Chapter #3Hau'oli City's shore seems more like a desert... by: sneakyk   You linger in the depths of what you can only assume to be unconsciousness for what seems like days, weeks, or even months. The voices of unseen gods reverberate from overhead until they cease, the void of eerie silence that replaces their conspiratorial murmurs does little to calm your unease. That unease gives way to a mix of tedium and solitude. A greyscale horizon stretches out before you, a cloudy sky eventually meeting what appears to be a formless sea, at the end of the nondescript field on which you stand. You cannot feel your heartbeat, nor can you hear your footsteps. You speak, but where words should have emerged, only static can be heard. You have only your thoughts to keep you company, and even those are cloudy.
Eventually, you spot the faintest irregularity, a slight speck where the sky meets the earth. You call out to it, more static reverberating from your voice. The speck expands in response. At first, you assume it to be a person approaching you. But the speck does not stop expanding. And as you cease your cries for attention, the static from your mouth lingers, growing louder where it should have grown silent. The static builds and the darkness of the spec expand, until nothing but static remains. As the static hits a crescendo, it begins to transform into a roar punctuated by shrill squeaks.
The static roar gradually grows more and more lucid, the static sound giving way entirely to something coherent. You feel warmth flowing through your body, a coarseness against your chest, and an irritation form upon your tongue.
==============
And then, at last, you open your eyes. The world around you is no longer monochrome. Instead, it is somewhere between amber and tan, visibly broken up into grains. As your senses return to you, the warmth around you amplifies. It is hot. You thrash around, not sure which way is up, until at last you get to your feet. Looking around, you find yourself in what appears to be a desert.
The heat around you is intense, and you can feel it bearing down on every inch of your body. You are clad only in modest swimwear bearing Masaki-Silph CO branding. Worse than the feeling of ambient heat radiating over your body, however, is the scorching heat of the sands beneath your bare feet. You quickly scan your surroundings for any source of shelter. Towering buildings linger in the distance, but they stand atop a large ridge that you would likely not be able to traverse. Searching your immediate surroundings, you see unusual objects scattered around the sand, and a monolithic wooden gateway of sorts with a curious moon insignia upon its door, and a nearby pole with crimson canopy hanging overhead.
Weighing your options, you make a break for the pole. The heat of the sand encourages you to make quick strides, minimizing your contact with the scorching hot surface. But as you near the pole, you run afoul of a sand dune. You stumble forward and scramble on all fours in an attempt to right yourself without slowing your progress. Right as it seems like you're about to get to your feet, you stumble over the edge of the sand-dune and being an unimpeded descent. You collapse face-first onto the sand. Fortunately, however, you find that you are mere inches away from the shade. Clawing your way forward across the sand, you at last make your way into the shade beneath the pole's artificial canopy. You breathe a sigh of relief. Although the air around oyu is still warm, the shaded sand is comfortable to the touch, a far cry from its superheated self.
Now afforded a chance to assess your surroundings, you begin to walk around in the shade beneath the canopy. Upon further inspection, you seem some odd signs about your surroundings. . You had half expected there to be a facility high upon the pole, a watch-tower over this alien desert, yet the vast canopy overhead seems to be just that... an artificial source of shade. Why would anyone build such a large source of shade, when they could have instead built a facility? Why is the canopy so high up? The ground around you is suspect as well. Unnaturally large clumps of packed-together sand lie scattered around you. Decorative stonework relics resembling seashells are scattered about as well. Come to think of it, the distant roars sound like the the crashing of ocean waves.
Surveying your surroundings further, you eventually spot a cloaked figure resting against the pole. You approach the figure, you shout out to it, your voice this time audible, as clear as day. "Hello!" You shout. The figure does not move. "Can you tell me where I am?" You ask. It remains stationary. "Please... I'm lost! Please... you have to help me!" Where an emotional response - be it sympathy shock or revulsion - should have come, silence and stoicism greet you instead. The figure remains frozen, as if it were a video came character not coded to move, or perhaps a statue.
You at last arrive at the cloaked figure. It appears to resemble a Jawa, from some science fiction film whose title eludes you. Its body has a rank aroma, suggesting a creature who has not bathed in days and very likely been handling goods well past their prime (for such is the life of a nomad). You draw closer...is it dead? You rest your hand against its cloak, only to find that its cloak is firm and rigid. In fact, it is not even a functioning cloak. Now convinced that you are not dealing with a living being, you run your hand against its body. Its skin, too, is plastic. In fact, its eyes are not eyes at all, and are merely painted-on dots.
Although this 'creature' is nothing but a fake, its body bears clear signs of trauma. Puncture 'wounds' mar its chest, and where a hand should be, only a severe plastic concavity remains. As you inspect the statue, it falls onto its chest. And then you find something that seems innocent at first, but then fills you with a terrible chill, a revelation so terrible that you find yourself wishing the creature were alive and hostile
Etched onto the back of the creature is the uniformly printed labeling of a toy company, the words printed in excessively large font... font so large it could not be an accessibility accommodation. And then it hits you. The structure that you're standing under... the seashells, the distant roar of ocean waves...
You scurry to to the edge of the structure, climb a nearby dune, and gauge your surroundings, the throbbing pain in your feet from the hot sand no longer mattering to you in your panicked state.
============
Looking around from your vantage point, you realize that you appear to not be in a vast, expansive desert, but instead an expansive beach. Specifically, the beach of Hau'oli City!
The objects that seemed to be bizarre alien structures are in fact toys...and the vast canopy you sheltered under is a simple umbrella. The large ridge is a simple ledge, and you... you've been shrunken to the size of an action figure. Your mind reels from the revelation, but a few other sights quickly make it apparent that you do not have time to sit there shell-shocked.
It is quite early in the day, and you cannot see any humans anywhere close. In fact, you have half a mind to think that perhaps all humans have shrunk just like you. But what you do see is the figure of a giant Lycanroc sitting in the distance, gazing out into the ocean, the rock type not seeming to mind the water soaking its paws. A blue collar suggests it might be a tamed pokemon. You hear a noise overhead, and turn up to see a Vullaby large enough to qualify as a floating fortress flapping high overhead, its skull-diapered bottom seeming particularly intimidating given the scale of the one wearing it. And off in the distance, you hear something scittering against the sand.
Pokemon are no doubt scanning the beach for prey, and you would make for an easy meal. From your own survey you only saw the sporadic crumb...nothing that could really tide the average Pokemon over. By the help arrives - if any help is to arrive - the beach might be picked clean... you included!
You weigh your options. You spy a sandcastle with a conspicuous opening not too far from your position... that could make for excellent cover. A few of the toys on the beach also have openings. A nearby staircase is built into the ridge separating the beach from the city, and you may be able to make it to better cover if you ascend it. The Lycanroc is the only pokemon that appears to be domestic, and you may be able to get help from it, too...but that might be taking an incredible risk. Finally, you see a stick protruding from a nearby sand dune. You could probably use it as a weapon... but it is alos in the direction of the scittering sound...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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