I wasn't sure how long I'd been unconscious, but when I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that my arms were wrapped in what felt like a stuffed animal; one that was almost too smooth and fluffy. I wasn't buried in the ground either, but rather lying on a soft, if somewhat rough, surface.
Frowning, I tightened my grip slightly and the 'plush' let out a cute squeak, making me smile a bit before the memories of what had happened before I lost consciousness settled in.
I've done it again, huh? I evolved someone in a completely new form.
Once was a coincidence, but twice was starting to form a pattern. Even more so considering that this second time I'd done it on purpose, which ruled out the 'circumstances beyond my control caused a happy accident' option and put it much more in the realm of 'unusual, but replicable circumstances, accomplished my goal'.
That last bit got me thinking. Did I have the power to raise people from the dead? Cap was right? Did the necro part of my new species' name not literally refer to the word 'corpse' in Ancient Greek, but rather allude to necromancy, a dark sorcery capable of manipulating life and death?
Did I even need to worry about that?
Controlling my breathing, I calmed down a bit, enough to be able to more objectively assess what had happened in the Gem-filled chamber. There was no doubt that the Will of the World had been a decisive factor in what had happened, playing a crucial role in both Kingler's and Cap's evolution, but I also couldn't deny that my role was even more important, since without my intervention, I seriously doubted that entity would have lifted a finger to save anyone.
That showed a certain degree of favoritism toward me, perhaps even something akin to privilege, which was certainly worrying.
Getting the attention of the Gods, in bold letters and starting with a capital G, was never good news, no matter if the attention was positive or negative. 'The Odyssey' made that clear, and I didn't want to get involved in stupidly exaggerated divine matters if I had anything to say about it… although perhaps that ship had already sailed.
Snorting at my own internal joke, I opted to follow the path of least resistance as always; letting the future decide my steps. I would try to avoid influencing the evolution of more Pokemon unless it was a very extreme situation, removing myself from unwanted attention, but I wasn't going to let the fear of consequences prevent me from making decisions in the heat of an emergency.
I was the one who terrified others, not the opposite.
I was the Spooky Scary Sandy, after all.
Letting out a second snort, I stopped pretending to be asleep and lit up my blazing eyes, assessing my surroundings. It seemed I'd been moved to the dormitories, as I could see a few Krabby and many Corphish sleeping peacefully around me, curled up on somewhat crude but functional straw beds. In one corner of the chamber was also Mr. Stupid, so tied up that he looked more like a mummy than a Ghost, and he seemed to remain unconscious.
Lowering my head to see what (or who) I was grabbing, the most powerful puppy dog eyes I had ever witnessed bored into my sockets.
"Sandy! You're awake! I…"
"Shhh, keep your voice down," I interrupted Howdy with a whisper, tightening my hug a bit before releasing him. "It's almost midnight, I think. We don't need to wake the whole cave; that would be pretty inconsiderate of us, wouldn't it?"
"Right, sorry…" he apologized to no one in particular, moving away from me a little and giving me some space to stand up.
Smiling at the fox, I got up slowly to avoid waking the crustaceans and shook off my sandy clothes. Then I remembered I could simply remove the dirt with my 'flames', wrapping myself in them and leaving my jacket and the rest of my outfit as good as new.
Once I was clean and a little more awake, I looked back at Howdy and pointed first at my shoulder and then at the cavern exit, wearing a smile. My vulpine friend had a little trouble understanding what I meant, but after hesitating for a few seconds, he jumped onto my shoulder and snuggled into my neck, thus beginning our incredible two-minute journey through what felt like a minefield until we managed to leave the bedroom.
More than once, I nearly stepped on a poor sleeping crustacean, and the sound of my footsteps had to be muffled in such a way that made me question why, without a hint of irony, getting out of a room was proving more difficult than any battle I'd fought in the last few days, but I got it. Mission success, Solid Sandy Snake.
"So, what happened in that gem-filled cavern?" Howdy murmured in a low voice once we were in the hallway leading to the main chamber, unable to contain his curiosity.
"Not much, really. I just had a little rematch with Mr. Stupid," I began, matching his tone. "He'd escaped, was trying to 'exorcise' me again or something, so I reverse-exorcised him and now he's a Ghost too."
"Oh…"
"Yeah, that was a thing," I continued, smiling a little at the impressed and somewhat stunned fox. "In hindsight, I don't think it was the best idea, since I ended up having to heal him anyway to trigger the hidden evolution requirement, and giving an enemy a power-up doesn't seem like the smartest thin—"
Interrupting me, just as I crossed the threshold separating the hallway from the living room, an Oran Berry flew straight at my face, but I managed to catch it before it hit me.
"Good morning, Sandy. Although I guess it's still night," Mr. Krabs greeted me with a tired laugh.
