#Heavy on the vulpix side

[weekly-eons]

Ice Fox

[asterbats]

Don't Ever Forget

Hero and Partner week 2023 day 6: Farewell / Alone / Return

@heropartnerweek + AO3 Link

Rin and Nimbus have finally done it. They climbed Temporal Tower, brought Primal Dialga back from insanity, and saved the world from becoming trapped in time- and now they can finally go home and reunite with their friends. But on the path to the Rainbow Stoneship, Rin can barely keep up with Nimbus. She knows what's coming- only one of them will live to tell this story after all. But how can she say farewell to the most important pokemon in her life...?

The air was thick with dust and tension as Team Wispstar limped down the path to the Rainbow Stoneship.

Rin staggered behind Nimbus, trying not to fall behind. It shouldn’t have been so hard, what with the shinx also limping from her wounds, wearily looking around almost as if they were in a daze. But Rin’s entire body felt like it had been held down with stones. She struggled to lift her paws in the air, her tails dragged behind her, and her eyelids and lips practically sagged to the bottom of her chin. Her breath came out in haggard sighs, like her lungs were rejecting the air itself. 

But nothing felt heavier than the pit in her stomach. 

Rin had only been given less than a day to process her fate after Dusknoir had thrown it in her face back at the Old Ruins, and in that time, they had hyper focused on their mission to save the world. 

It was all she could do to not betray her values and give into her fear of death. It was all she could do to keep going, to keep climbing Temporal Tower even as it collapsed around her, even as the shock waves threw her off her feet and the dungeon pokemon pounced on her every weakness, even as she looked in the eyes of Primal Dialga as he charged up his roar of time.

But now, it was all over with. And her fate was all she had left to conquer. 

And Nimbus didn’t know a thing.

“Rin? What’s the matter?” Nimbus had looked behind her to see the vulpix a good way behind her, and stopped so she could catch up. Rin gazed blankly at her, her words stuck in her mouth as she dragged herself to her partner.

“It’s okay,” Nimbus rested her chin on Rin’s head, bringing some life back to Rin’s chest. “We’re almost at the rainbow stoneship. We can check the Hidden Land for supplies and take a rest.” She paused. “Gods know we need it,” she weakly chuckled. 

Rin didn’t respond, but she didn’t have to. She never talked if she could help it, and Nimbus knew that. The two were content with sitting in silence. Rin barely registered that they had both sat down and pressed their sides against each other. Rin almost felt tempted to let her heavy eyelids rest and fall asleep, cozy next to her best friend. Even though they were both battered, both perched right by the nearly destroyed Temporal Tower along a broken path, Rin felt safe listening to Nimbus’s heartbeat.

The moment was broken by a sharp tremor that overtook the path. Nimbus leapt up and hissed, bushing out her fur reflexively. Rin grit her teeth and hugged the ground, too weak to stand.

The tremor died down. The two pokemon were still except for their wide eyes looking wildly around the path. It was intact, though the dust made it even more difficult for Rin to breathe. 

Nimbus let out a haggard sigh. “... I guess things aren’t back to normal yet, huh.” She mewed it in a joking tone as if to lighten the mood, but her voice was shaky and weak, like she knew it wasn’t going to work. Rin gave her a weak smile anyways.

“We should… keep going. The sooner we get off this path, the better,” Nimbus mewed, holding out a paw for Rin to grab. Rin nodded, reaching for the paw.

And as they touched, a small yellow ball of light began to dance around Rin’s wrist.

Rin and Nimbus both startled at the light- Nimbus in shock, almost in curious awe as she watched the light float down Rin’s arm- and Rin in horror.

This light… She couldn’t take her eyes off of it. She couldn’t say how, or why… but something in her knew that this was it. Her body grew even heavier, unable to move. A storm was blowing in her mind, but somehow, she also felt like she was at ease… like a reluctant acceptance. 

Her time with Nimbus was about to end. 

“Rin…?” Nimbus whispered, eyes growing wide as more lights began to flow around her partner. “What is it? What’s happening to you…?”

Rin looked into Nimbus’s eyes, tired beyond belief. It took everything in her to sit on her hind legs.

“Nimbus…” her voice came out as a gasp, barely audible. Nimbus leaned in to hear her more clearly. “I’m sorry. I should have told you this long ago. I… have to say goodbye to you now, Nimbus.”

“What…?” Nimbus stepped back, her ears pinned back. “Goodbye? What are you saying?” Her voice cracked and she tilted her head. 

“Dusknoir told me,” Rin croaked. “If we changed the future… everyone from the future will disappear, because we would never have come to be in this time. So now… I can’t exist here anymore. Not like this.”

Nimbus stared, confused and scared. She looked so small now, a far cry from the brave hero who put the time gears back in place. It hurt to see. “I… I don’t understand… Wh-Why…?”

“I’m sorry,” Rin whispered. “This was a long time coming… this was always going to happen, even if I forgot. I couldn’t go back. Not after everything we’ve been through.”

“But… that’s… but it’s not fair!” Nimbus cried, throwing herself onto Rin’s chest and embracing her. Rin nearly fell over at the shock as the shinx began to cry into her shoulder.

“You… you and Grovyle… you came here to save us! You came here to give us a better life! You’ve helped so many pokemon, you’ve helped me! You risked your life to save a bunch of Pokemon you didn’t even know so we could all survive and live in a beautiful world- and this is what you get for it?!”

Nimbus sobbed into her fur, soaking the vulpix’s shoulder. Rin stood still, her breath caught in her throat. She never knew the right words to help, especially not now on her deathbed. There was so much to say and no good way to say it- but it broke her to see Nimbus this shattered. To see her in such pain caused by her actions.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. It wasn’t. But it had to be. “I… I want to thank you, Nimbus. For everything. Even after this… I’ll never forget what you did for me.”

“What I did?” Nimbus gasped, lifting herself from Rin’s shoulder. “I… I was only able to get this far because of you! It’s only because of you that I was able to get this strong!” Her voice wavered. “Don’t you understand…? You saved me, Rin… I’m… If you go… I don’t think I can… I don’t think I can even…” She was shaking. Her voice softened to a whisper as she looked away. “I can’t survive without you… you make me strong, and without you, I can’t even… What was the point of saving the world… if you aren’t going to live in it with me…?”

“No,” Rin finally managed to raise her voice. Nimbus stopped shaking and met Rin’s eye again, her eyes overflowing with tears. “Nimbus, you are strong. It’s because of you we were both able to make it here. And you have to take that strength and get back home. You have to make it back, and tell everyone what happened here… so that nothing like this ever happens again.”

As she spoke, the light grew brighter. Rin gasped as she lost feeling in her tails and paws. Time was almost up.

“Rin!” Nimbus cried, throwing herself into Rin’s chest. “Please… don’t… don’t go… I need you, Rin… Please…”

Rin put her arms around Nimbus’s shaking form, holding her closer. The shinx returned the embrace, holding Rin for dear life. 

“Thank you, Nimbus… Thank you for everything.” Before Rin knew, the words spilled out of her. “I’m glad we got to train together, and travel together, despite everything, I’m glad you were always there with me. I’m so… so happy I got to know you, Nimbus.” 

Her voice wavered, and her eyes began to well up. Her throat swelled, making it even harder to speak. I… When was the last time I cried… Did I ever…? It took everything to hold back her sobs, to be Nimbus’s rock one last time. 

“I’m so… so lucky you were the one to find me that day. I’m so… happy that you’re here…” She pressed her face on top of Nimbus’s head.”

I don’t want to go. She thought. I want to live in this beautiful, colorful, alive world with Nimbus. I want to keep exploring with her until the end of time. I want to wake up in the morning by her side and rest in the night listening to her heartbeat. 

“I love you, Nimbus,” she finally broke. “I love you, so, so much, that it hurts.”

Nimbus startled, lifting her head away, still holding onto Rin for life. She stared into her eyes as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Rin’s heart fluttered as she realized what she had just done. Just one more thing she had put off until the end.

But looking at Nimbus’s face, she knew. Nimbus’s lip quivered, on the verge of another sob. “Rin… Rin, Rin, Rin… I… I-”

The light became blinding. The two gasped, clinging onto one another for dear life. Rin realized she couldn’t even see Nimbus anymore- all that was left was the light.

Time was up.

“I’m sorry, Nimbus! Even after I disappear, I’ll never forget you!” she called. 

And as she lost all feeling in her body, as she lost the ability to touch, to hear, to smell, to see… she just barely felt Nimbus lose her grip, screaming her name into empty air.

[autumn-sweet-fae]

IM LOSING MY MIND, DID YOU ALSO GIVE AKARI AN ALOLAN VULPIX NINETAILS NAMED AURORA????

xhchufiyin I swear I'm not copying u, I was giving her one cuz mine was a heavy hitter of my team 🤣

Great minds think alike! And to be fair there’s only so many on-theme names you can choose for adorable ice pokemon without sounding absolutely generic lol

Also, I try to keep the pokemon that she’s gifted in canon as part of her party and the alola vulpix is one that you’re given when you complete the side quest. It’s that same reason Akari has a Lucario, a Blissey, and a Umbreon in her modern team. You get them as eggs if you complete a quest/talk to an npc.

Aurora had always been my go to name for my glaceon until alola Vulpix’s existence. Also I know technically Akari would have had to evolved her Alola vulpix to complete the Pokédex, but I’m just gonna hand wave that!

My Aurora has no real interest in evolving as she enjoys her small size. Also once her sis Marshmellow evolves into a Zoroark, Aurora will be able to hide inside her floofy mane!!

[7tail-exploration]

(warning: pokemon violence, minor pokemon injury)

[Nimbasa Storm Sewers, 6:04 pm]

Ika and Brook continue following a trail of scratches and loose feathers upstream, getting more worried for their rescue targets.

The path they were taking was leading through smaller and smaller pipes. "The kids are smart to try getting somewhere they can't be reached. Whoever's chasing them is definitely on the larger side." Ika observes.

Eventually, they reach a junction where one much smaller pipe, large enough for the small pokémon, and evidently enough to stop the attacker. The pair of duckletts that the team were sent to find are huddled in the pipe, shivering in fear.

Brook approaches the scared pokémon, "Hey, kids. Your mom sent us to help you, she's worried sick. Let's get you guys out of here."

"B-but the huge pokémon! It'll eat us!" One of the duckletts quacked.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure nobody hurts you." Brook responds, coaxing the duckletts out of the pipe.

A low growl came from the tunnel behind them. The low light coming from storm inlets above briefly illuminates the dull green scales and blue crests of the foe creeping slowly towards the newly accessible prey.

The kids began to panic as they noticed the hunter. "Brook! Get them out of here, remember our exfiltration path!" Ika pulled a blinker seed from her pouch and tossed it into the Feraligatr's maw as it lunged at her.

The vulpix dodged under the blinded water type, running after her partner. The Feraligatr may be blinded, but it could still hear the splashes of the pokémon fleeing down the pipes. Building up water energy, it used Surf to propel itself quicker through its domain by water pressure.

Ika took a zigzag path through the pipes to the open manhole they'd found. Each time she heard the Feraligatr slam into the wall on corners, she timed the distance it was behind her.

Scrambling up the ladder (and mentally thanking the fact the Wigglytuff Guild made her train on climbing), Ika emerges in a small construction area. Brook and the duckletts were waiting for her nearby, starting to run again once she appeared.

The crashing of metal and water could be heard as the water pressure behind the Feraligatr sent heavy manhole covers shooting up on geysers. "Run!" Ika commanded, taking off at a sprint down the road herself as the pokémon grew closer and passerby humans began seeking shelter.

Suddenly, she was in the air. The manhole cover underneath her acting as the only thing between the small fox and the Feraligatr's jaws.

"Ika!"

Ika got back to her paws, jumping down and making a bit of distance from the large reptile. "Get to cover! Keep moving!" She yelled back, trusting that Brook would get the duckletts to a safe enough place for them to fly back home.

The Feraligatr couldn't open its mouth enough to get the manhole cover out, instead opting to rip it out with an arm. Several teeth scattered across the road, a trickle of blood dripping from its mouth.

Ika was keeping its attention on her with jets of flame. It shifted its grip on the steel disk, before throwing it as hard as it could at the pesky fire type.

Ika dashes to the side with Quick Attack, barely dodging the projectile that then shears into a parked SUV. She continues dodging its attacks, leading it further down the street while Brook follows along the line of parked cars. A burst of Bullet Seed here, an Extrasensory there, keeps the Feraligatr from being able to do any major damage to the smaller pokémon.

At the road junction ahead, drivers had fled from their cars as the pokémon battle neared them. A taxi had been abandoned in drive with its door open, slowly bumping into the hatchback in front of it.

