Locke's gaze flicked nervously between the Unown and the portal. His every instinct screamed 'trap,' and he had half a mind to turn back, return to his bed in Dewford's Pokémon Center, and content himself to forever wonder what could've been.

But if there was a chance...If he could make himself into something useful...

Well, just a peek couldn't hurt, right?

"Wait here," Locke ordered their companions, dropping the satchel bag holding the rest of their Pokémon next to Shi-Shi for safekeeping. They set one foot tentatively over the threshold and, and, when it seemed to stay in tact, pushed the rest of the way through. The Unown-D followed them, almost acting as a guide as they absorbed their new surroundings.

They found themselves in what might've been a sprawling metropolis, now an empty and dilapidated shell of its former grandeur; its once-towering skyline reduced to rubble, its streets silent and empty. Nature had long-since reclaimed the city. The brutalist skyscrapers now served as metal trellises for the vines and ivy snaking up the sides, while smaller buildings were left bursting at the seams with flora of all kinds.

They looked up, and the sky was shaded in a bright, unnatural purple.

The architecture was familiar somehow, the sea air at once nostalgic and unsettling on their tongue. They didn't have time to place it, however, as the Unown suddenly whipped behind them. They turned just in time to watch it disappear through the portal, vanishing with it and leaving Locke trapped in an alien world all on their own.

Well, not completely on their own.



Standing where the portal had been just seconds ago, was a young girl with oddly-styled brunette hair and curious brown eyes. She said nothing as she stepped forward and circled around him, comparing him to her companion:

An equally-shocked mirror image of himself.

The match set stood there in stunned silence for a long moment. Locke's first thought was to introduce himself, but the words died on his tongue as he stupidly realized that the other man already knew who he was. The other Locke shifted slightly, half raising their hand in what might've been a greeting, before dropping it again awkwardly.

The girl stared silently between the two, like the third wheel of a date that was not going well.

"Are you-" Locke began.

"So, um-" the other Locke started.

Both Lockes cut off simultaneously, stuttering over the faux pas and the shock of hearing their own voices.

"You can-"

"I was just-I was just going to ask if this was your...?"

"Oh no! Definitely not."

"Well then where-"

The conversation was ended by the opening of several other portals along the street they were on. Unown of various forms floated through, followed by one-two-five-eleven more Lockes, each accompanied by their own legendary. They, too, were swiftly abandoned, the portals closing as quickly as they appeared, leaving thirteen Lockes in total milling about the street in confusion.

"Welcome."



Thirteen sets of matching eyes were suddenly pulled to the roof of one of the few remaining buildings, where a black-clad figure accompanied by an Unown-Z addressed the crowd. Their voice was barely above a normal speaking volume, but it echoed down the road as though they had shouted.

"You've each made your Wish. Now fight for it. Thirteen have entered. Only one will leave. You have twenty-four hours."

With the rules set, their Unown-Z flew in front of them, and both man and Pokémon flattened into a 2D strip of black, then shattered into nothing.

The fighting didn't start immediately.

Locke looked to their neighbor, and saw their own reluctance mirrored back at them. For a few hopeful moments, it seemed as though everyone would simply refuse.

And then that hope turned to ash in a sea of blue flame.

One of the Locke's across the field stepped from under his Reshiram, outstretched a cerulean-wreathed arm, and cast a line of fire at the doppelganger next to him. Their Latios took the blow for them, and chaos rippled out like waves from that epicenter of violence.

The girl cried out suddenly, the first and only sound she’d made thus far, taking the other Locke by the hand and pulling him forward. He cast a regretful glance back at Locke, before the pair ran off towards the struggling Latios duo, leaving them to fend for themselves.

Instinct took over the parts of him his mind could no longer process, and before he even realized he had started moving he was already halfway down the street. His lack of any legendary was perhaps his greatest asset in these first moments of battle. Being the non-target he was meant he could freely slip away into side alleys and backstreets without notice, even as the dirt-encrusted windows reflected the flashing lights of various attacks, and explosions echoed throughout the crumbling urban landscape around him.

His luck had to end somewhere, though. Locke reached the bricked-off end of one alleyway, and, before he could turn back, a terrifyingly-familiar shadow swooped overhead, casting his hiding spot in darkness.



He pressed himself against the dead-end as Lugia soared above him, weaving between beams of fire, ice, and lightning. Her attackers soon revealed themselves, the three legendary birds forming a tenuous and temporary alliance against the guardian of the seas. They circled around her, casting attack after attack, until at last a Thunder struck her down, sending the titan barreling into the building to Locke's right.

He threw himself to the ground, too late to escape, and tucked head beneath his hands in some vain attempt to protect himself. The skyscraper creaked and groaned, tilting further and further until gravity brought it crashing down into its neighbor. For a few terrifying seconds his entire world was just steel and glass and the shaking earth around him.

Then, quiet.

Locke took a deep breath and immediately choked on clouds of dirt. He took a few minutes to hack what must've been an entire lung, before finally the dust settled enough for him to peer around the darkness with watery eyes.

The brick wall behind him had done its best to uphold this portion of the building, creating a small pocket of safety amidst what would have been certain death. The sounds of fighting continued outside, and every so often a shadow shot past the few pinpricks of light leading into the outside world. The ground rumbled again, sending a few small pieces of debris falling into his little crawlspace.

So this was how he died; in the background of someone else's fight.

He wondered, morbidly, whether it would be better if the whole thing came down on him now, quickly and painlessly, or if starving to death would be worth the sliver of a chance it gave for rescue. Anything, he decided, would be better than the waiting.

"Hey partner! You look like you're in trouble!"

Locke gasped between sobs, out of shock or relief, he didn't know. A Pokémon had squeezed partially through one of the little gaps; her large ears and bright-green mohawk pinned back by the enclosed space, and pristine white fur dulled under layers of dirt and grime.

She cocked her head, strangely docile for the situation. More unusual though, was the bandana wrapped around her neck:

Bright red, with the Delibird Delivery logo printed in white on the corner.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz