Kilo Village

Owen walked with a spring in his step, tail flame blazing happily. The caverns that he lived in had no natural sunlight, but the mushrooms that lined the rocky walls and ceilings gave more than enough light. Not that it mattered; complete darkness was a foreign concept to most Charmander.

The central cavern was a stone's throw across, with many smaller offshoots in either direction. Other villagers made their homes in these rocky caves, mostly Fire Pokémon like himself. In that sense, his adoptive mother was an exception to the population, though she could deal with the heat like any other Fire could.

"Oh, Owen!"

Owen stopped, spotting a large Arcanine bounding over to him. "Hi, Granny Arcanine!"

"Oh, hush, I'm not that old. Auntie Arcanine is just fine." Despite this, she smiled, passing a small bag of apples over. "You're going on a little mock-expedition, are you? I gathered these up just for you."

"Aw, thanks!" Owen graciously took them, counting them for inventory, and slipped the three apples into his pouch.

"I figured it would save you the trouble of going by the apple garden yourself," Arcanine said, fluffy tail wagging. "It's not far, but you're a busy Heart, aren't you?"

"Well, I'm not a Heart yet," Owen said, though his tail and chest both expanded at the thought. "Just wait! This time, I'll get it!"

"Ohh, your eyes are so bright, Owen." She laughed, waving him off.

Owen left at a full sprint, too full of energy to go any slower, and only looked back to wave her goodbye.

The passage narrowed until it was only a reminder to Owen that, one day, he'd have to be more careful about how he walked through it. When he became a Charizard, he'd have to keep to one side so he didn't take up the entryway. Though, now that he thought about it, he didn't see a lot of other villagers pass through this area. They usually kept to themselves—it was a secret location, after all. Which made it even cooler.

Owen stopped at what appeared to be a dead-end of the caves. He hopped onto a small, flat square on the ground. Nothing happened.

"Oh, come on."

Owen stepped off of the tile, swung his arms back, and hopped a bit higher into the air, putting his full weight and gravity behind the jump. The tile depressed a little, but still, nothing happened.

He used to open this so easily. Did he lose weight? Muscle weighed more than fat. Owen worriedly pinched at his gut, wondering if his chubby Charizard genes were coming through before the rest. But it felt normal.

The apparently lightweight Charmander scanned the ground and found a large rock. That'll do. He hauled it over with him and jumped onto the tile again.

Click.

The dead-end glowed a bright cyan, much like the glassy mushrooms. The blockage, a huge boulder, rolled aside, revealing the bright sky. Owen squinted, reptilian pupils narrowing until he could finally adjust to the new normal.

He emerged to the base of a rocky hillside behind him; green fields of grass as tall as he was greeted him ahead. To his left and right was a simple dirt path, carved by traveling Pokémon. Owen headed to the left, knowing that it would be a quick walk to get to Kilo Mountain.

It was a little raised hill in the distance from his perspective, but that was a whole mountain of black rock. The ground rumbled, the boulder that had led to the opening of his hidden village rolling back into place, blending in with the rest of the hill.

A short, quiet walk later, with the summer breeze tickling his flame, Owen stopped where the dirt road converged with many others. Embedded into the ground was a flat, silvery hexagon with a few dim lights lining the sides. The lights weren't very bright in the morning sun—it was mostly for visibility at night. Instead, it made for a colorful, intricate pattern that, from what Owen had read, was meant to be aesthetically pleasing, and had little other functional value.

Owen stepped onto the Waypoint and gently tapped his ankle on the tile. In a flash, he disappeared.

The sky was a blinding blue that morning, not a cloud in sight. With the help of the Waypoint, the fiery explorer appeared in the middle of town in a flash of light. It hadn't felt like anything but a blink, yet in that blink, he went from staring at Kilo Mountain from far away to being within the crater's top, within Kilo Village itself.

"That was so cool!" Owen said. It wasn't his first time, but the wonder of being able to teleport from any other Waypoint to the central one would never wear off for him. Just as this wasn't going to be his first exploration, but it'd be the first one in a slightly harder Dungeon that he could remember.

Owen looked around to gather his bearings. Immediately in the center of town was a sign that said, 'Welcome to Kilo Village!' It was odd to have a welcome sign in the exact middle of the location, but it made sense when most individuals entered through the Waypoints scattered across all of Kilo. The town itself was in the middle of a crater at the top of an extinct volcano. From inside town, one couldn't see anything beyond the dark hills of the crater. The altitude, however, wasn't very high; the mountain was mostly underwater, rather than above the sea—according to the Water Pokémon, at least. Owen didn't intend to test such theories out.