His claw was still extended from the 'Fling' he had just executed, and he wasn't alone in the room. Next to him were Pincitas and, surprisingly, three Kinglers I didn't recognize, who looked extra uncomfortable.
Wasn't Mr. Stupid the only evolved one in his group? What had I missed?
"Sup," I greeted with one hand while biting into the berry with the other, taking a second to appreciate the panorama. "You guys look pretty tired."
"Yeah, tonight's been hell... Though I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later," sighed Pincitas, looking exhausted, disappointed, and satisfied in equal measure.
Squinting, I looked at his right claw and, to my amazement, saw that a small claw about half the size of the other one had replaced his stump, making me smile widely.
"Oh, looks like I was worrying about nothing," I crooned, pointing at the confused crustacean. "And here I thought I'd have to change your group's name to The 23 Claws~."
My little joke seemed to be enough to break the subtle tension in the air, as my two friends snorted and one of the three Kinglers let out a light, jovial laugh. His voice sounded familiar, now that I heard it…
"The 23 Claws sounds a bit silly, but it's not a bad name for a group, I guess," one of them said, with a very characteristically skeptical tone.
"Better than The 23 Clowns, without a doubt," added the one with the jovial voice, looking like the funny one of the group.
"Wait a minute... You're the ones who stole the supplies the other day, aren't you?" I half-exclaimed, raising my eyebrows.
"That's us, indeed," said the largest of them, solemn and nervous, taking a step forward and bowing to me in a sort of reverence. "We owe you an apology, Ghost."
Tilting my head, I exchanged a quick glance with my two lobster friends and the fox sitting silently on my shoulder. The latter seemed just as confused as I was, if not more so due to the lack of context, but both Crawdaunts nodded subtly, which was enough to give me an idea of what was going on.
I was just hoping we could finally put this matter to rest.
"Please, call me Sandy," I replied with a soft smile, devouring what remained of my berry before continuing. "To be honest, your part in the whole mess was the most innocuous one, but the apology is appreciated nonetheless. As long as you've learned not to blindly follow megalomaniacal leaders and not insult/attack people for no reason, I'll be satisfied."
"So… that's it? That's all?" the skeptic asked, raising an eyebrow as if expecting a 'but' at the end.
"Yes," I said with a simple shrug, walking past them and heading to the chest with the clothes scattered around it that I left in a corner.
Rubbing my chin, after some thought, I came to the conclusion that I didn't need to discard anything, since I could just fit the entire chest in my shadow, but freeing up some space didn't sound bad either. Most of the clothes were useless to me anyway, so their absence would be more useful than their existence, as strange as that may sound.
With that in mind, carefully folding them, I put the two sets of clothes identical to the one I was wearing, one of the more well-maintained sailor uniforms, all the caps, and the ugliest floral-print T-shirt I could find (for when I was forced to attend some super-important but super-boring meeting) into the chest, leaving the rest in a pile in the corner.
All of that only took up about a quarter of the enormous chest, leaving me room to stuff anything interesting I found on my adventures in, and I took the opportunity to deposit the Gems I had stored in my jacket pockets, leaving out only a Ghost Gem that I set where the lock used to be, which may or may not have flown off after I kicked it.
"Ha, I guess that's Sandy to you. She learns so fast…" Mr. Krabs laughed, wiping away an imaginary tear as he watched me begin to mold the energy contained within the Ghost Gem, making it identical to the shape of the pattern etched into the Shadow Mantle tile.
"Is she always like this?" asked one Kingler, whom I decided to name Jubilo because of his cheerful voice and laugh. "She seems to give a shit about everything… No offense."
"Nothing taken," I said from my place, standing up and shaking my hands after watching the Gem begin feeding the pattern on its own, wrapping the chest in a black cloak. "Okay, now I just have to see if this works."
"I'm still not entirely sure what you're doing," Skept the skeptic muttered. "Should we back up a bit or something?"
"Don't worry, everything will be okay," Howdy said at his side. At some point, he'd jumped off my shoulder and raided the pantry, as he was nibbling on an Chesto Berry and had a small assorted pile on the floor.
"You should ask permission before doing that," Mr. Krabs scolded, grabbing a Cheri Berry from the pile and putting it in his mouth. "Although yes, Sandy controls it. Just prepare for the explosion and you'll be fine."
At that, the leader Kingler tensed a little, but relaxed when he saw the crooked smiles of the rest of my friends.
