Rene Keffer & Erich the Grubbin | Iris Fenix & Kit the Vulpix
Genesect | Ho-oh
Relic Castle -> Hall of Legends
Rene let the conversations and introductions wash over him. Idly he registered names being given, some part of his mind assigning them to faces. For the most part, however, the allure of figuring out a puzzle captured his attention. As more people entered down into the cavern, Rene let himself get pushed towards the wall on the edge of what was quickly becoming a gathering. He didn’t mind; as fascinating as the levitating had been (and the sheer implications of miniature traversable wormholes, which seemed to go against everything in conventional physics and very nearly derailed his train of thought), Rene soon had found his interest captured by the motley group forming.
As much as his gut had insisted the strange dreams were real and believable, a part of Rene – the part governed by rationality – had refused to accept the reality alluded to, a reality of myths and fate and destiny. With each new person either displaying some power of their own or introducing themselves as a deity Rene had, in passing at least, become familiar with over the course of his extended research binge, however? That part was coming around. One or two people believing in this entire thing? An outlier; justifiably ignored in finding the general data trend.
Coincidence could only account for some much though.
"Well, well, well. Aren't you pretty!"
Suddenly what could only be describe as a whirlwind of pink sprang into Rene’s vision. Hands grabbed the sides of his face, pulling him down towards a pair of soft looking lips. Looking remarkably like a Deerling in headlights, Rene stood frozen as the complete stranger kissed his cheek before moving onto the next person, the muscular guy who’d shown up not long after Rene had.
At the moment the stranger’s lips made contact with Rene’s skin, a strange little bubble of… something formed in his chest. Certain he was flushed, Rene stayed still as his train of thought didn’t just derail but dive straight off a cliff. As the stranger moved further away, toward a rather broody looking man under his own personal storm cloud, the little bubble shrunk until it was gone, leaving a bizarrely violated feeling in its place.
Tabling the introspection for a later time, Rene returned to reality to the sound of laughter. Recognizing the voice, Rene closed his eyes for a blissful moment of “What have I done to deserve this” self-commiseration before looking down at the cavern floor. Sure enough, Erich was at his feet laughing his little insectoid rear off. Unexpectedly, this brought the girl from earlier – Iris something, if he remembered right – right up alongside him, as Erich had her wrist in his grip still.
His annoyance at Erich returned for a different reason. Shooting Iris a look that he hoped conveyed “I’m sorry my overly enthusiastic insect has taken you hostage with his robot arm,” Rene crouched down on the sandy floor, feeling along the base of said arm until he felt the slight depression of the emergency release button. He pressed it, causing the claw to go momentarily slack and giving Iris a chance to reclaim her own hand.
Once Iris had, Rene gently bopped Erich on the head.
“Hey!” the bug protested. “What have I done to deserve such outrageous bodily harm! I cry abuse!”
Rene rolled his eyes at the theatrics. “Maybe next time consider the wellbeing of others.” He stood up and turned toward Iris. “I’m really sorry about him. I hope my bug didn’t hurt you when he grabbed your wrist with his robotic arm and started dragging you across these ancient castle ruins.” He blinked. “Which is a sentence I honestly thought I’d never say.”
That startled a huff of laughter out of the girl alongside a small smile, though the latter quickly turned into a grimace. “Don’t be. It just seems to be par for the course of this goddamned day.”
“That bad huh?”
“You could say that-”
“WHERE DID YOU GET THAT ARM? CAN I HAVE ONE?”
Both humans startled at the loud voice, turning to see the Fletchling that had been flitting around the cave parked in front of Erich.
“OMG MAYBE. MY TRAINER MADE IT HE’S AWESOME AT MACHINES AND TECHNOLOGICAL STUFF. IT WORKS GREAT TOO I’VE ONLY PUNCHED MYSELF LIKE TWICE SO FAR. I’M SURE IF YOU ASKED HE’D MAKE YOU ONE.”
…Who apparently decided to respond in the same tone, damn him.
