Known Unknowns (Pokemon Unown TF Story)

Spencer angrily took another drink of his coffee as a bolt of thunder flashed outside the window, illuminating the landscape for a brief moment against the storm that had been raging on. The light flickered a little, and the room was barely even illuminated by his bright computer screen. He looked at his computer with frustration and could only muster up a single sigh.


Spencer was a scientist. He had currently been holed up in a small little lab in the Ruins of Alph for a good few months studying the strange and mysterious properties of the Pokémon known as Unown. He owned an old research booked detailing various Legendary Pokémon and their powers, and it mentioned that, when they joined their energies together, Unown could do things one could only dream of, even altering reality itself it they were strong enough.


But, why?! Why, why, why, why, why?! If the Unown were supposedly capable of something as strong as reality warping, why was all of his research inconclusive? Unown only had fairly mediocre stats, and the only thing it could learn in its entire life was Hidden Power. Why did his research yield nothing at all other than a small box of tiles and a PC storage box full of the things? Something just didn’t seem to be adding up.


He took another long drink and slammed his fist on the desk. His report had been mostly blank except for a few minor details like their base stats and a couple other things he noted down in the ruins. Nothing substantial. Still… He looked over to the box he had picked up. Maybe he had just missed something…?


He heaved up onto the desk, getting up and creaking open the lid ever so slowly. Still… just a bunch of letter tiles like always. Except this time, something seemed different. Mayhaps he had just missed them before, maybe it was these late nights doing his mind in, but a few of the tiles seemed… special.


Instead of the typical black Unown, these tiles were mostly blue. There were a few letters in there, X, O, I, Q, R, nothing that really spelled anything, but the pattern seemed a little familiar. And the way these tiles stood out like that? Surely, they had to be special in some way…


He remembered seeing, deep down in the ruins, one piece of the wall that had the same blue… colorings. He stared down at the ones in the box, and it felt like something within him had clicked. With a spark in his eye, he grabbed all the blue tiles, put on his raincoat, and headed out into the dark rain.


The storm was brewing as hard as ever, pounding against the window glass and soon pounding against his red coat as he desperately tried not to lose it in the storm. Thankfully, his lab wasn’t all that far away from the site, anyways… He made into the small entrance, lighting flashing the outside once more. He took off his coat and left it against the other general supplies in the main room, leaving him in just his dusty old lab coat and jeans. His short black hair barely got in the way of his sight but he brushed it aside anyways.


He grabbed his flashlight from the site supplies and hurried his way down the ladder into the depths of the ruins. He could have sworn he saw one of the Unown again, but surely he was just seeing things. It was late and these all nighters were starting to take a toll on him, he figured. He just needed this breakthrough so he could finally rest. Spencer twisted his way around the ruined halls, having seen them all before but heading to one spot with a newfound determination. And… yes, there it was! One specific wall seemed oddly well kept and oddly smooth considering the ruins age. And, of course, it was adorned with the same blue letters that he now clutched in his hand.


Upon further inspection, the blue tiles set in the wall looked like they were a little caved in, as if something was meant to fit in there! He looked down at the ones in his hand, and nervously began to slowly set them into the wall. It wasn’t long until they were all in, and he stood backwards proudly, with his hands on his hips.


Then, came the rumbling. A few rocks fell from the ceiling as he nearly lost his balance in the intense shaking that followed. When the dust had cleared and he looked back up at the wall, he was surprised to find himself looking at a new, darker, deeper entrance to the ruins. He felt his heart begin to swell with joy as he rushed inside, looking for something he could have possibly missed before!


The room itself was rather small, having nothing but a small hole for a ladder to continue down. Carefully lowering himself down, he entered the next chamber and looking around. It looked to be about the same as the other ruins rooms, except in this one all the Unown statues had their center eye glowing deep red, and the room was much colder than it was before. He felt an intense feeling of being watched, like he hadn’t ever felt before.


A chill ran down his spine at the moment as he heard some noise. “Who’s there?!” He called out, turning around and shining his flashlight to find… An Unown again! Definitely the one he saw earlier. He sighed with relief. This one was just an “A” Unown, and he had to admit he almost thought they were cute.


A tilted itself gently at him, and he heard another noise. Another Unown appeared, which was new. Previously, he had never seen any appear in groups of more than merely one at a time, so… making strides! But just as he began to get excited, a third appeared. And a fourth. And then a fifth. All different letters, and more kept appearing at an increasingly rapid pace.


Spencer began to feel just a bit nervous as he backed up again, only to bump into more Unown. Now, he had a full circle of the things surrounding him. And then, they began… moving. Moving around him in a simple circle, calling out their names in what almost sounded like a chant to him. “Unown, Unown…” Man, that was eerily soothing.


Then, it happened. It started with just a tingle at his chest, but before he knew it he felt as though he was falling. Falling… somehow. He closed his eyes for only a moment, and when he opened them, they were everywhere. It looked as though he had fallen into some twisted void full of nothing but Unown and their chanting. “Wh-what the hell?!” He called out, but none heard his voice. The only thing here were more Unown and he felt as though he were falling into the depths of infinity. A few more circled around him in his fall. It felt like they were laughing at him.


