Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Dissolution

Chapter One: Protocol

---

Sing to the exalted ruins! 

We, the ungrateful, live under their shield. 

Angelic light against the godless fray. 

Bastion against the disorder, the dissolution, the decay!

Desperately fighting to defend what remains!

Ancient hands clasped against stagnation.

Ode to the Sacred Land from The Rains of Erebus 

---

Consciousness unwelcomely returned with a dull headache, exacerbated only by the profound ringing in his ears. The first sensation he felt after what had been an eternity without was the intense, icy tendrils of cold that dug into his sore back. Eyes flicking open to near-darkness, he let out a weak groan, voice hoarse from apparent disuse. He sucked in a deep gasp through a half-closed mouth, filling his lungs with stale, stagnant air as he laid sprawled on the floor.



Where...? his thoughts probed, mind pulling itself together from a long, dreamless slumber. There was no immediate answer to his internal question. There was nothing to guide him. His brain was awash with confusion that muddled his thoughts.



Disoriented and weak, he summoned the strength to push his arm away from his side, brushing up along the cold, metal floor and confirming to his beleaguered brain that he was certainly not in any sort of bed. His arm twitched again, patting the metal floor as if to make sure it was real before he made an attempt to move. With another groan —stronger this time— he raised his head off the flat, cold floor and looked around.



With his vision still marginally blurry and the room dim, he was barely able to figure out that he was not in a large area; akin to a cell of sorts. What little light there was flickered and danced along the walls like firelight, as if the chamber was lit by some unseen torch. This only added to the mental turbulence he was attempting to process.



What... What is going on? Where even am I? Did I hit my head...? Ugh... he asked himself as the headache pounded the inside of his skull. Letting out a huff, he shook his head side to side, hoping that would clear it of the fog that had settled in over his mental landscape. He shakily moved a hand up to cup the back of his smarting crown, finding what seemed to be a decent bump. That gave him cause to confirm the suspicions that he had suffered some sort of blow. That feels like a large welt... Doesn’t seem to hurt though...



After many minutes spent clearing the trance he was stuck in, he eventually forced his sore, aching body to sit up. Something in his lower back popped, which made him spasm from the sudden spark from his nerves and let out a hiss of slight pain. Taking care as to not repeat that, he slowly straightened his back and moved his legs, bringing his knees up to his chest to avoid further protests from his groggy form.



As the ringing in his ears died down at last, he could hear, above the pressing silence, a small but rapid trickle of water into a pool to his side. Turning to face it, he was able to vaguely make out a tiny pool in the metal floor and the leaking, broken pipe in the ceiling that fed it. His dry and sore throat made itself known and he began inching toward the rippling pool to try and relieve the irritation.



Please... Please be fresh... he pleaded internally while the torchlight seemed to flicker and move behind him with each movement he made. While he found that odd, he continued dragging himself over the cold, smooth floor in an effort to reach the precious liquid. He could not recall the last time he had experienced a proper, quenching drink, but it certainly felt as if an eternity had passed since the last.



With a final effort of his limbs, weakened from whatever had happened to him, he reached the edge of the pool. Without so much as wasting a second, he plunged his head into the shallow puddle. His mouth hit the steel bottom sooner than he expected, giving him a light jolt, but he did not back away. Gulping down the water, he was fortunate to find it not contaminated or fouled from the pipe. The thankfully-clean water rushed down his parched throat with each desperate gulp, granting swift relief and refreshing the fatigued male’s body and mind.



Oh man... This is great. I didn’t know water could taste so good! his thoughts resonate as he continued to gulp from the cool oasis.



After a long minute spent quenching his thirst, he pulled away from the pool with a gasp. Chest heaving, he blinked away the dregs of tiredness and was finally able to assess his situation. He craned his neck, getting a glimpse of the stark chamber he had been unceremoniously plopped into. The gray room betrayed little of the intentions behind his internment at first examination. As he twisted around again, the faint torch that beat back the inky darkness followed his motion.



“Is it... strapped to me?” He asked, his recovering voice sounding a bit odd to himself. He could not place it, but he chalked it up to being parched for so long. Deciding to get to the bottom of the mysterious, moving torch, he carefully turned his torso in order to catch a glimpse of the light source. His investigation yielded the source: a small flame that flickered often and merrily. However, he was only given more questions as he spotted the means the fire was attached: a crimson, scaled appendage that extended from his lower half.



Eyes wide in confusion and alarm, he yelped and jumped to his wobbling feet and desperately grabbed at the swaying tail. The first few lunges resulted in empty air as the tail swayed out of reach, but the next attempt was successful. He very nearly dropped the limb as the sensations of feeling his hands on the scales reach his brain. He inadvertently tugged on the red tail hard, causing pain and his body to spin and fall to the edge of the pool with a thud. His flailing arm splashed at the water, causing droplets to splatter onto his fiery tail, causing the flame to hiss, causing him great discomfort. A brief and primal urge to flee the liquid shot into his head but was suppressed.



“Grah! W-What?! W-What’s going on?!” He yelled in anger and confusion into the dark void while he endured the stinging sensation. Gasping, he caught his shimmering reflection in the light from his fire and his mouth dropped. As the water’s ripples stilled into a mirror-like surface, he sees a creature staring back up at him, appearing just as astonished.



A reptilian face and a pair of horrified blue eyes greeted him from shallow depths of the pool. Covered in the identical crimson scales that the tail sported, the creature possessed a horn-like protrusion on the back of its head and a long snout that was held open in a scream perfectly mimicked by the terrified male on the opposite side of the reflection.



“AGGHH! W-What?! W-What am I?!” he cried, his hands going to his face only to find what had formerly been distinctly-human features were now reptilian and equipped with a trio of sharpened claws that poked at the scales on his cheeks. Gasping and nearly retching, he scrambled back from the pool, the former-human rocking as he stared in utter disbelief at his torso and legs. To round off his transformation, he had been cursed with a cream-colored chest and stocky legs in place of his former body.



“Oh... Oh gods...” He whispered in shock, the red lizard clutching the sides of his head. Within his skull, the tempest that had started to settle began storming again. He was adrift in a sea of new information, senses, and many, many questions. His claws dug in slightly to the softer scales of his temples, trying to alleviate the hurricane of swirling thoughts and emotions to seek concrete answers. Where am I? What am I? Who am I? He needed answers to those three questions immediately if anything was to happen.



“This isn’t me. This isn’t me. I-I’m not...” He trailed off, his mind grasping at any facts or recollections that seemed to be just out of reach. “I am human...” That simple statement only provided little comfort, considering that he was most-definitely not a human being in the physical sense, unless that definition had radically changed during his long sleep.



“Who was I?” He asked quietly, though his memories yielded nothing from his plea. Even his former appearance as a human was mostly erased. He could only picture a very general shape, but no defining features. His hair and eye color, his skin tone, his face, and even his true age were entirely lost to the bottomless pit that had swallowed his prior life whole. Almost.





Leo. He paused, the name having lunged out at him from the whirling mists of memory, but with nothing else attached to it. Was it truly his name, or just a name that he knew of? Was it a nickname? He could not ascertain the truth, yet that did not stop him from gripping it tight and holding onto the three-lettered title lest he be lost in the maelstrom.



