Team Delver: Origins

Luna groaned as she squeezed her eyes shut. It felt like it was way to early to be up; her alarm hadn't even gone off yet. It was already hard enough for her to get sleep; she didn't really need her body waking her up like this. She placed a hand over her face to block out the sunlight that was streaming in through her window. Guess she forgot to close the blinds before she'd passed out last night. Which, yeah felt like something she probably did. She had been up pretty late finishing that essay... Sighing she pulled her hand from her face. There wasn't really any point in trying to get more sleep; once she was up it was nearly impossible for her to get back to sleep. She reached to pull her cover off of her but couldn't find it. Huh. Guess it must have fallen off during the night. Not entirely unusual but that didn't normally happen. Oh well, she could always pick it up after she got up.

She went to push herself up and then froze. That felt... weird. Had she slept on something wrong? No, she didn't hurt. It just felt weird. Slowly she blinked her eyes open. That... wasn't her bed. In fact that wasn't a bed at all. It took a moment, a peaceful moment that her mind was blank, but then the panic set in. She wasn't proud to admit it, but she screamed. She flailed as she tried to stand up; instead she started to fall as her legs failed to catch her. She landed with an oof on her back. "Oooooow fuuuuuuu-" She grit out as she flipped herself over. Ok Luna breath. Stay as calm as possible. You're not in your bed; you're not in any bed. First thing's first . Figure out where you are. Yeah, that seemed like a good plan. She attempted to stand up again. Ok so, she couldn't really get on her legs. That uh was ok. She could crawl.

Though as she went to looks around she froze again. She was... in a forest? How had she even gotten here? It wasn't like she had done anything other than work on her essay last night. She didn't go to parties or anything, so it wasn't like she ended up here as a result of that. Was there even a forest near campus? Maybe, she didn't really pay attention to that sort of thing. Oh hey, there was the panic. Not right now. Luna couldn't afford to panic yet. With a forced calm she began dragging herself over to a stream she noticed. She wasn't sure why that's where she was trying to go there, but it wasn't like she had any other plan at the moment. It was slow but eventually she made it. She peered into the water and froze again. What stared back was certainly not her face. She reached out to touch the water, maybe she was dreaming? It would be one hell of a vivid dream if it was, but she'd be happy if that were the case. Instead of it being reassuring it caused her panic to resurface. That... that was a paw. Not a hand. What was going on? Her breathing picked up. Was... was this what a panic attack felt like? Maybe... maybe...

Her mind raced as she tried to figure out a logical explanation to all this. It had to be a dream right? There was no way this was real...It was to unrealistic to actually be happening. Sure her dreams were never this vivid but there was a first time for everything right? She collapsed and curled in on herself. Yeah it was just a dream; she'd wake up in her dorm any moment now. She squeezed her eyes shut. Any moment now. She waited... nothing happened. The dream didn't fade away. The realization that this was real made her feel like she'd been dunked in ice water. Ok maybe, she should just breath for a bit. Yeah, yeah... In out. In out. Why wasn't it helping? Wasn't breathing supposed to help? It should right? That's what she always saw in movies and shows.... Well not everything like that was accurate she guessed. Things started to blur. Yeah that was probably the panic. Why did it feel like she couldn't breath? There's no reason she shouldn't be able to right? She curled up tighter.

"Are you ok?" A quiet voice that seemed male called out. Everything suddenly snapped back into focus. Her breathing was still quick, but she felt more in control. Slowly she uncurled herself and peered at who had spoke. It was... a snake? Dragon? She had no idea, but the oddity of the situation helped calm her some. If only due to shear bewilderment. "M-maybe that was a stupid question... You don't seem ok..." The dragon tapped his... hands together nervously. "What's wrong?"

She gaped for a moment, mouth opening and closing as her brain tried to form words. "I-" Wait, why was she talking to... an animal? Had she had anything... weird recently? This didn't seem normal. Maybe those leftovers she'd had last night were bad... Though to be fair she also seemed to be an animal. That mental reminder caused her breathing to pick up again.

The dragon jumped in surprise and mild panic. "A-ah sorry! I didn't mean to make it worse." He looked at her in concern. "Um..." He looked around, her own panic seeming to rub off on him. "Uh what are you supposed to do in a situation like this..." He seemed to be talking to himself now. "I wanna help, but I don't know what to do..."

With a deep, but shaky breath Luna pushed herself up. "I'm... fine." Well that was a blatant lie, but she didn't really want to spill her guts to someone who she was still pretty convinced was a hallucination. Her eyes flicked back over to the water. Ok that hadn't changed. Deep breaths, Luna. Deep breaths. "Where... am I?"

The dragon stared at her for a moment before perking up. "Oh! I get it now." He tilted his head. "This might seem like an odd question but did you used to be a human?" At that Luna stared. The dragon squirmed uncomfortably. "I-I know it's weird and kind of out of the blue... but uh it happens more than you might think. I've heard that humans turned into pokemon are pretty confused after arriving so..."