He barely had any time to comprehend what was happening or where he was before the next part kicked in. The voice of the Unown grew louder and louder, it felt as though it were beginning to invade his consciousness itself.


But that thought wasn’t enough to mask the pain. In a mere instant, all of his clothes seemed to almost evaporate into the void, as he realized his entire body was quickly turning a dark, pitch black. It only took a mere moment for it to completely cover him. Although, this wasn’t the painful part.


His body began to contort itself in ways he had never imagined any living being would be capable of. His legs were being to merge into themselves, leaving him barely able to move them. His arms did the same. Then, his legs bent backwards against his body, snapping themselves all the way.


It wasn’t long after this that his arms followed suit. He could hear and feel them twisting and cracking behind his body until they met his legs halfway behind his body. He screamed for pain, louder than he thought or knew he could, but none heard. The Unown blocked out any and all sound he could have possibly made.


And on top of that, he felt himself began to shrink, too. He shrank and he shrank until he felt much smaller, which in a massive void like this only made it feel all the worse. At least he began to feel himself begin to levitate, just about the only vaguely positive thing to come out of this situation. At least, that was what he told himself…


So, every part of his body was black, his limbs curved and merged into themselves, at least it couldn’t get any worse than this. Oh, it did get worse. He continued to cry for help, until he realized he couldn’t. He realized that in an instant he didn’t notice, his mouth had simply ceased to exist on his face. And his nose, and just about every facial feature other than his eyes. He didn’t know if he was happy or not that it was painless…


Next, his vision began to blur and distort. It felt like his eyes were changing somehow, but obviously he couldn’t really see that for himself. Or… could he? He had some peripheral vision at least, and… oh no, there was the pain. He found himself trying to blink instinctively. Why? The two of his eyes had begun to squeeze and merge themselves together into one singular eye. As if the pain of that wasn’t enough, the changes in his vision really began to mess with him. Things seemed… sharper? Maybe? Or maybe he was just able to see a larger area around him. He had no peripheral vision anymore, and he didn’t even have eyelids to blink. No depth perception, nothing. He didn’t even have a mouth to scream with, nor a face. His entire face was now this singular, ever staring eye.


And then, the chanting. Oh, oh Arceus the chanting started again. He didn’t know how he heard it, he didn’t have any ears… But it was everywhere. It was Arceus-damned-everywhere. It was growing louder by the minute, too, ever pervading his conscious mind further. He tried to turn away, but it was everywhere. Unown, Unown… No, no, he could fight this.


It was clear this world and this body was doing something to his mind, but it was Unow… no, it was unknown what it was doing. He had to find some way to fix this, some way to get out, but there was none. Unown, Unown… He prayed to Arceus that this was all just some late night dream induced by his coffee habits, Unown, Unown…! He had to get them out of his head, somehow, some way.


He began to feel somehow less of himself. He felt more distanced to the world, as if his thoughts weren’t referring to himself anymore. It began to feel more like he was referring to something on the whole… Unown, Unown… His thoughts began to cloud up, filling with their chanting, among other things in the same tone of voice. “Friend? Friend? New? New?” Repeating ad infinitum. Eventually, he started to chant along with the Unown, hoping that he could drown them out with his own words to keep himself sane. Unown, Unown… Unown, Unown… Everything was growing dark again. It wasn’t long until anything of his human life was but a distant memory, but he hoped he could… Unown, Unown… he… What did he hope? Unown, Unown… It was… No… He could feel his mind going dark, blankly focusing on the chanting as their minds joined to one. Unown, Unown… Unown, Unown… Unown, Unown…


Three weeks later…


Spencer’s assistant had stopped hearing from him awhile ago. Thusly, he wanted to make sure he was okay, and the research was going fine. He’d taken a little vacation, himself, to get away from all the ruins and the Unown. It was clear Spence was pushing himself on this research too hard.


He entered the now empty lab, and was puzzled to find the open box sitting on his desk and his computer still open to his blank report. He noticed the coat was gone, and figured he must have headed out during a storm…? The ruins were only feet away, what could have happened, he wondered?


He quickly made his way down into the ruins, hoping it wouldn’t be long. Today was such a nice day, after all… He made his way quickly through, spotting the same opening on the wall that Spencer had opened prior. He had assumed this was where he had gone given the fact it was previously completely undocumented. He entered the small room and looked over the hole, before lowering himself down with a rope.


Again, he felt himself being watched immediately, and his eyes were drawn to the long dead flashlight lying on the ground. As he reached over to pick it up, one of the Unown appeared before him.


A small, almost cute letter O. The assistant looked at it, a little puzzled, before two more showed up. Then three, then four, then more. The Unown began to circle around, chanting out their name again. “New friend? New friend? Human? Human? Yay! Yay!” They cried out, among other things. Of course, it all sounded like the word Unown to the human…


And with that, he vanished into a bright light, along with the rest of them.



FIN~