//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Well hello there 
// Story: Mystery Dungeons: Through Realms and worlds 
// by Navanastra 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 5: Well hello there.



Edited by: The Great Khan 


“Hey, slow down Victini. We obviously can’t run as fast as you can fly.” I shouted in between pants as me, Nava, and even Ampharos where trying to catch up with him while running down a hill.

“I don’t know what the problem is. This is pretty easy.” Jirachi chimed in as he suddenly came flying past us.

“Well yeah, because you can just fly yourself. You two have it pretty easy in that department.” I call back after Jirachi as he easily passed us.

This is certainly one of the few times where I do kinda of miss being a Mew myself. But hey, the past is the past and the future is now. Or at least, that is what Xatu likes to constantly preach. Basically, saying don’t look back and simply keep your gaze fixed in front of you all times.

True to most circumstances, but sometimes looking back can be really helpful. Like right now for example, seeing just how close Ampharos was on my tail; Motivating me to keep up the pace, or risk getting flatten by his large mass. I’m not really calling Ampharos fat or anything, but that large running body does hold some significant force behind its weight when impacting with something.

I should know, thanks to two past incidences and the one I had recently.

One thing was for sure. “Gotta keep running or risk another devastating body slam from the chief.” I thought to myself as I increased my pace just a little bit. Easy to do when gravity is helping you out somewhat.

Nava next to me was actually doing a bit better than me in comparison. His longer and more powerful legs where making hopping down a hill with wide long hops quite simply looking. It also showed in his expression. He had a lot less sweat running down his face then me.

Those stubby little legs of mine do have their limits after all.

“For the love of… can you two please slow down? I’m also carrying most of our stuff and supplies in my bag, in case some of you have forgotten that.” I complained openly in between huffs.

Thankfully though, the bottom of the hill quickly came into view, which in turn made both Jirachi and Victini halt at its base and wait for us. We were, of course, second to reach the flat grounds ourselves, through a lot more exhausted than these two psychic flyers. I halted, before dragging my leafy tail towards the closest tree I could find and supporting myself on its trunk and taking a breather.

Nava was doing the same but was a lot quicker back on his feet then me obviously.

Ampharos on the other hand, decided to flop himself right onto the grassy ground for a second time to rest his entire form. He just did a “brick breaking” marathon back in the forest, so the fact that he was extremely tired and out of breath was understandable.

Also, he does kinda suffers from the same problem as me; having stubby looking legs in comparable to his body size.

But hey, we can’t all be born runners, now can we?

“Well, the village is just a couple of paces from here if I am not mistaking. It’s actually a pretty good thing that there is a lot of trees and large foliage in between us and the settlement. Which makes approaching it safely from here quite simple.” Victini announced while looking off into the direction where I think the village might be.

Don’t care about that right now. Need to get some air and rest my legs a little bit first before thinking about villages. Running down a hill at full speed is never such a good idea, so why we did it is beyond me.

After I was done though, I picked myself back up before looking into my bag to make sure that nothing got lost on the way here. I was relieved to see that nothing got lost or scrabbled too much, before focusing back at the gang.

“So, we are just going to waltz right in and say hi, or am I missing something here?” I asked while tilting my head a bit.

“Well not really.” Victini responded. “First, we are obviously going to get close enough to first scout the area out and to see who or what the inhabitants of this village really are before doing anything rash or reckless. Again, we aren’t particularly sure who they are or what they are. No need to jump over a cliff when there is a nice-looking bridge to cross with, after all.” Victini explained while raising a finger.

I just hummed in thought. “Well, how about me and Nava go in first to scout out the area to find out if all of the natives are friendly or not? Both I and Nava here are the smallest after all, not to mention grounded too.” I suggested, more or less for getting the chance of again being the first of seeing something else that isn’t human or Pokémon at all.

This is again a once in a lifetime opportunity. Well for me and Nava at least, Victini over here of course has it a little bit more common from his end, if his stories are to be believed, that is.

Both Jirachi and Victini looked thoughtful at first before the chief himself suddenly decided to butt in after he pushed himself back up.

“Well, I think we should let them go.” Ampharos announced which caused both Mystics to look at him. Well…Victini is a mystic right? I honest don’t know.

