#( i dream of languages whose words， like fists， would fracture jaws / musings. )

[noroark]

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Legendary Genesis

Chapter One: The Bug Catcher

A human is reborn as a Pokémon. A Pokémon will be reborn as a god. Factions collide as they race to collect eighteen legendary treasures, threatening to further upset the balance of an already fractured world.

I began writing this fic during the summer of 2012, and over the next several years, I planned out the plot in extensive detail. My perfectionism prevented me from getting very far in the story itself, however. Late last year, I began what I hope will be my final rewrite before the fic is completed. If I want to get anything done, I need to stop letting my perceived inadequacy hold me back. Anyway, this new version might not be perfect, but I hope you like it!

This fanfiction is suitable for general audiences. It will not contain any strong language, graphic violence, or sexual content. There will be some disturbing themes later in the story, but there won’t be anything explicit.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13973847

In the soft light of morning, the Foreboding Bog hardly lived up to its name.

It was humid, and the smell of rotting vegetation lingered in the air. Gnarled mangroves towered over dark ferns and beds of reeds. Sunlight kissed the water, warding away the swamp gas that created illusions in the dark. Everything was calm and still; the Foreboding Bog was considered inhospitable by most, so few Pokémon dared to set foot in the dungeon.

One such exception was a young Carnivine by the name of Dion. Unlike the majority of Pokémon, Carnivine were adapted to thrive in vile wetlands. As such, Dion felt right at home in the Foreboding Bog. With a bag slung over his shoulder and his signature grin plastered across his face, Dion was oozing with confidence.

He hung by the entrance, appraising the dungeon thoughtfully. “I bet nobody's been to this place in centuries. It's gotta be loaded with treasure!” he said to himself. “When I return to the academy with a huge bag of loot, everyone will think twice before making fun of me.” Under his breath, he muttered, “Well, maybe not Cleo.”

Dion was the newest student at Arcanine's Academy, a school dedicated to the art of treasure hunting. School policy required each student to be paired with one or two partners, forming a “hunting team”. This allowed Headmaster Arcanine to create specialized lessons based on each team's individual strengths and weaknesses. Most of these lessons were hands-on, and they tended to involve navigating treacherous dungeons. At Arcanine's Academy, students were expected to encounter all sorts of perils and foes. If the headmaster was to be believed, that was how they learned best. Students were strictly forbidden from taking lessons alone, though. That was too dangerous.

Due to a recent slump in recruits, Dion had yet to be sorted into a hunting team. He bided his time running errands for Headmaster Arcanine, helping Chef Muk in the kitchen, and tidying up the academy with Chamberlain Claydol. Since Dion was clumsy and a tad dimwitted, he had a habit of messing up even the simplest of tasks. This provided the other students with endless entertainment.

Usually, it didn't bother Dion when they laughed. Only one student managed to get under his skin: Cleo, the leader of Team Masquerade. The catty Yamask had delighted in making his life miserable since his first day at the academy, and Dion didn't have the slightest idea why.

A particular incident involving her remained at the forefront of his mind.

“That Dion—he's such a useless oaf! He'll never make it as a treasure hunter. If he came along on one of our expeditions, he'd just slow us all down. Headmaster Arcanine, why don't you just have him expelled?”

The headmaster had laughed. “Lass, that's not your call,” he'd told her, his baritone voice raspy with age. “I let Dion enroll for a reason. He has potential, just like you do. Maybe someday you'll see what I mean.”

Cleo had proceeded to leave in a huff.

Dion mulled over the headmaster's words while fidgeting with his bag.Headmaster Arcanine said I have potential. I wonder what he meant by that. He knew he wouldn't find the answer while idling around the academy, which was why he had decided to take matters into his own hands.Today's the day I'm going to prove my potential to the academy… and maybe the world!

Dion entered the Foreboding Bog, using Levitate to float about a foot above the ground. He spotted a rickety old boardwalk and swooped down to investigate. Dion ran his hand along the grooves in the weathered wood, only to recoil in pain. A splinter had embedded itself in one of his leafy fingertips. Dion plucked it out, wincing. “Eee… this thing doesn't seem very safe.” He stared at the boardwalk while contemplating turning around. Once he had made up his mind, Dion rose into the air.

