to think about what had just happened. He had some time to think about his current strength; his level was high before he turned human again, at least in the eighty’s, maybe those levels carried over when he turned back into a human? Whatever the case, what he did back there shouldn’t have happened; his quest should have ended there. Nick counted himself lucky in that regard, lucky that he survived, and lucky that he didn’t hurt his friends too badly, though it hurt Nick allot inside to have had to hurt them.
Nick could see the entrance of the Ultimate Dungeon; he was almost there, finally, after this whole walk! He would finally be at the worst place on this world! Why was he so happy to see it? He assumes he could have gone a bit mad from all this stress, or maybe the thought of actually accomplishing something filled him with joy. Whatever it was, Nick fist pumped before taking a moment to calm his nerves before he entered.
Latios loved flying, and loved sharing the joy of flying with other’s even more, so he was so joyous while he was giving Gardevior a ride he almost forgot what they were doing and flew away from the Ultimate dungeon. Luckily, Gardevior snapped him out of his trance.
“H-hey! The Ultimate Dungeon is that way!” She cried to Latios, surprising him that she had her eyes open while he was flying, usually Pokémon where so scarred that they shut their eye’s tightly.
“Oh. That’s right! Sorry…” He said as a sweat drop rolled down his face, he felt that he really should change the subject. “Can you see any of the other rescue teams below us?” He asked inquisitively.
“Let me check.” Carefully, Gardevior peered down. “Eep! We are k-kind of high aren’t we?”
“Oh sorry.” Latios said, flying lower to the ground. “How about now?”
“That’s better t-thanks… I can see Pi walking with Latias and Mew, Team Alakazam is further ahead of them, the other teams are in between them, like team Rumblerock and the others…” She paused.
“Oh my…”
“What’s wrong?” Latios asked Gardevior. “Did you see Nick? Is he hurt?”
“N-no… But I found Mightyena and Absol. They don’t look so good…” She said, seeing team Alakazam walking towards them.
“Should we go down and help?” Latios asked, feeling rather worried. “And where is Ninetails?”
“I can’t see Ninetails. And No, Alikazam’s team found them.” She said relieved.
“…” Latios wasn’t so relieved.
“What’s wrong?” Gardevior asked him.
“They weren’t in a dungeon, what could have… WOULD of done that to them?” Latios asked them.
“… Good question… I don’t know.” Gardevior asked now worried again. “But now I’m worried again. Let’s get to the Ultimate dungeon and find Nick as soon as possible.”
“Right! Hold on!” Latios said, speeding up.
Mew was gazing at the sky, while following Pi and Latias, she hadn’t known Nick to do anything like this in his life, and it got her thinking.
Was Gengar right? Was Nick so ashamed of being spooked in the night that he ran away? She knew Nick always liked putting on a brave face when faced with certain danger, and she knew from reading his mind that he felt lonely often, especially during the nights alone, and that he couldn’t bring himself to ask for comfort during the nights either. Something like this happening makes sense in a weird way…
Mews thoughts where broken when she saw Latios and Gardevior zoom past the sky, Gardevior waving to them with one hand while holding onto Latios for dear life with the other.
“Hey Latias! It’s Latios” Mew said aloud, causing Latias to look up and see his brother fly by overhead.
Pi didn’t look up. The poor Pokémon felt too horrible to do anything but look for its best friend Nick…
Alakazam looked up into the sky, feeling the presence of Latios and Gardevior, and seeing them fly right by them. He knew they weren’t strong enough to beat whatever creature captured Nick, but they were faster than them, so the only thing Alakazam could do is leave them a message with telepathy.
{Good luck, be careful, don’t get into fights unless you HAVE to; something dangerous is out there.}
Alakazam felt them reply in his mind.
{Don’t worry! We will!} Said the cheerful and kind voice that could only belong to Gardevior.
Alakazam wasn’t so sure about that though; Nick was too well liked for anyone to NOT attack the culprit.
Nick got up after a while, stretching a bit before looking at the entrance of the dungeon, trying to psyche himself up to actually enter it. He knew he had to, but he was afraid of never coming out, it was only now he noticed that he no longer held his badge, and if he lost in there, there would be no going back, he would have to fight with all his strength and show no mercy.
