Written commission by  PhobosWrites

The air was cool in the Slumbering Weald. Everything was mired in this soft quiet that balanced that fine line between foreboding and peaceful. The weald could easily be an eerie place, especially the further one traveled into it. But on this night Zeydaan felt quite at peace as they wandered through the lush surroundings lit by moonlight filtering through the trees. It was like this was a place frozen in time, a slice of comfort detached from the world around them, some place to just exist.

In truth Zeydaan didn’t have much of a solid reason to be in the Slumbering Weald. Going there was nothing more than a whim, a spot of sightseeing on Zeydaan’s backpacking adventure through Galar. There wasn’t anything that they hoped to find or do, they just wanted to take in the sights and maybe find a cool Pokemon or two. After all, of all the places in Galar this was the one where the most rumors and legends arose. While most places had long since been mapped and surveyed for all their native pokemon in Galar, the weald still held as many mysteries as the oceans themselves.

Of course, most of that was mainly rumor and legend. Zeydaan had been more than a tad disappointed when they saw the gaudy souvenir stands with “I survived the Slumbering Weald” and “Where Legends Still Live” t-shirts and hats not too far from the Weald’s entrance. It only made sense that the hometown of the last two Galar Gym League champions and connected to the Weald would become a bit of a tourist trap, but it still felt a bit cheap.

Zeydaan could at least find comfort in the actual forest itself. It was something that was easy to get lost in just exploring and admiring the soft beauty of it all. Of course, that was a very literal statement in this case, for after just fifteen minutes of wandering Zeydaan had suddenly lost all sense of direction. Grumbling to themselves they pulled out their phone. But there was no service at all out this deep in the woods and not even having the Rotom model of their phone would have helped in this case.

Although they were slightly concerned, Zeydaan didn’t worry too much about being lost. It wasn’t like Slumbering Weald was a very dense forest, the pathways although long and winding were fairly clear. Enough walking would get Zeydaan out and back to the entrance. It’s not like the forest was actually massive, its structure just looped back on itself in a way that made it seem larger than it was. As long as Zeydaan kept their wits about them, they were going to be fine.

This was all very sound planning. If Zeydaan followed their own advice, they would have absolutely made it out safe. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t going to get much of a chance for it. Because just as they started trying to figure out the best path to try and retrace their steps with, they were met with a strange buzzing sound. They winced, craning their neck back and forth in a futile effort to figure out the source. The sound didn’t come from any direction, it was like it was from inside Zeydaan’s own head.

As the sound grew louder it sounded more like radio static. And within the harsh, buzzing tones other sounds were layered in. Strange beeps and sirens, garbled voices speaking languages Zeydaan had never heard, and even Zeydaan’s own voice started to layer upon each other in chorus with the buzzing. The cacophony was overwhelming, unlike anything Zeydaan had ever felt in their life. Holding their head in their hands they clamped their eyes shut and tried to just wait it out. Yet the frequency only grew louder, the intensity of the sounds doubling until a garbled song played out intermixed with the frayed, frantic sound of Zeydaan’s own voice playing back their own thoughts in a feedback loop.

But then it suddenly vanished. It is a vague term. It could refer to the sounds, or it could refer to the pressure in Zeydaan’s head. But it could also mean other things. It could just as easily have been Zeydaan, or the thoughts that they had been thinking. And in this case, it did mean more than one thing. The noise did disappear, much to the relief of Zeydaan. But as they opened their eyes, they realized with a start that ‘it’ was something else as well.

It was a strange feeling to look up and know that the sky was no longer there. Zeydaan stared wide eyed up at the inky black void that overcast the world like an umbrella. At a glance it could have passed as the sky. But staring for even just a moment would reveal that it just wasn’t quite right. There was no moon, there were no stars, not even the tops of trees were visible in Zeydaan’s line of sight. Everything was dark and cold and empty. Zeydaan could only see at all because of the faint glow of their phone screen as they peered into the abyss.

And then the abyss’s eyes opened.

Two crimson rings appeared in the inky dark, the insides of both filled with a near blinding golden light. Zeydaan fell back, shielding their eyes as best they could as the circles appeared to push out from the void that replaced the sky. Slowly it took shape, this strange being of light lacking a finite form. It was amorphous and strange, wisps of light trailing off its head and limbs. Zeydaan could only look on in awe as they realized what they were looking at.