“Well…” Jirachi began. “If the chief says it’s going to be ok then I seriously have no objection against it. Plus…” He looked at us.”These are Nava and Glade we are talking about. The two most adventurous duo of Pokémon I have ever seen. Plus, I know that they can easily handle themselves too. I mean…they did defeat the Dark Matter after all.” Jirachi chimed in, which in turn just made me smile as well as give him a thank you gesture.

Victini shrugged. “Alright, I guess I too have nothing against it either. I will admit that I personally don’t know much of this much talked about ‘Dark Matter’ subject which everyone is constantly bringing up. But again, these two do seem not without something, I will give them that.” Victini stated as well before crossing his arms.

I smiled. “Thanks, you guys.” I announced before looking at Nava instead. “Okay! Let’s go then, we’ve got a village to explore.” I announced to which Nava simply nods.

And with that we were off, making our way into the foliage and aiming for the direction of the village.

“You two be careful.” I heard Ampharos call out after us before his voice quickly faded away.

Not sure what we will find on the other side though, but I guess that it must be quite outlandish if my own imagination can be trusted. Like maybe we are going to see a village populated with nothing but being that have a hundred eyes for their…well eyes, with a dozen tentacles for their arms and massive heads for their…well heads of course.

Oh I can’t wait to find out how the natives of this world truly look like, just to be able to either confirm, or un-confirm, my theory about a one hundred-eyed alien. That proof would be cool, but also somewhat terrifying now that I think about it.

Either way, the trip itself through the foliage was refreshingly simple for once. Nothing was too difficult to traverse, too dark to see, or to random to suddenly usher in the summons of a forest fire at the hands of someone else. It was really nice, and maybe a tell-tale sign that luck was finally back to normal.

But knowing how the universe works sometimes, I am obviously not going to say it out loud. Though something else I might.

“Hey, do you really think we are going to see some one hundred-eyed, tentacle-limbed natives today? It would totally be cool if that was the case, like…you know…breaking the common mold of expectation and imagination when it comes to these type of things. This should certainly be interesting.” I randomly asked while pushing myself through a bush.

Nava was perplexed by this. “What…why one hundred eyes? Does such a creature even make sense? To have one hundredth eyes on its head or maybe its whole body? Where…where did this completely random and ridiculous idea suddenly come from?” Nava asked as he jumped over the bush instead of just pushing through.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, as I said, just want to break the traditional mold that everybody might have in terms of imagining a certain type of creature or species. I mean, thinking of a being with two eyes is pretty normal. But thinking of someone that may have a dozen on its body could be a lot more interesting instead. Just imagine the weirdness you would feel when seeing such a creature for the very first time. It might be scary, maybe even disturbing, but definitely quite surprising and unique if that ever was the case. Just imagine.” I lengthily explained, smiling a bit to myself at the prospect of seeing something so super-duper weird on this world.

Nava was just silently and somewhat weirded out by my explanation which was honestly to be expected.

“You have a very strange imagination, Glade. Certainly, something I have never seen or heard before from you. Did you always have it?” Nava curiously asked me as we pressed on further.

I think I can already see some roofs off into the distance behind some trees and bushes. But we will have to press on just to be sure of course.

I smiled. “Just now to be honest.” I casually replied.

“Oh…well ok then. That certainly makes a bit more sense.” Nava responded before we finally reached the outskirts of the woods and our target.

“I think this is it, but we should keep low just in case.” I stated, before creeping myself up towards another bush and peeking my eyes passed its cover.

Nava instinctively did the same from the other side of the bush and kept quiet.

“Alright, I would say that we can see the village perfectly from here and…” I was about to say, before I suddenly spotted something. “Wait a minute, are those…the natives I see?” I muttered more to myself rather than to Nava as I did managed to spot something behind some buildings that seemed to be the residences of this place.

I am certain of that assumption, because I can tell that they seemed to be talking to one another. Plus, some of them where even wearing a few accessories too. Like hats, scarfs and what not. Though most of them where naked.

“I have to say, those are some very interesting looking Pokémon…ugh I mean peoples. I mean, they all kinda look the same in terms of shape and biology, but besides that, they all kinda have completely different, vibrant and diverse colors from one another. Not to mention different tail and hair styles too.” I thought to myself as I continued to observe the scene in front of me.