“Leo. Leo... Leo,” he repeated it thrice to acclimate his tongue to the foreign-sounding name. Then again, everything about his situation was now foreign. While his species was not as he recalled, he now had a name to call himself. An identity, as weak as it was. The name brought with it a guiding power that helped him navigate the gale of his tumultuous thoughts.



“Now, what... What am I?” The question was perhaps the biggest one. With trepidation, the newly-named Leo steeled himself before he glances down and again examines his body, making use of his maneuverable tail to illuminate his form better than before. His crimson scales were seemingly kissed by the very fire he now possessed; in fact, his whole body felt warm, as if it radiated heat to a greater extent than he was used to as a human.



The lizard form, in fact, was slightly familiar. He had seen this before, though he could not recall where. Leo sat, rubbing at the sides of his head once more. There was something to this fiery-red salamander that echoed through his mind, but after a moment, he shook his head and slowly got to his feet again, deciding that it could wait. Right now, he needed to get out of this room. His hands pressed to the walls of the rectangular cell, dragging his claws along the wall and trying to find a groove for a door of any sort.



“Come on. Come on. I can’t stay here. Not in this prison,” he grunted, though he now had a troubling thought enter his mind: Am I a prisoner? Is this a prison? Did I commit a crime? He expected a non-answer, yet this time, he got a response.



“A tomb for failures this is, but not for you, Leo. Press in and see your very self.”



A cold feeling trickled down the crimson reptilian’s back. A whisper, teetering on the edge of real and imagined noise that often accompanied lonely, dark rooms such as this, rose from the dim light. It did not sound threatening or foreign at all; it possessed a near-familiar tone that almost reminded Leo of an old friend speaking through the cold walls. Not being in a position to refuse, he sucked in a breath and gave the steel wall hard push, resulting in a soft click.

Radiance. From flat and cracked panels on the formerly-dark ceiling, light erupted in a brilliant show of force. Leo let out a gasp and shielded his eyes as the small room was illuminated. The white, sterile light poked through his thick claws, making Leo hiss in discomfort and turn his head away until his eyes could handle the sudden change.



“Oww.... Gods above...” He groaned, though, to which gods that phrase was addressed to he knew not. Slowly, he raised his head and pulled his hands away, blinking in order to see his surroundings for what they were. The chamber was small, but not as foreboding as he had thought with the light streaming from the odd, damaged panels above him. Aside from the broken water pipes, its ensuing pool, and the light panels there was nothing worth noting about the room, except the clear, rectangular outline of a door in the wall in front of him.



“Okay, there’s something!” He exclaimed with a whoop, joyous that something had finally gone his way at last since his awakening. The confusion and growing need to know what happened, what he was, and for what purpose were pushed aside. They would not wait long, but for the moment, getting out of this cell took precedence. Almost giddy, Leo slid his hand over the bare wall and groove for the exit, but, unlike the switch for the lights, nothing came of this. He clicked his tongue before he slowly rolled his shoulders and swung his lengthy arms to stretch them out. He did not know how strong this new body of his was, but there was a way to find out. Leo took a deep breath before he pressed his shoulder to the door and pushed off the floor with his stocky legs, gritting his pointed teeth in his efforts to force the door open.



“COME! ON! WHY! WON’T! YOU! BUDGE?!” Leo bellowed in deep frustration, his temper rapidly being lost against the door that kept him trapped. The cold metal remained unyielding. He let out a hiss of hot, steamy air through clenched teeth that condensed on the cool metal and pounded his fists repeatedly on the frame. “Let me out! I know someone can hear me!” He uttered out a final scream before he simply leaned against the frame and groans, posture slouching in defeat.



At that moment, the room erupted with a cacophony of crackling static, as if somewhere, some unseen speaker was flaring back to life after long disuse. Leo immediately straightens up and looks around, swinging his head back and forth in search of the source.



“Oh! So there is someone here! O-One moment! I wasn’t sure if my sensors were malfunctioning or not when they indicated the lights had turned on in this cell! Give me one moment to unlock the door! I haven’t scanned this area in some time!” The new voice caused Leo’s heart to jump and him to scramble back from the sealed door in surprise, having not truly expected a response to his impassioned demands, though it did beat the prospect of wasting away. There was something out there that spoke; something he could understand. He was not as alone here as he had theorized.



“W-Who are you?” Leo demanded, though his voice wavered with nerves. The new entity continued to rummage from the other side of the crackling speakers. Whoever was on the other side of the wall did not sound natural, though Leo could not put his finger on how. Still breathing hard, he waited cautiously for the other voice to return.



“One second, please! I am ninety-five percent certain that this is the correct opening sequence for this lock.” As far as Leo could tell through the crackling static, the voice was friendly—far from menacing and quite unlike the mysterious whisper that had come to him moments earlier from the darkness. With a sudden thunk of heavy metal and a harsh, grating sound of rust grinding against rust, the door slid open to reveal a hallway and something quite strange. Hovering just off the ground was a twitchy, pink and blue bird-like creature that tilted its head curiously at him.



“Oh! A Charmeleon! Fascinating! Simply engaging! It has been a long interval since I last had visitors down here!” The bird chirped with an electronic twang to its voice that made it seem like it was some sort of machine. Its rounded appendages fluttered while it moved closer, curiously examining the crimson lizard. “Please do not be frightened! I am doing my best to use my amicable voice modulator to calm you. Is it working? You should be feeling forty-three percent calmer than before. Perhaps it is not functioning properly?” The bird hummed quietly, seeming to think on that possibility.



Leo gave the strange bird a wary look, keeping his arms drawn up in case he needed to defend himself. “Who... _What_ exactly are you? A-And what did you call me?” he pressed, cursing his nervous, wavering voice. “Tell me, please. I am a bit lost, to tell you the truth...” He trails off at that while the bird floated higher off the ground and chirped in a manner that resembled giggling that marginally unnerved the already on-edge Charmeleon.



“Clarification on your species? Certainly. Charmeleon, a highly-aggressive and territorial reptilian species of Pokémon that possesses a unique relationship with fire that measures its vitality.” The twitching bird slowly nodded its head. “Do follow me and I will continue to resolve your questions to the best my functionality allows.”



Charmeleon. A Pokémon. That sounds familiar, I think? He pondered that further and took his first step outside of the cell at the smaller being’s request. Leo glanced back at the cell just before the door closed. There was a faded, arc-like symbol on this side of the metal slab, but he turned away to take in his new surroundings. Unlike the originally-dark cell, the hall was filled with a dim, dusty, and gray light. Metal panels covered most of the walls, but there were occasional sections where said panels had fallen away, revealing what appeared to be gray bedrock and wiring. The ceiling was a checkerboard of missing light-producing tiles, and those that did work flickered and provided only faint illumination. Exposed pipes and what appeared to be bundles of wires sagged languidly from their original fastenings. This place is falling apart... And I’m inside it. Deep underground. There’s got to be a way out before something buries me alive.



“Do pardon the mess. My kind are not designed for the immense physical labor specifications required to optimally maintain this domain. But I do what I can to keep things connected,” the bird continued, falling into step with Leo and looking up at him with glowing white eyes that brimmed with curiosity. “Anyways, forgive my rudeness. I have not run introductory protocols in a long interval. I am a Porygon designated as Upgraded Unit 403v2—Connection Nexus, but that is cumbersome to say in a non-digital fashion, so you may address me as Nexus.”