It was nothing, yet all the same it was everything. The being crawled out of nothing and floated there in the sky, impossibly large and entirely real. It was so real in fact that Zeydaan was convinced the world around them was the fake, that the sky was still there, but that this thing was so much more than it, that somehow, someway this thing blotted out the sky with its very presence. The sky’s disappearance was merely an illusion, although Zeydaan didn’t doubt for a moment that this thing could pull off such a feat in actuality.

After all, who was Zeydaan to doubt a god?

Arceus was never something Zeydaan put much thought into. It was a legend like any other, rooted in history and very important to the culture of many different regions. But Zeydaan never imagined they’d be face to face with the thing, let alone its primordial, unrefined version mostly found in cave paintings and the oldest documentations. Zeydaan didn’t know what to do, dealing with Arceus wasn’t exactly something they were well equipped for. Especially not as it shifted its head and its eyes pointed down directly at Zeydaan.

To be looked at by Arceus was, to put it simply, strange. It did not hurt, it did not feel great. There was no agony, there was no joy. Instead it just felt strange. It was this profound wrongness, an unordinary feeling that filled Zeydaan’s entire body. It was their body, it was all wrong. At that moment Zeydaan couldn’t move. Every fiber of their body, every atom was held hostage, each one held down by an invisible radiant appendage of Arceus. And the longer Zeydaan looked back at Arceus, the more this wrongness bored into their brain, their very soul. Something was changing, something was wrong, something was never going to be the same again.

And in what was without question the most profound, world altering moment of Zeydaan’s life, Arceus seemed to find nothing of note. What felt like a lifetime for Zeydaan passed in a fraction of a second. Arceus’s gaze never even lingered on Zeydaan. It was as fluid and unimpeded as the passing glow of a lighthouse lantern. There was nothing significant down there, not significant enough for Arceus.

With its gaze off of Zeydaan, they slowly came to their senses. They could see the glimmer of the sky begin to return, as well as the rest of their surroundings. Arceus remained of course, and Zeydaan had a feeling that they would not withstand another look from this primal being. Trying to stand up was a challenge, their legs felt like jelly and they suddenly felt quite sick. Yet they pushed themselves up anyways, wobbling and stumbling forward. Zeydaan caught themselves, landing on all fours and scrambling back up onto their paws.

And then they ran. Or, at least, they ran to the best of their abilities. Even minutes after escaping the gaze their whole body still felt so wrong. Their muscles screamed as each passing moment of exertion chiseled away more and more at their constitution. This was wrong, Zeydaan’s body was fighting them each step of the way. It was almost as if their body wanted them to stay put and finish what had started. Fighting against it was nearly impossible, and after a half hearted sprint Zeydaan collapsed to the forest floor once more.

At that point Zeydaan was resigned to their fate. There was no way they were going to make it out of there. This was a contest against something beyond their understanding. It wasn’t even a challenge to Arceus, hell, it wasn’t even a game. It was procedural, as simple as breathing was for Zeydaan. There was no contesting that, not in a million years.

Yet, all the same, fortune smiled on Zeydaan that night. Anybody could find strange things in the Slumbering Weald if they looked hard enough. But Zeydaan was uniquely lucky to have two once in a lifetime encounters that night. One had drained them of everything, leaving Zeydaan without any energy or hope for escape. And the other, far less otherworldly encounter, just so happened to offer them salvation. Zeydaan wasn’t even sure if they were still conscious as they saw the former champion of Sinnoh extend a gloved hand down to help Zeydaan off the ground.

And after that strange vision, the only thing Zeydaan saw for quite some time after was darkness. And the last thing that passed through their addled mind was that they deserved one of those kitschy t-shirts after all.

In fact Zeydaan did not dream up seeing Cynthia. The next morning Zeydaan found themselves in a bed with their phone strangely insisting that they were in Sinnoh. And Zeydaan would have just assumed this was a dream if not for the note on the bedside table. Apparently not only did Cynthia save their life, they got them on the first flight back to Sinnoh. And now Zeydaan was at Cynthia’s private estate up in the mountains. Apparently whatever Pokemon she came here on was pretty fast. If that was even possible, they really weren’t sure. This in and of itself was a lot to take in, but it was the last bit of the note that really caught Zeydaan.

“I’m sure you’re going to already notice some changes. Contact with Arceus is never healthy and you got more than a taste of it. Try not to panic too much. Get adjusted as best you can and come meet me outside. I’ll be next to the abnormally tall Garchomp, you can’t miss me.”

