The Long Sleep, Part 1
a story by Golett-anon
My body feels heavy. Like I've been bedridden for decades. My eyes are slow to open, as if my eyelids were almost glued shut. At first I only see pitch black, but moments later, I adjust to the dim light levels of my surroundings. I'm sitting down... in a cave? I extend my arms out to my sides, hands feeling the cold stone floor. I push against the ground and slowly get up, my footsteps echoing in this vast space. I look around, turning my head. My neck feels really stiff. Nothing I haven't dealt with before, but it's hard for me to stretch for some reason.
Taking in the view, I notice statues lined up in an orderly formation around me. Looking out, there's seemingly no end to their numbers as they sit still, just like I was moments ago. Any identifiable features of them are unfortunately concealed by the general darkness of this place. Looking in the direction that the statues and I were facing, I see faint lights flickering in the distance, along a wall. Torches?
I take a step forward and my legs are noticeably heavier than I'm used to. Still, I walk around and between these statues. The sound of my footsteps seem to clack and scrape against the stone floor as I continue onwards. Drawn to the dim lights, I trod past the motionless crowd of stone for a few minutes until the torchflame-lit wall greets me, a dozen meters away. I step up to its imposing surface and put a hand on it, my gaze drifting up the wall to the ceiling.
There's inscriptions here. What do they say? Are these...? My eyes widen, and I let out an audible gasp as I notice the peculiar, yet familiar shape of the symbols. It's a language of runes. And I understand it. These are Unown runes. From Pokémon. Before I have a chance to read them with purpose, my gaze shifts downward to see my hand on the wall, and another revelation hits me.
My hand isn't human.
I bring my other hand into view, comparing them out of instinct. My hands... are blue. And I only have three fingers on each of them? Are these rocks on my- Oh. Right. I'm dreaming. It worked. Okay. Take it easy. Don't want to startle myself awake over the smallest thing. With careful pause, I choose my next actions very carefully as to try not to stir my real self awake. I try to feel over my torso and my shoulders, only to find I have an unusually limited range of movement, but an odd sense of familiarity with my form crawls into my mind as I compare what I feel with what I know.
I feel a rigid metal band crossed diagonally over my torso. On my chest, it holds a diamond-shaped stone plate in place. It's hard for me to look downwards without pivoting my entire body, so I can't really look at myself. Instead, I feel around the rough edges of this chestplate, my fingers coming into contact with a pattern of grooves in the middle of the plate. Suddenly, I recognize the form I've taken.
"Am I... a Golett?"
"That's exactly right~!" A high-pitched voice chimes from behind me, making me flinch in surprise. With caution, I turn around to see a small Klefki floating before me, it's keyhole-shaped face spread to convey what I can only assume is a friendly smile. On its loop-shaped arms it holds a few keys, one of them looking particularly ancient, similar in shape to an Unown. "I'm so glad to see that you've awoken from your Long Sleep~ You must be tired from sitting dormant for so long~"
Wow. I haven't had a lucid dream so vivid before. And I'm a Golett? Well, the Golurk line was my favorite, I suppose. I better be careful with what I say and think. Don't want to prematurely force myself out of this lucid state. I decide to play along with the dream for now, choosing the role of an amnesiac. Though acting was never my strong suit. "Long sleep? I was dormant? I don't... remember. Who am I? And who are you?"
The Klefki seems to buy my act. "You don't remember? Well, you hit the nail on the head a few moments ago. You're a Golett~ The first of thousands to wake up after The Long Sleep~! If you mean you don't remember that, then I guess I should let myself explain... Oh! Speaking of myself, my name is Jangles~! Or, at least that's what I call myself~ Wait... do you not remember us, either?" An air of sadness hangs off the air of Jangles' last sentence.
The first of thousands? The Long Sleep? Jangles? What is all this? In this dream I'm supposed to know you? The longer I'm lucid, the less sense all of it makes... though I guess that's to be expected.
I speak up once more, maintaining the façade. "S-sorry, no. I don't remember anything other than what I am and... what these markings on the wall are. These are Unown runes. And we're Pokémon, right? I'm a Golett, and you're... Uh..." The tiny metal Pokémon's face contorts to an expression of frustration as it flies around my head, its keys jingling behind, ringing around me in a discordant tone. Ow... Is it using Metal Sound on me?!