Yeah…yeah, we definitely found the natives of this world. I am certain.

“Well, not the one hundred-eyed tentacles monster with big heads I was hoping for, but still acceptable at least.” I commented out loud, which in turn made Nava sigh.

“You and your crazy imaginations Glade.” I heard him criticize.

“I agree.” Somebody suddenly said behind me which almost made me jump.

I turned around. “What the…chief…what are you all suddenly doing here?” I asked while gazing at the trio standing behind me.

“Simply…” Victini began. “We just started to get bored. So, we decided to follow the two of you after a couple of minutes had passed.” He answered.

I sighed. “Well anyway, I think we found the natives of this place by the look of it. I mean…” I turned towards the village again.” Just go see for yourself.” I stated before gesturing towards the settlement.

Ampharos nods. “Well yes, indeed you seem to have their Glade, certainly the most colorful bunch of creatures I have ever seen. Are you sure they are all even the same species?” Ampharos eventually asked while peering over the bush as well.

I nod. “I’m sure of it, I mean, their overall body structure and form looks pretty much the same for them all, besides the obvious difference in color and hairstyles.” I answered.

“Not to mention the tails too.” Victini added.

“Well, either it does seem that we managed to find the dominant species that is calling this world home. Or rather, one of them at least.” Ampharos stated before pausing to think. “It could be possible that there might be other intelligent species living on this world as well, similar in how our world is home to many different species of Pokémon too. But we obviously wouldn’t know until we eventually learn more of this place first. Though knowing that there is at least some form of civilization thriving in this world is surely comforting to know. Certainly, it would make exploration a lot easier if we are able to communicate with these species. That is, if these colorful quadruples over there prove themselves friendly to us or not.” He added while rubbing his chin.

“Well…are we going to just show ourselves then?” I asked while looking over my shoulders.

Ampharos scratched his head. “Well…to be honest, I was actually thinking more in…”

“Wait.” Victini suddenly interrupted as he began looking behind himself.

I was of course confused.  “Wait…wait for what? What are you…” I was about to ask before a pair of these so-called ‘natives’ suddenly came jumping out from behind a bush to our right with crude looking swords and spears in their mouths, and a gaze of bravery and determination.

Me and Nava were, of course, shocked at this. Even Ampharos was surprised enough to instinctively back-pedal a bit as these two continued to charge us. Both Jirachi and Victini, though, didn’t seemed to be intimidated by this in the slightest. Specifically, Victini who, out of the blue, suddenly extended his right hand towards the two attacker and used his psychic abilities on them, grabbing them mid-charge, halfway before reaching us with a blue aura forming around their forms, and forcing them up into the air as a result.

The two natives were of course surprised by this at first, before a full sense of panic enveloped their expressions. Dropping their crude looking weapons from their mouths, before screaming and struggling like mad.

Jirachi was the next to move forward though, before basically doing the same as Vic. Though instead of his telekinesis on the two visible attacker, he instead pulled out a pair of two more natives with nets from behind a tree right next from the same bush the two attackers suddenly jumped out from.

These two were of course panicking as well and it showed, both in their expression and their flailing motion.

To say that I was both shocked and confused by this would have been an understatement.

“What the…what is going on?” I asked out loud after I managed to regain composure from my initial shock.

“Nothing much, other than the fact that me and Jirachi kinda knew that something was up the moment you two left.” He explained before looking over his shoulder towards us.” This is actually the main reason why we decided to quickly follow you two instead. Me and Jirachi sensed that we were already being watched from afar, so we did what needed to be done and quickly followed you.” He added, before looking back at the terrifying natives suspended in the air.

They were spouting and shouting something in a language I honest can’t understand. But that is obviously not the thing I should be focusing on right now. Rather, I should make sure that nothing drastic is being made before this situation can get out of hand, like their shouts possibly enticing the attention of native villagers nearby and painting us in an even worst picture to them than we already are.

Seeing a bunch of unknown creature causing fright and panic to some of your friends or family members is obviously not a very good first impression when trying to make it clear that we come in peace and cause no harm.

Well…at least me and Nava do.

“Wait, hold on.” I announced to get everyone’s attention, which thankfully worked, maybe even a bit too much as also the natives where gazing down at me from their levitated position.