Upon looking down, Zeydaan quickly learned what Cynthia meant. Their fur was the most stark, eye grabbing change. Outside of one unfortunate night at a party with a bunch of loose fur dye lying around, Zeydaan had never had blue fur. Yet now most of their body was covered in this coarse, heavy layer of cerulean hair. Their arms had a more creamlike color, similar to what their chest used to look like. There were still many patches and swaths of their normal coloration, but they faded into large sections of this new, wrong color.

A closer look revealed that Zeydaan’s body was also bigger. Their muscle mass had certainly increased, but not in a way that was all that attractive. It wasn’t biceps and a six pack, but more a sort of messy, uneven spread of bulk. Zeydaan’s body wasn’t exactly all that appealing to look at. It wasn’t mangled by any means, but a quick glance revealed that something was extremely wrong.

Zeydaan rubbed their head, thinking back to those last few minutes of consciousness in the forest. It was all a messy blur, but they knew that whatever happened to their body, it was because of that. And somehow Cynthia knew some way to help them. Zeydaan had no clue how she was going to be able to help them. But they also knew that their options were extremely limited and that beggars couldn’t be choosers. And it’s not like having the help of a former champion was bad, maybe she had some connections.

As it turned out, ‘abnormally tall’ was a bit more than Zeydaan expected. They’d heard that Cynthia’s Garchomp was something else, but this thing was taller than them and then some. Scars adorned its body, a patchwork tapestry of battles that Zeydaan had a sneaking feeling were mostly victories. It took Zeydaan a few moments to even recognize that Cynthia was there because they were so taken aback by that beast. It was impressive, and a little scary, Zeydaan could only imagine how many eggs it took for that bad boy to pop out of one. In that moment Zeydaan was quite happy to know that Cynthia was helping them and that they wouldn’t have to worry about that behemoth bearing down on them.

Cynthia turned to face Zeydaan. She smiled softly, gesturing for them to come closer. After a bit of hesitation and with a lot of side eye glancing at the monstrous garchomp, they scooted over towards Cynthia.

“Thanks for saving me,” Zeydaan muttered, thinking that was as good a way to start a conversation as any in this situation.

“It was only right,” Cynthia answered, “I’d say you were fairly lucky that I was there in the weald three days ago.”

“Yeah, I- wait, three days? I just woke up!”

“I’m shocked you’re up this early to be perfectly honest,” Cynthia shrugged, “but then again, you’re not exactly a normal person anymore. A bit of extra strength and recovery power isn’t unsurprising.”

“Yeah, about that- why am I here? Like, with you. I get the whole saving me thing, but I figured you’d take me to a hospital or something!”

Cynthia sighed, “to put it short, you’re becoming a Pokemon. And that’s not exactly something even the best hospitals in Sinnoh, Galar, or anywhere else for that matter could treat.”

“...Excuse me?” Zeydaan looked down at their body again. It’d be a lie to say the thought hadn’t crossed their mind when they saw all that fur and growth. But being told it to their face was a different sort of feeling. It was like a bucket of cold water being dumped on them.

“I can’t explain it too well myself, but these past few years I’ve been studying Arceus. There are legends that date back to as early as recorded history of those ‘touched’ by Arceus changing into Pokemon.”

“And that happened to me?”

“Well, I didn’t see Arceus myself, but given the fevered mumbling about Arceus as I helped lug you out of the forest and the fact that I doubt blue is your natural fur color…”

“Yeah,” Zeydaan sighed, “yeah… so, how do we fix it?”

“We don’t.”

“What?”

“There’s no ‘fixing’ this, it’s not a medical condition,” Cynthia tucked her hair behind her ear, “you’ve been remade, broken down and put back together by potentially the strongest being in the universe. You could even argue that since Arceus did this to you, that was its way of ‘fixing you’.”

Zeydaan gritted their teeth, clenching their fists as they tried to reconcile with that. It wasn’t just something they could accept. There was this intense, gut feeling that this was wrong. They felt betrayed, lied to even. Without even thinking, they started to feel quite angry.

“Are you serious?! You said you were going to help me!” Zeydaan snarled, losing themselves for a moment in this feeling. It wasn’t a natural reaction, at least natural by their own standards. Something about the changes had folded into this reaction, muddling it into something more primal and heated.

“I am going to help you,” Cynthia crossed her arms, “I just can’t help you with changing back. But what I can help you with is making sure that you don’t wind up as some random upstart trainer’s newest team member or getting sold on a black market.”

