Into the Dark - A Pokemon Isekai

A cold wind blew through the clearing as the Dusclops glared at us.

The chill running down my spine only got worse when I realized that none of the leaves on the trees were stirring at all.

“Hey, Ted,” I said nervously as the Dusclops just stood there, menacingly. “You’re from Hoenn, right? Are Dusclops, uh, friendly?”

“It really depends.” He replied slowly, not shifting his gaze from the Pokémon. “Kokei was, but I’d traveled with him since he was just a Duskull. Dusclops found in the wild tend to be… less friendly.”

“Oh, okay. Because that doesn’t look like a friendly Pokémon at all.”

“No, it really doesn’t.”

Dusclops were strong, I knew that much. Maybe not the strongest Pokémon there ever was, but I’d played Emerald enough times to know that they evolved somewhere in the late 30’s in terms of levels. Ted’s Flygon, Rakkyo, was stronger than that, but I didn’t know about the rest of his Pokémon, and Venus or Zetian certainly weren’t that strong.

The two of us together, however, might be able to defeat it.

I looked again at the cloth in its hands, and felt as if ice water was poured down my back.

It was a purple so dark it was almost black, and if not for our flashlights I was sure that it would have been completely invisible against the night. Even with the meager light it was hard to make out, but it seemed ragged, like it had been worn out and was starting to rip and tear.

“Is that a Reaper Cloth?” I said, pointing with a trembling hand.

Ted swallowed thickly. “Yeah, it is.”

The Dusclops continued to glare at us, but didn’t move at all or do anything else.

“Is… it is normally supposed to be doing something?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” He said, confusion clear in his voice. “But I think we interrupted its evolution.”

“Wait, if there’s a Dusclops that was going to evolve here with us, what are the others fighting?”

He froze, brow furrowed in thought, but didn’t respond.

A screech echoed from deeper in the woods and I cringed, the sound like nails on a chalkboard.

Without thinking, I looked in that direction, seeing Ted do the same in the corner of my vision. I couldn’t see where the sound was coming from but-

Venus yowled, jumping in the air as a presence was suddenly in front of me.

An over-sized fist swung at my head, covered in a dark purplish mist.

It was only thanks to Venus’ intervention that it didn’t take my head right off, and I stumbled backwards, realizing that the Dusclops had somehow crossed the distance in a heartbeat.

“Venus!” I cried as the fist slammed into her… only to have the energy disperse into nothingness.

Venus landed back on all fours, glaring at the Dusclops with rage in her eyes, but was otherwise unharmed.

Shadow Punch! I realized. It hadn’t affected her because it was a Ghost-type move.

A loud, piercing whistle slashed through the night, and I spared a quick look over to see Ted holding a strange wooden whistle to his lips, before lowering it and pointing forwards.

“Switchback! Night Slash!”

The Hisuian Sneasel, which had gone unnoticed, jumped onto the Dusclops’ back with a cackling laugh, its claws almost invisible as they slashed into the other Pokémon.

The Dusclops didn’t make a sound, but its single red eye flashed with rage.

It threw a shoulder back, dislodging the Sneasel - Switchback - and throwing it to the ground.

Pulling its fist back, the Dusclops spun and launched another Shadow Punch directly for Ted’s Pokémon.

“Venus!”

She was already moving before I had even called her name, and dashed forwards, interposing herself between the two Pokémon.

Again the fist slammed against Venus, and once more the energy fizzled out into nothing, leaving her completely unharmed.

The red eye flashed again, this time with a sickening light that made my head spin, and took all of my focus to turn away from.

Venus, of course, was unphased, and counterattacked with her own Quick Attack.

The Dusclops took on a slightly hazy quality as Venus attacked, her blurred form passing right through the center of its chest.

She landed adroitly, but cocked her head in confusion at why she was on the other side of her enemy.

“Venus! Remember what I taught you!” I said, drawing her attention. “Ghost-types like Dusclops are unaffected by Normal-type moves!”

Recognition flashed in her brown eyes, and she snarled in frustration.

Venus’ only moves were Normal-types, except for her Sand Attack. I had been trying to teach her Bite, but she hadn’t managed to get it working yet.

“Taunt!”

Switchback got back to his feet and ran a clawed hand through his fur, rearranging the tuft of feather-like hair on his head. I could have sworn that he had a smirk on his face as he did so, but regardless it worked.