Strange but…I have other things to focus on. “Don’t…don’t do anything rash ok. These…these peoples were most likely just trying to guard their village from the unknown monsters we possibly are to them. They don’t know who we are and what we are. For them, we might very well be monsters coming from who-knows-where. I mean, just look at them too.” I gestured a hand towards them. “It doesn’t seem like they are able to do anything to us without their weapons, and to top it all off, they look absolutely terrified now.” I added desperately in hopes of avoiding an incident here.

Victini looked thoughtful. “Well…” He began before looking back up at the natives. “Well, they did try to attack us with crude melee weapons. What’s really the worst that could happened from there?” He stated before lowering his pair of prisoners down onto the ground, followed by Jirachi respectively.

The gang of four immediately began to shuffle closer to one another, with the lead one (or at least, he looks like the lead one judging by his…bravery) simply giving us a challenging glare.

I just realized it, the one glaring at us actually looked somewhat different compared to the other three. This one had a beak for its mouth and paws on its hind legs instead of hooves.

Not to mention sporting wings on its back and a much more traditional looking tail, too.

A very strange looking combo but…I have seriously seen stranger things before.

“Well then, what now? Should we just let them go or something?” Nava asked next to me while rubbing his head.

“Normally, yes.” The chief stated. “But that would probably mean going with the risk of them just going around and telling everyone that a pair of four strange looking monsters are terrorizing these lands, which would obviously be bad for us. Something we very much don’t need, for many reasons.” He commented, while again rubbing his chin.

“Well…ok…but how are we going to communicate with them then? They obviously don’t speak our language judging from the verbal shouts and screams they...well…shouted.” I asked before crossing my arms and looking at the four natives questionably.

Jirachi smiled. “Well, simple; Telepathy.” He simply stated with a grin.

“Oh yeah, forgot about that.” I responded with a facepalm.

“Well, time to freak them out even more I guess. I wouldn’t be surprised if they never had a voice inside their head talking to them until today.” Jirachi stated before visibly channeling his psychic powers into his hand before projecting it directly into one of them. Jirachi’s eyes glowing as a sign that he had a mental connection with the chosen native in front of him.

The aforementioned native froze. His eyes darting left and right in both panic and confusion which the rest of his gang notices.

Or, I think it’s a he, judging by his deep shouts from earlier.

“Well, all we have to do now is wait.” Ampharos stated before crossing his arms.

I nod, watching Jirachi silently do his thing while the one receiving his mental messages was looking up at him with both shock and fear. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t worry for the guy. Hope Jirachi is using the right words or sentences to properly explain ourselves to them. Though it does seem to work out well by the looks of it, judging by his slowly increasing calmness. Even going so far as to just look up at Jirachi curiously.

“It does seem to be working.” Victini suddenly stated.

“Yeah, it does.” Nava chimed in.

After that, Jirachi started to relax again as his eyes stopped glowing. He tentatively flew towards the aforementioned native, which in turn caused the other two to flinch back while the winged one jump right in front of his pal in a brave defensive position.

Though thankfully the one Jirachi had spoken to telepathically quickly jumped in and intervened. Explaining something in his foreign language which was still as undecipherable as ever.

Like seriously, I can’t even begin to guess.

Though thankful his intervention did the trick as the one with the beak visibly relaxed before stepping out of the way. Jirachi smiled at him thankfully before fully lowering himself towards the one he just spoke to. Jirachi then started rummaging through his tiny bag before pulling out an item that looked shockingly familiar. My eyes almost popped out of their eye sockets when the realization hit me.

“Wait, is that…?” I asked, being too stumped to finish my question.

“Well…I guess it is.” Nava added, also sounding shocked by this.

Jirachi had literally just pulled a small gold bar out of his pack and was now generously presenting it to the native whose eyes were just as large as ours, alongside his comrades’.

In fact, their jaws were almost touching the floor as Jarichi casually handed the gold bar over to them. Their eyes widened even further for the one actually holding the bar, most likely feeling its heavy weight and knowing that it is the real deal.

Though this made me wonder. “Could the rest of the village over there possibly be poor? I mean, just looking at the size and dirty conditions of some of the houses might not be too far off of an assumption.” I asked while looking back at the village with sad eyes.