"New exit. Get to the yellow car, and push down the lever on the right. On my mark... Go!" Ika blasted the Feraligatr in the face with Flamethrower, momentarily blinding it again.

Brook took up his spot at the gas pedal, pressing it down as hard as he could. Tires squeal as Ika clambers up to the dashboard and steering wheel, trying to put enough force on the wheel to free them from the car in front.

The Feraligatr slammed its claws through the trunk of the car just as it came free and shot forward. "Shit!" The car moved erratically while Ika tried to get her balance, scraping against parked cars and managing to close the open door against a light pole.

The Feraligatr gave chase for a moment before local police and trainers arrived on scene to try subduing the raging pokémon and it returned focus on the nearer combatants.

Once she realized they weren't getting chased, Ika called out "Left lever now! We're safe." The cab skidded to a stop, throwing Ika against the windshield. "Oof... I'm okay, let's go find Swanna and collect our payment."

[prof-peach]

:0 I've never seen the other Pokemon on your team, what are they like?

My perma-team is a vulpix, Valka, a 20+ year old heavy hitter, despite her small stature. She was my very first pokemon, through gritted teeth we bonded, and now I fondly refer to her as my shadow. I go no where without her. She puts everyone who resides on the island in their place with unnerving strength. like literally any comic she's somewhere in the background, if not underfoot. Not hard to find more art of her, she is quite menacing.

Then we have Booker, Teddiursa, silly old grumpy bear. He had a hard time with poachers when he was real young, and imprinted on me during my ranger days many years ago now. He doesn't want to evolve, wears an everstone bead on his tail. He's partially blind on one side but we hiked to a colony of Machop and trained with them in the mountains for months to help him regain balance and confidence! He seems grouchy but is actually sweet.

Then we got Minerva, a shiny lopunny i nabbed at an airport when i was quite young, from a bad breeder. she was a scabby weedy flea infested runt when we first met, hardly the pink colour you'd usually expect from her type. She is fierce and fearless, will jump head first into anything with confidence and style. Loves to dress up, steals a lot of my nicer clothes. Will smash you into bits if you cross her, a total diva and i'd change nothing.

you've no doubt recently noticed the posts about Boadicea, a CharizardXGarchomp hybrid who's the baby of the group. Needy, clingy, total idiot, lap pokemon despite her ridiculous size. Very fast mount for flying.

For ground travel i use a dear Stantler called Donut, he's rather docile if you're not a problem to his "herd", with a neck so thick and strong you can hold onto his antlers and be lifted with ease. He's very chill.

We got a delivery Noctowl whos been around the block with me a few times too, lil guys really friendly, no real name for him, we all just call him 'Fancy pants' or 'dude'. hes got fancy eyebrows.

Of course not forgetting Quintin, a Scizor, my first egg hatch ever, been with me since i was a real youngster, a gentle soft sweet boy with a heart of gold, and collectively about 4 braincells. We all adore him.

then theres the house pokemon, each of these has blurb in the blog somewhere, they're all rather naughty... except Bob and Rosco. They're a delight.

uhhh lets see, this rat is always under my feet.

And then theres the pokemon who are out and about. the team mates who do jobs around the island, usually maintaining the peace.

Theres also 3 Bronzong that hang about the island,

Some notable partners from my various travels and adventures would iniclude

Dutch - Porygon-Z (helps around the lab, very loving, bit mad)

Typhlosion - Propane (odd markings, a spicy meatball)

Grimm - Steelix (real docile, very into scratches)

Riot - Lycanroc/midnight (Fiery, naughty, likes to thrash)

Suneater - Golisopod (shy, kind and very smart, loves to be alone)

Jewel - Ribombee (mean tempered! fussy)

Wotsit - Vikavolt (real clingy and super curious, to a fault)

Hemlock - Heracross - (a total babe, really protective and jolly)

Potato - -Bulbasaur (strict but fair, very old)

Murdoc - Crobat (timid in the light, proud of his speed)

Sugar - Tyranitar (Soft baby lady, total gentle giant)

Summer - Meganium (variant lady, gentle, calming aura, healer)

Tobi - Dreadnaw (rare water type for me, he's always sleeping)

Moss - Stonjourner (covered in moss, aptitude for grass attacks)

Zeplin - Aerodactyl (old battle maiden, now retired to the mountains)

Madam - Eldegoss - (will try to poison you, shiny, total nuisance)

I must admit, i often am one to release pokemon back to the wild, but the ones mentioned here are pokemon who have had the option to leave, and have chosen to stick around (apart from Madam who is a liability if left to go free), at least for now. We've been on many adventures together, and now work side by side managing the island. I have yet to draw them all but theres at least some visuals here for you. This also doesn't include pokemon who are residents at the lab and its facilities, who like our company but are not technically registered to myself or any of the staff. We breed all kinds of grass types, and they're all pretty friendly give or take, so if we have a certain job that needs more hands, we can call upon the residents who suit the work. Many of them have been through treatment or rehab with us, and we've built up a relationship with them, enough to work well together.

[girls-scenarios]

A Little Curiousity

Idol: Heejin (Loona)

Prompt: Guys! Can u do smth like a AU with Heejin where the reader and Heejin are POKEMON TRAINERS!!(im rly hyped about the new pokemon games!!!) Where her pokemon got lost in the woods and the reader helps her find her pokemon and decide to continue their path to the Pokemon League together!

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: I just finished playing Pokémon Shield on my Switch and I’m still super excited about it since it was so fun, so I thought I’d try my hand at this prompt! Please forgive me if my writing isn’t the greatest, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Heejin wouldn’t normally consider herself a slow or inattentive person. After all, being a trainer had heightened her senses and made her pay more attention to her surroundings. But she had been in the middle of setting up her tent when it happened, too distracted with her full hands to react fast enough. She hadn’t even noticed Star, her Raboot, curiously approaching the tree as she focused on getting her tent up before the approaching clouds could open their floodgates.

She hadn’t noticed until the sky lit up with lightening, the ground shook with the force of the thunder, and he let out a loud squeak just as something hit the grass. At the squeak, she had turned just in time to see him dash off into the woods after a very large, very startled Skwovet, leaving her and the rest of her team to stare after him.

“Star! Stop!” She’d called after him, but it was too late. By the time she had jumped to her feet, he was gone and the skies opened, pouring a heavy rain down onto the campsite. She had only taken a moment to corral her team into the tent and tell them to stay before she ran after him, but he was already long gone.

Now she was soaked through and gasping for air, her new boots covered in thick mud as she stopped to catch her breath under a huge oak.

“Stupid Skwovet, how did it just jump out of nowhere like that?” Heejin huffed and stomped her foot as she looked around, squinting through the rain. “Star! Come here!” A distant roar answered her call and she shivered, clutching the Pokeball at her side that contained her Mubray Champion, the only companion she’d thought to bring with her in her haste. God, this was so stupid. She was going to catch a cold wandering around out here. Thankfully she’d left her backpack with her clothes at the tent so she could change when she got back.

She went to take a step forward, then froze. Her tent. Where was it again? A bit frantic, she looked around, but all the trees just looked the same, especially under the heavy rain. Gulping, she glanced back at her footprints. Would she be able to follow them back?

Half of her wanted to run back the way she’d come, but she knew that she couldn’t leave Star out there alone. Groaning, she wiped at her face with the back of her hand, swearing to herself that she was going to get a leash the next time they were in town. There was no way she was going to let this happen again. She was miserable as she started forward again, cursing everything. Stupid rain, stupid Skwovet, stupid curious Raboots, stupid woods-.

“Hey, are you okay?” The voice that came from deeper inside the woods made her jump and stop in her tracks again, her head swiveling around to try and find where it came from. “I heard you out here in the rain so I came to see if everything was alright. You’re totally soaked!”

She found herself looking to her right and watching as you stepped out of the darkness, an umbrella over your head and your eyes wide and concerned. For a moment, she was apprehensive, until she noticed that the belt around your waist was full of Pokeballs and you had a Pumpkeboo trailing after you, peeking at her from over your shoulder. Somehow, you seemed a bit familiar as well, but she couldn’t tell why. Not through the rain and the darkness that lingered in the woods at all hours of the day.

A quick glance down at herself had her feeling embarrassed and she let out a soft laugh, pushing her wet hair away from her face. “Well, I don’t know. My Raboot ran off into the woods while I was setting up camp and now I can’t find him in the downpour.”

Your frown was sympathetic as you stepped forward, close enough to cover her with your umbrella. Now that she wasn’t moving, she realized how cold she was, making her shiver again. Your frown only deepened. “You aren’t going to be able to find anything in this downpour. Why don’t you come over to my camp? It’s right back through these trees here. I’ll give you some of our curry and you can warm up by the fire while we try to figure out how to find that Raboot of yours.”

For a moment, she hesitated, before realizing that you were right. She could barely see anything and Star wasn’t going to come out from wherever he was hiding until the rain ended. “You’re right. Thank you,” she said, a grateful smile stretching over her lips as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to conserve as much body heat as possible. “I owe you one. My name is Heejin, by the way.”

You smiled in return as you started to guide her back the way you came. “I’m (Y/N), and don’t mention it. It’s the least I can do for a fellow trainer. You’re trying to get your gym badges, aren’t you?”

With a raise of her eyebrows, she asked you how you knew, drawing a laugh from your lips.

“I’m a trainer too and I’ve seen you at the past few gyms. You always challenge right before me, so I’ve seen you fight a few times. You’re really good!”

“Oh, thank you.” Her face burnt a bit at the praise, but she was thankful for the warmth so she didn’t turn away. Instead, she studied your face, before her eyebrows raised in recognition. “That’s why you looked a bit familiar to me! I’ve definitely seen you at the gyms before. Although I guess I’ve never seen you fight,” she said sheepishly, making you laugh again.

“That’s okay, like I said, I’ve been after you, so I wasn’t expecting you to stick around and watch every round. Not while there’s still so many of us challengers. It’s nice to officially meet you though.”

“Same to you, although I wish we’d met under slightly less.... Wet conditions.”

“True. Oh, we’re here!” The trees disappeared suddenly, giving way to a small clearing just big enough for a campsite, where your other Pokémon ran over to great you. You had your tent set up and your curry cooking, and she felt her stomach grumble. It had been a long day, and even though she’d given her team berries to tide them over until dinner earlier, she hadn’t eaten in a while.

“Come over here and warm up,” you told her, guiding her under your makeshift shelter by the fire before closing your umbrella and going about filling up a plate. With a happy sigh, she leaned closer to the fire and smiled at your Vulpix as it wandered closer, sharing its warmth. As she let Champion the Mudbray out to run around with your team, you approached her with the plate. “Here, have some of this.”

The curry was spicy, and she let out a hum as she swallowed her first bite. “That’s delicious!”

“Thank you,” you said, a smile stretching over your face as you sat down and let the Vulpix climb into your lap and snuggle close. “I’m glad you like it. Most of my experience is in cooking for Pokémon, so I’m always a little worried that it might not be edible for humans.”

It was her turn to laugh before she took another bite, already feeling warmer. Before she knew it, she had already finished the plate and she felt warm inside and out, most likely thanks to the extra heat Vulpix had added to the fire. The rain had let up as well, and there was a bit of sun peeking through the clouds as the downpour turned into a tiny drizzle.

“I can’t thank you enough,” she said earnestly, “I feel a bit guilty for taking up your time,” but you waved a hand, dismissing her guilt.

“Don’t worry about it, Heejin. I’m glad I was able to help.” You looked out at the woods. “Now that you aren’t going to freeze to death and it’s no longer raining, we should start looking for your Raboot.”

Her stomach dropped and she sighed, placing her plate down and standing up. “I feel terrible for leaving him out there in the rain.”

“It’s not your fault, you couldn’t find him,” you soothed, putting Vulpix down and standing up as well. “I’m sure he was able to find shelter in plenty of time. Pokémon are animals, after all. They’re good at surviving the elements.”

“That’s true. But I still want to find him as quickly as possible.”

“Then let me help.” You whistled, getting the attention of the Pokémon. “Come on guys, let’s go find Heejin’s Raboot!” Turning back to her, you raised your eyebrows. “Does he have a name?”

“Yes, his name is Star. You don’t have to do this, you know. I don’t want to be a bother.”

“But I want to.”

Something in her heart fluttered at your words and she felt her cheeks flushing. “Oh. Well then, thank you again (Y/N). His name is Star. Hopefully he’ll come out now that’s it’s not raining as much anymore.”

The ground was still muddy, but the trickle of sunlight made it easier to say and, without the drumming of the rain, it was easier to hear all the different sounds of the forest. With Champion trotting behind her and you by her side, Heejin made her way back into the woods, calling for Star. She had to admit that having you by her side made her feel a lot better: the various sounds from other wild Pokémon didn’t scare her as much anymore. No matter what was out there, surely the two of you would be able to take it. It gave her more bravery to search, and search she did, looking anywhere she thought Star might hide.