Zeydaan exhaled sharply, trying to calm themselves down. Getting angry wasn’t going to do them any favors, “what did you have in mind?”

“I’m going to train you. You’re turning into a very powerful Pokemon. If you know how to handle your own body and abilities, you’ll be able to live as relatively comfortable a life as possible with that body. But you need to learn how to handle yourself, how to use your own power.”

“...And there’s really no going back?”

Cynthia shook her head.

“Then… I guess that’s the best I can ask for. Sure, train me…!”

“It won’t be easy, this will be grueling and intense, you’ll receive medical care, but that won’t exactly prevent you from getting hurt in the first place.”

“...I’m ready for it. If this is really my only option- then I’ve got to.”

“Great, Garchomp, use Giga Impact.”

Zeydaan had just about half a second to respond to the situation. Garchomp’s movements were blindingly fast, like a crack of lightning. In theory, Zeydaan’s body was already at a point where it physically could have reacted. Even with the uneven growth and the rather minor shifts thus far, their body was stronger and faster than it ever had been before. Of course, physical ability was only half the battle. And even if Zeydaan had fully changed from head to toe, there would have been no way to counter or dodge. Their reaction time and combat sense was just nonexistent.

So, instead of deftly dodging out of the way at the last second Zeydaan caught the full force of the Garchomp’s head on their chest. It was like an explosion, the pressure was immense, concentrated to a single point for all of a moment before erupting through every fiber of Zeydaan’s body. The air rushed from their lungs as the shock to both body and mind loosened their muscles. And once that happened, the force of the impact just launched them back. Their body sailed limply through the air before crashing into a tree with enough force that it cracked.

Zeydaan crumpled against the trunk, panting heavily as they caught their breath. It took them a few moments to realize that they didn’t die. After a few woozy, spinny moments where the world seemed unsure if it wanted to be upside down rightside up or covered in blurry stars, they finally focused themselves enough to glare at Cynthia.

“What. Was. That?”

“Training,” Cynthia mused, “it started. Garchomp, run it back.”

The garchomp nodded before focusing its gaze onto Zeydaan. Then all Zeydaan saw was a streak of dark blue heading right for them. This time they were almost close to ready. The plan was to just roll out of the way, banking on the fact Garchomp probably couldn’t turn moving at that speed. But as Zeydaan tried to do so, they found their body rooted in place. The best they could do was squirm a bit before impact.

This time the tree outright broke, splintering into shrapnel as Zeydaan fell back onto it in a heap. Every bit of their body ached, the pain was intense and all encompassing. Yet Zeydaan was surprised. They had to be dead, they wouldn’t have survived a single blow like that, let alone two. Yet at most Zeydaan might have cracked a rib or three. They’d always heard Pokemon were naturally more resilient than other lifeforms, but this was ridiculous. Of course, at the moment Zeydaan was pretty happy about it in this case.

“I’d recommend dodging this next one, even with your newfound hardiness you’re probably not gonna stay conscious,” Cynthia suggested as she walked closer to Zeydaan and the garchomp.

Zeydaan winced, trying once more to stand up, to move, to do anything at all. But they were frozen, out of options, unable to control their own body.

“You’re paralyzed. A pokemon who is paralyzed may not be able to move,” Cynthia said, “now, garchomp: dragon claw.”

Thankfully for Zeydaan, they lost consciousness right as the garchomp’s arm made contact. The finer points of that specific pain were lost in the mire of unconsciousness. The next thing they knew they were sitting up with a start, gasping in shock as they met eyes with Cynthia.

“Gah! I…” Zeydaan blinked a few times, “is it over?”

“Yes,” Cynthia chuckled softly as she sprayed a potion on Zeydaan’s chest.

“Did I… fail?

“It wasn’t a lesson you could fail, it was just to teach you right away that you’re going to deal with incredible force. This isn’t going to be a fair fight, not ever. Consider that your wakeup call.”

“Message received, I guess,” Zeydaan sighed, “how long was I out this time?”

“Oh, it’s been six minutes since you were knocked out,” Cynthia said in a matter of fact tone.

“You’re kidding me.”

“Revives are quite potent, it’s a shame they only work on Pokemon.”

“...Yeah,” Zeydaan looked down, feeling a rather heavy mixture of feelings at that moment.

“If you’re ready we can move onto the next lesson,” Cynthia said as she stood.