The buildings that surrounded him were no more than two stories tall. Oblong rocks bound by mortar shaped the buildings near the center of town—the oldest buildings of the crater. These black stones were home to nobody. Instead, it served as a hospital for rescued and injured Pokémon. Owen spotted a Chansey through windows of wood and glass, holding a few soft-boiled eggs in her tiny arms. A Miltank was carrying a large jug of milk in the opposite direction.

Owen decided not to think too hard about it.

All around Owen was everything that a Heart would need. The northern side of the crater was dedicated to Dungeon items and equipment. These buildings were made from the same material, but were more recently renovated, lined with displays of seeds and berries, wands and orbs, tonics and vitamins.

The east was dedicated to eateries and restaurants for Pokémon that were either preparing for a mission or returning from one. Sweet and savory scents mixed in the air and the jovial energy of a job well done permeated the atmosphere. If it wasn't for the price, Owen would have eaten there every night.

The west was for training and sparring, fighting one another, attacking dummies, and conquering obstacle courses set up by retired explorers. These buildings were often where experimental materials were used before shifting the techniques into the older buildings. After all, if it could withstand the attacks of the Pokémon that trained there, it could easily handle whatever else the rest of the town had to deal with.

Owen then glanced longingly at the southern part of town. The Thousand Hearts. The building itself was a big, red, heart-shaped structure, with many smaller hearts scattered around: kiosks and special-purpose facilities. Inside the biggest building was where all Hearts met for check-ins, assignments, and training. Why a heart? Owen had no idea, though it might have something to do with their leader's personality.

All of the sights and the bright sky lifted his spirits. He couldn't ignore how nervous his parents were, and that dampened them slightly—but he figured that if he kept acting cheerful, maybe he'd be able to fool himself into truly feeling confident, too. That feeling always nagged at him. The idea that something wasn't right with anything he did. Not that he did it incorrectly, but that something, in general, felt wrong. Even now, it tugged at his mind.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice a passerby Zangoose.

"Kid," he said, "you oughta get off the Waypoint."

"S-sorry!" Owen scrambled away. "Okay. Okay, time to go. I need, uhh, what do my supplies look like?" He rummaged through his bag. "A-and I'm not a kid!" he shouted. "I'm just a late evolver!"

He had two Oran Berries, two elixirs, two apples, a Pecha Berry, a Heal Seed, a Totter Orb, and—just in case—an Escape Orb. That should be enough, hopefully. No need to go to the shop to get anything. He'd want at least one Reviver Seed, or even a tiny one just for the boost to escape from trouble, but he didn't have the funds for that sort of thing. Oh! But what if they had a rare berry or two? Sure, he preferred having his bag half-empty in order to make room for scavenging in the Dungeon, but a few extra berries wouldn't hurt. If he just shuffled the Oran Berries around, perhaps carried the Totter Orb instead?

"Kid. You're in the way."

"S-sorry!" He stumbled. "Wait—I'm not a kid! I told you, I'm a late evolver! I'll have you know, I—uh—I, er…" He finally realized who he was talking to. Not the Zangoose this time. It was a Golem, a behemoth of a rocky sphere, staring down at him from his great height. Defiantly, Owen puffed out his chest. He was a full-grown adult! Or at least an adult! Lots of weaker Pokémon never evolved. He just happened to be strong and slow at evolution.

The Golem sighed and wobbled away.

"Kid… not a kid… I'm just a little late, is all. I bet I'm way stronger than even the average Charmeleon! Stronger than that Golem, too, if he didn't have an advantage." Owen mumbled more to himself, the rest incomprehensible, clutching his bag. "I didn't train with Dad for nothing." He hesitated on that line of thinking. What if he didn't evolve yet because he never got to train with a Charizard before? Could that happen? Is that how evolution worked? Owen shook his head. No, many Pokémon were raised without the same species around, and they evolved just fine. Adopted Pokémon weren't at some—some disadvantage, were they? No, he was just fine! "Yeah, I'm just—"

He bumped right into another patron. "Sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Ahh, it is not a problem."

