Dark Mind

Author\'s Note: From here on out, any dialogue between Nyx and Elasel should be interpreted as being done telepathically. Nyx cannot talk like Meowth from the show.



“So… Tell me,” began the young man, “What exactly happened? Why was I sleeping on the forest floor?”



“You were conducting an experiment,” Nyx answered, “You wanted to see if you could telepathically explore the mind of a Dark Type, namely me, and attempt to discover a way for Psychic Pokemon to overcome their weakness against my kind.”



“I see,” said Elasel, nodding, “How foolish of me. I’ve lost my memory in the pursuit of such a trivial matter.”



“Good thing you succeeded, then, eh?” asked the Darkness Pokemon.



“What?” asked Elasel in disbelief, “Well, falling to the ground with my memories wiped is an odd victory pose.”



“It’s very true, Master,” said the Murkrow, “You were able to penetrate my innermost thoughts. I felt your presence in my mind, and let me assure you that I’ve never had any psychic, whether human or Pokemon, enter my mind before. You fell to the ground in exhaustion afterwards, however. You were out cold for several hours.”



That surprised Elasel, to say the least. The time he’d spent in the pitch black forest seemed to last an eternity. However, he did find it odd that he was able to survive an eternity without any food or water. He needed to know more. Perhaps Nyx knew what that dark place was.



“Hours, you say?” he said, “But it felt much longer than that, and if what I had was a dream, it was a damned long dream. It seemed to last years- hundreds and hundreds of years.”



“A dream, mast- Elasel?” asked his Pokemon, furrowing his eye brows, “What manner of dream was this?”



“Does calling me by name bother you, Nyx?” asked Elasel, “You may address me however you wish.”



Elasel closed his eyes, then, trying to remember what it had been like in the dark forest. He thought it’d be easy enough to remember what the darkness was like with his eyes closed, but he found himself incapable of reproducing the experience in his head. No matter how hard he tried, the scenario he imagined always seemed to have more light than what he saw in the dark forest. It seemed he couldn’t remember much about it, in retrospect. However, he tried to describe it as best as he could.



“I was on my back on some grass, my head against what felt like the root of a tree,” he began, “Much like how I really was when I woke up, really, only that I couldn’t really see anything. It was pitch black, without any light at all. Come to think of it, I couldn’t actually see I was in a forest. I just… know I was, though.”

The Murkrow was eyeing him suspiciously now, the somewhat-frustrated look on its face hinting it was thinking as best as it could. He then asked, “By any chance, were you… unable to move?”



The memory of the time he spent bound to the forest floor, seemingly by an unseen force, flooded back into Elasel’s mind. He remembered a bit more now. He recalled how there was no sound that could be heard- how there really was nothing to sense except for the blackness. He recalled not being able to move, as though paralyzed.



“That’s right, actually,” he said, “it felt like I was bound to the floor by some unnatural force. I also remember how the blackness seemed to hide everything. I couldn’t feel anything from above me, couldn’t smell anything, and I especially couldn’t hear anything. As for sight, all I could see was the blackness. Eyes opened or eyes shut, it made no difference.”



The black bird nodded its head, and after pausing to think, asked, “Anything else?”



The young telepath racked his brain again for any details he could give, but found he had nothing left.

Whatever other information he could have given was probably lost now, somewhere in that darkness. It took him a while to give up, but he finally shook his head and waited for the bird to say something.



“I’m afraid I don’t know what happened to you, exactly,” said Nyx, “but I met a Houndoom once who told me she’d had a similar experience. I believe it’s odd that a human and a Pokemon would go through the same unusual dream. Regardless...”



“Regardless?” questioned Elasel, pondering what his Murkrow had just told him.



“We need to get out of here,” said Nyx, “I’ve lived in this forest for a while, but I really don’t think you’d like to live here for life.”



Elasel gave a nod, and then frowned, remembering he didn’t exactly know where he was headed before his little coma. He sighed and then asked, “Nyx, would you happen to know why I wandered into Eterna Forest in the first place?”



The pair made their way out of Eterna Forest and headed for the quiet town of Floaroma. They’d left the woods at twilight, which was quite stupid, since it was too early to travel stealthily and yet too late for them to catch any people in the quiet town. They had no intention of stopping at Floaroma, really. It was just that Elasel didn’t have a bike with which to take the shortcut from Eterna City to Oreburgh.



The sun was out completely by the time they’d reached Floaroma. Elasel had walked nonstop with Nyx, who refused to stay in his Dusk Ball, flying a few feet above him. Telepathy made communication an easy task. It would have been awkward if he had to yell so Nyx could hear him.



“So, Nyx, what can you tell me about myself,” asked Elasel telepathically, “other than the part where I’m a Pokemon trainer with zero badges?”