“Not if it’s your monster of a garchomp wailing on me again I’m not,” Zeydaan groaned.

“The opposite actually, I want you to get used to your new strength and hopefully maybe even use a proper move or two.”

“You want me to fight? Like this?”

“No, I want you to try,” she gave a reassuring smile, “we need to start somewhere, and the more of a base we nail down when we can still verbally communicate: the better.”

Zeydaan blinked as they considered the thought. If they were becoming a pokemon, it did make sense that they’d eventually lose the ability to speak. Suddenly their throat felt very dry, as if they’d already been robbed of the ability just for thinking about it. But it was just nerves, nerves mixed in with that existential dread about becoming something entirely not themselves. At the very least it did make Zeydaan want to master this while they still had time. So in some roundabout way, it was a motivator.

As they stood up, they felt more alien in their own body than ever. Their legs just did not feel right, it was like they were settled and bent in the wrong way. It didn’t hurt, but every fiber of their being knew it wasn’t right. This was all the more concerning considering that Zeydaan’s legs were still mainly the same. Beyond some extra bulk and a new coloration, their sculpt and build and shape were pretty much unchanged. Yet there was this profound wrongness that Zeydaan couldn’t ignore.

“How are you feeling?”

“Heavy,” panted Zeydaan, “it’s like I’m standing on my tip toes but my own body weight is too much for me.”

“Have you considered going on all fours?”

Zeydaan glared at Cynthia, not even giving that suggestion the dignity of a response. She chuckled a little to herself as she turned and lead Zeydaan back outside. That garchomp looked up from a pile of now neatly chopped wood that used to be a tree and over at its trainer.

“Alright garchomp, this one is going to be pretty easy for you. Just stand there and look cool. Don’t try and block anything. If you feel the need to block or defend yourself: you lose. Got it?”

The garchomp nodded, its eyes looking especially fiery as it considered the challenge. With that Cynthia walked off and leaned against the side of the building. She waited for a moment in silence before calling out.

“Hey, that’s your cue to start trying to attack Zeydaan.”

“Huh? Uh, right… Err, how do I do that? I get a feeling if I just try punching them you won’t like that,” Zeydaan looked back.

“You… are correct about that,” Cynthia sighed, “you’re not going to be able to punch anything soon. Try thinking like what you’re going to be. What would Zacian do?”

“I don’t know, use a sword?”

“You haven’t earned your sword yet.”

“Wait I have a sword?”

“Not yet you don’t, right now you’ve just got a very strong body build like steel all the way down to your skeleton. How do you use that to your advantage?”

Zeydaan sighed, eyeing up the garchomp. It was quite relaxed, just standing there and waiting. It was clear that it saw no worry in whatever Zeydaan might pull out. And it’s not like Zeydaan could blame them. After all, what could they do to even make a dent on a behemoth like that? It was like what Cynthia said, all Zeydaan had at the moment was a really strong, heavy body-

Actually…

With a deep breath they lowered their body slightly. This was immeasurably stupid but it was about the only idea they had. Zeydaan wasn’t exactly familiar with the sorts of moves a zacian would use, but they were pretty sure of how one certain attack worked. After a moment of calming their nerves, Zeydaan rushed forward, holding their head out in front of them like a battering ram just like garchomp had done. Given the general discomfort in their body, their speed wasn’t exactly all there. But their form wasn’t half bad given the general unevenness of their body.

Then impact came. It was distinctly different being on this side of the explosion. The garchomp’s body was firm as a wall, but at the very least ramming this wall didn’t feel like it did horrible damage. It kind of stunned Zeydaan for a second, but it didn’t break them down like getting hit with it did. Zeydaan gulped, pulling back out of instinct as they eyed the garchomp. Unsurprisingly, it was unphased by Zeydaan’s effort. It’s not like they were just going to suddenly send this monster flying with a headbutt.

“Hm, so you aren’t hopeless,” Cynthia remarked, “that’s very good.”

“Huh? But I didn’t do anything…” Zeydaan huffed.

“You attempted the only attack you’d have a feasible chance of pulling off. You got hit with giga impact twice and almost got the form right for doing it yourself. If you were a bit more comfortable with your body you might have managed to do some damage.”

“Seriously?”

“Mhm, of course since you passed that so quickly, no point in laboring on you trying to pull off more flashy things. Or trying to bite garchomp. You’ve proven that you can learn from what gets dished out, that’s what matters.”