OR he could take a stealthy approach; avoid all enemies and don’t get into fights. He expected to last only two floors if he did that, he wouldn’t be able to survive the higher level floors unless he got stronger while IN the dungeon.
While he contemplated how he would do this, he didn’t exactly pay attention to the figures approaching behind him, only noticing them when it was too late.
“N-nick!?”
Gardevior teleported off Latios back when they got to the entrance of the dungeon, looking around nervously.
“D-did Nick really come to this place? I-it already looks tough.” She asked Latios who was silent.
“Shh!” He shushed Gardevior.
“Hey! Don’t’ shush me miste-” Gardevior’s rant was interrupted.
“Shh! We are not alone.” Latios’ words made Gardevior freeze up and look around. Sure enough, she could sense another mind here, Gardevior looked around again and saw a figure standing in front of the dungeon entrance, wearing clothes and carrying a wooden club carved into the shape of a bone and facing the Dungeon, Luckily for the Duo, it hadn’t noticed them yet, and seemed to be in thought about how to traverse this dungeon. Carefully plunging deeper into its mind in order not to alert it, she searched around looking for info on Nick, only to find- No… it can’t be.
Gardevior stepped forward, ignoring Latios’ telepathic warning to stay back.
“N-nick!?”
Nick turned around slowly, questions running through his mind? Who could have found him? Who could catch up to him other than Mightyena, Absol and Ninetails? Nick had already figured it out before he fully turned around; Gardevior and Latios. And when he did, all he could do was think about how persistent his team was, and even felt a little bit proud of them, this reminded them about the time Pi and him where outlaws, and back then, the only ones who managed to catch up to them was Team Alakazam, and that was at the end. What Nick saw here was impressive to say the least; that his team managed to find him before he even entered the dungeon, especially such early member’s. With Might, Absol and Ninetails it was different, he expected them to find him in a way. Oh Nick felt so clever at this moment. Well… not so clever, he should have thought about how he was going to clear the dungeon while he was walking here, and then he wouldn’t have been caught.
“… … …” Nick didn’t know what to say.
Gardevior piped up. “What… I don’t understand…” Nick figured that much, the reason she didn’t know now was because her memory of him was wiped when she was rescued from that dungeon, that and Gardevoir wasn’t told that Nick was originally a human, though neither was Latios, but Nick figured Latios knew anyway because he was a legendary Pokémon.
“Nick was originally a human; it’s not talked about much in the team.” Latios explained, his gaze always fixated upon Nick as he spoke. Nick smiled a bit at his correct guess, but Gardevoir looked confused and concerned.
“Nick… I… I can’t imagine what you are going through… But please come home! People are worried!” Was all she could say, the only things that she could think about at the moment, and they were quickly replied to by Latios.
“Nick isn’t going to come home… not willingly at least.” Latios said, again holding a constant stare at Nick. “If he was going to come home we would have went home with Mightyena, Absol and Ninetails… instead of attacking them.” He said, obviously a bit mad at Nick about that.
“B-but Nick is…” Gardevoir stated.
“I’m not saying we should leave him.” He said, only now breaking his gaze from Nick to look at Gardevoir. “But he isn’t going to come home willingly. There is only one choice left for us then.”
Nick finally said something. “What? Kill me? Please do. At least I know I won’t hurt another again.” He said in his most serious voice, shocking both of the Pokémon before him.
“Nick! No! Please!” Gardevoir said, running up to Nick and wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Nick allowed this, not having the heart to reject the hug, or do anything to keep her back. Gardevoir only hugged tighter, feeling Nick’s emotions stronger now. “Oh Nick…” She said, a tear dropping down her cheek.
“… … … … Nick. Come home. We can help you.” Latios said again in one last attempt to end this without violence.