“Right... Nexus. Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand briefly before taking it back, seeing that the Porygon creature could not reasonably return the gesture. “I am Leo, I think. I-I woke up back there and, well, I...” He paused, unsure how the hovering bird would react to his claim of supposed-humanity. He takes a breath for courage, letting the musty air fill his chest. “I was not a ... Charmeleon ... when I last remember. I was human.”



There was a brief period of silence that lasted an eternity between the two. Water dripped from the broken ceiling to unseen pools in the floor far down the corridor, each drip a signal of the passing time. The only other sounds that permeated the tranquility were his own nervous breathing and Nexus’s soft, electronic whirring; it looked as if it was processing the statement and a response while its eyes flashed yellow for an instant.



“I cannot determine how that would be possible. You cannot be a human. They are gone. You register as Charmeleon, and so you are,” Nexus replied tersely with a gentle whir before it continued to float ahead, entering an open space in the underground facility littered with ancient, metal boxes each containing wires that extended from them to elsewhere. An electronic hum filled the air that tickled some unreachable part of his memories. “I apologize, but I cannot assist you any further in regards to that topic, Leo.”



He cautiously stepped forward, flaming tail grasped in his hands in a strange sort of comfort. The fire was not painful to him —he rather enjoyed its presence in an odd way— and he figured he would be cold without it in the steel tomb. Nexus had floated up and settled on what could be described as an intricate nest of small, glowing screens and a mess of wires connecting them to one of the humming machines, the rounded bird looking at home within the array of technology.



“Just forget that then. What is this place, Nexus?” Leo inquired, trying to change the topic to not upset the strange Porygon creature that was pecking at the screens with its small beak. “And how can I get out of here? There’s got to be an exit, right?” He pressed while he scans the cluttered chamber further. There were more pathways that branched off from the hub, but he had no idea where any of them lead; this place was a maze for all he knew of it. Eventually, the Porygon glanced back up at the impatient Charmeleon.



“Thank you for your patience. For your first question: this domain’s original function has been lost to me. It was, according to fragmented records, built many intervals ago. My prime directive is to maintain this withering domain as best I can. I theorize this place was a hub for connections and storage of information,” the digital bird cheerfully elaborated, eyes glowing brightly at the topic of its dilapidated home. “The connections terminate abruptly, from what I can tell, having been severed long ago. And most of the data is corrupted, but I do my best to sort through it. It helps pass the time.”



The light behind its eyes grew dimmer and the bird shook its head solemnly. “There is an exit, but I would heavily advise against it. You are weak and need rest. And the path is in ruins; it is treacherous. For your safety, you should not attempt to leave.” The Porygon ended with a twitch of its head, its eyes flicking between different colors before stabilizing.



Leo’s spirits dropped to his stumpy feet faster than a stone and the fire on his tail lost a bit of size at that. His claws gripped the edge of Nexus’s wire nest. “You don’t understand! I can’t stay down here forever! Nexus, come on! I need to—OW!” A line of glowing electricity lanced from the bird’s beak to his claws. He quickly withdrew his hands and nurses his small wounds to both claws and pride.



“I urge you to rest, Leo. You are showing clear signs of exhaustion, both mental and physical.” Its stern tone quickly softened. “I’ve prepared a nest for unlikely visitors such as yourself. Made of the softest spare wires I could salvage. Come.” Without any warning, the Porygon’s small form glowed an electric-blue before fading from view, leaving no physical trace of Nexus. Leo gasped and waved his hand in the space where the bird had been.



“Nexus?! Where are you?” His exclamation is met with an initial silence. In the opposite corner of the long chamber dotted with ancient machines, a single light panel turned on to illuminate a dusty pile of cords and wires. The Charmeleon turned around, eyeing the far corner warily.



“I will dim the lights for you momentarily, once you are settled. Please do try to rest,” Nexus’s voice sounded from everywhere all at once. Leo spun around, glancing nervously at the walls. “Do not be alarmed. I often must access the facility this way.” The explanation did not provide Leo with much relief, but he does shuffle across the room, clambering over one of the fallen racks in the process, to the nest.



To give the eccentric bird credit, the nest of wires was relatively soft and comfortable. Nowhere near what Leo’s vague memories told him a soft bed felt like, but it was better than the cold floor he had been sprawled on earlier. Taking care to drape his flaming tail over the side of the odd nest, he reclined on the pile of discarded wires. Just when the lights began to dim, his thoughts and overall fatigue finally caught up with him. Nexus had a point: he was certainly tired and in no shape to pursue a supposedly-dangerous path to get out of here. Quickly, the rest of the lights faded and brought the room to near-darkness, leaving only a faint glow of gray light on the advanced, time-worn tiles above. A faint memory reminded him this was what twilight was like on the outside.



This is really happening. The thought came to him quickly, repeating itself while his head leans back and his gaze fixes itself on the faintly-glowing ceiling tiles. He was fairly certain that this was not a dream; it felt far too real. He had been born into this world of gray, given a new body and limited memories, yet he did not know why. There had been that quiet whisper earlier, back when he was alone in his cell, but it was just another question needing answers.



Perhaps some rest would be good... The crimson-scaled lizard lets out a long, drawn-out yawn and stretches himself out on the nest. I will get answers from Nexus later. I have to. His internal dialogue faded, satisfied with the promise he made to himself. An uneasy sleep then swept over the exhausted Charmeleon in short order.

---

“... And that is how I managed to decrypt Server 10232 and achieve a partial restoration of its vast, decade-spanning archive of tidal patterns.” Nexus had finally finished its story about yet another instance of it solving some computational problem or issue that arose in the crumbling domain. The Charmeleon and Porygon walked and floated respectively through the halls after what felt like several days, with Leo having made the error of asking Nexus what the most exciting thing to happen down here was.



In addition to following the digital creature around, Leo had spent the better part of his time here trying to learn about his new form. He found that he could go a long while without feeling hunger, which he was currently discovering considering he had yet to feel the pangs of hunger in his belly despite days having passed. The reptilian body he now possessed could run for quite some time on water and air alone. Nexus had even suggested that he could go on without water too for a time, as long as the fire on his tail burned.



The largest change he had to get used to was his relatively-heavy tail that swung behind him. He had not noticed it before when he had first followed Nexus out of his cell, but now he felt its weight pull him from side to side with each step. The lizard had nearly swiped at the extra limb after the umpteenth time he had inadvertently crashed into a wall, leaving another patch of rust on his scales. It took many trips down the dim passages until he mastered the new rhythm of walking and he was even able to run without much hassle by holding his tail straight behind him. The very sensation of an extra limb he had to train his mind to control was by far the strangest part of this experience, outside of no longer being human.



Survival and mobility abilities aside, Leo found, through attempts to reach vents and touch dangling panels, that he could not jump as high or run nearly as fast as he faintly recalled while human. A small price to pay for being tough and hard to starve, I guess, his thoughts reasoned. Not a bad trade, though this can’t go forever. I need to eat sometime. Right?



