Fanfiction A Game Dev's Giritina

Chapter 1: Dark Premonitions

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GGGYYYRRROOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!



Vision fading in and out… the darkness around me getting darker… darker… yet darker… The warped space around me contorted and tossed me around like a rag doll. It was so hard to stay conscious during the whole ordeal. Explosions filling the air and shaking the ground I finally stopped on, the water flying all over the place and making it rain sideways. This was hell. I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know what was going on. But it felt like this was the end of me. The chaos rained above me and inched closer with each blast.



Then I saw it.



A massive shadow quickly loomed above me, looking intimidating with those blood red glowing eyes staring me down as I drifted further away from staying awake. Not like it mattered. The being’s long tendrils with sharp claws at the end slowly inched towards me, wrapping around and behind me while I laid there and getting a tight grip on me before flying away. The tight grip managed to make me feel a bit more pain before I was knocked unconscious once more.



GGGYYYRRROOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!



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*GAAAASSSSP!* I opened my eyes, sitting upright in a sweat as the sun beams hit me in the eye through the window and made me flinch. “What a nightmare…” It was so… vivid. So real feeling… like my body was still aching from being hurled around and attacked. But I was just sleeping awkwardly on my bed again, at least I wasn’t upside down like that other time. That was weird.



Either way I look over to my right where the bedside counter was located, having my lamp, pocket watch, 3DS, and my glasses all on top of it scattered about. I reached out with my right arm and grabbed the glasses, yawning and hopping up with a bounce on my springy bed to help me get onto my tired feet that were till trying to wake up. I opened up the pocket watch and looked at the time after the lid had flipped down. 6:47 AM. Eh, good enough. I remember waking up daily at 7 AM for school so this wasn’t so bad. I’ve woken up earlier for sure.



My room was odd, posters on one wall, a wardrobe in the other, a big window stretching from the floor(ish) to a few centimetres from the ceiling while having blinds cover it and darken my room mostly except for the rays of light that filtered between the bits of cloth that hurt my eyes this morning, and to top it all off my room was painted two colours. Yellow on the left side, and blue on the right.



But it was home and I was glad to be back in my room rather than wherever ‘There’ was. “Ech” i grunted and simply walked along, heading down the hall and turning to the entrance to the bathroom, freshening up my face and combing out my hair as I got ready for the day. A grey hoodie with a random shirt beneath it, my lucky chain necklace with both a diamond and a pearl at the end of it on my chest, and long black track pants was all I needed on a cold day. Winter was always my most disliked season.



Sure there was snow, and ice type pokémon, but overall the temperature was unbearable and I disliked feeling like I was gonna snap at any moment or freeze up from the temperatures. It’s just bad. At least it isn’t Snowpoint City where it’s ALWAYS chilly. Still, Crown City was home and I couldn’t ask for a better one.



Things were rather ‘old fashioned’ or ‘traditional’ where the houses were all located, with the main modern buildings over the bridge where the Pokémon Braccer World Cup was held along with several other smaller competitions or matches of Braccer. Regardless, it’s where most businesses boomed and I was lucky enough to grab a job around there. It was just a hop and a skip over the lake bridge after passing the waterways and then I’d be there.



As I walked around our old looking home, I took the time to play around and stare at the wood that made up the cold floor as i walked along. It was always so smooth and tended to hide bits and pieces of dust or stuff with the darker bits and made it a bit uncomfortable to walk on bare foot. There was always some crumb or something swept up by us walking by that made it not so smooth and irritating until we vacuumed again.



Still, as i walked along I looked for the small holes of darkened wood only to find something that was once one of those dark bits was stretched out and curved along with a few others around it. Was it just my imagination? Maybe it was always like that… yeah… either way it was making a sort of biggish swirl on the hallway floor. Neat.



I walked past the kitchen, grabbing some toast and putting some spread onto it before walking out and heading off to my job. I might’ve slept in but it didn’t matter, I could still get there in time without having to worry. My work started at 9 AM and it was currently 8:40 AM, so sure I had to move to get to the bridge and cross it, but there was time.



I rubbed my eyes as I could’ve sworn the mosaics were more swirled than before… BAH! All this weird stuff is confusing and too much for my mind right now, I didn’t want any conspiracy things going on in my head. Arceus knows I already have enough running through my mind. So I simply crossed the bridge as a few water type Pokémon floated on the stream below. Buizels, Psyduck, and a few Finneon too. Even a trainer’s Vaporeon was enjoying itself as it swam about with the wild Pokémon and she watched in amusement, giggling all the while.