The Dusclops rushed forwards, fists glowing with umbral energy as it launched Shadow Punch after Shadow Punch towards Switchback.

“Stay ahead of it!” Ted called.

I followed with a quick: “Venus, you know what to do!”

The little Eevee rushed back around the Dusclops, to Switchback’s front, and the two started a small dance as the punches came in.

Where possible, Switchback would jump to the side, or duck underneath the blows, making sure that the Dusclops would direct its attack towards Venus.

When it was too close to dodge however, or Switchback chose the wrong direction, Venus would move to take the blow, the energy only managing to ruffle her fur.

It wasn’t perfect however. This was the first time the two Pokémon had ever met, let alone fought together, and they weren’t in sync.

Once or twice Switchback had to drop to all fours or scramble away in panic as a fist came from where it wasn’t expecting, or when Venus wasn’t where he was expecting her to be.

It all came to a head, unfortunately, when Venus dashed left while Switchback dodged right, the two Pokémon crashing into each other in a jumble of limbs.

The Dusclops seemed to disappear for a second, vanishing into the shadows cast by our flashlights.

“Where did it go?” I said, casting my light around in a near panic.

“I don’t- there!”

The Dusclops emerged from the shadows behind Switchback with rage in its eye, and swiped at the Sneasel with a vengeance.

The little Pokémon cried out in pain as the blow connected, and was tossed forwards, traces of blood in its fur.

Then with a roar and the beating of wings, salvation arrived.

Rakkyo looked a lot worse now than he had before, with fresh bruises and ragged red cuts slowly oozing blood. One forelimb was being held up against his chest, and a crack was running through one of the translucent red eye shields.

But for all of that, the Dragon was still bellowing with anger as it swooped in, claws glowing with a dark blue light as it swung at the Dusclops.

Wind buffeted all of us as Rakkyo’s wings stirred up the dirt and detritus on the ground as he hovered in the air like a helicopter, trading blows with the Dusclops.

At first it was somewhat easy to tell what moves each Pokémon was using, the Dusclops mainly sticking to Shadow Punches, while Rakkyo was flying through a complicated series of attacks. As the battle dragged on, it became harder and harder to track their motions, and the fight soon became mobile.

The Dusclops would vanish into the shadows, only to reappear behind Rakkyo and strike out with its hands. Rakkyo could likewise counter by flying higher into the air, or darting around the clearing like a dragonfly.

Occasionally the Dusclops’ eye would glow, and Rakkyo would cry out as an invisible attack lashed out.

Rakkyo was hurt from his earlier battle, but even I could tell that as time was going on, the Dusclops was starting to slow down, its attacks losing some of their energy.

“Dammit I didn’t want to do this.” Ted muttered. “Rakkyo! Draco Meteor!”

“Wait, what?” I asked, but the Flygon was already leaning back, blueish-purple energy gathering around its mouth.

For the first time the Dusclops made a noise, a grating sound like nails on a chalkboard, and then it disappeared into the shadows on the ground.

Rakkyo’s Draco Meteor petered out as the Flygon spun around, ready to counter the attack from behind.

But nothing happened.

All of us; Ted, Switchback, Rakkyo, Venus, and I, we all looked around the clearing cautiously, but the Dusclops never re-emerged.

A minute turned into two, then three, all without any sign of the Ghost.

After five minutes of tense waiting had passed, Ted’s shoulders slumped, and he let out a shaky breath.

“Well,” He said. “That was something, huh?”

“Was that normal?” I asked, feeling like I had just run a marathon.

“Not in the slightest. The only Dusclops I’ve ever seen that was that strong was my Kokei, and that was after we’d trained together. That Dusclops… it was a lot stronger than I had thought.”

“No kidding.” I leaned down, scooping Venus up into my arms. “Good girl.”

She preened under the attention, at least until I fixed her with a glare.

“But don’t be that reckless again, okay? We got lucky because it was a Ghost and couldn’t hurt you, but the next time we might not be so fortunate.”

Her ears drooped, and I sighed and scratched at her head. “Thank you girl. I love you.”

Venus’ tail started wagging, and she wormed her way deeper into my embrace.

“Come on Switchback, it’s just a little Potion.”

I looked over to see Ted crouched down in front of his Sneasel, who had its tiny arms crossed and was looking away from the white and purple bottle that Ted was holding out.

“Problem?” I asked, and the man gave me a sheepish smile.

“He doesn’t like Potions.” He said, and the Sneasel huffed. “They sting when they go on.”

“Ah.”

There was another minute of pleading between the two, until Rakkyo huffed, and stared down at Switchback.

The little Sneasel’s eyes went wide as it stared back up at the much taller Pokémon, and I was sure that underneath its gray fur Switchback had gone pale.

Switchback reluctantly uncrossed its arms, and allowed Ted to apply the Potion.

“That’s it boy.” Ted said. “I just don’t know why that attack did so much damage.”

“It’s because Switchback is a Hisuian Sneasel.” I said. “It’s a Poison/Fighting dual-type, not a Dark/Ice.”

Ted blinked slowly up at me. “What? Switchback’s shown no signs of being a Poison-type. I knew it was probably a Fighting-type, he likes to get into scrapes often enough that he has to be, but Poison?”

I nodded, and tried to remember as much about Hisuian Sneasel and Sneasler as I could.

“It learns its first Poison move at leve- er, I mean around the time it would be strong enough to challenge a third or fourth gym. That move, Night Slash? It’s an Egg Move, Switchback must have had a Weavile for a parent.”

“Well then.” Ted looked down at his Pokémon and smiled. “That explains a lot I guess. Who knew?”

Rakkyo huffed from beside his Trainer and Ted stood up, running his hands along his Pokémon’s flanks.

“Oh come now, you’re barely hurt at all!”

Rakkyo snorted, the force of it blowing Ted’s hair back.

“You were hurting more when you tripped going down the Jagged Pass. But fine, I suppose you can get a Potion too.”

The giant Flygon managed to look embarrassed as Ted rooted around in his bag, and I noted that his arm was disappearing into the opening far more than it should have. I guess I wasn’t the only one with a dimensional bag then.

After another minute the giant Dragon had its wounds sprayed down with a Potion, and Ted was patting its side fondly, before he looked back up past the trees.

He cursed under his breath, then shot an apologetic glance over at me.

“Do you think you’ll be okay here for a minute?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, go check on the others.”

Ted hesitated still, and I rolled my eyes, pulling off the other Poké Ball from my belt and releasing Zetian. She buzzed and danced in the air upon seeing me and Venus, but then froze abruptly as one of her faces caught sight of the Flygon standing nearby.

“Go, as long as another Dusclops doesn’t show up I should be fine.”

Finally he nodded, and Switchback reached up with little grasping hands, until Ted sighed and picked him up with a grunt, placing the Pokémon on his back with its arms wrapped around his neck. Then Rakkyo picked Ted up in both arms like a princess carry, and with a jaunty wave and a blast of wind as the Flygon took off, they were gone.

I let out a long, shuddering breath, and sat down against the base of a tree, staring blankly at the clearing around me.

“Well,” I said to my Pokémon. “That was exciting.”

/^\

A good fifteen or so minutes went by without any more Pokémon showing up, and I was thankful for the chance to breathe and go over the fight.

That Dusclops was probably the strongest Pokémon I had ever gone up against. Even the Steelix hadn’t been that tough.

If not for Ted and Rakkyo, the battle would have gone a lot differently, and not for the better. Although if it had just been Venus, Zetian, and myself, I probably would have tried to run and let the Dusclops go on its own way.

Discretion was the better part of valor after all, and I wanted to see the rest of the world still.

Venus had hopped up onto my shoulder, her tail curling around my neck like a scarf, while Zetian buzzed around the clearing like a soldier on watch, cautiously keeping an eye out despite how much I told her it was okay.

Eventually, my little break came to an end as the increasingly familiar humming sound of a Flygon’s wings came closer, and Rakkyo came back into view.

He and Ted weren’t alone however, and a balloon-like object came into sight just behind them. I blinked several times to try and make it out, until two red eyes blinked at me.

“Oh!”

The Drifblim floated into the clearing as Rakkyo landed, and I could see that the Hex Maniac, Grace, was standing on some kind of platform underneath her Pokémon. It was just a small wooden plank, big enough for her to stand or sit comfortably on, and was being held up by a couple ropes tied around the Drifblim like a hot air balloon.