“Did you know that all major tidal patterns ceased after a time, according to that archive? I find it quite neat to imagine: all the world’s oceans immediately becoming lifeless and paralyzed... Even though it is most likely that the sensor malfunctioned, much like this other time...” Nexus continued without noticing that its reluctant companion had been thoroughly consumed in his own thoughts for the last few moments.



Leo silently groaned even as he nodded his head in false interest to the excited, chirping creature. The bird was increasingly grating on his mind, especially with its avoidance of the topic of the all-important exit tunnel. He had managed to piece together which tunnel it was, but not any of the specifics on why it was forbidden.



“... I am glad you are here, Leo.” That remark made the former human stir from his thoughts and glance down at the smaller, digital bird, initially unsure what to think.



“Wait, what was that, Nexus?” Leo inquired, curiosity piqued; there had not been much in the realm of anything so personal coming from the Porygon in the last few days. The pink and blue bird stared up at him with a gleam in its white eyes.



“I am pleased to have your company. It has been a very long time since I last had such meaningful interface with another being. I will miss this once you depart this realm,” the bird said with a drawn-out, mournful chirp. Leo stopped at that, not expected the clearly-artificial creature to show such attachment to their conversations. He could only imagine what years alone down here would do to a person, even if said person was a living computer.



“I-I... Well, thanks, Nexus. I am glad you’re here to help me out. You’ve really helped me get myself in order, so to speak,” Leo replied, though he knew that was not entirely true. He was still quite jumbled up from the ongoing ordeal, but Nexus had assisted in figuring out how his new body functioned. He was thankful for that at least.



“But I can’t stay down here... And neither should you, Nexus.” He is not sure what prompted him to add that last part in, but he went with it. “Why don’t we both try to get through to this exit, huh? You said you weren’t good at physically lifting stuff, but now I’m here!” Leo exclaimed, almost thinking such a plan could work with Nexus’s help for navigation.



The Porygon let out static-garbled sigh. “I apologize, but my directive is to serve out my purpose here, and to cease upon its eventual completion.” The bird stared up at him once more with its large, attentive ocular sensors. “Perhaps you shall see the light of day, but that is not my role. My emotional processing center cannot appropriately convey what your statement means to me. But know that I, Upgraded Unit 403v2—Connection Nexus, am grateful.”



Leo was quiet for a spell before he nodded in response to the little round bird. At the moment, he could not think of more to say. His heart went out to the creature that had been his enthusiastic guide. It may be their destiny to die here, but it won’t be mine.

---

Some time later



The passage of time in the lifeless, metal tomb was hard to gauge. Leo could only guess that roughly five or so days had passed based on how many times he slept during the artificial night-cycle Nexus provided. The Charmeleon had just finished an exploration of yet another cell and found nothing remotely of interest. If he did not get out of here soon, he would certainly meet his doom from boredom in the dull, lifeless halls if he did not starve first. He had put up with the Porygon’s insistence that he remain stationary for long enough.



Nexus’s stories on repair and recovery were beyond tedious after the umpteenth telling. He had to give the Porygon a little bit of credit though, the conversations he had with the bird had awoken a few scraps of memories within the Charmeleon’s stressed mind. He recalled the terminology for some of the ancient machines, servers for data, that lay whirring about in dusty disarray. It gave him a little more to work with, but ultimately proved to be trivial pieces of information that put him no closer to figuring out his past than before.



Seeing that Nexus had dodged every direct and indirect request he made on how to leave, Leo had given up on trying to reason with the technological bird. He splashed some water on his face from a cistern and drinks from his cupped hands before he returned to the main chamber. The flaming lizard had taken mental notes on his guardian’s behavior when he could to try and formulate a way to get into the hazardous passage just beside the Porygon’s nest of parts.



It appeared that the twitchy pink and blue bird would vanish into the vast system at regular intervals despite its odd, near-malfunctioning tendencies. It typically left for an hour or so to wherever it goes in the walls. Plenty of time to slip inside, his thoughts murmur while he crept forward. The Charmeleon grinned with glee, sharp teeth flashing to the air once he spies the empty nest. Not daring to speak aloud for fear the sentinel bird would detect him from within the walls, the crimson-scaled lizard sucked in his breath and squeezed in between the narrow gap in between the thick, metal barriers. His tail nearly got caught halfway through, but with a wiggle, he freed himself and stumbled into the forbidden tunnel.



Standing on clawed toes, Leo’s teeth clenched, bracing for an immediate klaxon and flashing alarm signalling his attempt at escape, but none arrived. Exhaling his held breath, the Charmeleon began making his way up the sloped hall, craning his neck to watch behind him every few seconds for Nexus. His near-jog into the hall was briefly interrupted when his foot kicked against a fallen metal panel with a loud clang, causing him to hop about on one leg for a few seconds until the hurt passed. “Grah! Ow!” Thankfully, his grunts went undetected.



Nexus had been correct about the general state of disrepair of the exit tunnel, yet so far, there was not yet anything that would cause serious peril. Wires dangled from the ceiling where panels had fallen away, exposing rusted pipes and the bedrock it had been carved into. He had to step over several more twisted and dented metal sheets and tangled wires before the hall opened up.



The Charmeleon glanced around the dim room, using his tail to augment the faint light. It was smaller than the Porygon’s claimed chamber, though the interlocking metal grid that composed the floor here appeared to be compromised. As soon as Leo stepped into the room, the lizard was met with a chorus of groans and creaks from the rusting architecture. He held his breath until the noise subsided. Gods above... Maybe this is a bit dangerous, his thoughts admitted, now seeing that there perhaps had been some truth to the warnings. Easy does it, Leo...



Eyes squinted, he was barely able to discern where many segments of the unstable floor had fallen away into a fathomless chasm beneath his feet. Suppressing a shiver, he cautiously took another step; trying to stay away from where the segments seemed weaker to decrease his risk of falling through. Leo saw the rest of the tunnel a short distance away, yet he was many paces to safety.



Arms extended to the sides in an effort to balance his unsteady form, he desperately hoped his foreign tail would not cause him to falter. Concentrating, the Charmeleon slowly inched forward with baby steps and tail held firm while the decaying floor protested with curses against his weight. All the while, the gaping maw of the empty abyss yawned intensely beneath him, outstretched mouth calling out for him to slip into its jaws. He had passed the point of no return where he could possibly jump backwards and save himself if the floor suddenly failed.



Alrighty, Leo... Easy. Keep breathing. Keep walking. There’s no other way forward, he tried to reassure himself and quell the growing terror in his gut and breach of common sense he was committing. He slowly continued snaking around the holes in the floor, teeth tightly gritted. A cold breeze suddenly flowed through the formerly-static air.



“Fall, Leo. Your freedom is below. Face your judgement and jump into eternity. Plunge down to rise up.”



Leo froze, ice snaking into his hot veins at the pressing demand that spoke directly to his soul. He had heard it in the darkness of his cell and not since. He had put it behind him, chalking it up to panic and claustrophobia. Yet here it was again, at the worst possible time. Gulping hard to swallow a whimper, the terrified Charmeleon glanced past the edge of the grate to where the empty pit lay in eager, predatory wait.



“Let your fear go. What you seek is below. The dying gods will judge your worth.”



At that moment, a loud crack ripped through the frail structure. Still frozen like the prey he was to the prowling beast beneath, Leo watched in growing horror as the rivets holding the grates together were squeezed out of their sockets and cut in half by the shearing force. His mouth dropped open in rising panic.