"I... yes." Luna answered. "Did you say... pokemon?" Wasn't that a video game? It was real? She didn't know much about it in all honesty.

"Yeah." He nodded enthusiastically. "You seem to be an eevee. Um do you have a name? I'm Spirit."

"I'm... Luna." She said slowly.

"Oh! That uh goes nicely with your markings." He smiled. "I guess you haven't been here too long, right?"

"No..." Luna looked down. "I just woke up."

"I'm glad I found you then." Spirit drifted closer. "Um maybe I can help you out? What's the last thing you remember?"

"Falling asleep... in my dorm room." She answered, frowning.

"I'm not sure what a dorm room is..." He tilted his head and frowned. "But that must be where you lived right?" She nodded. "Right. Uh. That's interesting."

"Was there a point to asking me that?" Luna asked as she shakily tried to stand up. Standing on four legs was a lot harder than she'd imagined it would be.

"I guess not..." Spirit looked away. "I was just curious." He looked back at her. "I've never actually met a human turned pokemon before."

"There's... a lot of people being turned into pokemon?" Luna asked, frown deepening.

"Sort of. It might be connected to the mystery dungeon phenomenon but no one knows for sure." Spirit tapped his hands together.

"Mystery dungeon phenomenon?" Luna tilted her head and immediately did a mental blue screen. Why had she done that?

"Yeah. They're these super dangerous maze-like places." He shivered. "They change every time you go into them and they're filled with mad pokemon who will attack nearly anything. They're pretty scary really." He sighed. "They're really interesting though."

"That sounds awful." Luna commented.

"It kinda is, but it's also exciting." He perked up. "There are all these super cool rescue teams that take on the dungeons and save people!" He looked down. "I've always kinda wanted to join a team myself but have never been brave enough."

"Yeah... not sure why I'm getting your life story right now." She took an experimental step and didn't fall. Progress.

"Oh uh yeah... sorry." He looked away. "I guess I just don't really have many people to talk to..."

"Well... thanks for the info I guess." Luna sighed as she took another few steps. "I'm gonna go see if I can figure out how to get home. Or wake up from this oddly real feeling dream. Because I still can't completely accept this isn't a dream."

"Ah... are you sure you wanna go off on your own? Do you even know where to go?" Spirit asked nervously.

"I'll figure it out. I'm still banking on this being a dream." She sighed through her nose.

"Um... I could maybe make a... suggestion?" Luna turned to look at Spirit as he spoke up again. "Ah the guild takes in any human turned pokemon that comes to them."

"Great. Point me in the right direction then." At this point she was done with asking questions. There was no point. She was already so overwhelmed and whatever answers she got just gave her far more questions.

"Oh uh, one thing about that." Spirit said. Luna sighed and turned to face him. "You need a pokemon partner to join the guild..." Of course. There was always a catch to everything. Nothing about this situation could be simple could it? She stared at him. "Um... if you want." He tapped his hands together. "Maybe I could go with you?"

She continued to stare and finally shook her head. "Fine. Only because I have no idea what I'm doing. I guess I could use the guide."

Spirit lit up with excitement. "Oh! Awesome! Don't worry you won't regret this!"

"Sure..." Luna groaned as Spirit floated off. "Just don't go too fast. I'm still not used to this..."

---

It was a weird period of adjustment. At least everyone at the guild had been nice. Spirit had happily shown her around the city and pointed out anything important or useful. Things were still pretty overwhelming honestly. Though given time she did feel like she could get used to this. It already felt miles better than essays and exams, even if the travel here had been a bit rough. Either way Luna was... not really upset with what had happened. Sure part of her still wanted to try and figure out a way to get home, but based on her limited conversations with some of the other human turned pokemon at the guild it didn't really seem like that was possible. At least for now. Right now? Right now she could be happy to spend time with her partner as they slowly dipped their toes into rescue work.

Luna pulled the scarf around her neck up further. While she didn't need it to stay warm, she had fur for that now which was still incredibly weird, she liked it. Her eyes flicked over to where Spirit was gazing at his team badge happily. "Team Delver..." He turned to her with a happy expression. "I still love the name you came up with for us."

She shrugged. "Eh, it's not that special. First thing that came to mind really."

"Not special? It's plenty special." The dreepy frowned. "It's our team name, so of course it's special."

Luna shrugged. "I guess." She looked him in the eyes before looking away. "As long as you like it."

"I do. A lot." Spirit affirmed. "I couldn't have come up with a better name myself."

"I doubt that. I feel like you're more creative than me." Luna mumbled into her scarf.

"Agree to disagree." Spirit said, to stop the back and forth from continuing. "Anyway, what should we do today?"

"Pick up a job I guess. See if there's anything interesting going on." She offered, shrugging.

"Sounds good." Spirit nodded. "Let's see what's available."

As Luna followed after he she let a fond smile creep onto her face. Yeah, while she never would have expected anything like this to happen she wouldn't trade it for the world.