Owen saw an Alakazam whose mustache was large enough for Owen to walk on like a carpet. Owen's gut twisted with a feeling he couldn't comprehend. But then, he shoved that feeling away, and instead tried to take in exactly who he was talking to.

"Y-you're—you're—!" Owen's eyes sparkled. "Alakazam Nevren! Oh—oh, wow!"

"Ahh, you've spotted me!" Nevren chuckled. He put his two spoons in his left hand and shook Owen's with his right. "It's very nice to meet you."

Owen tilted his head, confused. Hadn't they met before? No, they hadn't. He was just so well-known that he must have had that impression.

Nevren continued. "Ahh, I see you have a Provisionary Heart Badge. Training to become one of the Thousand, are you? There are quite a few open slots coming up soon, you know. Sixteen official retirements."

"Sixteen?" Owen asked. "Wow! How come? Are… are some Pokémon not doing well?"

"Ahh, no, no, it's nothing like that," Nevren said. "These Pokémon are retiring on schedule. There will be a ceremony about that soon, you know. Perhaps you should attend and network with the others."

"But you're an Elite Heart," Owen said. "Do you think I'll be able to, um, get to that level?"

"Well, surely with time, you can. Everybody begins at the Entry tier, of course. But, looking at you…"

Owen felt a cold pit in his stomach at that analytical gaze. Was he being judged, right there, by one of the most Elite Hearts in the whole world?

Nevren nodded. "I see potential. Quite a bit!"

"Y'do?!" Owen said, worries gone instantly. "Wow! Okay! Then I'll definitely do better!"

Nevren nodded. "In fact, why don't I give you a small gift?"

"What? A gift—from you?! Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Please! I'll treasure it!" Owen had no idea why Nevren would want to give him a gift so randomly. But he wasn't going to question a freebie!

"Of course! Here, have this." He handed Owen a small stone. It sparkled in the sun, but was mostly gray, like a shiny rock.

"Cool!" Owen said politely. "What, uh, what's it do?"

"It is a special stone that protects Pokémon that have not yet fully evolved. It's called an Eviolite—and it will be useful as long as it is near your body. I, of course, have no use for it, but you certainly do."

"Oh! That means, so, when I get super strong, that's when I won't even need it." It was a constant reminder that he was a larva when he shouldn't have been. But, at least now he had a boost. "That's the perfect item! Thank you!" Psychologically it was undoubtedly going to feed into some complex, Owen thought, but in terms of practicality? Priceless.

Nevren chuckled. "Be sure to keep it with you!" He walked past Owen, and the Charmander was left puffing a little plume of confused smoke at the Alakazam. Keep it with him? Of course he would!

Completely forgetting about going to the shop, he headed south again to the Heart. There, along the pathway, were many lines of warp tiles, each one with a label engraved on it. They were Waypoints set up by explorers of the past in different regions across the continent, meant for getting there instantly, rather than on foot or by wing. With the tiles sorted by a strange derivative of Unown runes, Owen searched for Unown-W's symbol. "Western Crystal Cave, Western Wetlands, oh! Wooden Wilds! That's it, alright." Owen took a breath. "Tenth section. That's my goal."

Before he had the chance to enter, someone bumped into him.

"S-sorry! Again!" Owen said, a hint of irritability in his voice. This place was too crowded.

"Feh, quit standin'." A huge, orange jaw chittered in front of Owen, owned by a Trapinch.

"Gahi, don't be rude," said an Axew just behind the Trapinch. Right next to the Axew was a Chikorita, who rolled her eyes.

Owen's heart fluttered as if he'd seen old friends. Yet, he didn't even know their names.

The Axew was the first to speak. "I'm sorry about Gahi," he said, motioning to the Trapinch. "We were actually on our way to do a little mission. Or, well, to find one."

"Oh, really? I was going to go exploring in the Wild Woodlands."

"Y'mean the Wooden Wilds?" Gahi asked.

"Y-yeah, that."

"Heh, well, g'luck," Gahi said. "Figure yeh ain't too experienced."

"I am too! I'm super strong! I just… didn't evolve yet."

"Oh, really?" Gahi asked, his starry eyes shining with interest. "Well that makes four o' us. Mispy, Demitri, 'n I all're late evolvers, but we're super tough!"

"Oh! Wait—late evolvers. Is that real?" Owen had just made up the term, but they used it, too. Owen's tail-fire burned a bit brighter at the validation.