“Gee, thanks, I-”

Zeydaan was promptly cut off by garchomp letting out a growl. They jumped back in shock, watching as the pokemon bent down slightly, digging its claws into the ground beneath it. Then the entire world began to shake around them. Their balance was already pretty awful at this point, so it didn’t take much for Zeydaan to spill onto the ground.

“Tch, what now?!”

“Earthquake, I’m sure you didn’t notice the hand signal I gave our friend garchomp here, but once I give that signal, that lets them know it's earthquake time.”

“What do you want me to do??” Zeydaan tried their best to get back on their feet, but the force of the earthquake just kept them down. They’d never get back onto two legs like this, their sense of balance was just too shot.

“Survive, ideally,” Cynthia remarked, “of course the actual goal of this lesson is one you need to learn for yourself.”

“Not even going to give me a hint, huh? Fine…”

Zeydaan took a few moments to catch their breath. Whatever this lesson was, it wasn’t nearly as involved as the combat that started this all off. They could take their time and try to ride the earthquake out. Heck, maybe that’s all this was: a test of endurance. In a way Zeydaan wasn’t incorrect, however endurance is a fairly loose term. In this case it didn’t mean ‘endure the earthquake’ but instead ‘endure the rocks’.

They learned as much as soon as some dislodged earth and soil went flying at their face. Zeydaan ducked down as the mass exploded behind them. Upon looking back up, Zeydaan was met with several sharpened stones flying towards them. They would have all connected without question. Zeydaan wasn’t able to dodge them at all. The only reason they didn’t test the armor this new fur provided was because they were aimed short of the collapsed Zeydaan.

Zeydaan panted heavily, squinting to keep the dust out of their eyes as everything settled around them. Cynthia stood there before him, unmoving, an analytical look in her eyes that bore into Zeydaan’s soul. It hardly felt like she was the same woman who had invited them here. That quiet, curious politeness had faded away into a determined, almost icy demeanor. Zeydaan was beginning to understand the former champion’s reputation in the world of battles.

“I doubt that was a case of you realizing that garchomp wasn’t going to hurt you, you really should have made some effort to dodge that.”

“C-can we take a break?” Zeydaan asked, their voice hoarser than it was this morning. Were they already beginning to lose grasp of their own vocal chords, “I can barely stand right now… I need a minute. Please…”

“Sure, you could take a break,” Cynthia remarked casually.

With a relieved sigh Zeydann fell onto their back, rubbing their calf muscles. Their whole body felt so strained and tight, it was like Zeydaan was packed into a package that was just a bit too small for their own good. At least they had a moment to collect themselves and assess the minor changes that had progressed during that first bit of action.

There was a soft thwip as something zipped past Zeydaan’s head. As they looked back their blood ran cold. It was an ultra ball, one that had missed Zeydaan but not by much. Looking back they saw Cynthia, already holding a second ball in her hands.

“The next one I’ll actually aim with,” Cynthia remarked, glaring down.

“Y-you said we’re on break!”

“You’re on break, and a trainer like me knows an injured, tired pokemon is the easiest one to catch. No need to knock you out if you’re going to lie on the ground for me. Now, if you don’t want to get caught, just don’t get hit.”

Zeydaan froze up for a moment as they saw Cynthia wind up for the throw. They needed to move: now. It was such a dire, understood moment that they didn’t even think. Their body just moved, propelled by sheer muscle strength and necessity. It wasn’t just a last minute dodge, their body leapt forward and landed with force on the ground several meters away. Zeydaan’s fingers dug into the earth as their body suddenly was awash with this bizarre comfort. It took them a moment to realize that they were standing, but on all fours.

All that discomfort had popped like a bubble. Their body’s structure no longer felt wrong because it had corrected itself. During the earthquake their body had shifted further and further, to a point where bipedal stance was an impossibility. The last of those changes came in those moments of instinctive peril as they avoided the pokeball. Zeydaan tried to not linger on the fact that they couldn’t stand up on two legs anymore. As much as it bothered them, they had bigger fish to fry.

“There we go, you’re finally getting it,” Cynthia said as she wound up once more and launched a ball right at Zeydaan.

This time Zeydaan fully trusted their own body. It was a direct head on throw so Zeydaan launched themselves to the right, running as fast as they could that way. As it turned out, that speed was quite fast. So fast in fact they misjudged their own speed and smacked right into the side of the manor. Zeydaan shook their head, gaze darting back to Cynthia just in time to see the next ball fly.