“This is fun!”



……. wait what?



I looked around for the source of the noise that I could’ve sworn came from the waterway or somewhere down there. The trainer didn’t move her mouth or say anything. I looked down at the pokémon with a shocked expression of confusion and stared a bit.



“Vaaaape! Vape Vaporeon!”



“Bui bui!”



… Nevermind I guess I really was just going crazy this morning. Note to self: Do not stay up late watching anime otherwise Pokémon will talk. Great.



Though there was one thing I didn’t realise after I walked past, and that was the eeveelution’s trainer was staring at her pokémon with the same bewilderment as I had. I wasn’t the only one that heard it.



Either way I made my way to the local Snack Talonflame to quickly grab a can of home brand chips. The long ones kinda like Bringles but this one was a bit more powerful in taste. Didn’t think that’d actually be a thing but Bringles kinda lacked in the flavouring department when it’s the salt and vinegar flavours.



After paying and hearing something from the cashier about ‘cups on something’ I simply rushed off to the office I was working at.



It still bewilders me to this day that I managed to score a job at a local Video Game production company. Sure I was just doing a few errands and paperwork jobs, but on occasions I was allowed on the computers when tasked with designing characters or enemies. I was part of the visual design team… partly. Still mainly paper work and beginning at the company, but I’ll get the full work job at some point making characters and enemies and bosses. It’ll be so cool!



As I passed by the radio at the front counter with the receptionist’s Jolteon sitting next to it and powering it a bit while resting, I heard the news come on and it was just some dumb fear mongering story like always. Reports about ‘strange stuff happening around mirrors and reflective stuff, don’t leave your stuff near one otherwise something might happen’. Yeah right, like I was buying that.



‘Studies from a Newton Graceland who has been familiar with some of these events, have read that these occurrences are due to a pokémon.’ I walked over to the steps and went up towards the second floor. The radio draining out as I got further away from it. ‘The pokémon is supposedly named gi…’



I walked over to my desk and sat down with a sigh, popping open the big can of salt and vinegar flavoured chips and eating 4 of them. Sour, savoury and tasty as all hell. Good way to start off the day. “Mind passing me one?” the office wingull asked, always trying to snag a few chips when he could or a few sweets if someone had a big packet to share. Can’t blame him though, I’d do the same if it meant free snacks.



He was a surprisingly average built person despite all of the snacking and kept a fit body. Something I had troubles keeping up with but at least I wasn’t fat or tubby. He had dark brown hair and liked wearing a leather jackets, around 5’5” in height and was overall a swell guy when he wasn’t nabbing your goods. Or…. being a bit racist as per the Unovan stereotype and their new president further pushing that stereotype forward. Others called him wingull. I called him Jesse.



He’s usually part of the Voice Acting team and Dubbing team but when it came to paper work we were close to each other’s cubicles.



I passed him a chip and went back on to dealing with the papers, filing them and making boxes, yada yada yada… We struck up a little conversation before he started listening to audio tracks and voice ranges for his current character he was supposed to portray, the usual edgy anti hero but this time around we’re intentionally taking the piss out of it for the upcoming game and I was tasked with designing the character. “So how’s the design coming along? Good?”



“Yeah, I’m making progress…” I responded with a yawn after he asked me a question.



“You alright man? You sound tired. Haha, did you spend another late nighter watching My Hero Academia?”



“Yeah…” I admitted, really looking forward to the newest episodes of the second season I might’ve stayed up late watching it. Not to mention the nightmare I had let me exhausted and not feeling like I got a proper sleep. It still freaked me out in the back of my mind.



“Dude go and wash up in the bathrooms, splash some water on yourself. It’ll help you freshen up and wake up. You look like crap at the moment.”



“But I have to keep working on this design… I’m behind enough as is. All I have is his companion pokémon and the colour pallet. Black. Just black. And… a slight bit of red.”



“It’s fine man don’t worry! It’s the edgy character just slap on a leather jacket, make him look pubescent or teenage, pale skin, and the rest is whatever you want! He’s the joke character. So you have plenty of time, you made that milotic designed queen’s first design in less than 4 hours, you’re fine. Go wash up.”



“….. Thanks Jesse. Here, have a reward for being so kind. ”



I gave him another chip and winked with a cheeky smile as he rolled his eyes and chuckled while responding “Oh fuck off.”



We both laughed as I yawned again and walked over to the bathrooms, passing by the reflective one way windows and shivering as I could’ve sworn someone was watching me. And although I didn’t see it at the time, there was a shadow following me through the window.