“Well could be, but we obviously won’t know until we see it for ourselves. Up close, I mean.” Ampharos added before focusing back at the scene in front of him.

Jirachi was actually once again engaged in a mental conversation with one of the natives. Though this time with the beaked one, which was rather surprising.

After a while he simply gave off a sigh, though it was more of a heavy-hearted one, before getting back up on all fours and brushing himself off.

“Well, it’s good to know that we are finally making some progress here. But…” Victini stalled for a bit. “I am also kinda interested what these weapons are and what they are made off. They looked pretty crude from afar so…I would love to have a closer look at it, out of curiosity really.” He added before flying towards one of the dropped weapons and picking one up.

This alerted one of the natives though, as expected, which forced Jirachi to once again step in and give off a quick response towards the natives before turning his attention back to Victini with a disapproving look.

“Victini, did you have to?” Jirachi chided while crossing his arms.

“Well yeah.” Vic casually replied. “I am just curious, that’s all. Plus, it could also give us some interesting clues on what technological level these natives really are. Could be helpful when engaging with them in the future.” He added before focusing back on the sword and holding it up high for all to see.

I arched an eyebrow. “Wait…doesn’t that look like bronze or something?” I asked while stepping a bit closer to have a better look at the thing myself.

Victini nods. “Yeah, this is bronze. A sword with a bronze blade. This alone might already tell us everything we need to know. But then again, I can’t be sure.” He stated before dropping the blade again before scratching his head.

This made me think. “Bronze huh? Well, not really sure what that proves, since using actual tools or weapons isn’t particularly commonplace back in our world, as certain Pokémon are more or less tools themselves or weapons given their battle experience and moves. Just look at Klefki for example, he is literally a set of keys chained together! He definitely doesn’t need any key for himself as he is basically made of them.” I thought before focusing back at the happening in front of me.

One of the natives seems to be talking about something to Jirachi, while pointing one of its arms…or should I say hooves in the general direction of the village.

I would guess that it may be ok for us to finally show ourselves to this little community. Or so I hope.

Jirachi nods, before turning himself towards us. “Well good news chief, I would say that we have managed to win some level of trust with these natives here. I would say that this interaction is a total success, if I do say so myself!” Jirachi announced with a smile.

“You mean you bribed them.” Victini added with a smirk.

Jirachi just rolled his eyes. “Potato, potato. The point is it worked, which in turn means that we could possibly receive a much more proper shelter for the night and a possible launching point as well for further expeditions from this area. Plus…” Jirachi suddenly adopted a spark in this eye. “I could maybe educate these natives with my ideas of improving their lives with my genius and knowledge. Oh, the possibilities I tell you, and the overall joy to flex my genius brain muscles in front of them. I will then be hailed as a genius from both worlds. Ooh, my ego sometimes knows no bounds and I am not ashamed to openly admit that.” Jirachi excitedly announced, which turn just made us all sigh while the aforementioned natives were just confused.

I would be describing the overall coloration, hairstyle and armor…or rather clothes these equine looking natives wore, but I will just let you all figure it out with the help of your own imagination, guys.

Plus, they are so blatantly colorful all around, it would be hard for me to even remember their individual color compositions anyway, so why bother?

“Well, anyway, time to say ‘hi’ and show these natives what a genius really looks like. Plus, I generally just want to have a closer look at the village anyway. Like how their society functions and how it compares to ours. Oh, so many learning and teaching possibilities!” Jirachi stated, as he followed the natives out of the woods and into the open.

The way he just casually did that was a bit…off-putting to say the least. But hey, this was the plan from the beginning away, so why not start.

“Well, well, well, this should certainly be interesting. I can’t wait to see how these natives live on a day-to-day basis.” Ampharos commented as well, as he too bushed himself passed the foliage and out into the open world.

“Not to mention having a closer look at their farming methods as well, and what their usual crop yield is as a result.” Victini added as well, which in turn only left me and Nava.

“Well, no time but the present then, I assume. Let’s just go out there and introduce ourselves to these villagers too then. Maybe we will be making a few new friends along the way. That would certainly be a bonus.” I stated with a smile and a shrug, which Nava confirmed with a simple nod.

And with that we were off. Time to make contact.