“Star, come here! It’s not raining anymore, you can come out now!” Crouching down, she peered into another den, only to quickly back away at the sight of a sleeping Bunnelby and sigh. “Where is he? Maybe he went back to camp?” She stood and dusted off her still-damp pants, about to suggest that the two of you try to find your way back to her camp before you let out a gasp.

“Heejin, I think I found him!” At your call, she spun around to see you peering up into a short berry tree, your eyes wide. “Hey little guy, how did you get up there?”

Heejin broke into a run, clearing the short distance in no time with her heartbeat spiking in her chest. Sure enough, when she looked up she saw Star shivering and clutching at the branch he sat on, his little ears wet from the rain and his eyes quivering. “Star! Oh my god, you scared me!”

The little Raboot sniffed and glanced away, trying to look cool, but she could see him shaking. With a relieved smile, she reached up to pull him down and clutched him close to her chest. “Don’t ever do that again! I know you’re getting bigger, but what if you had run into a big wild Pokémon? Poor baby, you’re soaked through.” She quickly unzipped her coat to wrap it around him before zipping it back up, and he snuggled closer to her chest, obviously exhausted. With an affectionate, yet long-suffering sigh, she pet his little head. “I’ll cook your favorite curry when we get back, okay? It’ll warm you right back up.”

When she looked up, you were looking at her with a similar affection twinkling in your eyes, your hands in your pockets.

“Thank you so much again for finding him,” she said, shaking her head. “I should have known he’d be up in a tree looking for food.”

“How did he even get up there?” You looked back up at the branch he’d been sitting on, looking a bit incredulous. “I’ve never heard of Raboots climbing trees, that’s for sure. I just happened to look up and see a flash of red and white.”

She laughed, still softly petting his head. “He’s too adventurous for his own good. Add that to his endless energy, his speed and constant growing, and his huge appetite, and you get a Raboot with no problem getting into trees. He doesn’t climb as much as he runs and jumps.”

“Oh, that makes more sense.” Your smile returned and she felt her heart flip as your eyes met hers, the spark of affection still lingering. “I’m glad you found him. I can’t imagine how scary it is to loose a Pokémon.”

“I acted annoyed, but I was really scared,” she admitted. “I don’t know what I’d do without this little guy. He was my first Pokémon ever.”

“I can tell how close you guys are. It’s cute.” You grinned and her cheeks warmed again as she watched the sun slip in through the leaves to light up your face. It was like the universe was asking her to fall for you or something.

“I-I... Thank you?” She let out a nervous giggle, then perked up at the familiar sound of her Liepard’s call. It was somewhere close by, which meant that her camp wasn’t far away! “Champion, can you lead the way back?” He gave her a little nod of his head before she turned to smile brightly at you. “My camp is close by, why don’t I give you some potions as a thank you?”

“Oh, you don’t have to!” Your eyes widened as you waved your hands. “I just wanted to help, I didn’t want anything in return!”

“Still, I want to do something to return your kindness. I’m really glad I ran into you out here.”

Your face immediately softened at her words and you fell into step beside her, a small smile on your lips. “You know, I always wanted to approach you at the gyms, but I was too nervous.”

“Really?” Her mouth dropped open. “Why?”

“You seemed to be so good, so confident, so, um, pretty,” you blushed as you spoke, looking down at your shoes. “I was intimidated by you, honestly. But now I see that I should have approached you sooner.”

“I can’t see myself be intimidating,” she said, still shocked, before her lips turned up into a hopeful smile. “Want to make our way to the next gym together? It would be nice to have some company on the journey, and I want to get to know you better.”

You visibly perked up at her suggestion, just as Champion broke through the woods into her camp, returning to the happy calls of her team. The sun was bright as the two of you stepped into the clearing, and your eyes sparkled in the light as you beamed at her, making her heart skip more than just one beat.

“I’d love that!” You exclaimed, and her smile stretched to match yours, all of the fear, and cold from earlier being replaced by an excitement that lit a fire in her chest, different from the competitive determination she’d felt at the beginning of her journey.

“Great! This is going to be so much fun, I just know it.”

As she placed a sleeping Star into her tent and covered him with a blanket, listening to you coo at her other Pokémon, she couldn’t feel the annoyance she’d felt earlier, forgetting her promises to scold him when she found him. Instead, she pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead before sitting back to admire you, full of anticipation for the future.

“I never thought I’d say this, Star,” she said in a whisper as she stood up to head back out to you, head already spinning with plans of what she wanted to do with you. “But I’m so glad that you’re the curious type. I’ll cook you something nice to thank you for this when you wake up. I have a feeling that this is going to be big!”

[totallycorrectpmdquotes]

Backfire? OwO

Backfire uwu

(Chapter 1)

Uxie’s powers aren’t just limited to his lake, and affect all memories which could be traced back to the Time Gears. It’s easy to imagine the mental catastrophe this could cause in the mind of someone who’s spent nearly their entire life looking into them. In his defense, Uxie was really mad at Grovyle.

-

2.

The chairs in Officer Magnezone’sstation were stumps that had been cut for Pokémon much smaller than Dusknoirwas. Still, he grabbed one, set it down outside the cell Grovyle had beentossed in, and settled down to wait.

The hallway with cells wasnothing like the stockade Grovyle and Breanna should be in right now. It lackedthe proper atmosphere of crushing dread and was far too bright. When Grovyleawoke, he might still have hope of escape – although, if Uxie was to bebelieved, it would still be several hours before they had to worry about that.Dusknoir had been unwilling to admit he wasn’t entirely sure how long an hourwas, and he refused to take any chances. While the legendary trio went toreport their victory to the townsfolk, he did his best to make himselfcomfortable in his self-imposed guard duty.

He’d never liked guard duty.

When he had first joined MasterDialga’s ranks, there had been an abundance of pointless little rebellions.Irritating as they were, humans were persistent. When time had frozen, they hadcreated ways to grow their crops despite it and continued as if nothing hadchanged. But survival was never enough for them, and when one man stumbledacross ancient information on the Time Gears, the humans had stood with him anddecided they had a right to destroy everyone’s lives. They brainwashedthe Pokémon who weren’t smart enough to flee their insanity into acting asfirepower and set out to end the world.

Dusknoir had leant his strengthto Master Dialga as soon as he could. With his team, they had captured so manyof the morons who thought history owed them something. Afterwards, theywould have to guard them while the execution chambers were being prepared.Dusknoir could still hear so many voices in his ears that echoed faintly and promisedthat there was a way to save them, to save everyone, if they’d just letme go, please, I can help you.

There was a face in the knots ofthe wood that made up the prison floor that looked like a concerned human man.

Dusknoir jumped and drove hisfist into the image. Shards of ice curled through the gaps in the wood as itsplintered. Dusknoir waited several long moments before he pulled his fistback. His breath came in heavy, shallow gasps that shook his whole body.

The x-eye seed should be out ofhis system by now. He shouldn’t still be seeing false faces everywhere helooked. Dusknoir pulled a sliver from one of his knuckles and turned back toGrovyle’s cell.

He’d shifted in his sleep and hadhis newly-bound hands pressed against the side of his head. His face wascontorted in pain, and his breathing was much more ragged than Dusknoir’s. Helooked pitiful.

Dusknoir scowled and turned away.He pulled the remaining slivers from his hand and kept one eye on the crumbledpatch of wood. There was no hint of the face he had seen.

He looked up at the sound offamiliar footsteps. “Have they finished?”

The sableye gave a short nod anda nervous laugh. “The bird and pink one want to talk to you.”

“The what? ”

Dusknoir nearly wrapped his handaround the sableye’s throat. Instead, he stuffed his anger away and tried tolook pleasant as he focused on the small form poking her head around thecorner. “Ah, Miss Vulpix. You’re looking well.”

The human-turned-vulpix lookedgenuinely horrible. Breanna had dark circles around her eyes which stood outdespite her short fur. There was still a notch in her right ear from the fightwith Grovyle, as well as several bandages across her chest and front legs. Oneof her tails was still scarred with an electrical burn from the misadventure inAmp Plains.

Breanna frowned. “…Thanks.” Shepointed a paw at the sableye. “Was your friend talking about the Guildmaster?”

“I believe so,” Dusknoir saidevenly. He held a particularly large wooden shard between two fingers andsnapped it in front of the sableye’s face. “You’ll have to excuse him, he wasraised in a mystery dungeon. He doesn’t mean to be rude.”

Breanna tipped her head to theside, and the curled tufts of fur atop her head bounced against her ears. “Ithought mystery dungeons were caused because time was out of balance – whywouldn’t putting the Time Gears back fix that?”

Dusknoir clenched his fisttighter, and the sableye gave another nervous laugh. “There are some questionseven I can not answer. I have theories, but no facts to back them.” He forced asmile, “Perhaps you and your guildmates will find those yourselves, one day.”

Breanna shuffled and focused onher paws. “Maybe,” she said. Her fur fluffed out, and she looked back up. “Uxietook away Grovyle’s memory.”

Oh, Dusknoir recognized thattone. He hated where this was going. “He did, yes.”

She glanced at the sableye andtook a long breath in. “So, he’s like me now?”

“That is not a comparison I wouldmake,” Dusknoir said. “You are a good person. He is still a criminal who nearlykilled you and your friend.” He put on a look of concern, “How is your partner?Have his injuries healed at all?”

Breanna huffed. “That’s not thepoint.” She shuffled again, still clearly nervous. “D- Riolu’s fine. He’s fine.We’re both fine.” She looked up and focused on Dusknoir with a hard stare. “Iwant to talk to Grovyle.”

“No,” Dusknoir saidautomatically, “absolutely not.”

She growled. It was adorable.“Why not?!”

“Among other reasons, he is stillunconscious. It’ll be a few hours still before he wakes.” Dusknoir said, “Beyondthat, and please believe me when I say this comes from a place of genuineconcern, he nearly killed you. I cannot leave you alone with him in goodconscience.” Especially while there was still a chance he remembered her.

She huffed once again, and Breannapadded over to his side. She sat down between him and the sableye, her furstill fluffed out as she looked up at him with familiar eyes. “Then I’m notleaving you alone with him, either.”

Dusknoir broke eye contact andhoped his flinch was subtle enough. The x-eye seed should be out of his systemby now. This didn’t make any sense. “If you insist,” he said. Thesableye laughed nervously once again.

For several minutes Dusknoir satstock-still, and a human-turned-Pokémon with a dead man haunting her expressionleaned against him. He refused to look her way. He refused to focus on anypatch of wood for more than a few seconds. This shouldn’t still behappening.

He didn’t even really know what washappening.

The abrupt end to the sableye’slaugh alongside the approach of hopping footsteps brought an end to the briefpeace, and Dusknoir forced away his moment of weakness. He glanced down at thesableye, who was focused on Breanna. She’d pulled away from Dusknoir and turnedto watch Grovyle. His breathing was rough again, and he trembled in his sleep.Breanna took a small step closer to the bars.

Dusknoir placed a hand on hershoulders and gently turned her back around.

Chatot, Wigglytuff, a Magnetonofficer, and finally the lake trio turned the corner to join the group.Dusknoir barely withheld his scowl. Chatot took one look at Breanna andsquawked.

“Vulpix!” He said, “Get away fromthat cell!” He flew over, landed between her and the sableye, and startedtrying to shoo her away from the bars. “My apologies, Dusknoir, sir. Thisimpudent child was told to stay in her room and rest.”

“It’s quite alright,” Dusknoirsaid, forcefully casual. Breanna fluffed up her fur and sidestepped away fromChatot. She gave Dusknoir the same hauntingly familiar look she had before asshe moved to join the larger group.

“Is it?” Mesprit asked and made asmall gesture to draw her brothers’ attention to the damaged part of the floor.

Dusknoir, very slowly, droppedthe slivers of wood he was still holding and floated off of his seat. “Ofcourse. She was merely worried, don’t fault the girl for that.” He turned toWigglytuff, who’d been watching them with an… unreadable expression. “Have youbeen fully informed of the situation?”

Wigglytuff hummed and skippedover to Dusknoir’s side, slipping in between him and the sableye. Grovyle hadcalmed down somewhat, and once again looked pitiful. “A bit, but just thatmuch! He hurt my friends, and I want to make sure he won’t do it again.” He turnedaround and looked down at Breanna. “Did your partner follow you, my dearfriendly-friend?”

Breanna’s fluffed up fur fellflat, her ears drooped, and she tucked her tails between her legs. “…Maybe.”