Before Rene could chide the grub, however, something changed in the air. Looking around, he seemed to be the only one hearing it, a low noise that set his nerves on end, at least at first. One by one the others caught on as the unnatural noise grew in a crescendo, louder and louder until…
Silence.
The air seemed so still and precarious that not even Erich was willing to break it.
Then, the footsteps started: two distinct pairs.
All at once the group came back to itself. Rene again stayed on the outskirts with a clear line of sight to the cavern entrance, Iris not far from him as curiosity and denial warred across her face openly. Some of the others ran to the stairs, peering down them in search of the footsteps’ owner. Just as the rainbow-haired kid who’d called himself Alex began spark and venture down, two people stepped out into the light provided by Alex.
The first – a boy – proudly stood tall, his wild orange hair standing out from the dim surroundings. A short beard lined his jaw, and he was dressed rather regally in Rene’s opinion. At his shoulder, a girl who could have been his polar opposite in all but manner of regal dress stood partially hidden behind him. Where he was tall, she was short and her hair a deep blue that suggested the visage of the night sky. Unlike the boy, she looked less confident, glancing around at the group but saying nothing.
Giving a small smile, the boy spoke. His voice seemed to seep warmth, as if the sun itself were speaking. "Ah. So you've arrived." He gestured to the group. “Come.” At that the duo turned and walked back down the stairs, footsteps fading to nothing quickly.
“Well that was unnecessarily cryptic,” Rene muttered to himself. At his feet, Erich vibrated with excitement, as if his favorite TV show was reaching some climax. Rene hoped it just meant the falling action was about to begin. Somehow, he didn’t think he’d be that lucky.
Tuning out the chatter that had started back up, Rene turned to Iris, if only because she was the only one he knew even a little bit. Just as she’d had throughout much of these proceedings, the girl had a pained look on her face. From Iris’ shoulder, the Vulpix whispered into her trainer’s ear, soft enough Rene couldn’t hear. At the flash of anger that swept across her features, Iris didn’t want to hear it either.
Before he could do or say something, an exclaimed “Whoa!” caught Rene’s attention. He turned just in time to see Alex touch the portal and disappear in a swirl of light. As if starting a chain reaction, soon one by one each person stepped through until it was just down to Rene and Iris.
“Ok, no, this has been fun,” Iris said to the open air, backing away from the portal. “But this is where my ride ends, thank you very much.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Rene saw Erich look up at Iris’ Vulpix. A silent conversation passed between the two Pokémon, punctuated by a nod from Kit and a manic grin from the Grubbin.
Uh oh. Rene knew that grin. He’d been on the bad side of that grin too many times to count, and that was before he could actually talk with Erich. Before he could do anything, though, the Grubbin bolted from his side. With surprising speed and grace, Erich rushed up to Iris and grabbed her hand with his claw, yanking her towards and through the portal, Iris cursing all the way.
Now alone in the ruins, Rene felt the urge to curse himself. Dammit Erich! Rene’s last thought has he rushed after them was that he was so going to kill that bug.
Something was different.
From the moment he touched down into this misty, rose-tinted landscape, Rene could feel in his bones that something had fundamentally changed. It wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, per say, but rather like he’d been wearing something constricting and was now able to breathe again. Disorientating, though, to say the least.
Focused as he was on finding his wayward insect, Rene didn’t let himself dwell on any sudden dysphoria.
In the fog, despite the surprising clarity of his vision, Rene found it difficult to see more than a yard or two away from him. In the distance, several large figures loomed through the misty haze, though other than shapes Rene found it hard to pick out details. Initially, in favor of searching for Erich, Rene dismissed these as more of the columns that immediately surrounding him and the portal to his back. As the fog cleared, Rene very quickly reprioritized things, a primal voice in his head screaming in alarm. What he had thought were columns were decidedly not.
Monsters, his hindbrain thought in panic, staring in shock at the motley assortment of golems, dragons, and other creatures.
Threats, that strange primal voice insisted, already whispering analyses of the gathered: weak points and combat strategies.
