Pokemon: Nuzlocke

A/N: Pokemon is owned in its entirety by Nintendo, Nintendo of America, and its subsidiaries. This work of fanfiction is not meant to impugned upon any trademarks or copyrights. Please support the official releases!

Chapter 8: Revelations

"Shedinja's hard body doesn't move, not even a twitch. In fact, its body appears to be merely a hollow shell." I read aloud, studying the Pokedex entry. "It seems to appear unsought in a Poké Ball after a Nincada evolves. This bizarre Pokémon is entirely immobile—it doesn't even breathe. It is believed that this Pokémon will steal the spirit of anyone peering into its hollow body from its back."

I look at the Pokeball as it sits on the bed, a sense of unease filtering through my body. What I saw last night...It was freaky. I couldn't say it was anything less than a vision of the future, as it included the Game aspects of my life. That couldn't be faked as only I was aware of it. It was barely even 4 am, so I had several hours before I could collect Odin, and leave Celedon. I wanted nothing more than to leave this town behind and see what the rest of the world had to offer. Yet, here I was, puzzling over the mystery that was Mask, and the vision.

Quest Alert!

Discover the secret behind Mask.

Rewards:

$)(*#$_^&

1600Exp

I glanced at the alert before rolling my eyes. Of course, the game would push me in that direction. I snatched the Pokeball up, and pressed the button, letting Mask out into the room. He floated there, hovering motionless over the bed, not even looking at me.

"I'm going to ask you some questions, Mask. Floating up and down is yes, side to side is no. If you do not answer me, I will return you to your ball, drop you in a PC, and never take you out again. Am I understood?" I asked, putting as much space between myself and the Pokemon.

It continues floating there, before slowly moving up and down.

"Good. First, was that the future?" I ask, getting right to the important question.

It is still for a moment, before slowly floating in a circle. I stare at it in confusion, before the realization hits me.

"Is that a maybe?" I ask.

It stops moving, before switching to a soft up and down.

I nod as well, before continuing. "Are you able to see the future? Or only those that...look inside you?"

No movement again, before a swift yes, and no. There was a multitude of ways to take that answer. I frowned, considering how to ask more questions when all I could get is yes, no, and maybe.

"Ugh. Getting answers from you like this is impossible." I say, frowning deeper.

I reach for the ball when Shedinja rotates slightly, it's back facing me. It seems to wiggle slightly, and I can tell immediately what it's offering.

'Answers.' I think, considering the options.

A moment passes while I mull the idea before I take two steps forward to the edge of the bed. I reach out, grasping the cold, hard exoskeleton, slowly pulling it towards my face.

Darkness

%&! $!##&%$(!

I open my eyes to pure darkness. I can see my body, my hands, somehow perfectly lit. The world around me was darkness in all directions. Every now and then loud thunk echos out, like metal on metal clamping together.

"Hello?" I say out loud, my voice echoing.

Billy

The world was both loud, yet silent. No direction, just a whisper of a word that existed, but nothing more.

"Mask?" I ask.

Yes

"What is this? Where am I?" I ask, looking all around me.

No answer

"What? That-" I start.

Time

I frown, considering what that means. To be fair, it doesn't, but I don't know that any answer would.

"I...Just tell me what's going on." I order in the end.

Silence is my response, nothing else but the rhythmic thump every few seconds. A few minutes pass, and right as I prepare to speak again, the world is flooded with light. I'm inside a small home, in the bedroom of a child no older than I currently was. I know this because he's sleeping in the bed, no more than a few feet away from me.

"Oh shit!" I say, before clamping my hand over my mouth.

They can't hear you

I look around, startled, to find Mask floating over my shoulder.

"What are we doing here? Where are we?" I ask.

Where doesn't matter

"Where doesn't matter?.." I reply, considering the sentence. "When are we then?"

The energy of the room changes slightly, soft happiness almost filling the room. Mask was clearly happy that I had asked the right question. The bedroom door slides open, showing a pretty young woman standing there, holding a large bag.

"Mikey honey?" She says, approaching the bed. "It's time to wake up."

It takes a few moments for the kid to stir, but is eventually sitting up in his bed. I glance at the Shedinja, watching it as it floats across the room to Mikey, hovering over him. The mom and kid are talking, but I'm barely even paying attention until a single word grabs my attention.

"An egg?" Mikey exclaims. "Really mom?!"

When

"That's right! I found it outside a few weeks ago. It's going to hatch soon, which is really good timing as it's your birthday. Whatever is inside can be your first Pokemon." The mom replies, before pulling a slightly cracked egg from the bag she had been carrying.

Today is my hatching day

As we watch, the egg shakes, the cracking noises getting louder, before the shell finally breaks open. A small Nincada sits within the egg, crawling slightly out. It's looking right at Mikey and making the cutest little chittery noise.

"Nin!"

It was fate that we were born on the same day

The kid is freaking out, excited as all young boys seem to be over bugs. His mom has to remind him not to squeeze it too hard as he hugs it, but even to me, it's clear he loves the Nincada already.

He did

I did

The scene around us morphs, showing a highlight reel. Battles, training, traveling. The vision is bleeding happiness, contentment.

We went everywhere

The vision slows down, stopping on a familiar scene. A battle, Mikey a year or so older than when I first saw him. Nincada is defeating some kids' collection of Caterpie and Weedle. As the battle ends, Nincada begins to glow. The vision flickers, the emotions fading away, leaving…

Sadness

As the Ninjask breaks free of its exoskeleton, the shell begins to move. It floats into the air, moving side to side as it studies the scene.