Zeydaan plodded in a serpentine pattern, each step’s impact reshaping their hands and feet just a bit more. This exertion was in a way expediting the changes, pushing their body further through metamorphosis to help them stay safe. Perhaps Zeydaan would have been frustrated by that, feeling their hands shift to paws and losing those thumbs after just a minute of running. But right then and there Zeydaan was more focused on not getting stuck in a ball.

After this went on for a few more throws Zeydaan suddenly felt the ground as it began to shake once more. They grimaced, catching a glimpse of garchomp once again forcing out an earthquake. They were still standing for the moment, but any uncertainty with their movement was going to spell disaster. They couldn’t afford to trip themselves up, especially since the balls were still flying.

Things were starting to feel hopeless. A frustrated growl escaped Zeydaan’s maw as they kept dodging and weaving. Cynthia wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. And while Zeydaan’s comfort on all fours was certainly an improvement, they were quickly running out of steam. All this exertion was just a bit too much. The earthquake in particular was expediting the inevitable failure.

That’s when Zeydaan went for the desperation move. While garchomp was causing that earthquake, it seemed fairly rooted in place. But there was a good chance that it also wasn’t ready to take an attack while doing that. Zeydaan waited until right before Cynthia threw another ball. The moment it left her fingers Zeydaan bolted forward, heading straight to the garchomp. Their muscles ached as the strain started to become too much. Burning this much energy meant this was do or die. There wasn’t going to be a second shot. So all Zeydaan could do was angle their head forward and brace for impact.

The earthquake ended in an instant. It confused Zeydaan, seeing as how they never actually connected with garchomp’s body. They would have felt that brick wall feeling again, yet this time it was like they had been frozen in place, cut off and held by something. When they finally opened their eyes, they saw that the garchomp was holding their head with its claws. It took Zeydaan a moment to realize what had just happened.

“Tsk, looks like you lost garchomp, you guarded,” Cynthia mused as the garchomp let out a crestfallen growl.

It let Zeydaan go then, and instantly they plummeted the ground in a tired heap. They breathed heavily, unsure of how well they had done. It was then that they really started to notice the damage that this encounter had caused them. Beyond losing their ability to stand, they really did just have paws now. But most of all, without even speaking, Zeydaan could feel something in their throat. Words just wouldn’t form properly. If he could speak, it would be a rough sentence or two at most.

“You did good Zeydaan,” Cynthia commended, “I genuinely didn’t expect you to manage that so well. In truth those were all factory defect balls, none of them would have actually caught you.

“Grrrr… urgk… I… thanks…” Zeydaan managed, smiling as best they could.

“Now you can actually take a break, I think we’re done for the day. Your changes came along a lot quicker than I expected. You’re almost all zacian already.”

Zeydaan looked down. They didn’t want to see themselves in the mirror at this point. Even just seeing those sharp black claws where fingers used to be told them more than enough. At this point all Zeydaan was missing was probably just some extra bulk and some of the patterns and features a zacian would have. Some part of them couldn’t help but wonder how good that giga impact would have been if they had zacian’s crown built in.

“On the bright side, you’ll probably be able to speak with garchomp before too long, then you two could become proper sparring partners. Of course, they’ll probably want to get back at you for making them lose,” Cynthia smirked.

“Heh, brrr- bring it on,” Zeydaan coughed out.

“Glad to see you’re a bit more enthusiastic about this.”

“Only… choice I’ve grrr- g-got,” Zeydaan stammered, “can’t be weak if I wanna… grrrrr, wanna live my life.”

Cynthia nodded, “that’s the spirit. Rest up, tomorrow I think I might even bring out the sword. Maybe you’ll have some natural skill with it. If not, seeing you flail it around in your mouth helplessly should be at least entertaining.”

“Grrraaaooo…” Zeydaan grumbled, finding that they didn’t even need words to get their point across in that case.

With that Cynthia went inside and garchomp went back to stacking their wood. This left Zeydaan alone with their thoughts. This was probably the clearest their head had felt since that encounter in the Slumbering Weald. Although none of this was even remotely ideal, Zeydaan was confident that they could make it through this. They had to be confident, the only other option was giving up the last bit of their independence they had left. Arceus had taken away their face, their form, and was well on their way to removing Zeydaan’s voice. Zeydaan was going to get as strong as they had to in order to protect those scraps of themselves they had been left with. Even if it meant being the strongest pokemon they could be, they had to do it.

They had to be ready.