“Well, like I said, my master,” communicated Nyx, “You lost your first gym battle, and you were looking for Grass Pokemon to fight Rourke’s Rock Types. I don’t know much more than that, since that was all you told me when you found me in Eterna Forest.”



Elasel made a mental note to tell his Pokemon more about himself to avoid having so much trouble if he ever attempted to experiment with the minds of Dark Types again, speaking of which...



“Nyx, what level are you? Think you can handle Roark’s Pokemon even with a type disadvantage?” he asked, “I’m kind of broke and without any Pokeballs on me.”



“Errr... about that,” answered Nyx, “I don’t really know. I used to be able to tell before you infiltrated my mind, but now I can’t tell. I was Level 10 when you caught me, but I don’t know...”



“Impossible,” said Elasel, “Level 10 and you nearly killed a Haunter with one Dark Pulse?”



Elasel became quiet after that, remembering what he’d done to the Ghost Pokemon. Nyx seemed to remember as well, but chose not to press the topic, instead saying “Like I said, I’m not sure about my level anymore. I think I can take him, though, with proper direction. I trust you haven’t forgotten how to command your Pokemon?”



“Surprisingly, I seem to remember everything about Pokemon,” answered Elasel, “Actually, I might even know more now than I did before. Still, my Chimchar got steamrolled last time.”



“Hold on,” said Elasel, stopping in his tracks, “What happened to my other Pokemon? Surely I didn’t catch you by throwing a rock at you. That’d be stupid.”



“You left them at your place for safekeeping,” said Nyx, “That’s what you told me before conducting the experiment. You didn’t let me out of my ball at all except for the experiment, however, so I can’t really tell you much about it.”



“Well, that’s a bit of a drag, now, isn’t it?” asked the trainer, “I guess we’ll just have to deal with it. Come on. I think I see Jubilife City up ahead. Man, it’s awfully bright. Does that city ever sleep?”



Elasel turned out to be right about the city never sleeping. He hadn’t gotten within ten paces of the brightly-lit buildings when a short boy wearing a white shirt, shorts, and a baseball cap approached him with a Pokeball in hand. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what would happen next.



“Rattata, tackle his Murkrow!” yelled the lad, his face full of vigor and excitement.



At least, his face was full of excitement until he realized Murkrow was flying 15 feet above the ground, and therefore out of his Mouse Pokemon’s reach. Elasel had to wonder if this kid was even authorized to wield a Pokemon in battle. People were supposed to get licenses before being allowed to battle, after all, unless you were appointed as an assistant by a Pokemon Watcher like Professor Rowan.



Still... It didn’t seem right to treat the kid any less than another opponent. He was the one who issued the challenge after a-



“Hey mister!” interrupted the kid, “You gonna’ move or what?”



“Insolent child,” muttered Nyx through their mental link, “Can I act freely, Master?”



“Sorry, Nyx, but no,” answered Elasel, “I need to practice giving commands for the gym battle. That said, lift his Rattata into the air, and then drop it, followed by a quick pursuit. You can still do that, right?”



“Indeed,” answered Nyx, “I shall do as you command.”



The Murkrow lunged at the Rattata, gripping it in its claws before rising back into the air some fifty feet. Had it not been for the mental link the Murkrow and his trainer shared, he was sure that he wouldn’t be able to hear his master clearly enough to fight well. It wasn’t a problem in this case, however, since he already had his orders.



Nyx shot a glance at the panicking Rattata in his talons and dropped it. He then flew quickly ahead of the Rattata, ramming his black body into it not once, not twice, but three times. The Rattata was knocked out long before it landed on a nearby bush.



“Rattata, return!” yelled the boy as he recalled the Pokemon. He hadn’t given up yet, however, drawing a second Pokeball, and sending out a tiny bird-like Pokemon with a white flash.



Elasel was kind of hoping it’d be a Pidgey since the boy had a Rattata. Those things were really rare in Sinnoh. It didn’t matter much to him, though, as Nyx stayed in the air, awaiting orders while the Starly began to fly.



It was a quick battle. The Murkrow seemed to have a very big level advantage over the Starly, as he was able to take the tinier bird out with one Pursuit, which wasn’t even suited to the situation. He’d just decided to use it as a makeshift tackle.



With that, the battle was over and the kick handed over part of his savings as a reward. The amount Elasel found in his hand made him frown. It wasn’t even enough to buy a Pokeball. He guessed a little was better than nothing and said goodbye to the little boy, who ran at the speed of a Poochyena towards the Pokemon Center.



Elasel gave it some thought and then decided to go there, too. Nyx was relatively unscathed during the battle, but he was curious if the Pokemon Center would be able to tell his Murkrow was a bit different.

“Come to me,” he said, and the Darkness Pokemon descended to him.