“No, don’t! No, no, no—!”



His exclamation was cut short by an almighty groan of rusted steel before the segment beneath his feet gave out. It was a strange sensation, to float on air for the split-second before the Charmeleon plummeted after the fallen grate. The dark jaws of the abyss rushed from below to snap him up as the dim light vanished entirely. Cold air billowed around his screaming, free-falling form, making his tail sputter angrily and adding to Leo’s overwhelming distress. Spinning about erratically, he squirmed and flailed his limbs in all directions, desperately trying to latch onto anything.



His terror-fueled scream held out until his twisting body made hard contact with the rough walls of the chasm, which knocked the wind from his lungs like a well-aimed punch that sent him tumbling again into the void. Unable to tell which way was up, the bruised Charmeleon tucked his arms close to his body and curls his head into his chest, bracing for whatever came next in his descent towards the dark hell that awaited him. Leo smacked bodily into the walls several times in quick succession, some patches covered in relatively-smooth steel while other patches were exposed stone, adding some scraped scales to his battering. Tears pricked at his eyes at the abrasions that tore through his toughened scales before being quickly blown away in the whipping wind that howled across his face.



As suddenly as the fall began, it ended abruptly with Leo bouncing off a final section of slanted wall and smacking immediately to a flat, cold floor with a dulled thud that caused a cloud of accumulated dust to erupt. Harsh pain ripped through his reptilian form, blossoming up in fiery anguish from every limb. Head thoroughly rattled and enduring the waves of pain that swiftly rushed over him, he resigned himself to lay crumpled on the dusty ground of the abyss.



“Pain is the hallmark of life. The pain you now feel is proof you remain alive.”



He was alive, if what that voice said contained any truth, though he certainly did not feel so. By the manner his claws clenched and scratched at the metal floor with the ebb and flow of pain, he dimly knew his body was not irreparably broken. Leo let out a long, painful hiss before he forced himself to breathe again and fill his bruised chest with the cold, stale air that sat at the chasm bottom.



How long he laid there, dazed and in pain, he did not know, but he could feel more of his battered body with each passing moment as a burning warmth spread through his limbs. The crimson lizard hissed once more, eyes blinking open to stare up at the wall he had so recently collided with. The only light down in this cold hell was a dim ember on his tail. It was in that moment that he recalled the factoid Nexus had told him about his species: the flame was a measure of life and, by the look of his tiny flame, he had come quite close to extinguishing it.



“Broken and battered, yet fire stubbornly burns within you. Rise, child born of the cells, and follow. Your time draws near. The dead gods have spoken in favor of your survival.”



Fire burned within his joints, flames licking at his cracked bones and the heat surging through his many cuts and split scales. He gritted his teeth and slowly turned onto his side, the pain intense, but ebbing with every passing second. Leo pushed himself up on protesting arms, slowly bringing himself to his feet after several long minutes spent entirely without movement. The Charmeleon staggered, leaning against the wall and gasping hard for breath. How in the world... Did I survive that? This body is way tougher... Than I thought... His thoughts pondered his situation in fragments as his head kept on pounding. No way... A human could have lived... Or be on their feet again so quickly...



Clenching his teeth so tightly that they creaked while the fire within him kept burning away his injuries, Leo began to shuffle deeper into the darkness. The whisper had said to follow, yet there was nothing down here aside from the twisted, fallen grates and some other debris he could not identify that was easily kicked aside with his feet.



“Follow the path you were destined to tread. The descent and darkness are your trials, but within is light and freedom. Do not stray.” Again the wispy voice called out from all around him, which made the groaning Charmeleon stop and look around uselessly for the source.



“W-Who are you...?” he spoke into the nothingness only to hear a faint echo of his own hoarse, cracking voice spit his question back at him. With an annoyed hiss and a bit of steam from his snout, he pressed on after nothing answered him. The pain grew more manageable and the fires burned less, serious wounds transforming into intense aches. He rubbed at his chest, finding the bruises there now hurt far less when his hand brushed over them. Leo glanced back at his tail and frowned, seeing only a tiny dull red flame on the very tip.



“That can’t be good.” He muttered to himself before he reached back, picked up his dragging tail, and held it to his chest. His claws caressed the pinprick flame, trying to coax it back to life while he walked in the depths of the chasm. There seemed to be branching passages leading off from the main hall. Leo sucked in a breath before he blindly turned down a corridor to his right.



“We are all blind, stumbling stupidly in the dark, before we can truly see. Sight awaits you, child of the ruins.” The voice came clearer and louder that time, which made the aching Charmeleon perk up and again look around in acute paranoia.



“Who are you? Show yourself!” He shouted, but again there was no reply. It was clear to Leo that this entity was not keen on carrying on conversations. At the very least, it did not appear electronic in the nature that Nexus was. It was another sort of entity that spoke the cryptic phrases. The Charmeleon gripped his tail harder and walked on, claws tapping against the dusty floor. There was nothing visible in the inky black that hung heavily around him, leaving him effectively blind, but there was no other alternative other than to cautiously shuffle on. He had to follow the voice or risk wandering these endless halls forever.



“It has been long since life has graced these cursed ruins. You tread where many have failed their trials.” The voice sounded masculine, however it remained difficult to tell even as it grew louder and clearer. “Your sight grows. Follow the path that guides you.”



At that, a faint blue light began glowing from a groove cut into the steel wall. Leo immediately touched his claws to the line and dragged his hand along it. He let out a weak laugh and shuffled faster, the Charmeleon almost giddy with the development. His claws clicked against the floor, causing considerable noise, but he did not care. He wanted light and noise, anything beyond the pressing darkness. He kept his hand pressed to the blue circuit while he jogged further, turning at sharp corners where the light lead him.



“Yes. The path leads you closer. Come, Leo...”



The blue line grew in brightness the further he followed it, which caused the Charmeleon to forget the lingering pain and run harder. The stocky form he now inhabited was not the best at running, with shorter strides than he had as a human, but he did not let that stop him. Rest could come later. He had to follow the path, wherever it would lead him. Leo turned a corner and skidded to a halt, finding the guiding light ended abruptly at a ruined, metal door that was barely hanging onto its fixture. Panting from the run, the Charmeleon tentatively pushed at the weak barrier. It creaked loudly in resistance before it fell off its hinges onto the floor with an almighty clatter. The heavy bolt that had kept it shut dropped a moment later with another clunk.



Inside was a room akin to Nexus’s: with a similar assortment of ancient, dully-blinking machines and a near-silent hum of electricity. Ceiling panels provided a soft, blue light that made Leo’s eyes hurt after experiencing darkness for so long. With an arm raised to shield his eyes, the Charmeleon stepped over the broken door. Aside from the machines, there were other features in the silent room that set it apart from the others he had explored. Shelves squeezed between the computers held decayed books that would fall to dust at any movement. A desk opposite the bookshelf was scattered with similarly-ancient folders and papers with typed print that had long since faded into illegibility. A few little trinkets and what looked to be a frame for a time-ruined picture lined the top shelf above the workspace.