Someone dropped their phone as I walked passed and swore they saw something. They were from the coding branch, couldn’t blame them for going crazy and staying up late. So I gave them the old thumbs up and reassured them to get some rest when possible before opening the doorway to the bathroom and heading inside.



The sweet muffled quiet atmosphere of the toilets was helpful for stressed or tired times. Sure there were sounds, but you were in a shut off room and things were better and less noisy. I turned on the tap and splashed water in my face, blinking my eyes and letting out one last yawn as I woke up and slapped my cheeks to further get me into working gear and less sleepy.



I turned around and faced my back towards the mirror as I checked up on my phone for the latest updates on if anyone has been leaking information on the games we’re making currently. Thankfully everything’s been quiet ever since the first leak thanks to a certain employee which shall NOT be named. Even though it was an anonymous user with a phanphy icon, we were able to find them in the office and had our Jolteon give him a rather shocking exit out of the company. That’ll teach them. Wasn’t the first time they did it either which is why they got fired. Thankfully it was just a small leak the first time that cut their pay and didn’t allow them to work for a long time. Though now they’re out for good. No activity from them either.



I sighed and closed the browser app, turning off my phone and relaxing for a bit while staring at the blank screen. Looking at my reflection and thinking to myself for a bit. Until I noticed something jutting out of the sides of my head behind me. Something that would rise up and shadow me a bit as I stood there frozen in place as a heavy breathing from a large shadow crept up behind me.



It got closer and I could feel its breath on my neck. I was freaking out but didn’t want to do anything to it. I saw the golden guards along its face, its glowing eyes and shadowy figure from the reflection of my phone as it came out of the mirror. It was the same thing from my dream. Only more vivid and scary. Giritina, the distortion pokémon. I was left there wanting to yell or scream but couldn’t finding any noises coming out of my throat.



*CRACK!*



I winced and closed my eyes as the sound was heard, I could feel my hear skip a beat and sat there for a while after I heard it. Shivering in fear and wishing for mercy and expecting pain instead. But… there was nothing. I was just fine once I opened up my eyes.



Carefully slowly turning my head, I looked behind me to see the legendary beast there staring down at me with some strange look I couldn’t figure out. Was it confused? Was it looking at me and judging me? What was it looking at me for? AND WHY DID IT TAKE MY NECKLACE??!?!?



My lucky necklace that I’ve had ever since I was 10 was currently hanging from the beast’s maw as it took the piece of jewellery with it back into the mirror where the distortion world lead to. I’d heard about these rumours and myths of the Sinnoh Trio’s powers but I didn’t think THIS would happen!!!!



I wanted to get my necklace, I really did. But I was frozen in fear and sat there for a bit only realising what was happening. I quickly jumped up out of instinct and rather than thinking I lunged for my necklace and tried to get it back. Giritina was displeased by this act and a deep growl echoed through its throat and towards me as it tried to intimidate me out of my prized possession. I tugged as best as I could while the ghost and dragon type pokémon simply had its head still in the bathrooms with me and could hold its own against my tugs.



“Let it go!!! LET IT…. GO!” I tried my best to hold onto it, chanting those three words like an avid Frozen fan would but with less singing and more desperation. The one thing I had that made me feel confident in what I did and gave me the power to be free was being pulled away, all the work my body was doing to hold onto it made my palms a bit sweaty. Once it felt my grip weaken, Giritina ducked back into the mirror and cut off the physical connection. The vision of it flying away into the distortion world faded away over time and I banged on the mirror. “H-hey… give that back! GIVE IT BACK!” despite my protests, I was left there alone in the bathrooms feeling weak and unsure of myself.



“What the hell…..” I slumped down.



After my encounter with Giritina, Jesse and a few other workers went in and found me there a bit of a mess. They assumed I dropped something down the toilet and that’s why I was saying for something to give it back. But when I tried to explain what happened, they shook their heads and said that I must be going under a lot of stress and fatigue to the level that I’m hallucinating. I knew they were dead wrong and insisted I stayed the day at work rather than head home early to relax. I knew I could work…. but I didn’t feel like I could work at the same degree.



Not only for the fact that my necklace was gone, but also for the fact that I had a certain someone always watching me through any means they could now. Giritina watched even from the reflection on my computer screen or my metal drink bottle. I had to work with them staring me in the eye. I could even sometimes hear them as they floated around in the distortion world making…. giritina noises? Whatever they were, it didn’t matter.



This was just the beginning of something weird.