Chatot squawked, offended. “Hiscondition is worse than yours! What were the two of you thinking? Where ishe?!”

The floorboards creaked, and twounfortunately familiar faces poked their heads around the corner. Dusknoircouldn’t help but smile; these unobservant fools had walked right pastBreanna’s partner and their bidoof guildmate. That could have been an ambush.They could have been killed.

“Riolu!” Chatot squawked andfluttered over to the other heavily bandaged Pokémon. “You were confined toyour room for a reason, young man! And Bidoof, they are your juniors! Youshould have known better! What were you thinking? Go back to the guild, theGuildmaster and I will be having strong words with the three of you when wereturn!”

Bidoof pulled back. Riolu, whowas using him as a crutch, nearly fell on his face. “W-well gee, golly sir,”Bidoof rambled, “I didn’t realize this was so severe. And, ya see, they weremighty worried about the great Dusknoir.”

“Please don’t put yourself indanger on my account,” Dusknoir said.

“A ladder and some stairs are not‘danger,’” Breanna said.

Azelf raised a hand. “I’d likethem to stay if it’s not too much trouble.” He smiled at Riolu, who still had aheavy patch of gauze on the wound on his throat. “We don’t want to do this ifit’s too much for you.”

“Do what, dear friends?” Wigglytuffasked, humming again as he rocked on his heels. He was still watching Grovyle.“In the meeting, all you said was that all his memories were gone and he’d bestaying in this time for now.”

“Not all his memories are gone,”Uxie said as Breanna opened her mouth. “I could only take away those involvingthe Time Gears. However, those were most of them.” He glanced at Mesprit andAzelf, who nodded in sync. “From the amount I took from him, and how freshthose memories were, it’s likely he was forced into this life of crime as achild. It’s unfortunate, but curious – I’m sure you understand how strange thismystery is. Why would a child spend years on a quest to paralyse the planet? Ifsomeone else set him on this path, then we may have a bigger problem on ourhands.”

“Wait,” Breanna said. She turnedto Dusknoir with a frown. “Was Grovyle working with anyone?”

A weaker man would have laughedat the irony. Instead, Dusknoir simply shook his head and lied. “Aside from thePokémon he enlisted to bring him to your time, no. I have associates dealingwith her in my own time. She isn’t a threat to any of you.”

The sableye gave yet anothernervous chuckle. When he caught sight of Dusknoir’s disapproving frown, hecoughed.

“And besides that,” Mesprit spokeup, “we’re now dealing with a young man who has no idea what he nearly did. Youcan see why we’d have a bit of an issue with just sending him back to thefuture for trial.”

Now that was somethingDusknoir nearly laughed at. The idea of Master Dialga leaving his tower tojudge a trial was simply too amusing of an image. The lake trio finishedrunning over the previous night’s argument and let Azelf have the last word.

“Given the circumstances,Dusknoir suggested that your guild lead the investigation into how thishappened.” Dusknoir pointedly ignored the shocked expression on Chatot’s face.“And my siblings and I agree. If anyone can uncover this mystery, it would bethe Wigglytuff Guild.”

“No,” Chatot said, “absolutelynot! We will not put our apprentices at risk like this! He’s already nearlykilled two of them, I will not allow the others to be put in this level ofdanger.”

Wigglytuff hummed louder. “Idon’t know… Chatot is right. He hurt a lot of people. But this is reallysad.” He frowned and looked at his associate with wide eyes. “I don’t want himto be alone.”

“Guildmaster,” Chatot said, “thisis far too dangerous. You can’t agree to this.”

“Don’t we get a say?”

Riolu’s voice was still quiet,hoarse, and raw. He sounded horrible and winced with every few words. Breannahurried over to his side and pressed up against him.

“Dusk - Riolu,” she winced andcontinued, louder, as if that would get everyone to ignore her social taboo.“Is right. We’re the ones he hurt. We should get an opinion.”

Wigglytuff clapped. “Yes! Youshould! What do you think, Team Relic?”

Riolu swallowed and glanced downat Breanna. She replied with a determined nod, and they both turned back toWigglytuff. He took a long breath in, “If he doesn’t remember being a bad Pokémon,we should help him.”

Dusknoir’s heart hammered andplunged from his chest. “Pardon me?” Something was wrong. Breanna shouldn’t besupporting this.

“We should give him a chance,”Breanna added. “Right now, he’s not a good person or a bad person – but he willbe a scared person. He’ll know something’s missing, and he’ll want tofind out what it is. We don’t have to tell him he’s a criminal. We can just lethim be Grovyle.”

“I – I think you may havemisunderstood,” Dusknoir said, and held up a hand. Breanna had total amnesia -she shouldn’t have any attachment to Grovyle. “Just his memories of theTime Gears are gone. He is not entirely amnesiac. He may still be a threat toyou all. Honestly, the safest option would be to simply let me take him back tothe future.”

Wigglytuff whistled a brief tune.“But we could just let him be Grovyle.” He clapped again, “This soundsexciting! Let’s make him a room!”

“Guildmaster!” Chatot said, “Youcan’t be serious! Shouldn’t you at least take some time to think about it?”

“Oh, I did!” Wigglytuff replied,“I thought about it lots while everyone was talking, and I decided that Guildshelp Pokémon in need. Besides, Team Relic also wants to help. They’ll havesomething to do when they’re resting at the guild all day besides sentry duty –doesn’t that sound great?”

Chatot opened his beak, gaveWigglytuff a curious look, and then nodded. “Right, then.” He turned to thesilent Magneton officer, “Tell the rest of your unit what we’ve decided,please. The Guildmaster and I will go set up a room for him. Vulpix, Riolu, Ipresume you’ll need some assistance making your way up the stairs?”

“Bidoof can help us,” Breannasaid, a bit harsher than necessary as the magneton quietly left the room.

“I’m sure,” Chatot said dully.Wigglytuff raced past him as he began to direct the others out of the hall.

“We should be getting back to ourlakes,” Azelf said, “And return the other Time Gears as well.”

Uxie sighed. “I suppose we’ll seeeach other during the next apocalyptic disaster, then?”

Mesprit threw her arms around theother two’s shoulders. “Well, I’m not ready to give up on family time just yet.There’s a cute little café just outside of town, let’s go get some brunch.” Sheturned to Dusknoir, “You should join us! They had a sign out front advertisingpurple gummi juice.”

Dusknoir sat back down and gavethe trio a neutral look. “I appreciate the offer. However, I must stay here.Amnesia or not, I can’t simply leave him unguarded.”

The three of them frowned at him.“We’ll bring you one back before we leave, then.” Azelf said, and with one moreuncomfortably long look Dusknoir’s way, they left as well.

Dusknoir took a long breath inand counted to twenty-five. He let the breath out. The sableye chuckleduncomfortably and inched away from him.

Dusknoir lunged for his lackeyand pulled him close. “Let me be perfectly clear,” he hissed, “not one word ofthis exchange reaches the ears of your brothers or anyone in our future. As faras any of you are concerned, we are staying due to complications with thedimensional hole. Is this understood?”

The sableye nodded. “Y-yes! Yes,I -”

A low, disappointed voice cutthrough the sableye’s and drowned out his words. Dusknoir could feel the breathon the back of his neck. “Murderer.”

Dusknoir dropped the sableye andwhipped around. He stared down the empty hallway.

“Master Dusknoir?” The sableyeasked, “is something wrong?”

Dusknoir waved him off. “Returnto your post,” he said.

The sableye backed up andhesitated for several seconds too long before he scurried away.

Dusknoir scowled and put his headin his hands. “This is getting ridiculous,” he groaned and glanced back atGrovyle. He was twitching once again. “What in Dialga’s name did you attack mewith?”

“Murderer,” the empty hallwhispered again, and Dusknoir shuddered.

“It’s the wind,” he said with ascowl. “It makes horribly irritating noises in this time. I don’t know how I’msupposed to enjoy history with it always whispering like that.” He turned backaround. For a breath, there was the image of a human man in front of him, fullydressed in the regalia of Primal Dialga’s army. A dark cloud of shadows wrappedaround his lower ribcage, obscuring any injuries. He raised a hand.

Dusknoir dared to blink, and theimage was gone.

In the cell behind him, Grovylegave a high-pitched wheeze that almost sounded like a scream.

.-.

Chatot didn’t need theGuildmaster’s subtle but pointed ear twitch to tell him to stay; he’d plannedto do so anyway. Wigglytuff hurried the younger three back up towards theGuild, he stayed by the station. The timing was quite convenient: when theywere far enough down the road that they were out of earshot, Uxie and hissiblings exited the building. They nodded to Chatot.

“Grovyle had a bag of items onhim,” he said, “what happened to it?”

Azelf pulled a smaller, nearlyworn-through treasure bag from his own. He held it up to Uxie, who carefullyremoved the four Time Gears from a side pocket before his brother handed it toChatot. “Be careful, we haven’t had a chance to check it for traps.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thankyou.” He took the bag and gave it a brief examination. There was a pocket onthe inside which was clearly supposed to be a secret, a surplus of reviverseeds and other healing items, and several orbs meant to assist monster houses.The truly odd part was how familiar the contents were to those carried by TeamRelic. While there were more food-based items, which was common enough whentraveling alone, the ratios and sorting were otherwise nearly identical to TeamRelic’s treasure bag.

Chatot dismissed the strangenessand returned his attention to the lake guardians. “The Guildmaster and I wantedto ask you about the great Dusknoir. He seems…” he took a moment and struggledto find the right word. “…unwell.”

“We’ve noticed,” Mesprit saidsoftly. “He was hit with an X-eye seed during the fight, and he’s been having abad reaction to it. We’re not sure why the effects haven’t worn off by now.”

“He’s still troubled by whateverhe hallucinated,” Uxie added. He gave a deep frown as Azelf glanced over hisshoulder. “Frightened, even. We’re worried about him. He’s been acting like adifferent person.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine in time,”Chatot said. He adjusted the strap on Grovyle’s bag so it would fit his smallerform. “However, I’ll pass that along to the Guildmaster. He’ll be able toarrange something so our medical officer can check on him.”

The three relaxed. “Thank you,”Uxie said, “you should talk to that sableye as well. There’s six of them total,and he said they’re associates from his time. They might be able to helpidentify what’s upsetting him.”

“That’s useful, I appreciate it.”He flapped his wings and slung the bag over a shoulder. “Will you be departingsoon? It’s a long way back to your lakes.”

“Unfortunately,” Azelf sighed.“We’ll have to contact the guardians from where the other two were taken, andthe sixth one as well. It’s worrying that we haven’t heard anything from any ofthem.”

“Well, I wish you the best ofluck.” Chatot said cordially, “I trust you will keep myself and the Guildmasterupdated in case there are any other noteworthy events?”

“Of course!” Mesprit said, “Aslong as you’re willing to do the same for us. I know it’s a bit of a journey,but I’d be willing to teleport any messenger back to town.”

Her brothers nodded. “I’d do thesame since mine’s the farthest out,” Uxie said. “Azelf?”

“Of course!” Azelf said, “and ifDusknoir’s, well, condition worsens we’d appreciate if you sent one soonerrather than later.”

“I give you my word,” Chatotsaid, and gave his goodbyes. The trio continued towards the crossroads, and hetook to the sky and back to the Guild. He passed by the Guildmaster, stillhelping the injured teammates up the hill, and landed beside the sentry grate.One of the bag’s straps pinched his feathers, and he craned his neck to adjustit. As he did, he caught sight of something.

There was a small patch onGrovyle’s bag, on the same side as the supposedly secret pocket, which wascompletely worn through. In it, Chatot could see a few bound pieces ofparchment. With a significant amount of difficulty, he maneuvered them out andinto his wings. They were held together with a few braided strands of a ratherplain string, which he barely noticed slip out of his feathers.

The first was a simple, grayscalemap. It had the location of every Time Gear and several other dungeons marked –including the Beach Cave. Curious.

The second was what appeared tobe a reference sheet between footprint ruins and some sort elaborately curvylanguage. The third was another reference sheet, this one between what appearedto be the Pokémon Unown and that curvy language once again. Finally, there wasthe fourth – this was a letter, written in the curvature.

Chatot tapped his foot on thegrate and shuffled between the four pieces of paper once again. “Fascinating.Absolutely fascinating.” The Guildmaster would love to see this. He wentto rewrap the string, which was no longer in his hand, and frowned. He glanceddown as a gust ruffled his feathers, picked up the string, and dropped it rightdown the sentry grate.

Chatot huffed. “Very well then,”he rerolled the parchments and returned them to their pocket. It was a simplepiece of string; it wasn’t like one of the worst thieves the continent had everseen would miss it.