He froze.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, chuckling. “Never mind!” Dion whistled a cheery tune as he hovered along the boardwalk, keeping his eyes peeled for treasure. The only problem was that he didn't actually know what treasure looked like. He was sure he'd be able to recognize it if he found some, though.

Dion wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. It was the height of morning, and the temperature had peaked as well. The humidity was becoming unbearable, even for a Carnivine. He shrugged it off and pressed on, refusing to bow to the heat.

Dion frowned when he reached the end of the boardwalk. The last few planks had broken off and fallen into the motionless water. “This can't be the end of the dungeon, can it?” He balled his fists. “No! A trick like this might keep some Pokémon away from the treasure, but it's not gonna work on me.” Smoothly, he boasted, “I can Levitate.” He tore into the depths of the Foreboding Bog, weaving between the mangroves and rustling the plants below.

Almost immediately, Dion caught a glimpse of something bright green. “Oh? What could this be?” Dion drooled in anticipation as he approached, savoring the moment. “Maybe it's a giant emerald! Wait, no. The headmaster said emeralds are dark green. It's gotta be… a peridot! Yeah, that sounds right. Either way… I'm gonna be rich!”

Dion brushed aside a curtain of leaves and recoiled at what he found.

The body of a Scyther lay belly-down in a pool of muck. Its torso was hidden beneath the water, but its abdomen was still visible; its size indicated it was female. The Scyther's head was resting on a pile of damp stones, and her face was contorted in a grimace. She had thrown one of her scimitar-shaped arms over the rocks; the other was underwater. Her wings were waterlogged. Her legs were sprawled in a strange position. Nearby, a muddy piece of purple cloth was sticking out of the water.

Dion jolted backwards and slithered up a tree in fright. He shielded his eyes with his broad, leafy hands, but curiosity compelled him to take another peek. “Golly!” he remarked in a whisper. “I wasn't expecting to find anyone out here, especially like this! Oh gosh, is she even alive?” Dion broke a stick off of the tree and prodded at her face. “Wake up! Please wake up!”

When the Scyther's eyes snapped open, Dion nearly tumbled out of the tree. To his surprise, she didn't look the least bit alarmed—in fact, she looked as though she had just woken up from a pleasant dream. She grunted something unintelligible before parting her jaws in a yawn.

Dion beamed in relief. “Oh, good!” he cried as he flung the stick into the water. “You're not dead!”

The Scyther flitted her eyelids a few times before quizzically narrowing her eyes. “What?” Her voice was soft and low-pitched, unlike Dion's.

“Up here!” Dion shouted. When the Scyther lifted her head, he gave her a friendly wave.

She regarded him for almost a full minute, dumbfounded. At last, she stuttered, “Y-you're… a Carnivine…”

Dion got down from the tree. “Yup! As a matter of fact I am.” He reached out to her. “Need a hand?”

The Scyther blinked some more. “Yeah, I guess that would be… uh, nice.” She jerked her arm and her scythe shot out of the water. In the throes of disorientation, her movements were stiff and erratic.

If Dion had been any closer to the ground, he would have gotten skewered. “Yikes! That was a close one!” he yelped, bunching his vine-like legs. “Heh… guess I didn't think that through. You really could use a hand or two, though. They're a lot less dangerous than scythes!” He let out a playful guffaw, hoping the other Pokémon would join in his laughter.

But the Scyther was silent. She was staring vacantly at her bladed arm, her expression unreadable.

“H-hey, it's okay! I'm fine! You didn't actually hurt me,” Dion insisted.

The Scyther swiveled her head around and looked him in the eye. “No. You don't understand,” she said with wooden intonation. “This isn't my arm.”

Dion's eyes were wide with horror. “Then… whose arm is it?”

The Scyther clambered to her feet, her legs wobbling beneath her. Seconds later, she toppled onto her back. “I'm dreaming,” she mused, lying in the mud. “Yes, that has to be it.”

“Dreaming?”

She smiled at Dion, catching him off guard. “Look,” she said. “I'm not even going to bother explaining this to you. This is probably never going to happen again, so I don't want to waste any time.” The Scyther shook her head, still smiling. “I… I can't believe it. I can't believe I'm actually having a lucid dream!” She cackled as she spread out her arms, carving shallow trenches in the dirt. “I'm a Scyther—a Pokémon! How crazy is that?”

Dion watched, baffled. “You're… not making any sense,” he said. He gestured at the pile of stones. “Maybe you hit your head on those rocks over there.”