“You and I both know that’s not going to happen. I’ve already done too much damage to this world; hurt too many Pokémon already, my fate going back will be worse than the fate I am traveling for.” Nick said
“You call this a fate?! EXILE!? I knew humans where foolish but…” Latios didn’t finish, Nick couldn’t help but smile at what he said; it was refreshing to hear a Pokémon talk about humans honestly, especially a legendary Pokémon.
“You’ve been mapping my mind, you already know my arguments, I know that. The question is: What are you going to do now?” Nick said, wanting to get to the point, and pushing Gardevoir slowly away, her hands reaching out to grab hold of him again so she could hug him in an attempt to stop him from hurting so much. “…”
Latios seemed tense. “You were always clever Nick…” He admitted quietly. “Gardevoir and I are both psychic types, you don’t have any way to get close to us to attack us with our psychic abilities, and we don’t want to hurt you.” Latios took a breath. “So we are going to take control of your mind and escort you back. When we do, we will figure something out.” He said simply.
“Can we do that?” Gardevoir asked, having never even contemplated the act of controlling someone’s mind.
“… You wouldn’t dare. You are more likely to just carry my back with telekinesis or teleport me back.” Nick said, not liking the idea of having his mind invaded and controlled, he KNEW it was dangerous if done wrong.
“Yes we can do that. And no Nick, if we teleport you back you’ll just go on a rampage or something and escape again. And telekinesis will tire us out; it will be much easier if we bring you round to our way of thinking.” He said, dead serious.
“Not without a fight you won’t! I won’t give you the time or concentration to do that!” Nick said, hefting his club. Everyone in the area knew he didn’t want to fight his friends given the choice, but this wasn’t a choice to him. He would deal with Latios first, Gardevoir wouldn’t attack, he knew it, he was more likely to scare her off.
{Let’s do this.} He thought clear enough for them to hear, knowing how unnerving it was to be told something with your mind from fighting the legendary Pokémon Lugia; then again, Lugia was threatening their lives. Nick leapt past a shocked Gardevoir, heading for his target, Latios.
Nick MIGHT of made a mistake fighting Latios, Latios was scary fast, fast enough to dodge Nicks downwards strike by casually moving to the right, and more than fast enough to zoom past Nick at a speed that made it impossible for Nick to continue facing Latios by just turning. By the time Nick had finished turning around Latios was nowhere to be seen.
“… Oh no.” Nick said out loud for no reason other than to clarify to everyone around him that he realized how much of a mistake he had just made. Being human, he obviously had a more broad vocabulary that could of suited the situation more accurately than a simple ‘oh no’. But he thought that it would be better for this world if he didn’t use those words when within it, at least when with company. He COULD have used an ‘Uh-oh’ but this wasn’t exactly the time to be thinking about things like that.
Nick suddenly felt something hit his back from the side hard, making him stumble and almost knocking him over. He could hear Latios’ voice as he zoomed past him, picking up clouds of dust that made it very hard to see.
“To slow!” Latios said, hitting Nick again from another angle as he zoomed past, almost knocking him over and possibly breaking a rib. Seeing this made Gardevoir cover her mouth with a gasp, she couldn’t stand seeing this; seeing her two friends fight at all was bad enough, even for fun, but this was so bad that one of them was getting badly hurt.
Nick was the one getting badly hurt, he could feel Latios slowly invading his mind as he was hit repeatedly from different angles, and Nick wasn’t able to concentrate enough to fight back at all, even if such a thing was even possible. Latios repeated this technique for several minutes, Nick being unable to predict where Latios was going to attack next due a speed that made the legendary look like a blue blur as it sped past Nick.
Apparently Nick was extremely lucky, or Latios was being too cocky at some point. Because Nick felt some resistance against his club as he swung it randomly around him. This usually meant that he hit something, this thought was reinforced and eventually confirmed through the events of Latios ceasing to zoom past Nick while attacking him, Nick no longer feeling Latios invading his mind, Gardevoir gasping rather loudly, and finally; Latios being seen sprawled across a mound of dirt created when he crashed into the ground and pushed dirt along with his body, evidenced by the trench trailing behind him. Latios was knocked out with a very large bump on his head; He must have been hit hard: Latios was going really fast and Nick was swinging his club as hard as he could when he felt it hit Latios, and his club was quite heavy too. Nick, realizing this, ran as fast as he could to Latios with Gardevoir, checking to see if he was ok.