[celestialvoid-fanfiction]

Legends

Sterek Pokémon Trainer AU

Derek runs a Pokémon Clinic with his sister and Stile is the apprentice at the local Gym, training to take over his father’s place as Gym Leader.

For @loveyprophet

Derek blinked his eyes open to the familiar surroundings of his apparent, the golden light of day bleeding in through the window. He kicked his feet out from under the sheets and got out of bed, going about his morning routine.

He could hear Laura opening up the clinic downstairs, the sound of the door chiming and quiet voices drifting into his apartment.

He made his way downstairs, stopping to check in on the Pokémon who had been left in their care overnight. He crouched before one of the cages, looking in on the Vulpix with a broken leg. He was fast asleep, curled up under the soft blanket with his sister snuggled up next to him to comfort him.

The other Vulpix lifted her head, blinking her glossy black eyes as she looked up at Derek. She let out a quiet ruff before carefully stepping over her brother and prancing over to the cage’s door.

Derek unlatched the door, opening it.

The Vulpix climbed into his arms, snuggling up against him before prancing back into his cage and gently nudging her brother awake.

“Hey, buddy,” Derek cooed, watching the Vulpix blink its sleepy eyes. “I’ll let you sleep a little longer and then I’ll get you some breakfast, okay?”

The Vulpix let out a sleepy mew, lowing his head back onto the blue bandage wrapped around his leg.

He shut the cage door again, moving from Pokémon to Pokémon as he checked in on them.

“Der,” Laura called from the front desk.

He let out a sigh as he rose to his feet. He stepped out of the back room and made his way down the hallway, past the doors that led to other rooms and stepped out into the open lobby.

An Altaria stood in the lobby, watching him intently.

“I’ll feed the Pidgeys,” Laura volunteered, holding out a brown paper bag full of treats. “You can deal with your favourite patient.”

Derek rolled his eyes.

Altaria chortled, catching Derek’s attention.

“Alright, alright,” he said.

He couldn’t help but smile as knelt down on the floor and held out a treat for her.

The Altaria crept forward, the soft cloud of her body bouncing with her steps. She craned her neck, taking the treat from Derek’s hand. She let out a delighted chirp, wiggling on the spot.

The door chimed as it opened.

Derek looked up at the young man that came bursting into the foyer.

He froze as he met the boy’s eyes, watching as the smoky quartz depths shimmered like gold in the streams of daylight. His chestnut-brown hair was a tousled mess and his eyes widened like a startled deer as he met Derek’s gaze.

“I’m so sorry,” Stiles said, his pale, mole-speckled cheeks flushed. “She snuck out the front door when I wasn’t looking.”

Derek bit into his lip, fighting the urge to laugh.

Altaria fluffed up her cloud boastfully.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Stiles scolded, pointing at Altaria, but she was unphased.

Derek had to admit, Stiles might be the only Pokémon trainer he actually respected. The young man seemed to have a way with his Pokémon; he let them roam free outside their Pokéballs. Like every ten-year-old, he had set out on an adventure with his best friend, Scott, to become the greatest Pokémon trainer, but after a few years, he returned home, wanting to take his place with his father in the Gym.

His Pokémon had become part of the town: the Gyaradose in the lake that had saved kids from drowning; the Jangmo-o that wandered about the street, keeping bug Pokémon off farms in exchange for berries; the Dratini that slithered around town, letting kids pet him and walking them to school every morning; the Charizard who helped the elderly cross the road or carry groceries and made sure that people got home safe; and, of course, the glamour-queen Altaria who made her way into the Pokémon Centre every morning to score a treat from Derek.

Stiles’ only Pokémon who wasn’t a dragon type – aside from Charizard, but Stiles would argue that until he was blue in the face – was his Bulbasaur; the puppy of the town, who ran around and begging for belly rubs. He and Scott had found the Bulbasaur in the woods near their town, hurt and abandoned. They took him in, but when Scott and Stiles went separate ways, Stiles came back home and took his place as a trainer in the Gym, the apprentice to the Gym Leader – his father.

He was an incredible trainer, and his Pokémon were unlike any other.

Derek admired the way Stiles treated them, and he and Laura loved it when the free-roaming Pokémon would visit the sick Pokémon in the Pokémon Centre.

“It’s alright,” Derek said reassuringly, reaching out to gently pet Altaria’s head. “I like it when she visits.”

Altaria let out a delighted chirp before wandering back out the door and down the street towards the Gym.

Stiles let out a heavy sigh, his expression a mix of frustration and embarrassment. “I’m so sorry.”

“Stiles, it’s alright,” Derek said, a sweet smile playing across his lips. “We still on for tonight?”

“Absolutely. I’ll meet you here at seven?”

“Seven, it is,” Derek said.

“I’d better go make sure she’s not terrorising anyone else,” Stiles said, gesturing over his shoulder in the direction of Altaria. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you tonight,” Derek farewelled.

“Bye, Stiles!” Laura called from the back room.

“Bye, Laura,” he shouted back. He offered Derek a sweet smile and a small wave as he turned and chased after Altaria.

Derek couldn’t help but watch as he watched Stiles leave.

  At seven o’clock, Derek left the Pokémon Centre in his sister’s hands, grabbing his favourite leather jacket from upstairs before meeting Stiles at the front door.

The young man had an old wicker basket in his hands and a bright smile on his face.

“I brought a picnic,” he said. “I thought we could go eat it down by the lake.”

“That sounds perfect,” Derek said, returning the smile.

He stepped over to Stiles’ side, walking beside him as they made their way down the small trail out the back of town and down to the lake.

Stiles made his way out onto the wooden pier, setting the basket down on the creaking wooden boards. He pulled out a red and white picnic blanket and laid it across the pier before sitting down on in.

Derek smiled as he sat down next to Stiles.

Stiles dug into the basket, pulling out plates of sandwiches, fruit platters, and cheese and crackers. “So, uh… how was your day?”

“Good,” Derek said. “The Pidgeys that were abandoned when their nest fell out of a tree have all their feathers and they’re ready to start flying. And I spent half the day with a Rattata asleep in the pocket of my scrubs. How about you?”

“Good,” Stiles answered. “It was a quiet day so my dad just ran me through Leader stuff… I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

“Everyone gets nervous on the first date,” Derek said. “If it’s any consolation, I’m nervous too.”

Stiles let out a soft chuckle, bowing his head as a soft pink blush coloured his cheeks.

“I, uh… I really like you,” Stiles admitted.

“I like you too.”

Stiles met his gaze, the dark brown depths lit with gold as they caught the light of the setting sun.

“I really want to kiss you,” Derek confessed.

A sweet smile played across Stiles’ lips, making Derek’s heart flutter.

“Please do,” the young man pleaded.

Derek reached forward, his fingers gently brushing the soft skin of Stiles’ mole-speckled cheek. He craned his neck and brought his lips to Stiles.

Their lips barely touched as a wave water crashed down over them.

Derek steadied himself against the pier, shaking his head as lingering droplets of water fell down his face. He looked up at Stiles, “You okay?”

The young man was rigid, fighting back the anger in his eyes. He slowly turned to look at the lake, fixing his glare on the Gyaradose that towered over them. “Really?”

The Gyaradose let out a low chuckle, sending ripples across the lake as he sunk back down into the water.

“I hate you,” Stiles said—although they both knew he didn’t mean it.

Gyaradose let out a huff as he sunk beneath the water’s surface.

Stiles let out a measured breath, running his hand through his hair and combing it back from his face.

“I am so sorry,” he said.

Derek wasn’t paying attention, he was too distracted by the sight before him.

Stiles’ shirt was soaked through, clinging to his surprisingly firm body. The dark fabric accentuated his thick biceps, rivulets of water coursing his forearms as droplets of water clung to his face, glistening in the glow of the sunset. His wet hair was a tousled mess, raked back from his face as his dark eyes met Derek’s.

“It’s alright,” Derek said, snapping himself out of his stupor. He ran his hand through his hair, pushing the wet strands away from his face. “My place isn’t too far if you want to dry off.”

“Thanks,” Stiles said. He looked down at the decimated picnic.

“I’m sure it would’ve tasted great,” Derek said. “It was very thoughtful, thank you.”

A small smile lifted the corners of Stiles’ mouth as he started to cake it up, tossing the soggy sandwiches into the lake and stacking the plates in the wet wicker basket. He picked it up and followed Derek back to the Pokémon Centre.

Laura was standing behind the counter when they came in. Her expression was a mix of humour and shock when she saw them.

“What happened to you two?” she asked, fighting back her laughter.

“I fell in the lake,” Stiles lied. “Derek jumped in to save me.”

“Aw, my little brother, the hero,” she said, kissing Derek’s cheek as he walked by.

Stiles followed him upstairs and into Derek’s apartment. He set the wet basket down by the door and waited, watching Derek move through the open space.

The man disappeared into the bathroom, coming back with two towels. He passed one to Stiles. “Why did you lie?”

“Because it sounded like a better story than ‘My Gyaradose splashed us because you tried to kiss me’.”

“Fair enough,” Derek said. “I’ll see if I can find some dry clothes for you.”

He stepped into the corner of the apartment that was cordoned off as his bedroom, pulling open the drawers and digging through the piles of clothes. He pulled out a shirt and a pair of jeans, offering them to Stiles.

“Thanks,” the young man said, taking them from Derek and setting them down on the back of the couch as he pulled his soaking wet shirt over his head.

Derek froze. He knew Stiles was strong; he had to be if he spent days on end carrying his Pokémon around, but never in his wildest dreams would Derek have imagined Stiles would look the way he did.

If he had looks good in a soaking wet shirt that clung to his body, then he looked gorgeous without a shirt at all. As he dried himself off with the towel, Derek got a full view of his body; his thick biceps and toned abs. He watched as the muscles flexed and relaxed with his movements, his skin covered in moles that charted constellations across his skin.

Derek dragged his eyes up to Stiles’ face, watching as the young man met his gaze and cocked an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Derek said, shaking himself from his trace. “I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just… You look… wow.”

Stiles let out a low chuckle.

“You look ‘wow’ too,” he replied.

Derek burst into laughter.

“Do you want to get this awkwardness over with and try that kiss again?” Stiles asked.

“I’d like that,” Derek said.

He took a step closer, closing the distance between himself and Stiles. He craned his neck, brushing a chaste kiss against Stiles’ lips.

The young man’s eyes fluttered shut, his lips quivering slightly as he tilted his chin and chased Derek’s lips.

Derek drew their lips together again.

Stiles let his breath fall from his lungs as his shoulders dropped. He turned slightly, looping one arm around Derek’s neck while the other cupped the man’s cheek, pulling him closer.

Derek reciprocated, settling a hand on Stiles’ hip and the other cradling the back of his head as he gently guided the younger man backwards.

Stiles’ back bumped against the wall, pinning him in place as Derek pressed their bodies together. Stiles let out a delighted hum as he melted into the kiss. He wove his fingers into Derek’s hair, gently balling the soft tufts into his hand.

Derek had kissed a lot of people before, but this time was different. He couldn’t explain it; it just felt right. His breathless lungs filled with searing pain, but he desperately didn’t want to let go.

Finally, he drew back, gasping for breath. He couldn’t help but grin at Stiles’ euphoric expression, his brown eyes misted as he slowly blinked them open and looked up at Derek.

“Wow,” Stiles said breathlessly.

“Wow,” Derek agreed.

Stiles smiled, a soft pink blush colouring his cheeks.

Derek tilted his head, kissing him tenderly.

There was a shrill squawk from the doorway.

Derek drew back, looking over his shoulder to see Stiles’ Altaria, puffed up and ready to fight.

“Don’t you dare,” Stiles said warningly.  He turned back to Derek and whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. They’re just being protective,” Derek said. “It’s kind of endearing.”

“It’s also kind of irritating.”

A sweet smile played across Derek’s lips as he leant in again for another kiss.

Altaria let out another squawk, making them both jump.

“Stop it,” Stiles told her, quickly stealing a kiss from Derek.

Derek’s smile widened. “Since you made the lovely picnic, I’ll make us dinner. And if Altaria lets me kiss you more, I might even give her a treat,” Derek said loud enough that she could hear.

Altaria chortled as she wandered into the apartment more and curled up on the floor by the couch.

Stiles rolled his eyes.

Derek let out a low chuckle as he cupped Stiles’ cheek again and bringing their lips together again in a sweet, tender kiss.

[AO3]

[amazable01]

Mr. Sanders Neighborhood

A collab with @theobsessor1

A03 link here

Chapter 2

A soft sigh escapes Logan’s lips as he steers his car into his neighborhood. The library manager had closed it early due to one of her daughters falling ill. She had thought it would be best to use the day to take care of her child, explaining that they needn’t worry since they would work a full shift tomorrow.

