Tectonic Crusade Writing Submissions

Naomi tripped, her legs flying out from under her as she collided painfully with the floor, drawing a look of alarm from the other two Pokémon in the room. 

“Ugh.” This was the fifth time in two days; moving around on all fours was deceptively hard.

“Naomi?”

“Are you alright?” Ollie and Dr. Artemis asked at the same time, a worried frown on the Miraidon’s face as Naomi picked herself up.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Naomi reassured the pair: one of which was a Legendary, and the other a flying-ice type Budew - something she was still reeling over, on top of everything else. “It happens, I’ve only been here two days after all.” 

The oddly colored Litten frowned. Now that she mentioned it… “Why did you ask for us, anyway? I’ve only been here two days; Ollie and I have literally only been a team for one. Heck, as soon as we formed Team Solar Guildmaster Elton sent us right over here. Why?”

“It’s precisely because you’ve only been here two days that I asked for you!” Dr. Artemis chirped. “The other human-Pokémon have been here in our world for quite some time now; you, on the other hand, are fresh from your world with little to no idea of what is and isn’t possible here. Not yet, anyway. And such a fresh perspective is important, you know - why, you could pick up things we’ve missed or looked past, or even offer suggestions the rest of us wouldn’t even think of!” The Miraidon smiled at Naomi, clearly enthusiastic at the idea. “Such a thing is important in science, you know? It’s why I hired my lab partner, as a paradox Pokémon, he…”

Dr. Artemis trailed, off, wincing softly. “Nevermind. Anyway, do you two mind if I run some thoughts past you?”

“Not at all.” Ollie said, with Naomi nodding in agreement. “Fire away.”

“Thank you.” Dr. Artemis said. “Now, to educate Naomi a bit, you know about the insanity caused by exposure to the mystery dungeons, right?”

Naomi nodded, a little bit unsure. She and Ollie were to regularly explore the things as part of their job, after all. And while she liked mazes, well…the idea of losing your sanity would put anyone off.

“Well, upon further study into the phenomenon, it seems that mystery dungeons themselves aren’t inherently responsible for Pokémon going insane within them.” Dr. Artemis explained, and Naomi let out a silent sigh of relief, a weight lifting off her chest at the words. “Rather, Pokémon who wander these dungeons suddenly disappear as though kidnapped, unable to be found. Until just as suddenly, they return, trapped in a state of feral madness.”

“But, we don’t have to worry about that, right?” Ollie asked nervously, the flying-ice type Budew shifting from one small foot to the other. “I’ve never heard of exploration teams losing their minds before.”

“No, you should be fine.” Dr. Artemis reassured the duo. “We’re not yet sure what protects teams from the madness afflicting Pokémon in these mystery dungeons, but fear not: you have no worries of losing your sanity.”

“Well that’s a relief.” Naomi admitted, her tail - and wasn’t that just weird - flicking behind her. “I’d been worried about that.”

“Well, now you can rest easy.” Dr. Artemis said, smiling at the human-turned-Pokémon. “If I may ask, what was your world like? Studies - well, more like surveys - have shown that the human-Pokémon here come from several different variations; timelines, if you will, and I’m curious about yours.”

“Uhhh.” Naomi floundered slightly. Had anyone come from her Earth? Earth where Pokémon was but a game? Had anyone told the people here as much? “Well, much like with you guys and humans, Pokémon are myths where I come from, and don’t actually exist in our world.” Naomi settled on.

“Fascinating.” Dr. Artemis hummed. “There are several others from this particular world of yours; from what I’m aware of, yours is the only world where such a thing occurs. Others are variants of a world where Pokémon and humans live in harmony, and then there is ours: a world of Pokémon where humans are but myth and legend. It almost appears to be a sliding scale of sorts, no?”

“Huh.” Ollie said, mulling the information over. “That is interesting.”

“Right?!” Dr. Artemis gushed. “And then there is a world where humans don’t seem to be known at all - the world where the so-called Paradox Pokémon come from; a timeline of the primordial past and distant future. So far we haven’t had any humans come here from a world where not even the myths of Pokémon exist, but considering the paradox timeline such a thing would be expected, no?”

“And yet, it hasn’t happened…” Naomi said. “At least, not yet.” The crimson and red Litten frowned. “Actually, how long has this been happening again?”

“Quite some time, unfortunately.” Dr. Artemis grimaced. “But given the fact that the paradox timeline is a recent discovery, and the parallels present between the human worlds and ours so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if humans with no idea what Pokémon even are started arriving sooner rather than later.”

I hope not, Naomi thought grimly. It was already bad enough adjusting even knowing what Pokémon Mystery Dungeon was; I can’t imagine trying to do this in a world where Nintendo never came up with the concept. 

“Now, I’ve noticed you’ve had some difficulty walking - have you not tried standing up? I know some of the humans here were surprised by the fact that Pokémon have the choice between quadrupedal and bipedal movement, but it’s true.” Dr. Artemis suggested, and Naomi winced.

“Yeah, Naomi here seems to be stuck in a quadrupedal form for some reason.” Ollie interjected with a shrug, which in Naomi’s opinion was a seriously impressive movement given his body shape and lack of arms. It was quite the creative use of the feathers lining his shoulders. “We don’t know why, but she is.”

“Interesting.” Dr. Artemis muttered, frowning. “I haven’t heard of anyone else, human or otherwise, in a situation like this.” 

Oh joy, this was unique to just Naomi. At least nobody else was stuck like she was? Naomi would get used to it, but having the choice would’ve been nice. Even if she probably would have stuck to moving around on all fours; seeing Litten walking about while standing upright like Meowth was just weird.

Not that any of this was less weird, she thought semi-hysterically to herself. 

“Naomi’ll adjust, I know it!” Ollie said confidently, snapping his partner out of her thoughts. “After all, there’ve been several human-Pokémon already moving around as quadrupeds by choice. Sure, my partner might be stuck, but it’s not so bad, right?” He said, glancing at Naomi nervously to confirm.

The Litten nodded. “Yeah, I’m not really torn up about it. I’m already much better than I was yesterday; it shouldn’t be long before Ollie and I can actually go out on missions and such.”

“I’m glad to hear it!” Dr. Artemis said cheerfully. “I do believe I’ve peppered you with questions long enough - do you two want to take a coffee break? The machine here produces only the best, I promise.”

“Sure!” Ollie chirped happily, while Naomi simply shook her head.

“I don’t drink coffee.” she explained, even as her partner excitedly rushed over to the machine to start filling up a cup, a pair of vines the same blue as his skin extending from his feathered body to act like hands. 

“A shame.” Dr. Artemis said, before a realization of some sort dawned on his face. “Wait, but you two said you wanted to go out for coffee with me? Where you- where you…lying?”

“NO!!” Ollie and Naomi shouted at the same time.

“There’s other things at coffee shops besides just coffee.” Naomi rushed to explain. “You and Ollie might be having it, sure, but even if the place doesn’t serve hot chocolate they’ll be serving various pastries for sure. I’ll be quite happy even without the coffee, so don’t worry.”

“I see. My apologies for doubting you.” Dr. Artemis said, looking rather embarrassed. “Ahem. I have a few snacks you can pick from instead of the coffee, if you like. Come, I want to know if any of them are familiar to you, or if they’re exclusive to our world. Why, so far none of the human-Pokémon have recognized them as anything present in their world, but given the various timelines they come from you really never know…”