“He’s… He’s going to be fine…” Gardevoir said rather relieved. Nick got up and started walking slowly towards the Ultimate Dungeon before being stopped with Gardevoir hand on his shoulder. “Please Nick… I can’t let you go in there… Please don’t go.” She said, staring at Nick with pleading eyes. Nick hesitated before he shrugged her hand off and kept walking, thinking that Gardevoir was bluffing.
Nick got three meter’s before he heard Gardevoir cry out again. “Nick!” Nick felt himself getting lifted off the ground and being turned around by what he assumed was Gardevoir telekinesis.
“I wasn’t bluffing… I’m sorry Nick but you are coming with me.” She said sternly, a blue aura from her psychic powers visibly surrounding her. Nick gave up quickly, he already knew it was too late to fight against her now; she got him, he couldn’t move, and he wasn’t going anywhere without her say in the matter.
{So are you going to teleport me or carry me back.} Nick thought to Gardevoir, She was being really strict with him, not even giving him anyway to move his jaw to talk; all he could do was breathe.
“Neither…” Gardevoir said quietly, she was obviously angry at Nick. “I’m going to wait for Team Alakazam to get here and we can all go back with Latios. The extra psychic mind will be useful to hold you back.” She said while Nick wanted to look away from shame, at both failure in escaping and at running.
“Kekekekeke…” A spooky yet familiar laugh was heard echoing throughout the area, Making Gardevoir visibly nervous.
“W-Who is there? Show yourself!” She shouted cautiously while turning around wildly and searching for the source of the noise while she held Nick still. Nick already knew.
“Forgot my name already? …” The voice paused a little before continuing. “A shame really.” said the shadowy figure floating behind Gardevoir as she turned around to face it. Gardevoir started to speak. “Wh-”
“BOO!” It suddenly shouted, using the scariest mean look it could possibly produce at Gardevoir, following up with a glare that froze her with fear and caused her to scream and drop Nick. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” As she screamed, Gardevoir found she couldn’t move or react at all to what happened next.
“Kekekeke… Quickly Nick! Let’s go!” Said the all too familiar face of Gengar as he picked Nick up and carried him into the Ultimate Dungeon, frightening Nick greatly much to Gengar’s delight. Gardevoir was unable to give chase.
Gengar was cleverer than people gave him credit for; he accurately predicted what was wrong with Nick, where he was going and when exactly to appear to help him out. It was others who weren’t so well informed at this moment, for example: Nick had absolutely no idea what was happening, and he made a mental note to talk to Gengar about it when he actually put him down instead of just floating through the dungeon and carrying him.
Eventually Gengar got bored of carrying Nick like a baby and put him down, only to be interrogated.
“What the heck just happened!?” Nick asked Gengar, both angry and confused.
“What does it look like? I’m helping you. Kekeke…” Gengar said with a grin, looking around for any Pokémon that would attempt to sneak up on them.
“Come on, give me more than that to work with; WHY did you help me?” He asked, also watching the duo’s back.
“Helping. I am still doing it. As for why? Well I never got to thank you properly for helping Gardevoir before.” Gengar said, putting on his best ‘innocent’ face for Nick.
“Oh come off it! It’s obviously going to be more complicated than that, tell me everything!” Nick said getting impatient with the Ghost type.
“Oh fine! You got me! Kekeke…” Gengar chuckled. “I’m helping you because it benefit’s me also, you see, if you disappear, no one stand in Team Meanies path for world domination!” Gengar stood triumphantly, grinning as always.
Nick sighed, he would have thought as much from Gengar. “How come you were never surprised at me being human?” He asked, curious.
Gengar laughed. “Simple! I used to be a human! I saw your footprint in your rescue team base. Not many Pokémon wear shoes you know.” He said grinning in Nicks face.
Nick pushed the grinning ghost away from his face. “Eh… I’ll have to remember that in the future. And I guess you just followed my footprints here then?” Nick asked, trying to get it all around his head.