Legendary Pokémon, Rene thought to himself, recognizing the appearances of many of the fabled beings he’d researched, most surprisingly accurate to the ancient descriptions.
With a crash, the being Rene recognized as Regigigas (
Hekas Collins, Rene’s mind supplied;
initially slow, awkward, and lumbering – close combat is acceptable for a time, then switch to ranged attacks, the primal voice whispered) rammed into a pillar, reducing it to rubble and visibly having a panic attack.
It seemed few of the legends took after Regigigas, the rest either finding excitement in the sudden turn of events or staying surprisingly ambivalent. The thunderbird, Zapdos (
Alex Brennan; Keep grounded for best advantage, when aerial engage at a distance) seemed pale but otherwise fine, though that might’ve been shock muting any panic. On the other end of the spectrum, Xerneas (
Lorenzo Amore; cold iron, the voice hissed,
destroy antlers to maximize advantages) looked to be vainly admiring himself, an action Rene couldn’t find surprised him given the little he’d learned of Lorenzo.
Truthfully, to Rene, it seemed only two others were reacting as badly as Hekas. The small form of Meloetta (
Leslie White, one of the last people to arrive; disable hearing, minimal threat otherwise) flitted about in a fright, scared about her hair of all things. Inversely, Ho-oh (the only one he didn’t remember introducing themselves, and the whisper was surprisingly quiet aside from an emphasized
avoid fire) had bypassed panic straight into catatonia. The only clue to the bird’s identity was the Vulpix whispering into the bird’s ear, draped where she was over where one of the bird’s large scarlet wings connected to its torso.
If that was Kit… Rene mused. He turned his attention down to the bird’s- Iris’ feet, and finally found who he’d been looking for.
His claw limply gripping Iris’ thick avian leg, Erich cowered in fear before the bird several times its size. Before he realized he was doing it, Rene started to rush over, only to come up short when that quiet hiss in his mind gave a satisfied hum, whispering
yes, easy prey. Nonetheless, his aborted movement caught the Grubbin’s own attention. One look in Rene’s direction and he didn’t know how, but Erich’s terror seemed to increase tenfold, devolving into such a stammering mess Rene couldn’t even understand a word outside of repeated “Why me,” “Oh god,” and “Gonna die.”
Confused, Rene finally glanced down at himself, holding his hands up to examine. Purple steel shone back, thin arms tipped in a single razor sharp talon. Looking further down his distinctly insectoid body, the same purple metal coated every inch of him, a solid armor coating. At his feet, Rene’s reflection was visible in the glass floor, showing a wide face with large red eyes and a fixed smile (or maybe it was a vent?). Just barely visible beyond his head, what could only be described as a cannon rose from his back.
Suddenly, Rene understood why he’d never found a reference to Genesect. He’d been looking in all the wrong places.
He’d been looking for myths, old legends. Genesect though… Genesect was a decidedly recent development, in comparison. There’d been a file, pulled from the dark web, detailing a by-now defunct project in restoring an ancient creature via similar methods to that of fossil restoration. This Project G, however, tried to take it a step further, modifying the ancient predator to new extremes. The project had been shut down shortly after, and the file had made no mention of its subject, only referred to as G, surviving. If it weren’t for the specifications the project had listed reflecting back at him, Rene wouldn’t have even believed it was possible, as the timeline of his birth compared to the project made no sense. And yet…
The return of the blue haired girl was a welcome diversion from the increasingly dark hole his thoughts had crept down. "Greetings,” the girl spoke, giving a small bow to the gathered group. "Welcome to the Hall of Legends. I am Lunala." At this the girl – Lunala – smiled slightly. "It's so nice to finally meet you all!" With a grin and a blinding blast of light, the girl transforming fully into a large bat creature, the night sky captured in its wings. "Here in the Hall, your true forms will be shown. But when you gain control over your power you'll be able to transform at will like I just did!"
Across the hall, a large lion stepped through the mist. Though only slightly shorter than Lunala, the lion similarly was predominately white with a mane shaped like a stylistic sun. Like Lunala, the lion bowed to the group. "Hello children, I am Solgaleo. Thank you for coming, you will be safe here. And... of course, you will finally learn the truth."