"Ha, ha. Very funny," said the one I'd mentally nicknamed Led, humorlessly, incredibly dry despite his Water-type. "I don't know how you can trust her so much, Crawdaunts. I admit I'm not the most suitable Pokemon to say that for obvious reasons, but you've known her for just over a week. I don't want you to make the same mistake as me, placing all your trust in someone without question…"
"Lad, I like your intentions, but now you're falling into the trap of talking without knowing anything," I gave my opinion from the corner, putting my hands on my hips with a smile as I watched the chest sink into the piece of Umbral Realm anchored in my shadow, diving without any complications. "Do you want to know what my first encounter with them was like?"
"Not really, but you seem to want to get to a point, so go ahead and enlighten me," he replied, raising an eyebrow with Skept nodding at his side.
"Sandy, there's no need…" Pincitas begged, embarrassed.
"Shut up, I want to know," Howdy interrupted him, holding a half-eaten berry in his paw, which made me laugh a little.
"Don't worry. The story is a bit long, and I don't want to go into too many details," I began, approaching the group again and sitting next to the fox, snatching an Oran Berry from his pile and patting him on the head. "More than anything, I just wanted to mention something curious. My first contact with everyone in this room, except for Howdy, ended in a near-death match. If they still trust me, I guess there's a reason for that."
That statement seemed to leave the trio of Kinglers thoughtful, as even Jubilo took on a more serious gleam in his eyes. My words carried some weight, as they were laced with truth. Now it was up to the three whether to confirm and believe them or not.
"Well, changing the subject," I said after a while. "I see your claw is growing back nicely and all, Pincitas, but do you want me to speed things up a bit?"
"Sure, why not?" he nodded, popping a Rawst Berry into his mouth. "I was thinking of pausing my training for a few days, but if you can get me back with the group tomorrow, all the better."
"I'll let you know, this may sting and be a little uncomfortable, and pain isn't out of the question. I haven't tried it on anyone conscious yet," I warned, earning a determined nod from the crustacean.
Sighing, I pulled a Sitrus Berry from the pile and ate it in one bite. This caused Mr. Krabs to raise an eyebrow, as he knew full well my preference for Oran Berries, but I really needed all the energy I could get for this.
Chewing slowly, with the tank more than full, I activated my Phantom Stare and channeled my Heal Pulse into his newly regenerated claw, enveloping it in a pinky-purple glow. Tiny threads began to stir beneath his exoskeleton, earning me a grimace from the lobster, but it seemed to be working. The shell immediately expanded to the normal size of his claw, and the underdeveloped muscles began to swell back to their original size.
The operation was a bit long, as I had to take short breaks to replenish energy and allow Pincitas to relax a bit. The amount of aura that Heal Pulse was using wasn't nearly normal, and it seemed like my reddish friend wasn't having a good time after a while, but the 'surgery' was a resounding success.
"Wow, I didn't know you were a healer now, Sandy," Mr. Krabs exclaimed, watching his brother's claw open and close smoothly.
"I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting closer," I whistled, leaning back a little. "Heal Pulse has become a good move, but it takes up too much energy. I don't know if I can fix that problem…"
"I don't think you have to worry about that," Howdy said, hopping back onto my shoulder and getting my attention. "Yezalel often has to heal the Pokemon in the forest after calming down conflicts, and even she gets exhausted after using that move or Life Drew too many times. It must be something rooted in those kinds of restorative moves."
"That makes sense, but it's still a pain," I sighed, standing up and stretching my legs. "Anyway, I think it's time to head back to my beach. Good night, guys… or at least what's left of it."
Leaving the cave with murmurs of 'likewise' and 'take care' in my wake, I started heading toward what I'd begun to consider my home. Halfway there, Howdyni said goodbye, promising to return the next afternoon before fading into the forest, leaving me alone with my reflections.
I couldn't deny that I had started to grow fond of that beach, both for the place itself and for the friends I had there, and I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it until now.
I would continue my goal of traveling around the world, of course, but it also didn't seem like a bad idea to have a base to return between adventures. A place to call home was important, after all, and building a small hut on the sand didn't seem particularly difficult once I gathered the necessary materials after returning to civilization.
Food for thought, I guess.
When I reached my usual resting place, I saw that Shedinja was still in the same position, only now she was looking at the stars and the moon instead of the sun. Her presence remained an enigma, though less so after remembering the Nincadas that roamed the forest. It wasn't hard to tell where she came from, I guess, and her intentions didn't seem malicious in the least, so I would let her do what she wanted.
If she decided to open up a little to me or one of my colleagues and tell us her tragic origin story, that would be wonderful, but if she chose to stay in a corner watching the stars, I wasn't going to stop her. Even if we had agreed to be friends with that handshake before, I couldn't really force people to be my friend; friendship didn't work that way.
I didn't mind having a silent roommate, either.
After giving her a small nod, which I don't know if she noticed or not, I decided to sink into the smooth sand and sleep a little longer. I'd deal with things when the sun came up.