The self proclaimed prince had kept his word and toned down his dramatics, acting with more consideration towards others. Although he occasionally can still be a bit of an obnoxious nuisance, Logan must admit his presence has grown on him a bit. Not that he’d ever tell the man that, of course.

Speaking of Roman, he had decided to take the opportunity to go shopping, claiming he needed more things to liven up his house with. Of course, this included more than a few complaints about how drab his home looked to make his point.

Shaking his head to himself at the memory, he refocuses his full attention back onto the view through the windshield, directing his car into his driveway and parking it.

Stepping out of the vehicle, Logan takes notice of a small moving van across the street. Boxes are strewn about outside of the truck, possibly too heavy for the new house owner. Speaking of the new house owner, they appear to be struggling with several boxes they had piled into their arms, while trying to avoid tripping on… what look to be several dogs in costumes running around their feet.

Deciding to try to be a gentleman, Logan walks over to offer his assistance to the troubled soul.

Upon a closer view of the young man, Logan can clearly see what one less professional as he could call a cute outfit. A pastel blue sweater worn under white overall shorts, and tall black cat stockings paired with white converse. Although, their absurdly bright and curly mop of pink hair is a bit of a distraction.

“Excuse me sir but, could I possibly assist you with those boxes?”

A surprised squeak comes from the man before he tries to turn around and look at Logan. His two soft, blue eyes peek at Logan from around the boxes.

The stranger lets out a small giggle before he speaks. “Oh, gosh, I didn’t here you come over! Of course you can help! Could you possibly grab that top box from my stack? Can’t quite see you with it there.” his bubbly voice carried a foreign accent

Logan quickly complies, taking the box from the man, leaving them both with one.

“Thank you SO much. If you hadn’t come to help, I might have dropped it on one of my babies!”

“I’m happy that I could help prevent such an travesty,” Looking down at one of the pets that have gathered around him by now, he’s confused. The animals curiously sniff him, and look him over. “It, um, would have been rather unfortunate, should anything happen to your, um... pets?”

What Logan had originally perceived to be dogs in costumes was not at all to be the case. Two of the creatures looked strangely like foxes, one being a fluffy, brown thing, and the other more auburn and orange with several tails. The last creature, however, is probably the most bizzare. The animal is teal, almost turtle like in shape, and with a possibly live and very large plant bulb seemingly growing out of its back.

“They’re not pets, they’re more than that! Well... I guess you’re TECHNICALLY right, seeing as some people view them that way?” He shakes his head, getting his thoughts back on track. “Anyways, we better get these boxes inside before our arms fall off.” He laughs a bit, going to place a box down inside the house

Logan follows suit, trying his best to casually avoid the “non-pets” as he enters the house. Placing the box into one of the several piles scatter throughout the place, Logan tries to ignore the annoying clutter in the home already.

“Oh goodness, I always forget my manners! My name is Patton Joy, but you can just call me Patton.” Kneeling down and attempting to hug all three of his “babies”, Patton continues. “And these three little lovelies are Yoko, Yuuna, and Misaki.”

Logan nervously adjusts his tie, watching Patton seemingly boop his nose to each of the odd creatures. “You can address me as Logan… If you, umm, don’t mind me asking, what exactly are those?” He gestures vaguely at the “animals” surrounding Patton.

Patton tilts his head to the side curiously. “Oh, I don’t mind in the slightest! They must not be very common here if you don’t recognize them.” He gently pets the nine tailed fox. “Yoko here is a Vulpix”

It seems to repeat Vulpix, as if in agreement. Must be its bark...

Patton points to the brown fox, and then the turtle thing. “Yuuna is an Eevee, and my sweet little Misaki is a Bulbasaur. I’ll finally be getting a Happiny when I complete my nurse training! ”

Taking note of the unfamiliar animal names for further research, Logan directs the conversation to something he actually understands. “You’re training to become a nurse?”

Patton stands back up, dusting himself off. “Yup! Just about everyone in my family is a nurse. I hope to follow in their footsteps, even if I’m a little special.” Swinging his arms cheerfully, Patton walks over to the front door, addressing Logan once once he’s there. “Now, will you be helping me with the rest of these boxes? Some of them are too heavy for me to get on my own, but I’m sure someone like yourself could handle them easy peasy!”

“It just so happens that I have nothing else planned for the day, so I can gladly aid you for the rest of the afternoon.”

Placing the last box down, Logan sighs. He can hear Patton cooing at his pets in another language from the corner of the room,

There’s a particularly loud sound from one of the creatures, causing Patton to gasp excitedly, and speak quickly.

Before Logan can move to try to investigate what’s got his new acquaintance so thrilled, his back pocket vibrates. Taking his phone from his pocket, a message from Roman pops up, asking where Logan is to show off a few of Roman‘s purchases.

With a roll of his eyes Logan quickly texted him back, informing the man of his whereabouts. There’s suddenly a loud bang, starting the logical man. Looking up, Logan finds Patton digging through a box, a box that had fallen over beside him.

“Patton, what on earth are you doing? I thought you were going through the boxes tomorrow?”

Patton pops out of the box, giggling. “I’m trying to find my baking pans! I want to bake some cookies for you, since you’re helping me.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that-” Logan’s interrupted by a loud knocking on the open front door of Patton’s house.

“I have arrived!”

Roman stands in the doorway, posing. He looks over, gasping.  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me we had a new neighbor sooner, Logan! I would have canceled my shopping trip.”

“I was busy helping them move boxes, and therefore didn’t have time nor ability to message you.”

“What?! Ugh, if you had texted me I could have come to help too! You just wanted to hog the adorable young man to yourself, huh?”

“W-What?!” Splutters Logan, “I couldn’t, wouldn’t! I would NEVER do such a thing, Roman!” Roman looks him over before huffing. “Fine. I’ll let it slide. This time.”

“Um... Logan-kun, is this a friend of yours?” Patton asks, peeking out behind Logan to get a closer look at Roman, his pets doing the same motion.

“Hmm, more acquaintances, really.” Logan smirks at the gasps he had come to know as offended princey noises. “Patton meet Roman. Roman meet Patton.”

Roman takes a shallow bow. “It is a pleasure meeting you, dear Patton! I hope your stay is as joyous as mine has been!”

Patton giggles. “It’s nice to meet you too!”

Yoko, the “Vulpix” had walked over while they were talking, going to sniff at Roman. “Oh my stars!” He bends down. “And who are these adorable little angels?!?!”

Patton once again introduces the creatures, labelling them finally as “Pokemon”, and shortly after him and Roman are engaged in an energetic conversation about animals they both have encountered.

Logan can only shake his head and watch the two hyperactive males, hoping the next neighbor would be a bit calmer. He can already tell these two are going to be a lot to handle.

Taglist under cut:

@pikachutali @0callmevirge0 @wolfishhel @anachronistic-cat @chemically-imbalanced-romance @nightmarejasmine @thepoolofthedead @broadwaytheanimatedseries @hanramz-the-fander @silversunshine2012 @tree4life25 @changeling-ash @Multi-fandom-trash-x9000 @thespiritsquid @crankthatyee @anangelridingintheimpala @alyssadashrub @nottodaylogic @corerianna @the-gayest-one-of-them-all @skelekitty42 @Emo-sanders-sides-loving-unicorn @scorching-scotch @ab-artist @cloudchaser7

[anistarrose]

Illusion (Pokemon x Gravity Falls One-Shot)

Summary: When you're afraid you'll never have a chance to hug your brother again, there's only one thing to do.

Word Count: ~2300

Warnings: Some self-blame and self-hatred

[Can be read without prior knowledge of Pokemon. However, it may be helpful to know that (caesar ciphered for vaguely implied spoiler) Crurdun kdv wkh delolwb Looxvlrq, zklfk ohwv lw glvjxlvh lwvhoi dv rwkhuv.]

July 2nd

It’s only the beginning of my third week in Gravity Falls, and already, I’ve encountered far more strange Pokémon than I could have ever anticipated! Just this morning, Decidueye and I nearly captured a strange creature wearing a decorated rag over its body, as if to mimic a Pikachu! Based on how easily it escaped the trapping power of Spirit Shackle, I’m tempted to classify it as a Ghost-type, but the attack also seemed to do no damage whatsoever to the Pokémon itself, only busting its disguise. We’ll be keeping an eye out for this “shadow of a Pikachu” to show up again it to show up again, of course, in hopes of exposing its true form!

Beheeyem has also been especially delighted lately — I can’t help but wonder if it senses the presence of other extraterrestrials! Perhaps that’s even the origin of all the anomalies in this town?

Stan buried his head in his hands. He’d reread the damn journal four times now, and it was still half useless information and half information he was too stupid to make any sense of.

His Pokémon — except Gyarados, for obvious reasons — were milling about the basement, unsure of what to do to help but too loyal to leave. Pangoro sat cross-legged in front of the portal, as if guarding it, while Persian slowly paced around the room, sniffing things he had definitely had time to sniff before. Even Gabite, who hated the cold and would definitely rather be upstairs under a pile of blankets, was lying at Stan’s feet, wrapping his fins around Stan’s leg for warmth.

And then there was Zoroark — good old, reliable old Zoroark, who’d gotten him through more rough points in life than Stan could count — who leaned over his shoulder, offering a faint murmur of reassurance. There were no words, but twenty years of time spent together made the message clear:

You can do this. We believe in you.

But Stan was tired, so tired. His brain was crying out for coffee, but his limbs felt too heavy for him to get up and make any, his mouth too dry for him to ask any of his Pokémon to bring it to him…

He was tired of being the dumb twin, tired of being the failure twin, tired of being the twin who wasn’t good for anything but protecting others and ultimately just ended up doing the complete opposite. He was tired of being seen as a shadow, as a poor pathetic imitation of something better. He was tired of Ford and everyone who saw him like that not being wrong.

He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have, because a hand on his shoulder was suddenly shaking him awake.

A six-fingered hand.

“You’re not a failure,” Ford told him gently.

“And you’re not real,” Stan responded.

“I’m saying what he would say if he was here.” Ford’s nose twitched slightly, in a very inhuman — yet still familiar — way.

“Pretty sure just about the last thing he said to me was that I’d never done anything worthwhile in my life. And he was right.”

“He was angry,” Not-Ford replied. “Angry and wrong.”

He gestured around the basement, to where Stan’s Pokémon had all drifted off into sleep. “Was all the time you spent with Persian and Gabite and Pangoro not worthwhile? Was training Gyarados up from a weak little Magikarp you found stranded on the beach one day not worthwhile?”

He rubbed his shoulder, where his trench coat was singed — though subtly, in a way that Stan might have missed if he didn’t know exactly what it meant. “Was convincing your parents to adopt me and Vulpix off the street in the middle of the winter not worthwhile?”

Stan closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “No, it was — it was worth something.”

Still wearing Ford’s appearance, Zoroark wrapped his arms around Stan and hugged him tight, in just the same way that Ford always had. Stan hugged back, and a sob caught in his throat, just in front of his heart, blocking any other sound from coming out.

“If Ford was here right now, he might still be angry,” Zoroark told him. “But I know he wouldn’t say that any of those things were worthless. You’re not worthless, and you can figure this out. We all know you can. That battle won’t be the last one Ford will ever have with us, and calling you worthless won’t be the last thing he’ll ever say to you. I promise. You’ll get to hug him again for real.”

“Thank you,” Stan choked out as the illusion melted away and Zoroark buried his long black snout in his jacket. “You’re right, buddy. You’re right.”

***

From the moment the memory gun slipped out of his hands and clattered to the ground, the end of Ultramageddon dragged on and on for Ford like some kind of eternal punishment, even as it only registered in his memory as a series of blurred and disjointed images. He barely registered the bricks of the Fearamid flying out from underneath his feet as he grabbed Dipper and Mabel and Decidueye and Ninetales and held them tight as stared up to the chaos that was the sky.

The Ultra Wormhole closed itself like cracked glass being melted down into one cohesive whole again, colors streaking from horizon to horizon and until they finally, finally subsided to a uniform blue dotted with white clouds, a faint rainbow forming above the falls in the distance.

Ford thought, for a moment, that he saw the silhouette of a winged creature above that rainbow, lit up from behind by the blazing summer sun — but he blinked and it vanished, and he had a million other things to worry about, the most horrible being the man who wore his face but was no longer his twin.

It wasn’t hard to find Stan (he almost wished it was), because Zoroark, whose bright red mane stuck out in the woods like a sore thumb, was waiting by his trainer’s side, standing down on all fours like he hadn’t since he was a Zorua and whimpering faintly as the others approached.

Mabel, wonderful blessed optimist that she was, ran up to Stan, returned his fez to his head and and was greeted by a confused smile and a question. “Uh, hey there… kiddo. What’s — what’s your name?”