Between the two beasts, the group was herded to a table surrounded by twenty seats. Solgaleo and Lunala took their places at each end, leaving the remaining seats free for the humans-turned-Pokémon. Rene trailed behind Iris, who had mutely gone with the group but otherwise still seemed like a personified (he inwardly winced at the choice of phrase) blue screen, planning to sit next to her and thus Erich. In a depressingly characteristic display of self-preservation (or the lack thereof), the Grubbin had, upon seeing Rene’s admittedly more dangerous looking form, tightened its hold on Iris’ leg and was now being dragged along in the now-bird’s wake.
Once everyone had been seated, Solgaleo rose and acknowledged each once-person by not their given names but those that had been thrust upon them. His smile surely was meant to convey warmth and reassurance to the group, but Rene couldn’t help but bristle slightly at the implication that lied therein. That their lives (he refused to call it his
old life) no longer were important. He noticed he wasn’t the only one to catch that, Iris (her visage finally cracking slightly) looked a tad ruffled and the dragon that had once been Kyle seemed to be deep in thought, though still as impassive and difficult to read as he’d been before the transformation.
Before anyone could bring that up, however, the large lion continued on asking about the legend of Necrozma. When a few shook their heads in the negative, Solgaleo launched into the story. Having read most of it before, Rene let his mind drift slightly. To his right, Erich –
still wrapped around Iris’ leg – slowly ceased his shivering, not necessarily calm but slightly reassured at the absence of anyone trying to make a meal for themselves. Still, the grub refused to look in Rene’s direction and gave a little flinch whenever Rene moved, a fact that stung slightly if Rene was being truthful. It wasn’t as if he’d
meant for all this to happen. He just hoped given time and a heart to heart Erich might come around, Rene thought to himself, willfully ignoring the fact he would have to accept it himself first. As if reading his thoughts, Erich glanced at him briefly, a puzzled expression flitting across his face before he turned away again.
The sudden quiet caught Rene’s attention; Solgaleo had finished his story. After a few moments, the lion cleared his throat. He explained that the legend was factual, that this place (
A new created dimension! the excitable scientist within him crowed, eager to share the news with his mother; that last part in turn launched a whole new set of worries which were also ignored) was created to protect them and allow them to harness their powers.
Across the table, Lunala nodded and spread her wings, drawing the gaze of everyone as she continued from where her brother paused. “Indeed. In this current state, Necrozma would make quick work of you. His chains will break tomorrow however..." At this the moon bat’s face scrunched in panic. "He'll surely be looking for me and Leo... and all of you, assuming he's heard the legend in his bindings..." She glanced around sheepishly, fidgeting with her hands.
"Luna,” Solgaleo boomed, cutting her off. “That's enough. You're going to frighten them!" Lunala flinched at the reprimand and relaxed back into her chair slightly. Soon, though, she leaned forward again, indignant.
"I'm only telling them the truth. He almost killed Arceus! Do you think these..." She glanced around at the humans-turned-Pokémon. "Meatsacks! Do you think these meatsacks actually stand a chance? They're not even at full power!"
Chaos broke at her exclamation, as several of the legends made sounds of indignation. The girl who became Dialga (
Ally Volkova, he remembered) even went as far as to bolt upright, cursing at the bat. The lion-like legend roared both in general for quiet and specifically at Lunala, who left the room in a huff, unapologetic. An awkward silence followed, broken by a quacking noise from Alex that would’ve had Rene rolling his eyes had he been able.
"I... apologize for my sister. She gets worried quite easily." He glanced at everyone, and Rene got the feeling that this wasn’t the first time Solgaleo had to do damage control for his counterpart’s temper. "Um. You're free to wander around if you want. Down that hall behind me are bedrooms for you all, I'm sure you must be exhausted." At that, the lion bowed to the group, leaving the room presumably towards either his own quarters or those of his counterpart’s.