The Scyther was on her knees now, slashing at the reeds. Without looking up from her work, she murmured, “Hmm… nah.”

“I think you should come with me to Origin Central. Maybe I'll be able to get you some help.”

“I'll gladly come if it means getting out of this swamp. For a dream, this place reeks.” She got up again, using her scythes for support. She took a big whiff of the air. “Huh, that's weird. I also smell something sweet. What is that? It's kind of nice, actually.”

Dion ignored her. “I don't know how to tell you this, but I really don't think this is a dream.” Just to be sure, he swept his hand across his face. It felt real to him.

“Don't be silly,” the Scyther chided. “There's no way this is real. That would be impossible.”

It had become clear to Dion that trying to convince the Scyther otherwise was futile, so he changed the subject. “Before we get going, can you tell me your name? Mine's Dion.”

“My name? My name is…” The Scyther wrinkled her nose. “What is my name? I… I don't remember!”

Dion nodded in silent understanding. “Is there anything you do remember?”

“Now that I think about it… no, not really. Like, I know I had friends and family, but I can't remember anything about them.” She shut her eyes tight. “This is freaking me out. I kind of want to wake up now.”

“But you do remember that you're not supposed to be a Scyther, or at least that's what you believe.” Dion rubbed his chin. “What are you supposed to be, then?”

“A human,” she replied casually.

“A human?” Dion gasped. “But… humans aren't real, are they? I thought they were make-believe!” Dion had heard plenty of stories about humans: strange, bipedal creatures that trapped Pokémon in special Wonder Orbs and forced them to battle each other.

“Touché.” The Scyther heaved a sigh. “None of this makes any sense, but… maybe you're right. Maybe this isn't a dream.”

Dion gave another somber nod.

The Scyther let her arms hang at her sides. “I guess this is it, then.” All of the joy had been sucked out of her voice. She almost sounded like a different Pokémon altogether.

Dion twiddled his thumbs. “Er… anyway, let's get going. I'll take you straight to Arcanine's Academy. If there's anyone who'll know what to do about this, it's Headmaster Arcanine. I'll show you the way.” He sailed forward, peering over his shoulder to make sure the Scyther was following. When he noticed she was struggling to keep up, he slowed down a little. “You know,” he said, “I thought Scyther were supposed to be super fast… so fast you can hardly see them!”

“I'm not a Scyther.”

“Oh. Right.” Dion was quiet for a moment. “That reminds me. Since you can't remember your name, is there anything in particular you'd like to be called?”

“Uh… Eileen. That was the first thing that popped into my head. Could it be my real name? No, that can't be right. Whatever. Just call me Eileen.”

“All righty! Eileen it is.” Dion thought about what he'd name himself if given the choice until he was interrupted by a loud splash. He whipped around. Eileen had fallen into the water and was fighting to stay afloat. Dion had only made it to this part of the Foreboding Bog with the help of Levitate—an ability not possessed by Scyther like Eileen.

“Gah!” Dion cried. “How deep is it? Can you swim?”

“Not like this!” Eileen snarled as her head went under. Seconds later, her snout emerged. She managed to spit out a mouthful of green water before disappearing once more. Dion gnawed on his fingertips as he waited for her to return. The only sign of the Scyther was a steady stream of tiny bubbles rising to the surface.

Dion flew around the watery chasm in a panicked circle. “What do I do? What do I do?” When he realized he was wasting precious time, he forced himself to calm down. “Think, Dion, think!” Thinking was not one of Dion's strong suits, so he scoured his surroundings for inspiration. Surely enough, he found it in a nearby mangrove that had been overtaken by vines. “That's it!” A pair of skinny tendrils extended from the base of his neck. “ Vine Whip!”

Carefully, Dion guided his vines into the water. He fished around until one of his vines got caught on a long, slender object. Dion breathed in relief and reeled it in, only to find it was the stick he had discarded earlier. “What? No way!” He tossed it aside, dipped his vines back into the water, and tried again.

This time, Dion grabbed onto something much heavier. It had to be Eileen! He tightened his vines around her upper arms and tugged with all his might, but he wasn't strong enough to lift her above the surface. Eileen gasped for breath as her head burst out of the water.

Dion looked her over. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Eileen croaked between coughs, retching. “Ugh. It tastes like something died in there.”