“That’s right!” Gengar chuckled, motioning for Nick to follow up the next set of stairs that he just found.
Team Alakazam approached the two immobile psychic types. “Are you ok!? Gardevoir! Latios!” He shook Gardevoir slightly while Tryanitar and Charizard worked on reviving Latios with seeds and berries.
{I’m fine… just paralysed and unable to move… a-a little help maybe?} Gardevoir asked with telepathy. Alakazam nodded and took out a Lum berry and gave it to her, curing her of all status problems. Gardevoir sat up while Latios floated to her.
“W… what happened?” Latios asked Gardevoir, feeling a bit dizzy.
“I would like to know that too.” Alakazam said calmly, seeing that Gardevoir is fine.
“I… It’s… I don’t know… One minute we were talking to Nick… He… I can’t explain it. He’s different… actually knocked Latios out… and… ” She stopped, thinking if she said any more she would burst into tears. Alakazam understood this and didn’t’ pressure her on the issue.
“You should go back.” Alakazam said to her as he levitated upwards a bit.
“Latios should go and get help, yes… But I’m going to stay here… a-and see if I can get to Nick in his sleep…” She said, holding back how upset she was.
“Very well, stay safe.” He said as he used his badge to send Latios home, after that, Alakazam’s team stated walking towards the dungeon. But just before they entered the dungeon, Gardevoir spoke up one more time urgently.
“Alakazam! There is something else! … Gengar from team Meanies is with Nick.”
Latias had just sensed something was wrong with her brother Latios, letting out a gasp of fear loud enough for Mew to hear even though she tried to supress it.
“Latias? What’s wrong?” Mew asked, not naturally someone to allow something like that go unnoticed.
Latias hesitated, “I…I think there is something wrong with Latios… I think he may have been hurt.” Latios said fearing for her brother’s safety.
“Oh… Well don’t worry! I’m sure he’ll be just fine! He has his badge to teleport him back to the base automatically just in case something goes wrong, right Latias? Right Pi?” Mew said, awaiting cheerful responses.
“Yeah, I guess so…” Latias said unenthusiastically; this didn’t bode well with her at all.
“…” Pi just made a noise, still obviously upset.
Mew looked disappointed for a moment, before looking at Pi. “Hey, Pi? How well are you coping right now?” Mew asked the silent electric type.
“… … … Mew, don’t you think Mightyena’s group should have found or at least caught up with Nick a long time ago?” Pi said, not smiling at all, which almost broke the psychic type’s heart; Pi was always trying to be cheerful no matter what, this was just… too painful to watch.
“… Yeah, I noticed that, same with Latios and Gardevoir too.” Mew admitted silently, fearful of the conclusion that Pi would come to.
“Exactly… Something must have happened… or someone…” Pi said quietly.
Latias spoke up. “You don’t think it’s that Gengar guy? Right? He’s too weak for that. Not to mention that he’s at a type disadvantage against Mightyena. If he DID attack them for some reason, he wouldn’t be able to beat them.” She said, feeling smart but still worried.
“Exactly… I think Nick still doesn’t want to be found…” Pi said, knowing that the Psychic types already knew what it was thinking.
“We might have to fight Nick when we find him…” Mew said making Pi nod sadly. Nick was going to be difficult to beat, not because he was strong, or because of his typing, but because he is Pi’s friend, and Pi might wouldn’t be able to bring itself to fight Nick.
Nick didn’t know how many floors they had gone into the dungeon; he had lost count a long time ago when he fought the low level Pokémon throughout the tower alongside Gengar, who grinned and laughed every time he levelled up, or defeated a Pokémon, or when he found the stairs, or when he scared Nick by grabbing at him through walls. Nick took care not to get attacked by any Pokémon as he would most definitely be defeated by the Pokémon; he had no advantages in this tower, it’s best to leave it to Gengar.