"'Course it is!" Gahi said, stomping his tiny foot. "Otherwise, I'd be a Flygon by now!"

"And I'd be a Haxorus," Demitri said. "Well, maybe just a Fraxure." He rubbed at his tusk, tending to a little nick on the right side.

"Meganium…" Mispy said, leaf drooping.

The three collectively sighed.

"I know how you feel." Owen's tail drooped slightly. "I've trained hard enough to become a Charizard already. I'm sure of it! But, it just never happened. It's so weird. Everybody else in my scales would've evolved by now, but…"

"It's too bad," Demitri said. "But, what can you do? We work with what we have, as Heart Entries."

Owen's eyes sparked. "You're one of the Thousand?!"

"Well, three," Demitri said. "We're our own little team!"

"That's so cool! How'd you get in?"

"Hard work," Gahi said.

"And," Demitri said, "we got a good word in from our mentor, an Elite Heart."

"What? Who? Which one?" Owen asked.

"Lucario Rhys," Demitri said.

There was the smallest pause from Owen. He knew the answer. He knew these three were his students. Trapinch Gahi, Axew Demitri, Chikorita Mispy. It was obvious to him! But why? No, don't look crazy. Not today, Owen thought. He feigned a beaming expression. "He's so cool! He's the aura expert, right?"

"Yeah," Demitri said. "And he's super tough!"

"I already met Alakazam Nevren a little while ago! Those two are friends, right?! Oh, can I meet—I mean," he paused. "Um… I mean…"

"Heh," Gahi said, amused. "Maybe when yeh get stronger. 'Til then, we're gonna do our mission." He led the way to the main building. Demitri followed, waving back in farewell. Mispy gave Owen an apologetic smile and followed after them.

Owen watched them with a tilted head. Their entire conversation felt like one giant déjà vu. Everything today did. He shook his head; if he kept thinking like this, his entire day would be ruined. He forced excitement to take over. He had an exploration to do!

"Peh! Pah!"

Embers filled the air. Shrieks of wild Pokémon accompanied them. With their bodies burned, they vanished in thin air, returning to the entrance to the Dungeon. "Sweet!" Owen said, pumping his fist in the air. "This is super easy!" He felt a little bad about hurting those Pokémon, but they were the ones attacking him. Owen felt a gentle sting to his side; one of the Paras had jabbed him in the thigh.

They should be fine enough. Getting ejected from a Dungeon often left the victim exhausted… but ferals like those were resilient.

Owen puffed and leaned against a nearby tree that jutted out from a soft wall. The corridors of Dungeons were always so awkwardly narrow, made from raised ground nearby—in this case, of dirt and rock. A strange gravity prevented him from climbing the walls, let alone flying over them if he ever sprouted wings. Perhaps in his dreams he could.

Owen's stomach growled loudly, breaking him from his train of thought. He tittered and dug through his bag. "I guess fighting all the time can work up an appetite, huh?" The crackling flames of the battle's aftermath spoke back to him. "I need to stop talking to myself."

Owen sat down to enjoy his meal. He grabbed a stick nearby and stuck it through the core of the apple. He wrapped his tail around and kept it in front of him, roasting the apple above the flame, focusing to make the flame hot enough to actually cook it.

Someone growled behind him. Owen sighed. There was never any peace from the ferals of the Dungeon. They wandered aimlessly into these strange distortions of space, with no knowledge about how to leave, or even how they got in.

"I wouldn't do that," Owen warned. He didn't even turn around. He bit into the roasted apple, savoring the sweet, hot taste.

The feral advanced, growling even louder. Suddenly, the ground beneath the Pokémon's feet lit up in a bright yellow. A column of fire engulfed it—and that was it. A quick shriek, and then it was gone from the Dungeon. Satisfied, Owen spun the apple to cook it a bit more. "My signature attack—Fire Trap!" he said to the wind.

Being at such a disadvantage, he had trained day and night to perfect a delayed Fire attack, should he ever be caught off guard when handling things one on one. He wasn't really sure how long he had actually trained; long enough to forget when he actually learned the technique, at least. Still, it took time for him to do it. He could only use it if he had a big opening. But that wasn't so bad. Now, if only he could figure out how to run away and use the attack at the same time.

Owen finished his apple and stood up. "Top shape!" He pumped his fists in the air. "Can't beat me now, Dungeon!"

The ground rumbled, as if Owen had tempted fate a bit too much. "U-uhh—" He looked back.