The meeting, if it could have been called that, adjourned with a surge of power flowing through the group, if the expressions on the other’s faces were any indication. Additionally, it didn’t seem exclusive to the former humans as all at once many of the companion Pokémon began to evolve simultaneously, though there were few exceptions, such as the Woobat that flitted about Leslie’s head and Erich, who remained a small Grubbin.
A thump made Rene look to his right. Iris had slumped over onto the table from the weight of the Ninetales suddenly on her back. Embarrassed, Kit quickly clambered down with a muttered “sorry,” though Iris stayed slumped over with a dejected sigh even after the vulpine had gotten off.
“You ok?” Rene asked, unsure about what specifically could’ve prompted this reaction and if he even would want to get involved. (And whatever dysphoria he’d had about this new body, speaking without moving a mouth was easily the strangest thing.)
“Just mourning how simple my life used to be,” the large bird muttered.
“And that’s perfectly reasonable,” Kit said, evidently experienced with her trainer’s moods. “But in its own time and place. Now c’mon,” she said through a mouthful of feathers as she tugged on Iris’ wing, eliciting what could only be called a squawk from the girl-turned-bird. “I’m going to take you to whatever room you have here, you’re going to vent like you need to do, and hopefully we keep the collateral to the minimum.”
“Well, good luck,” Rene called after them, cringing after the fact but not knowing what else to say. Belatedly, he realized that if Iris left, Erich would leave with them. About to call out, Rene looked down to see a suspicious lack of Grubbin around Iris’ talons.
A throat cleared behind him.
Rene turned around to see Erich standing a few feet away. A leg bounced anxiously on his ground, but otherwise the insect’s nerves were well hidden until he drew a shaky breath. “Ok, not going to lie. You are terrifying instincts I didn’t even know I had right now, but… You’re Rene still. I could tell by the pheromones you started giving off halfway through Simba and Stellaluna’s little speech. You’re my friend, and as scary as this is for me I can’t imagine what it must be like for you. So… I’m here for you.”
Relieved, Rene lunged forward and wrapped his spindly arms around the grub. Through the hug, he could feel Erich’s heart race. “Okay,” the grub muttered against him as his pulse slowed. “Just
please never do that again oh my god. Gods. Whatever.”
“Sorry,” Rene said, voice thick with emotion. Suddenly this situation didn’t seem quite as bad, not now that he knew his best friend was, if not completely ok, accepting of this new paradigm. Still holding Erich, Rene looked around at the others. Most had broken off into small groups, talking or challenging each other to a spar, as the case was with Gwen-slash-Cobalion and Ally. Rene considered joining some group for a moment, but quickly decided against it and headed to the bed chambers. Sleep definitely trumped awkward small talk with people who were basically strangers.
Entering what he determined to be his own room, Rene was pleasantly surprised to find a cross between his bedrooms growing up and a lab reminiscent of those he grew up around. Altogether, it was a comforting space to Rene. (Pointedly he did not examine that reasoning given the recent developments.) The walls were a sterile light grey with posters he could remember hanging once upon a time across each of them. A bed exactly matching his at home stood to his right, alongside his bedside table, reading lamp, and Erich’s small bed. Bookshelves full of books stretched across most of the back wall with the only free space taken up by a desk and PC computer (how there was an internet connection, Rene really didn’t know). The remaining space along the left wall housed a series of lab tables, both perfect for his current height and his normal height. Scattered across the resin countertops were assorted machines, parts, and tools, some of which rare enough Rene would once have given a leg to get his hands on.
Rene sat Erich down on the grub’s bed. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll go to sleep. Lord knows I’ve been awake long enough. Good night Erich.”
“Night Rene.”
The man-turned-bug climbed up onto the mattress, ready to stretch out and sleep. Positioning himself best he could on his stomach, to not disturb the new appendage from his back, Rene gave a stretch…
…and folded into himself, Transformers style, into what had to be the weirdest Superman pose.
From his lower bed, Erich gave a flat “What.”
“I did not know I could do this.”
“What.”
“…I also am not sure how to get out of this.”
“
What.”