“Grunkle Stan?” Mabel asked. “Grunkle Stan, it’s me! It’s me!”

“We had to erase his mind to defeat Bill,” Ford explained, the words sounding hollow in his mouth — because no explanation could ever make this any better, could ever lead to anything but more sadness. “Stan has no idea, but — he did it. He saved the world.”

Ford let out a ragged breath.

“He saved me.”

Not a full minute ago, he’d made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t expect Stan to still be Stan, wouldn’t expect him to behave like his brother would, wouldn’t say anything to this poor confused man that we wouldn’t say to a stranger.

But he’d known, in his heart, it would been a promise he wouldn’t be able to keep. All of a sudden he was hugging Stan and crying, tears seeping into his own trench coat, the coat of the man who should have taken the fall.

“You’re our hero, Stanley.”

Stan remained limp and silent, not making any move to return the embrace.

I’ll never hug my brother again, Ford realized. I haven’t in forty-three years and I never will again.

Soos joined them on the way back to the Shack, his Bibarel tailing after him, and Stan just blinked at them slowly. Zoroark pressed his nose to Soos’s shoulder and let out another mourning whimper, as Soos’s smile melted away and he wiped at his eyes with the end of Zoroark’s tattered mane. Waddles waited for them at the doorstep of the Shack, as if he’d known they were coming, but his expression remained as blank and innocent as a Pignite’s could be as he followed them inside.

Stan settled into his chair in his chair comfortably, his expression a little brighter, a little less confused-looking, and for a moment it was as if a stream of pure oxygen was being blown at the last spark of hope in the back of Ford’s mind. Maybe, just maybe, there was a bit of Stan left —

“Hey, what’s wrong? You guys look like you’re at someone’s funeral!”

And then it was gone, extinguished by the deluge that was reality, and while Ford knew the kids needed him, that their Pokémon needed him, he couldn’t stay, couldn’t keep looking at this — this shadow of a brother.

He remembered the time when he’d convinced himself that Stan had always just been his shadow, an inferior imitation, and hated himself for ever thinking it. He deserved to be hated for thinking it. If anything was a shadow, a warped reflection, a mockery of what it was supposed to be, it was the stranger sitting where Stan should have — which wasn’t fair to this amnesiac man, Ford knew, but he couldn’t keep looking at his once-brother like this, couldn’t stay here —

Hurriedly, awkwardly, he excused himself and rushed to the wreck of a kitchen, where sitting amongst the rubble was… Stan.

Except it wasn’t, because this Stan’s suit was singed and ripped over his left shoulder. The place where Ford’s Ninetales had struck Zoroark with a far more powerful than intended attack in the heat of that fateful battle thirty years ago, an attack that still left a scar to this day.

“Why are you doing this?” Ford blurted out. “Why are you being him?”

“I don’t know,” Zoroark replied, voice close to that of Stan’s yet somehow different, as if with a very faint accent. “Denial, maybe? I — I miss him. I miss him a lot already.” The sorrow in his voice, on the other hand, sounded very, very believably human.

Ford flinched as Zoroark leaned towards him, only to be drawn into a hug just like the one he’d hoped so desperately that he’d receive from Stan back in that clearing.

This isn’t real, he told himself. It’s just an illusion. It’s not really Stan.

But he also hugged Zoroark back.

“He didn’t hate you, you know.” Zoroark murmured between sniffs. “Was frustrated by a lot of things you did, maybe. But he forgave you for all of that in the end.”

Ford nodded slowly. “Do you want to go back to Stan? Together? The kids… the kids need us.”

“Mmhm.” Zoroark let its illusion fade away and withdrew from the hug. When the two of them got back to the living room, Mabel was sitting on Stan’s chair with him and crying, flipping through pages of a scrapbook.

“This’ll work! This has to work! Here’s the first day we came to Gravity Falls, Grunkle Stan, and here are the seals I used on my ball capsules that ended up blinding you!”

“That time we went fishing with you and Gyarados?” Dipper offered. “That time a giant Aerodactyl kidnapped Waddles and you punched it in the face?”

Stan shook his head sadly.

“I’m sorry,” he told them, “but I don’t know what any of this is, or who you are — ah, quit it, Waddles, I’m tryin’ to remember my life story here!”

Ford nearly collapsed with relief, and next to him, he felt Zoroark jump.

“What did you say?” Dipper gasped.

“I said get Waddles off of me!”

“It’s working!” Ford exclaimed, rushing over to Mabel’s side and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Keep reading!”

“Skip to my page! He needs to remember our boss-employee relationship!”

“Hey, just because I have amnesia don’t go tryin’ to give yourself a raise, Soos!”

From somewhere above them, something let out a caw, so loudly that it had to have been from an absolutely giant Pokémon. Between the cracks in the roof of the Shack, Ford could see a rainbow of colors in the sky — and for just a moment, a giant red and white winged creature flying past.

Ho-oh, the Pokémon of rainbows… and revival.

“You okay, uh… Ford? You’re Ford, right?” Stan asks. “My brother? Or is that just short for somethin’, or —”

“No, that’s my name — and I am fine, now. I just…”

He shook his head. “Never mind. It’s not important —”

Stan frowned, and met eyes with Zoroark, who also frowned.

“Alright, fine. Could — could I have a hug?”

Stan got a strange look in his eyes, but Zoroark nodded to him, and he stood up and let his head rest over Ford’s shoulder.

“I missed you,” Ford told him, and for a moment Stan was quiet and Ford was afraid he’d said something wrong, triggered some unpleasant memory to come rushing back without context.

“I don’t know why,” Stan finally said, “‘cause as far as I know I’m the only one who got my mind wiped lately, but… I missed you too. I don’t know what happened, but… I get the sense I’ve been really worried about you lately. And maybe, uh, not on the best terms with you.”

He sniffed. “But I’m… I’m really glad you’re here.”

Ford nodded. “It’s thanks to you that I am. You and your team.”

Overhead, Ho-oh cawed again, and a single feather drifted down between the crack in the roof, shining in red, white and green.

“To new beginnings?” Ford asked, catching it.

“To new beginnings,” Stan agreed.

***

Thanks for reading, feedback is appreciated as always! I definitely have plans for more stuff in this crossover, but also some other fics I want to prioritize over those, so it may be a while.

[askingdiabolikbois]

S&M bro's Pokemon

AShu: 

I think Shu would like a loyal dog Pokemon that can be his silent partner. Having this Pokemon would help him feel less alone and it would be a comfort for him. Given this I think a Growlithe would be good for him! She is too lazy to train one, but maybe if he’s had it since he was a child the Pokemon would get to know his nature, and know that Shu needs someone by his side. The Pokemon wouldn’t be walked very much by Shu, if at all, so he roams the mansions gardens and forrest alone but always returns to his trainer. Growlithes are known for being incredibly loyal, and thats something Shu really needs.

I also think Shu would be good with a Snorlax, they are fairly easy to handle as they mainly eat and sleep and dont require much attention, however Snorlax’s need to consume 400 kg of food whenever hungry is a hassle. She tends to let it raid the kitchen whenever it wants, which lands them both in trouble with Reiji.

Reiji:

A poison type Pokemon like Arbok would be most useful to Reiji because he can extract some of it’s deadly poison to use in his potion and teas. He also likes how it’s long tail can be used to tangle victims who try to run away, before using the long tail as a whip, keeping them trapped until Reiji is able to fetch his own whip to really start the punishment.

For some reason I can also imagine Reiji with an Oricorio (sensu style), it’s elegant appearance is what drew him in. It was on a ‘business trip’ he was required to attend for his father that he spotted the Pokemon. The beauty of the bird made him want to catch it, so he did using a luxury ball. With it’s Japanese style markings, and graceful etiquette it became a good companion for Reiji. It took a liking to tea ceremonies, and enjoys helping it’s trainer polish his tableware collection. When Reiji found out it was a ghost type as well as flying he was initially fearful, however after knowing his partner for quite some time he adjusted to this after a little apprehension. He even considered having it drink a coloured nectar to change it’s typing, but he deemed the other various forms to lack the elegance the Sensu style did. To this day his Oricorio is the only ghost type he can tolerate.

Ayato:

Ayato dreamed of becoming a trainer ever since he was a small child, he dreamed of travelling the world and playing with his Pokemon. Cordelia would never allow that, so even on his 10th birthday he wasn’t allowed to start his journey. He was so disappointed as he was hoping to receive a Charmander and become the best trainer ever. As soon as his mother was dead he went out to get a Pokemon, skipping the starters because there ‘generic’, and wanting a super cool and powerful pokemon straight away. He now has a Pyroar, and is training it to be the best. He is a terrible trainer and can’t think up good battle strategies thus he doesn’t have any gym badges, he uses brute strength and doesn’t focus on battle plans.

Kanato:

Kanato would need a submissive Pokemon who was small and cute, and didn’t bother him too much. A Teddiursa would be good for him, it reminded him of Teddy which is why he took a liking to it. As long as it was pre-trained and knew not to annoy its trainer it may have a good relationship with it’s trainer. Kanato treats his Pokemon like familiar, making it his slave and doing tasks for him. He would treat his Teddiursa to tea parties and dress it up in cute outfits. As long as it doesn’t upset him or Teddy, or evolve into an Ursaring, then it may survive.

Laito:

Laito likes Pokemon because there friendly and cute, and can be submissive. They won’t leave or hurt you, and there good attracting girls/boys too! Laito is a Pokemon coordinator alongside his Serperior. He started out as a fun way to meet cute girls & boys, but he became pretty good at them and has won several ribbons. He likes the overall look of Serperior and likes seeing it’s long body have a helpless bitch entangled in it’s grip, watching them thrash about with no success, slowly being strangled by the serpents strong grip, seeing them shake in fear at the mean glare in the Pokemon’s eye and the deceitful, lustful gaze from Laito’s…that really gets him going.

He also has a ‘cute’ Pokemon for the appeal, he has this signature move when he’s flirting, where he lifts his fedora and a cute little Vulpix pops out, playing it’s role perfectly so it’s trainer can obtain their newest flirtation for the night.

Subaru:

Subaru has a Mightyena, it started following him around as a Poochyenna when he saved it from a pack of Houndoom in the forrest one night. He got annoyed at the Pokemon for following him, but eventually came to not mind it. He decided to catch the Poochyenna because he was sick of it trampling his rose gardens, and scratching his coffin lid in search of him.

Ruki:

His partner is a Xatu, houses it to predict the future so he can ensure he and his brothers safety, and also their plans for completing Karlheinz’s tasks are going to plan. 

He also has a Noctowl whom he uses as a familiar, because of Noctowls silent flying, exceptional hearing and eyesight, and it’s wise nature it makes the perfect spy when need be. A Noctowl never lets it’s pray escape, which is something Ruki shared in common with it, it watches over anyone Ruki wishes to remain in the mansion, and ensures they are where needed to be when Ruki is busy and cannot himself. Noctowls are also known to peck people who harass it, so Azusa is constantly bothering it in order to be pecked.

Kou:

Kou has a Skitty! Ruki wasn’t pleased about it but as long as it’s kept in it’s Pokeball outside of Kou’s room, and around Ruki he allows it. It took a lot of convincing but Kou insisted the cuteness of the Pokemon alongside his good looks would draw in many people and his idol career would improve! Kou spoils his Pokemon and is always buying it cute little bows and his social media is full of cute pictures of them both!

Yuma:

Yuma has several Pokemon that he’s caught to help him with his garden, he found his first Pokemon, an Oddish, when he was pulling leaves in his garden and it started streaking horribly. Yuma was going to silence it, but it wriggled away so he let it go. Yuma noticed the soil was looking glossier, and healthier in patches of the garden. New flowers were blooming too, one’s he hadn’t planted, he soon realised it was the work of Oddish, and caught it and trained it to help his plants grow. 

His second Pokemon is Chesnaught, he found it as a Chespin that has wondered through to his garden, and he was furious to see it had eaten some of his berries it had grown. It ran off before Yuma could harm it, he found it the next day raking the soil, attempting to cover berry seeds in the ground. Yuma saw it was trying to apologise and decided to raise it, and teach it how to garden. Once it evolved into a Chesnaught, and gained the fighting typing, Yuma used it as a sparring partner as well. After a hard day of gardening the two would blow of steam by having a ‘mock battle’ with each other.

His last Pokemon is a Mudsdale, he received it in a trade for a random Pokemon he found in the forrest. Mudsdale was excellent at plowing the fields and helping to carry the harvests, and other heavy objects. The Pokemon became very useful to Yuma and it’s docile nature lead it to become Yuma’s most trusted companion.