“Well, be glad it wasn't you!” Dion couldn't help but feel a bit peeved that Eileen hadn't bothered to thank him. “I'm sure you'll be fine.”

For several minutes, Eileen paddled in place while Dion held her up. Once Eileen had caught her breath, she demanded, “Now what?”

Dion gulped. There was something intimidating about her appearance, from her penetrative stare to her scythes that could slice a Pokémon into ribbons in the blink of an eye. It didn't help that Dion was weak to both of her types. He knew Eileen had no reason to hurt him—and even if she did, she probably wouldn't know how—but she made him nervous nonetheless.

“Er… there's a boardwalk somewhere around here. Now, where was it?” Dion hauled Eileen along behind him as he searched, and she was too exhausted to care that he was guiding her into all sorts of hidden boulders and logs. Her eyes were glazed with weariness, which made her look just a tiny bit less menacing.

“Ah-ha! There it is!” In his excitement, Dion dragged Eileen into one of the planks that had broken off of the boardwalk. The plank coasted into the shadows and disappeared.

With newly found energy, Eileen glared at him.

Dion averted his eyes. “Heh, whoops. S-sorry about that.”

Eileen turned away. She studied the boardwalk for a long time, idling in contemplation.

“Think you can do it?” Dion snapped. His patience was wearing thin.

Eileen stirred, shaken from her trance. “I'll… I'll try,” she said in a small voice. She dug her scythes into the boardwalk, leaving deep incisions in the wood. Shifting her weight onto her upper body, she struggled to push herself onto the platform. Dion strained himself as he tried to help pull her out. Despite their combined efforts, Eileen remained in the water.

“Phew.” Dion lowered his head in despair, his gaze landing on Eileen's wings. His head shot back up. “Hey, wait a minute!” he hollered, nearly letting go of her.

“What?”

“Eileen!” He slapped his tangled knees, wheezing with laughter. “What are we even doing? You have wings! You can fly!”

“I have wings?” she repeated. “I can… fly?”

“Of course! I can't believe it took so long for one of us to notice. What are you waiting for? Get up here!”

Eileen frowned. “I don't know how to fly.”

“It just sort of… happens, I guess. That's the way it is with Levitate, anyway. It's probably a lot different when you're using wings.” Dion loosened his grip. “I guess you'll just have to give it a whirl and see how it goes.”

Eileen drew a wary breath. “All right, then.” Her four wings vibrated in unison, spreading a shower of mist into the air. Spooked, she made her wings still. “That's so weird… it's not what I was expecting at all.”

“Keep at it!” Dion cheered. “Don't give up!”

Eileen gnashed her teeth. Her wings buzzed and she tore her blades out of the wood as she started gaining height. Eileen angled her body over the boardwalk and drifted forward a few feet; then, she let herself fall. She hit the wood with a thud. “Ow,” she hissed as she stood up. “I'm so heavy.”

“Tell me about it!”

Eileen flashed Dion a look that made him fear for his life.

Sweating, he said, “Haha, well… at least you're out of harm's way!”

“Am I?” Eileen said through clenched teeth. She picked up one of her feet and showed it to Dion. There was a large chunk of wood wedged in her sole.

“Yikes! I should have warned you about the splinters.”

Eileen reached for her foot, glowering. When she remembered she didn't have hands, she brought her scythes together and attempted to use them as tweezers. She lost her balance and fell onto her side, where she proceeded to writhe in frustration.

“Wow,” remarked Dion. “I never thought I'd meet a Pokémon as clumsy as me.”

Eileen stopped moving and looked up at Dion.

“You know,” he continued in a wistful tone, “I think the two of us would make a great team. We wouldn't slow each other down, that's for sure. Maybe we could even learn how to be less clumsy together.”

Eileen slammed the back of her head against the boardwalk, suppressing a scream.

“Oh!” cried Dion, shaken from his daydreams. “I should probably help you with that, shouldn't I?” He glided over to her, grabbed her leg, and pinched the splinter with his leafy fingers. Eileen grimaced as he yanked it out and flicked it into the water. Then, Dion used Vine Whip to help her to her feet. Eileen didn't thank him for any of it, but Dion had stopped letting that bother him.

He had certainly found something deep within the Foreboding Bog—something that might have been even more interesting than treasure. Dion couldn't wait to report back to the academy and share his discovery with Headmaster Arcanine.