INTERLOPER

RAGE

ANGER

FEAR

SADNESS

The words seem to echo throughout the clearing, as Mikey happily hugs the Ninjask. It takes a few more moments of celebration before Mikey notices the Shedinja. What I didn't expect was for the kid to recoil in fear and disgust.

"Gross...what the fuck?" He says, before pulling out a C-Gear and scanning the Shedinja.

Abandoned

Mikey returned the Ninjask, and ran off, leaving the Shedinja floating there in the clearing.

Alone

The Shedinja followed as best it could, but it was slow. Much slower than a young kid running, much slower than fear. What took Mikey an hour took Mask nearly half the day, ending up at the local Pokemon Center. Mask, being a Ghost Type, was easily able to float through the wall, and check each room for Mikey. Mikey was asleep in the center's bed, snoring softly, the Ninjasks Pokeball clutched in his hand.

Fear

The energy in the room changes. It's subtle, but I can feel it. It felt different, as though something was coming.

The first

Mask seemed to glow slightly, as it rotated, and descended over Mikey's face. His body jerked straight, all the muscles of his body locking in place, shaking and twitching. The world shifts around us once more, showing Mikey's bedroom in his hometown. The lamp within the room seems to flicker on, before sparking. The sparks land on a curtain, which swiftly catches fire.

I tried

The flames quickly spread, burning the house to the ground. The screams of his mother...It was intense. The vision seemed to shake, before fading away, and we were back in the Pokemon Center with Mikey. He yanked the Pokemon off of his face, retching, throwing up everything he had recently eaten. The look in his eyes was wild, terrible even, as he gripped the Ninjasks Pokeball in his hand. It takes a moment for him to react fully, but when he does he releases the Ninjask and orders it to attack.

'Not effective.' I thought, watching the Ninjask attack, and fail to damage the Shedinja.

It seems that after realizing the attacks were useless, he got ahold of himself. Grabbing his Pokeball, he returned the Shedinja, and everything went black.

"What happened next?" I asked into the darkness.

Watch

The world shifted again, and we found ourselves watching Mikey sob on a Center's bed.

"Y-you!" He screamed, turning on the floating Shedinja. "You did this!"

I tried

As I watched, Mikey blamed Shedinja for his mother's death. He had dropped the Shedinja into storage, from which it couldn't escape to warn him again. Several months passed, and what Shedinja saw had passed.

"That's not fair...You did try…" I say, watching the scene.

The Shedinja was returned once more, and the scene shifted again. This time Mikey was at a different location, talking to a tall man. The other man looked slightly familiar, but I couldn't figure out where I had seen them.

Agony

"I just don't want it anymore," Mikey said to the man.

A few seconds later, and the man was on his way, whistling merrily. The scene shifted again, showing the Shedinja trying to leave, but being returned and forced back time and time again.

"Stop trying to leave you fucking asshole! I own you now, not the kid, get it?" The guy roared, throwing something to the ground. An empty beer bottle.

Hate

I could feel it building

The scene shifted again, showing the man sleeping in bed, Shedinja floating nearby. The energy in the room was building once more.

Stop

But it was clear that whatever afflicted this Shedinja wasn't under its control. It slowly rotated, before drifting down on to the man's face. His body jerked and twitched, before going ramrod straight. The world spun until it showed a small cafe. The sleeping man was sitting at a table, eating a small salad, listening intently at a conversation at a nearby table.

"I can...three shipments." We heard.

"More!...I've got needs too." The other replied.

"I fucking knew it…" The man whispered, watching them intently. "Fucking drug runners...the same wife..."

We watched as the two people paid and left, the man swiftly following behind them. The scene goes dark as all three enter an alleyway ahead of us.

"What happened?" I ask.

He killed them

I nod, having expected that. "So he saw the vision, thought of his revenge, and then tracked them down to allow it to happen?"

Yessss

"Then what?"

The world shifts, showing the man in the middle of another drunken rage.

"Show me you fucking bug! Show me what happens next?!" He screamed, trying to grab the Shedinja.

He eventually manages, shoving his face into the cavity, collapsing to the floor, shaking and quaking, clearly in a seizure unlike the visions before. Eventually, he pulls the pokemon from his face, throwing up and coughing, whispering to himself.

"I fucking knew it….I fucking knew it!"

"What did he see?" I ask.

I don't know

I scowl, looking at the Shedinja. "What happened next then?"

He kills again.

"This is the man that attacked me in the alleyway," I say, studying him closely.

He was younger, perhaps by a year, but much better put together. The stress and murders, perhaps the continued forced wearing of Mask, had degraded his health. He had looked wild, damaged, dangerous in the alleyway.

"How did this lead to me?" I ask, looking back at Mask.

Vision

The scene changed, showing another real vision. In this one, the scene ends right before I entered the alley, the man setting Masks Pokeball down in such a way to distract me.

"Did you know he would die?" I asked as everything faded black once more.

Yes

The word echoes with a deep finality, as though it had had a choice, but had made it anyway. I begin to ask another question, but the world shakes around me.

Later

I collapse to my knees, the hard floor jarring. My body feels like its on fire, as my stomach boils with retched acid. I hold my head in my hands, each beat of my heart sending a pulse of pain through me. Mask floats silently above the bed, watching me as I suffer. I check my C-gear and see that nearly half an hour had passed within Mask. I crawl, just barely, on to the bed, collapsing as I grow weak. The last thing I see as I pass out is Shedinja floating silently above me.

A/N: More mysteries abound! Join the discord to discuss(Over 150 members), leave me a review! Thanks again, everyone. Discord gg/3Kc8pTF