No matter how much Gengar scared Nick or mocked his ideas because he was human, Nick got a kick out of telling Gengar what to do like a trainer every so often just as much, and they both had to admit that everything was going rather smoothly because of it; maybe those trainer’s in the game where onto something when they said that Pokémon with humans helping them where stronger than Pokémon living in the wild? Either way, Gengar obviously detested anyone telling him what to do, and Nick especially, so Nick basically left everything to Gengar unless he was having trouble and just focused on carrying all of their items that they found on the way up.
“Nick, I have to ask you something… where you going to invite Team meanie’s to your party? Or was it just your ‘Friends’? Medicham and Ekans kept arguing about it before.”
Nick was quiet for a moment before he spoke, obviously in deep thought. “… I was going to invite everyone really.” Nick said, feeling a bit down about the whole affair. “But I guess it won’t happen now anyway.”
Gengar had to admit that he was pretty disappointed about that, he had planned to steal/eat as much food as he and their team could.
“Drat!” Gengar cried out as he activated a self-destruct trap that almost hit nick and blinded Gengar for a moment. “Nick? Are you alive?” He asked, probably wanting to know if he could leave this dungeon now; it was getting difficult to traverse and if Nick died it would just mean that Gengar could leave early.
“It barely scratched me, let’s go.” Nick said as the smoke cleared, disappointing Gengar greatly.
“You look so disappointed.” Nick mused. “You want a gummi to make you feel better?” He said as he threw a gummi at Gengar’s open mouth, Gengar automatically swallowing it and getting a bit smarter from it.
“Ugegegeh?! Don’t try that again!” Gengar growled as Nick chuckled, feeling rather tired out from this whole ordeal.
Alakazam wondered around the current floor for a while, he didn’t want to admit it, but he might be lost. He swears he heard other rescue team’s pass them as they wondered.
“Hey, Alakazam, I think we are lost.” Charizard said, also feeling embarrassed that they couldn’t find the exit, this wasn’t like them at all.
“Be patent, we are close, I know it.” Alakazam reassured his team, focusing on finding the stairs.
Tryanitar coughed. “Ahem.” He said as the team turned to him.
He was sitting next to the stairs.
“I wondered how long it would take you to notice.” He said, looking bored.
Alakazam frowned. “Next time just tell us when you find it.” Alakazam said, walking to the stairs.
Nick and Gengar where getting very tired, they had fought several rescue teams already and honestly just wanted a break.
“… Nick you seem like you are about to pass out.” Gengar noted, knowing that if Nick lost here he wouldn’t be able to get out and that would make both of their efforts in vain.
“I’m fine.” Nick said with a massive exhale, puffing heavily and swaying a bit. “I’m just not used to… not being a Pokémon again yet… I don’t feel as fit as I should.” He said between gasps.
“Ugegegeh… Take a rest; otherwise we will both fail in this dungeon.” Gengar said, satisfied that there weren’t any other Pokémon around.
Nick was already on the ground, his eyelids drooping as Gengar kept lookout and ate more food than he honestly should of.
The thing is; the more Nick got close to sleeping, he felt a pressure upon his mind like a psychic type pushing their way in. Nick struggled against it after he realized it was happening but felt himself loosing against it, his arms moving a bit on their own before Gengar let out a large Belch rudely, jerking Nick awake and breaking him of the psychic influence’s control.
“A-aah!” Nick cried out in shock, making Gengar laugh at him.
“Scared you again! ~ Kekekekeke!” Gengar chuckled, not noticing Nick shake his head.
“Gengar, I think they are trying to get me back in my sleep now.” Nick said, an image of Gardevior burnt into his mind, he knew it was her doing.
“… Well that complicates things.” Gengar said before slapping Nick hard in the face.
“OW!!!! Why did you do that!?” Nick shouted, holding his cheek in pain.
“To keep you awake! Now get up we need to get moving, if we get far enough the pchychic type won’t be able to touch your mind at all” Gengar said as Nick got up.
“Uuughh… You could of said something…” Nick said getting up, knowing that he won’t be able to rest at all through this journey. “I’ll follow.” Nick said as Gengar nodded and floated around the floor, looking for an exit while Nick followed.
Gardevior snapped her fingers in frustration. “Drat! He woke up!” She said to herself before sighing and attemptin