“Woah. There was someone here once...” The Charmeleon trailed off as he quietly paced through the forlorn laboratory, simply amazed that there were signs that other beings existed here. Leo hummed curiously and touched one of the papers. Almost instantly the section where his claw poked crumbled into dust, leaving a hole in the middle of the report. There were many more that possessed scrawled handwriting that Leo doubted could be read even if it had not been faded.



His eyes were soon drawn to the back of the room. At the midpoint along the back wall, looking out of place among the decaying servers and books was a small glass case with a single item inside. The key-like object rested on a glass shelf, distinct from the other objects in the room, the artifact appeared in perfect condition, having resisted the damning effects of time. Leo stepped closer, eyes wide as his claws touched the exterior of the case. It appeared to be crafted of a blueish glass or crystal, with intricate etchings along the shank that continued into the two bits that jutted out at the tip with a thin, metal chain that looped through the bow. A rusted metal plaque just below the key had foreign words etched onto it, but they had long-since become too faded to read.



The Charmeleon glanced from side to side nervously. Is this why I was lead here? his thoughts inquired before a hand reached out to lift the rusted latch which crumbled at his touch into a pile of orange dust. The glass door fell away as well and cracked into several pieces upon hitting the desk. The tinkling glass made him wince, though it was soon apparent that there would be no one to confront him. His fingers flexed before he reached into the case and snatched the vivid-blue key.



A rush of something passed through his arm the instant his claws grazed the key’s crystalline surface. His breath hitched and he squeezed his eyes shut as an intense throbbing immediately hit his already-beleaguered head. A blurred image filled his mind: a thin, red smile and a piercing gaze from ancient eyes that had seen far too much. He stumbled in place, his fingers curling around the key’s shaft shortly before he slumped against a nearby shelf with a low groan.



“Your persistence has served you well, child. Take your prize. Your way out of these ruins. Your destiny, where so many others have failed.”



Leo’s eyes went wider than ever before at the voice. It no longer was faint or indistinct. No, it was now perfectly clear and louder, as if the enigmatic speaker was just over his shoulder. He glanced over both shoulders just in case before he pulled himself off the dusty furniture.



“W-Who are you?! I know you’re here, somewhere! What did I just pick up?!” the lizard bellowed to the empty lab, though he was this time graced with an answer.



“Who I am matters not. You have just attained the last great chance to break free. Take it. Use it. Light your way. Free yourself of this tomb. Go! Run! Time runs short!”



The Charmeleon scrambled away from the cabinet, but pauses as, without stimulus, a screen on the nearby desk flickers on to reveal a blue background with white text he could not make out. A few seconds passed before the picture vanished and was instead replaced with a close-up of a familiar, bird-like visage



“Leo! Y-You’re alive!” Nexus’s electronic voice exclaimed from the computer, its white eyes wide with concern. “I spent an hour looking for you all across the domain! Just wait one second and I’ll be there!”



Leo’s perplexed thoughts did not have to wait long to find out just how the bird would get down here. The Porygon pecked against the inside of the screen before it seamlessly jumped out with a shower of bright blue light that made the Charmeleon shut his eyes.



Shaking itself off from its emergence, Nexus hopped off the desk and stared up at him. “You appear to be hurt, but not life-threateningly if my scans are correct. We need to get you—” it chimed before it suddenly stopped, its eyes seemingly fixated on the artifact he now gripped tightly in his claws. Leo quickly noticed and held the recently-acquired key close. “Y-You found it... T-The Spark...”



“What, Nexus...? What’s wrong?” Leo inquired tentatively to the creature he had considered, somewhat, to be his friend. The rounded limbs and head of the Porygon twitched and sparked without warning, making the former human recoil. “Is it something about this? What did you call it?” He asked, holding up the key by its steel chain.



“L-Leo... bbzzt. I-I am so s-sorry... T-The artifact triggered the security protocol! You must leave!” the bird desperately responded after a moment, sounding as if it was straining even to speak. Before he could react, the white light behind Nexus’s eyes shut and its floating body began to shudder and contort. Leo took another step back as he watched the Porygon’s features elongate and twist, its head detaching from its small body. Even in the dim light of the room, he could tell that the dual colors on its body grew darker in tone. With a harsh twitch, the floating head righted itself atop the body and the eyes again were flooded with light, but they were different. A menacing, deranged pair of yellow eyes now greeted him as the transformed Porygon began to fully power up.



“I-I canot stop the program, Leo! BzzRT! R-Return to zzzT hall, follow t-the upward paths, ZzrrtT the door!” Nexus gurgled, as if it was somehow being strangled by whatever had assumed primary control over it. The sparking Porygon continued to contort in midair, with Nexus shrieking the whole time in utter desperation. “NO! DISENGAGE! DISENGAGE! ZZZT! DO NOT MAKE ME KILL AGAIN!”



More than alarmed and with Nexus’s distressed cries to quell the entity that possessed it, the Charmeleon scrambled out of the chamber as fast as he could without losing balance. The ceiling in the hall now glowed with a dull light, illuminating the path he had once before tread in total darkness. Panting, Leo ran as fast as his legs would carry him, clutching the shimmering treasure tightly in his claws all the while. There was little time to process exactly what he was doing. His instincts now screamed danger at the Porygon that had rescued him from the ruins.



Leo took Nexus’s last bit of advice to heart, the transformed human following whichever route trended upwards through the winding passage towards what he hoped would be freedom. Hot clouds of steam and gray smoke puffed from his nostrils with every step he took up the abandoned corridors, his body not quite ready for the hard effort after his recent tumble into the earth, but pushed on with reserves of energy he had no idea he possessed. However, the growing rumble in the metal passage made him certain he did not want to stop.



“ZZT! It’s locking onto you, Leo!” Nexus’s voice boomed from everywhere in the shuddering hallway around the panicked Charmeleon. “ZzzrrT! I have lost all control! It will kill you if it catches you!” Far from the calm, somewhat erratic electronic chirps he had gotten used to from the little bird, the voice was now warped, broken, and brimming with a dire urgency that only made Leo push his stumpy legs harder.



The fading light panels flickered hard as dust rained down in bursts with each hard rumble. The telltale hum of electricity grew louder the higher Leo climbed in his desperate run. Behind him, crashes erupted as the light-producing slabs plummeted into the floor with showers of sparks that filled the small path. The sound of crackling static swiftly approached from the rear.



“P-Prepare to dodge! The Charge Beam attack contains lethal amounts of energy!”



Leo swore he felt his organs rattle inside his chest from the intense vibrations coming from down the hall. A small beeping was heard above the chaos and swiftly grew in intensity while a narrow, red beam of light erratically swayed in the air, zeroing in squarely on the fleeing lizard. Quickly figuring from Nexus’s plea that he did not want to be in the path of the laser once the beeping reached its peak, the Charmeleon grips the next corner with his claws and swings himself around with his maintained momentum up the branching path.



Not a moment too soon, as a tremendous crash and a flash of heat and light that erupted from the hall signalled that Nexus’s trailing attack had narrowly missed.



“It’s BZZT recalculating its approach! Hurry, Leo!” The speakers hidden in the ceiling all reported the Porygon’s cold evaluation in unison and the rumbling began anew, shaking the ancient and fragile facility to pieces.