"Isn't it obvious?! I'm a Klefki~! A female Klefki~! Am I really that forgettable~?!" With a sigh, Jangles shakes off her demeanor and rests to a floating position in front of me. "No. I'm sorry. It's just... This is new for me too~ I woke up only a little bit before you did, it seems. Since you don't remember, it's my job to fill you in~"
With that, she flies on over a few feet away from me and separates the loop holding her precious key collection, taking hold of the Unown-shaped key and inserting it into a hole in the wall before turning it with an audible click. She pulls the key back out and places it back on her loop before floating next to me as the ground starts to rumble. "You might want to step back a bit~"
I do as she asks and take a few steps back as the wall in front of us appears to shift and shimmer with ethereal light. A bright yellow light shoots downward from the wall, filling intricate patterns along the floor lighting up the chamber all around us. The shaking stops and the runes on the wall begin to faintly glow and gently shift in place, almost like... they're alive. Are those Unown? Are they... sleeping?
Jangles floats up to the wall near the ceiling, the patterned lights now revealing a vast mural prominently depicting a large, bipedal, white Pokémon with black maze-like patterns tracing its body. It appears to have many eyes of different colors, and plant life adorning its shoulders and ankles. At the end of each of its arms are three white fingers. I look down at my own three-fingered hands, noting the similarity before Jangles begins to speak.
"Ahem~ A very long time ago, a Pokémon unlike any other lived on this continent. Its name... is Regigigas~ When it pulled this continent into its place, it created 3 children, sculpted from the matter that makes up our world." She floats over to a part of the mural depicting the large Pokémon among many smaller, nondescript Pokémon, working together to dig a quarry at the foot of a mountain. "With its hands, Regigigas carved pure metal from deep within the mountains. It was molded into Registeel, a being of the purest metal, built to withstand the greatest attacks of all Types~"
She hovers over to another depiction, this time of the large Pokémon atop a freezing mountain, digging its fingers into white snow. "With its hands, Regigigas scooped up heaps of snow from the coldest mountain peaks, packing them tightly into Ice. It was molded into Regice, a being of freezing crystalline icicles, built to stand watch over the coldest parts of the region, and turn away any Pokémon unprepared for such harsh climes~"
Finally, she arrives at the third and final depiction, the large Pokémon punching a mountain, cracking it all the way to the peak. "With its hands, Regigigas smashed an entire mountain, shattering it into billions of rocks. It's said that it spent nearly a decade carefully choosing the most dense stones, molding them into Regirock, a being of the hardest rock the earth had to offer~ The legend says that Regirock has never suffered a single Scratch, and that it never would, for it's body is harder even then diamond."
Jangles floats down to the bottom half of the mural in front of me, showing statue-like Pokémon under the three artworks, presumably depicting the three children of Regigigas before continuing. "Regigigas gave his creations dominion over the land, with Regirock presiding over the mountains, Regice guarding Blizzard Island, to the southwest, and Registeel ruling over the deep places of the continent, where few Pokémon within their wits dare to go."
She turns around to face me. "The chamber we're in was built by Regirock. And it was by Regirock's hands, that you were created, alongside... the Golett Army." I turn around to see the crowd of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of dormant Golett, now illuminated by the golden light emanating from the grooves in the floor.
I take a moment to breathe in the sight of all the golem-like Pokémon, their form revealed to me. Most of them remain intact, though a sizeable portion appear to have not fared well in their Long Sleep, succumbing to erosion and falling into disrepair. Astounding that a dream could be so clear... so detailed. Countless of these Pokémon lay in wait here for... for what? I turn to Jangles. "Okay. I think I understand. But what about me? About us Golett. What do we... do? Why were we built?"
Jangles returns a mixed expression to me, one of uncertainty. "That's sort of the problem... You see, I never personally knew Regirock. Nor was I around when they built you or the rest of the Golett Army. I come from a long line of Klefki that have passed down this Aegis Key for generations, waiting for the day one of you Golett would awaken. From what I was told by my predecessors, Regirock built the Golett Army in preparation for... something~"
...What?
A dead pause hangs in the air between the two of us for an uncomfortable amount of time. Jangles tries to put on her most unassuming smile, her keys jingling as she tilts her head. I repeat what she said. "Something?"
The Klefki simply nods and confirms my response. "Yep. Something~ I'd love to tell you more, but unfortunately, Regirock's message was lost in translation around four generations ago. No one bothered to write it down either, so... that's where we're at~!"
What... the hell? 'Something'? That's it? What kind of- Oh. I guess that's where the creative juices stop flowing, huh? I assume that this lucid dream has met its reasonable plot conclusion and let out a pained sigh.
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