She elegantly stepped off of the platform and with a practiced series of motions pulled off the rope harness before petting the side of her Drifblim, speaking to it quietly enough that I couldn’t make out any of the words.

The other members of our impromptu party appeared shortly after, walking out of the trees. Ranger O’Rourke was last, and I raised an eyebrow at his chosen method of transport.

An Arcanine of all things came out of the woods, O’Rourke perched on top of it as if he was riding side-saddle.

The big dog-like Pokémon was an absolute beast, my head only coming up to its shoulder as it padded into the clearing. Faint scar lines were visible through its orange and black fur, but it looked content as its Trainer hopped off the side.

“Well that was exciting,” O’Rourke said, unintentionally mirroring my own thoughts. “And a much bigger outbreak than I had been expecting.”

I wasn’t able to pull my eyes off of the giant Arcanine as he spoke, and to my greatest pleasure the Pokémon seemed to feel my gaze and padded over to me, panting lightly. I could feel the heat emanating off of the Fire-type, but it thankfully wasn’t too overwhelming.

Carefully holding a hand out, I let the Arcanine sniff me a couple times. Then it leaned over and licked my face, leaving a long trail of drool and saliva.

I laughed and played it up like I was gagging, earning a happy whuff from the Arcanine, which allowed me to pet its fur.

It was surprisingly soft, although there was a fair amount of dirt and twigs stuck in its coat.

Venus took one look at the Arcanine and meowed a question up at the larger Pokémon, who responded with another whuff.

My Eevee jumped from my shoulder to land on the back of the Arcanine, and spun around a couple times before curling up into a small ball. A few moments later, I heard Venus’ quiet snores, and smiled before turning away to the rest of the Trainers.

O’Rourke had a small, tired smile on his face as he watched the scene, then turned to everybody else.

“Good job everybody. That was nothing like how I had expected it to go, but the outbreak has been dispersed.”

“What happened over there?” I asked.

“Honestly? We were wrong about the makeup of the outbreak.” O’Rourke said with a shake of his head. “We had assumed it to be a single group of Duskull led by a Dusclops. It actually was three or four groups, each led by a Dusclops, and they were all under the control of a Dusknoir.”

I blinked, and felt like the odd one out as the other Trainers all nodded.

“That can happen?”

“It’s rare, but not unheard of. An exceptionally rare Dusknoir can sometimes convince weaker Dusclops to follow them, usually if there’s a promise of some kind of reward. In this case, the remaining Psychic energy from that Gallade’s death.”

“I recognized that Dusknoir.” Grace, the Hex Maniac, said. “I’ve seen him once before.”

“You’re sure it’s the same one?” One of the other Rangers asked, earning a scoff from the woman.

“I’d recognize that Dusknoir anywhere. That was the same one, I’d swear on it with my life. It was a vicious, cruel Pokémon in life, and it’s an even crueler one in death. It's for the best that we laid it to rest tonight.”

O’Rourke nodded and picked back up the conversation, even though I had so many more questions.

“The other Duskull and the few Dusclops have all fled, hopefully back to their home territories. I’ll keep an eye on the area, make sure that they don’t reform as a group, but it’s unlikely. Without that Dusknoir to force them to stay together, they’ll go their separate ways. Thank you everybody, if we hadn’t stopped this tonight, things could have gotten really ugly for any travelers.”

“So what now?” Grace asked.

“Now? You’re all done. The travel restrictions will be lifted in the morning when all the Duskull are resting, but you’re no longer deputized. I’m planning on heading back to the Ranger cabin to get some sleep and write my reports, you can either come and camp out nearby, or head out on your own. Just let me get your Trainer ID numbers, and the reward money will be allocated soon. Thank you again everybody.”

O’Rourke bowed, and that seemed to be a signal to everybody. Grace pulled out a Poké Ball and resummoned her Drifblim, putting the harness back on and flying over the trees towards Jubilife City.

The rest of us trudged through the forest back to the Ranger cabin, and O’Rourke was kind enough to keep his Arcanine out so that Venus could sleep on its back. In fact Switchback even scurried off of Ted’s back to climb up the side of the larger Pokémon, and promptly settled into a small nest of fur near Venus.

It was a rather unceremonious end to the night, but one I was comfortable with.