Key held tightly in his claws, he pushed himself harder through the quaking passage and the falling clouds of obstructing debris. He bounded as best he could over the fallen pieces of rock and metal that had broken free from overhead. I’ve got to be close by now! he thinks, half pleading with whatever powers had judged him to let it be true. At the very edge of his vision, he could make out what appeared to be an open space ahead distinct from the confined hall.



“NO! NO! LEO, RUN! IT —ZZRRRTTTT!” Nexus’s scream was swiftly cut off by static, but the point was made.



Before he could make a final effort towards the far-off room, the path abruptly flooded with blue light. Electricity violently danced from open conduits on the ceiling, the arcs of bright energy and tendrils of lightning all swiftly directing at the unprepared Charmeleon. A rush of unbelievable energy and agony surged through the former human’s jerking limbs as he was roughly slammed into the floor. Sparks danced across his crumpled form, Leo only able to perceive pain at that instant.



Coughing and sputtering, Leo pushed his chest off the ground on wobbling limbs, only to see the twitching Porygon hovering a short distance away. Its limbs glowed a strange purple before Leo felt the metal panel shudder violently beneath him. The stunned Charmeleon only had time to suck in a breath before Nexus moved its limbs, magnetically ripped the floor off the ground with a shower of dust, and folded the plate over him with seemingly-little effort. The pressure pressed heavily against Leo’s limbs and chest, making him cry out in distress.



“A-AGHH! S-STOP! NEXUS, PLEASE!” He begged, though no relief came from the utterly impassive foe. The Charmeleon struggled to fill his compressed lungs as he stared at the floating Porygon.



“I cannot disengage it! It will not stop!” The Porygon sobbed, an awful, static-filled sound from the construct imprisoned within its own body, while the piece of flooring squeezed the salamander harder, causing his tail twitch erratically in desperation. Nexus brought its face close to Leo’s; cold yellow eyes of the security protocol boring into his soul. “It is designed to terminate bbbzzt who take the artifact! I-I tried to keep you safe! Bzztt! I-I tried, Leo!” The bird’s voice exclaimed while its body continued to disobey.



“The moment that key leaves this place, I will cease to function. The protocol is self-preserving!” Nexus raised its rounded wings and cocked its head at the Charmeleon, erratic eyes scanning him. “I-It... I have killed so many... A-And it continues for eternity. I try to protect, but it always wins. Sooner or later, it always kills.” With that final statement, the sentient computer program brought its glowing wings together, squeezing the squirming lizard harder than before. “You must do something! ZZZT! Don’t let me kill you!” Nexus implored with its cracking voice, already resigned to yet another murder.



Leo saw his vision going dark around the edges and felt his ribs press inward from the flat plate. The air he had managed to suck into his lungs was now burning in his compressed chest, building with the tremendous pressure. Unable to resist any longer, Leo opened his mouth in what he expected to be a final cry before his untimely demise, but instead of an anguished cry, the burning air rushed out with great force. The instant it passed into his wide maw, the stream of hot air ignited with a flash.



A brilliant jet of raging fire spewed from the lizard’s throat, engulfing the unsuspecting Porygon in a swirling cloak of dazzlingly-white flame. A horrendous, static-filled screech emitted from the spasming bird as the fire burned its sensitive, digital body. Flailing and screaming, Nexus darted back from the flamethrower, the protocol’s magnetic attack abandoned. The plate loosened around the now-gasping Charmeleon, allowing Leo to slowly claw himself out of the death-trap. Despite his head still spinning, Leo dragged himself to his feet and swayed in place, chest heaving while he glared stiffly at his foe.



“Nexus! Oh gods!” Leo exclaimed with a cough at the sparking Porygon that hung limply in the air, smoke curling in small spirals from its burnt limbs. Concern welled up in his chest despite the beating he just endured. “Nexus! Are you okay?! I-I urgh d-don’t know how—!”



The bright yellow, target-like orbs suddenly returned a murderous glare, causing Leo to shut his mouth and raise his shaking arms, the Charmeleon striking what he recalled as a typical fighting stance for humans. The exhaustion was postponed; there was his freedom to be won and his friend’s body was trying to murder him.



“T-The pain zzt is nothing! G-Go... Before it is too late!” the automation appealed weakly, voice broken and distorted as it twitched violently from the extensive damage. “I do not d-deserve sympathy for my crimes-zzZCH!”



“Leave, friend! Leave—!” Nexus abruptly ceased its tirade, deranged eyes of its possessor locked onto the wobbling Charmeleon. The Porygon fiercely convulsed and rushed Leo, the bird cloaked in a shower of yellow sparks that trailed behind it. With gritted teeth, the injured Charmeleon lunged to the side, narrowly avoiding the meteoric bird, though he was brushed by the trailing arcs of electricity. Leo winced, clutching at his arm and backing away from the sparking Porygon that had slammed into the metal wall with a harsh buzzing noise.



He watched Nexus peel itself off the wall with a sinking feeling in his chest. The guardian of the ruins continued to twitch and spark, with what appeared to be wispy streaks of blue-tinted ones and zeros drifting out of the scorched and broken points on its body before fading like smoke. Leo walked backwards from the rising automation into a wider room.



“Nexus! S-Stop! You don’t have to do this!” Leo implored to his only friend in memory, the former human unsure how much longer his adrenaline would hold out against the unstoppably tenacious sentinel. His words fell flat on the uncaring program that aimed a shaking limb squarely at the Charmeleon’s chest even while its voice cried out in vain protest. Nexus’s once-glowing eyes showed the extent of its damage, with its left optical nearly black except for a few pixels of intense yellow.



“You... Do not... Understand...” Nexus hissed through the static that poured from its damaged form. “It cannot... Stop... Ztt...” It floated closer with half of its body limp and hanging languidly. “L-Leo... Z-ZzzT... Friend... E-End me, b-before I zzzt kill you!”



“Nexus! Stop! I-I d-don’t want to hurt you!” Leo screamed, his throat raw and dry from the flames. Tears ran down his cheeks in a mixture of both exhaustion and disbelief. He had spent days with the bird, listening to it while it chattered on endlessly about its exploits here. He refused to believe that it had to come down to this, even now as Nexus’s out-of-control body limped towards him in a last, desperate to end his escape attempt.



Nexus inched closer while sputtering out static-covered sobs, its last functioning wing held outstretched and sparking brightly with lethal electricity. Leo backed up against the sealed door, unable to summon any further words or another jet of fire from his exhausted body. Thoughts raced in his head, trying to formulate a plan to stop the fighting, though nothing coherent formed in time. The Porygon drew itself back in an attempt to lunge forward and lance his heart with lightning.



“PLEASE, LEO! NOW!”



Leo sucked in a breath and swung his arm up in a final effort of defense, claws outstretched and singing through the air. The curved weapons sliced in an upward arc through the bird’s limp half, tearing deeply into its central unit and causing blinding sparks to spray in all directions. The Charmeleon gasped and drew his arm back as the Porygon abruptly crumpled at his feet, sputtering and sparking. Amid the smoking haze that surrounded Nexus, he beheld the damaged bird’s twitching body begin to break down.





He knelt, partly in shock and partly in exhaustion, the Charmeleon unable to believe he had done it. His claws were clean from gutting the Porygon, aside from being lightly blackened from the electrical burns. His stomach wrenched itself into a knot while he gasped for breath. Tearing up, he scooped up the fallen, dying Porygon into his quaking arms.