"Rrr… rrrn… rpphhf…"

Owen's fire burned bright. He was ready to run at a moment's notice. He shoved his hand into his bag, looking for an item that he'd picked up in an earlier section. He found it and looked up just in time to see the foot of a Snorlax stepping through the corridors. This Snorlax was huge—even bigger than he thought was normal for the species. And its arms were a bit longer, too, with long, matted fur. Muscles bulged unnaturally. It wasn't a normal Snorlax—and Owen wasn't prepared for whatever it had in store.

The phantom pain in Owen's chest and back suddenly flared up at the sight of this mutated Pokémon. He had forgotten all about it. Suddenly, Owen remembered his dream, or flashes of it. He remembered his father getting struck, and then exploding in a cloud of blue embers. And some creature—he couldn't remember what—slicing at him. That didn't feel like a dream. But—his father was alive! It had to be a dream.

The Snorlax, however, was anything but. A single swing from its mighty fist would turn Owen to a fine, red mist.

"Nope!" He threw a seed toward the Snorlax and fired a puff of flames along with it. The seed ignited, sending soot and smoke in all directions, both blinding and suffocating the mutant. It roared and rubbed its eyes, stumbling blindly into a wall. Owen, knowing he was outmatched, fled for the next section. He only stopped running once he was sure he was far away. He held onto his tiny knees.

He caught his breath and stood straight. "That was weird," Owen mumbled. "Never saw a Snorlax like that before." He shook his head. Nothing he could do about it now. It was just something to report when he got back to Kilo Village. The Charmander gently held his chest; the phantom pain was fading.

I'm not crazy. I'm not crazy. That was real, and I'm not seeing things. Not crazy.

And so, he advanced. Each section was separated by a small distortion, like a vertical pool of water, but Owen had an easier time checking each time his Badge blinked. The blink indicated a transition into a new part of the Dungeon. Section seven, section eight, section nine… section ten. "Okay, this must be it," he said. "Finally." Between his apparent struggle to differentiate dream from reality, and then the Snorlax sighting, his enthusiasm for the exploration was being sustained only by his own feigned excitement.

He did his research. There was a Waypoint at the end of the tenth section, where the Dungeon's perimeter ended. What great timing, too—Owen was beat! He didn't want to admit it to the Dungeon, but the tenth section was his limit. He looked up at the sky. The sun's rays weren't shining through the tall trees anymore—not directly, at least. It looked like it was going to turn orange soon. If he didn't get home by evening, Alex's cannons were probably going to explode with worry again.

"Hey. Kid."

Owen bristled. "I'm NOT a ki—id…!" He turned around. On the other side of the Dungeon hall, a few paces behind him, was a creature with gray scales, huge jaws, and large wings. His eyes… Owen didn't like those eyes. Trained, focused. Malevolent. What did this one have in mind? He saw that look often in town—outlaws that were captured, still bitter with defeat. But this one wasn't defeated.

Of all the people that he'd met today, this outlaw was the first one that he had no inkling of familiarity with. He had to be careful what he wished for; meeting this Aerodactyl gave him the worst pit in his stomach yet. Maybe it was the apple.

"What's someone like you doing in a place like this?" the Aerodactyl asked. "Looking for an advantage? Nothing but Grass and Bugs here, after all. Fire Type like you? Easy win."

"Y-yeah. Really easy, ha ha…"

"I have an easy time here, too," Aerodactyl replied. "Rock is strong against Bugs. And Flying? Beats 'em both. But you know what's really great about me?"

"Y-yeah? What?"

"Rock beats Fire. Rock also beats Flying. And guess what explorer-types show up the most here?"

"F… Fire and… Flying?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. You're pretty smart, aren't you?"

"I—I know Alakazam Nevren," Owen said. "You should be careful how you act in front of me!"

"Oh, is he around?" Aerodactyl asked. Owen flinched. His hesitation said it all; the winged Pokémon's jaw twisted into a horrible grin. "Guess that won't matter, then, will it?"

"Uhh…! Uhh, then I'll just beat you!" he said. He stomped on the ground and leaned forward, feigning an attack stance.

"Oh, really?" Aerodactyl asked, amused. "That's a laugh. Okay, kid. But I'll give you one last chance. Gimme your bag, and I'll let ya go. Otherwise, I'll—"

All that was left behind were a few stray embers from his tail; Owen bolted.

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