“N-Nexus...? Nexus, please...” he croaked, Leo cradling the wounded construct as gently as he could.



“Le-o...” the guardian sputtered, its remaining, barely-glowing eye now returned to its normal state, free of the menace. “You...zzt. Won... Free yourself...” Nexus sighed, its collapsed form flickering in its final moments. “You are... S-S-Strong... Eno-ugh... ” A weak shudder passed through the digital being, its core mechanisms breaking down rapidly.



“T-Than... T-Tha... Tha...” Nexus stammered, its voice unable to summon the power to finish its final words. The Porygon’s single remaining eye stared pleadingly up at Leo until it too faded to darkness.



“Nexus, come on. Please don’t go...” he whispers, head bowed and eyes squeezed shut to hold back tears. With a final spark, Nexus grew inert on his lap and its crumpled form powered down. He did not need to open his eyes to know that his only friend of these ruins had succumbed at last. Leo did not think it possible, but the underground facility grew colder and deader just then, making the fire-wielding male quake. He gently placed Nexus’s broken shell on the floor of the facility it had watched faithfully.



Leo leaned backwards, resting against the door and letting the fallout of what just happened rain over him: the dark cell, the days spent with Nexus, his fall, the voice, the key, the fight, and now, slaying the guardian he befriended; everything had happened so fast that his head spun. He withheld the rising bile in his throat and groaned, pressing the key in his paw to his chest. The grieving Charmeleon had no idea what had really happened.



Why am I here? Why did all this happen to me? he pondered and stared up blankly at the dim ceiling. His body was a limp husk after the intense ordeal, with only enough energy to keep himself from slumping over onto the floor. A long stretch of time passed with Leo processing what had occured.



“Your lack of hesitation to do what is needed is exceptional. Allies are not always what they seem.”



The voice filled his head again, causing the Charmeleon to groan. The key that was clutched tightly in his claws glowed faintly, its light blue structure coming alive with an unknown power. He squeezed the artifact, feeling a soft tingling in his hand as he did so. He wanted to scream, curse, and throw the blasted thing back into the abyss he had stolen it from. It had turned Nexus against him, a crime he was not willing to forget, even with the freedom it promised.



“You shall be answered in time, but now, survivor of the ruins, rise and face the blinding light. The key unlocks the way.”



The Charmeleon rolled onto his knees with a titanic effort and used the grooves in the heavy door to hoist himself to his half-asleep feet. He was too exhausted to protest the voice that had been the catalyst to his trials and suffering, but it had a point: he needed to get out of these lifeless ruins. The former human glanced down at the glowing artifact in his crimson hand and, with a shrug, touched it to the ancient gate.



Centuries’ worth of dust rained down from the ceiling as a tremor ran through the underground labyrinth. Leo barely managed to steady himself and blink away the clouds of dirt that settled on him. The faint lighting from the panels faded entirely, leaving the room in total darkness. Gulping, Leo quickly looped the key ‘s metal chain around his neck and braced himself. His hearing was assaulted by the screeching of hydraulics and metal that had not moved in eons. One by one, heavy thuds reverberated throughout the antechamber, signalling that the long-stalwart locks were at last being relieved of their duties.



Leo tensed his drained physique, but nearly fell over with the intensified rumbling. The great aperture that towered before him creaked, its aged facade splitting down the middle in a clean line that slowly widened. Light poured through from the other side of the thick barrier, though not as intense as the Charmeleon had expected. He raised a trembling hand to shield his constricting pupils.



More intense than the incoming light was the rush of fresh air that flooded the small chamber and mixed in with the near-toxic atmosphere within the ruins. The invigorating breeze perked the salamander up and he pressed his face to the widening gap, his snout almost sticking through to the other side. He gulped down deep breaths, the fire on his tail growing a bit larger from the fanning breeze coming from the slowly-opening doorway that continued to grind along its tracks.



“O-Oh gods. S-Sweet, sweet air...” Leo murmured softly before his claws go to the edges of the parting bulkhead and try to force the process to go faster. Uncounted years of rust and disuse had rendered the door nearly immovable, but miraculously it was inching along. Not taking that into regard, the Charmeleon impatiently snapped his jaws and grunted, exerting more force to widen the gap. After what seemed to take an eternity, the hole was at last wide enough to squeeze his torso through. With a held breath, the lizard reached through and pushed on the outside of the door to help his wriggling form through the rift. His scales were squeezed and passed over sharp grooves that would have sliced into regular flesh, but left him unscathed.



With a gasp, Leo tripped through the opening and onto a rocky floor. Immediately, the aperture stopped its glacial opening and slammed its rusty, moss-covered exterior shut with a harsh clang, almost catching the salamander’s tail if not for a quick twitch forward. Still heaving, Leo turned his back on the now-sealed ruins and stared ahead. He appeared to be in a small, shallow cave, judging by the rocky, natural passage he was in. The terminus of the subterranean path was visible, leading to a portal of sunlight and the outside world beyond.



Leo let out a short laugh and ignored his body’s request to rest from his injuries, instead rushing up the trail. Several times his reptilian feet came close to faltering on the rocks and slick moss, but he closed the distance like a runner approaching the finish line. An exuberant cry erupts from his snout as he bursts forth into the dazzling sunlight.



Soft, waving grass greeted his worn soles as he takes another, disbelieving step into the outside world. The warm sunlight kissed his cold chest and fresh air spilled into his aching lungs, his entire form simply soaking in the blessings of being free of the dark, cold ruins. More than wanting to know who he was or why he was here, he had wanted to bask in the unobstructed sunlight, feel the wind, and breathe clean air. Once his eyes grew accustomed to the light, he takes in the new world for the first time.



A shimmering sea of green grass on cracked, jagged hills surrounded him, giving the impression that some giant beast had decided to rough up what might have been a flat grassland. In the distance, rising against the horizon, were what looked to be mountains. A gentle wind dashed across the broken crests and made the dew-covered grass sway in its wake. The cave he had emerged from lay tucked into the rocky base of one such hill, almost invisible to an outside observer and carefully hiding the maze it contained from intruders. The majesty of the rugged, lush environment was all contained under a vivid blue sky that carried streaks of dawn’s painted colors.



“Nexus, I wish you could see this...” he whispers somberly, voice hoarse from exhaustion and overuse in the ruins. The bubbly Porygon would have certainly enjoyed the freedom that now stretched before him. “By the gods, it’s like something out of a dream...”



Leo sighed deeply and examined the immediate ground he was standing on. The patch of soft grass was mostly dry of dew and would be as good a place as any to rest. The salamander plopped himself down with little grace, exhaustion finally winning out over his wants to explore his surroundings. Laying flat on his back, he laid his flaming tail on his chest beside the key to safeguard against accidentally setting the field ablaze and stared up at the azure sky, at last able to see more than ten feet above his head. Closing his eyes, the former human rests his head on the springy grass, his crest settling into the impromptu pillow as sleep swiftly overtook him.



“Rest, child of ruins, for your trials commence anon. This world can yet be salvaged from decay and dissolution.”







Author’s Note:

Alright, here we have it! First chapter of my newest project! Hope you all enjoy!