Azusa:

Azusa has two Pokemon, his first is an Ageislash, he received it as a Honedge when he bought it in a store in the demon world,mistaking it for a knife. When he found out what it truly was he loved it even more. It’s the top ‘knife’ in his collection, and he really loves it. He had fun evolving it, and he enjoys it’s different forms and seeing how it can cut him in different ways depending on which form its taken.

His second Pokemon is a Pawniard, he read about this Pokemon in one of Ruki’s books, and went in search of one.He snuck it into the mansion and kept it hidden in his room for a while. Eventually he was caught and begged Ruki to let him keep it, after a lot of convincing and compromise he was allowed to keep it,with the rule it must wear an Everstone stone so it can’t evolve and become too dangerous for Azusa to own.

[alloftimeandspacetosee]

Po Town Rumble

This was also possibly a request for my co-writer, who uh. rly likes Guzma lmao.

 and yet this is the only thing she’s actually asked me to write and finish haha

 well, she asked for the fight with Guzma, and I filled in around it

~

The docking laws had changed since they were last in Alola. Jay left the offices with a sigh, running a hand back through her hair.

Brith pushed off from the wall and joined her, a pace or so behind, as they walked back towards the ship. “That seemed long.”

“Yeah.” Jay shrugged. “’Parently there was trouble last year?” She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “Which means more forms and checks but thankfully no more money.”

Their ship is obvious in the harbour, the only one of its kind; the others are big pleasure cruisers, the smaller inter-island ferries, a couple of pleasure craft, and one or two of the Poni island Travellers.

Not only that, but there’s a crowd hovering about its plank, where fire and ice dance in the air, indiscriminately laced with bursts of brighter electricity.

“Well, if she’s been making money, she could pay any extra fees.” Brith grinned.

Jay laughed as she shouldered her way in, walking straight through the illusion with barely a blink.

“C’mon, Blue!” Soise, perched up on the railing, sighed dramatically. “Rude.”

“You’re supposed to be going with the twins to see their friends.”

“They’re old enough.”

“They tied you up.” Brith caught up Soise’s paw as the zoroark tried to hide it, showing the frayed rope to Jay. “How long did that take you to get out of?”

Soise pulled her paw back and dropped down from her perch. The illusion before the plank disappeared in an instant. “Rude.”

Jay ignored the two pokemon and glanced around to see who was still there.

Jayden had gone straight on – a lecture on the orocorio or something in the library, part of a week-long series – and the crew had been given time off.

So mostly just her pokémon, lounging about in the sun.

“Well, if you’re no with them, you’re coming to the market with us.” Jay turned to them again. “Extra paws and all.”

“We can–” Brith started.

“Mam! Maaaaam!”

Jay whirled and looked back along the pier, left hand half clenching into a fist as water pooled, ready to form ice.

Arlette was in front, pelting along the jetty towards them, jinking in and out of the crowd. Aurora wasn’t too far behind her, dragging along one of their friends… Onni, Jay thought, but really she hadn’t met them often or for very long.

“What’s the damage?” Soise called, cutting in.

“No – uh – um. Can we go to Po town?” Arlette stopped at the bottom of the plank, executing a front flip rather than just skidding to a too-rapid halt.

Jay narrowed her eyes. “Where have I heard that name before?”

“It’s – ah – where Team Skull took up residence,” their friend said. “Hi. Again.”

“Oh, you got free.” Aurora studied Soise. “How long did that take?”

“Why are you wanting to go there?” Jay sighed. “It’s the other side of Hokulani, yes?” She paused for Onni to nod. “That’ll take a while.”

“Kite’s run off.”

“Again,” Onni said. “Vir family is… none too keen about some things.”

“But we think that’s where ve headed – it’s where ve heads normally, right?” Aurora paused for Onni’s nod. “So. Can we?”

“In the interests of helping a friend?” Arlette asked.

Jay folded her arms, twisting her mouth to the side as she thought it over.

“I can go with them,” Soise said, raising a paw.

“We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Aurora said.

“You wouldn’t ask if you thought you could get there and back without us noticing you’re gone,” Jay corrected her.

Aurora grinned.

Jay considered them before glancing upwards, counting the flyers they had. Jayden had taken all the birds, which… really just left Gar’aq and Lapwing.

“Brith, can you and Soise handle the supplies?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, what?” Soise threw her paws up. “Unfair!”

“Take Arc, if you can shift her.”

“So…” Aurora glanced between them, chewing her lip.

“I expect you’re coming as well?” Jay glanced at Onni, who nodded.

“If that’s alright?”

“We’ll manage.” Jay whistled sharply. “So. Arl and ‘Rora, you take Gar’aq. Onni, that means you’re with me.” She stepped towards the cabin.

Brith intercepted her and held out a different bag. “Inlé, I’m assuming?”

“Thanks.” Jay handed Brith the bag over her shoulder. “List’s in there. Don’t let Soise buy anything too idiotic.”

“But slightly idiotic’s ok?” Soise smirked.

“It’s to be expected with you,” Brith replied, swinging it over her shoulder.

Arc nosed out of the cabin behind her, with Aria on her back.

“Ouch.” Soise laughed, jumping up beside Aria.

Arc huffed and shook her shoulders. Aria murmured a purring sort of answer to her, rubbing between her ears.

“I expect this might take a while. If Jayden comes back between seminars, let him – I’ll text him.” Jay pulled the phone from her pocket and turned as Lapwing landed beside her. “Hop on, Onni.”

“Sure.” Onni eyed the dragonite and scrambled on awkwardly, adjusting their skirt to sit.

The twins were already aloft on Gar’aq, the aerodactyl circling the ship.

As Jay climbed on behind Onni, Vulp joined her, and Sesser flitted to her shoulder. “Aye, now we’re ready.” She grinned, lifting a finger to stroke Sesser. “Let’s go.”

Lapwing lunged forward and over the side of the ship.

Onni shrieked and grabbed at her horns, pressing flat against Lapwing’s back.

Lapwing beat up the water as she dropped slightly over the side, and then as she adjusted to the extra weight, gained height and circled to join Gar’aq.

The twins – standing, grasping hands and using that to balance – leant out on either side and whooped as Gar’aq screeched and headed for the towering mountain in the distance.

#

Po Town looked far more impressive from the air, where it was a grid work of streets and buildings, with open garden spaces and a large house at the end of it.

As they got closer in to landing, the disrepair and ramshackle nature of it became clear.

Gar’aq and Lapwing landed on the path leading to the big house – once a grand mansion, its windows were caved in and boarded over, and the door hung crooked on its hinges – and crouched low for their riders to get off.

Onni stumbled and recovered, smoothing down any hair that had tangled loose in the flight.

Jay stepped down and stood with her back to the mansion, studying the tangled mess of a town. Hedges had overrun their borders, trees had grown haphazard and cracked through what was left of the pavement. Cars were left in the middle of the street, some missing their doors, others looking as though they’d been in vicious accidents.

The twins tumbled down, one over each of Gar’aq’s wings, and spun back to back as they looked around. “Where would ve be?”

“Which houses have electricity?” Onni answered with a grin.

“Hey. Hey! You can’t just land here like you own the place!”

Jay whipped around at the shout to face the person that had yelled at them.

He was young – well, older than the twins, but a great deal younger than herself – with his hair bleached white. Baggy jacket, gold chain. And swaggering, like he owned the place.

“Yeah… sorry about that?” She shrugged. “But we’re just looking for their friend so–”

“What’s the bloody point in having a wall if it don’t even keep anybody out?” he snapped, glaring at her.

Gar’aq growled, falling forward to rest on his wings.

“Oh fuck off,” the man snapped at him.

“Gar’aq,” Jay murmured, and glanced to the twins and Onni. “How ‘bout you go find your friend?”

The twins nodded. “Sure!”

As they ran off, Sesser flitted from Jay’s shoulder to follow after them. Good plan. Their bond might not be as strong as it was were Sesser fully evolved, but she could get the gist if anything bad was happening.

Gar’aq snapped his jaws shut and prowled over to sit beside Lapwing.

“We’ll find vis quick,” Onni said, beckoning the twins past Jay. “Always do.”

“And what, you’ll wait here as a fuckin’ taxi?” The man laughed. “That’s rich.”

“Right?” Jay folded her arms and leant back against Lapwing. “Kids these days.”

He stiffened up as if to retort.

“Yo, boss!” Someone hung out of an upstairs window. “’Meria wants to talk with ya!”

“Don’t let me keep you,” Jay said, as he narrowed his eyes at her. “Important business, I’m sure.”

“You.” He jabbed a finger past her, at someone else. “Mind she don’t go anywhere else.”

Jay didn’t turn to see who he talked to, because this man seemed to be the bigger threat.

“But – the kids, boss?”

“Touch my kids and you’ll regret it,” Jay snapped, almost without thinking as she straightened up, hands curling into fists at her sides.

“Will we?” He swaggered towards her.

Jay pushed off Lapwing to meet him. “Aye,” she growled. “You will.”

From between Lapwing’s horns, Vulpix growled in concert.

He was taller than her which, while not uncommon, was still a rare occurrence. Jay blinked, not quite having expected that.

In her defence, most people that got that close were children, excited by the prospect of one (or more) of her titles.

“Boss!”

“Guzma, get your worthless ass back up here!” someone else roared from the same window.

He laughed at her and turned away. “Keep an eye on her.”

“Sure, boss.”

Jay leant back against Lapwing to wait.

“You one a’them trainers from other regions?” The girl swaggered around to talk to her, puffed up on her own importance.

“Aye.” Jay studied her.

A white beanie with black patches mirroring the boss’ – Guzma? – sunglasses covered her head, tufts of greenish hair poking out from under it. She was wearing a black tanktop and a black neckerchief pulled down about her neck, tangled with a heavy silver looking necklace that mirrored Guzma’s.

“You any good?�� She tossed a pokéball in her hand.

Jay laughed, reaching up to scratch Vulpix’ chin. “Some say I am.”

“Let’s battle then!”

Well, it had been a while.

“Vulp, you’re up.”

The girl stared at Vulpix as she leapt down from Lapwing’s back. “That’s a vulpix? No way, it’s the wrong… colour and everything!”

“That gunna put you off?” Jay raised an eyebrow.

“Hell naw!” She laughed and spun out her pokéball, releasing a carnivine.

Jay relaxed as Vulpix splayed her thick tails out along the ground behind her, ears flat to her head.

“Bind!”

The carnivine shot forward its tendrils.

Vulpix leapt aside, rolling across the ground and wriggling under a tree root. The carnivine followed her with its vines – too closely, and tangled with the tree root.

“Fire blast,” Jay said, softly. Almost unnecessarily, but she had to put on a show for challengers. Pretend she was near their level.

Vulpix raised her tails – the edge ones still brushed against the ground, there were that many of them now – and glowed, fire expanding in a concentrated blast from her tails and engulfing the carnivine.

The battle was over almost before it had started.

The girl stared as the smoke cleared, then fell to her knees, grabbing at her hat. “What. The. Fuck. Dude!” She looked up. “That was – fuckin’ awesome! Hey! Hey, boys! Check it, this lady’s whack!”

“Grand Duchess. Technically,” Jay muttered, smirking as she crouched to stroke Vulp.

“Can you battle again?”

“Yeah, battle me!”

“Hey, I want to battle!”

“Come on!”

When Jay looked up, the square was teeming with people all wearing variations on the same outfit. “Uh.” She straightened up, and looked over Lapwing for the twins.

No sign of them, or their friends.

“I… guess it’ll pass the time?” She hadn’t really been looking for a battle – hell, Alola was supposed to be the one region where she reliably wouldn’t be challenged to a battle – but… well, she wasn’t averse to the idea.

“Yeah, but who first? We gunna draw lots?”

“Battle for it!”

“Dude, that won’t work, y’ll all need yer strength for her.”

Jay smirked. “Why don’t you all come at me?” They’d said she needed work at double battles… well, this would be a bit more than that but it had the same effect.

She ignored the voice that told her they’d meant double battles with a partner.

“At once?”

“Lady’s cray.”

Jay reached for her other pokéball. “Well, if you all want to take a discussion and wait for a turn–”

She was interrupted by pokéballs releasing a whole host of pokémon, from the Alolan rattata and meowth to salandit and mareanie to haunter and drowzee and fomantis.

“Holy shit would you keep that racket down?” someone yelled from the second level of the mansion, sounding as if they were using a loudhailer.

Everyone pulled back, recalling their pokemon.

“Sorry Plumeria,” one of them – the original one – called up. “Di’n’t mean to disturb ya!”

“Yeah, well – who the fuck is that?”

Jay turned, shading her eyes to look up.

A girl was half out of the window, one foot on the tiles outside it. The tresses of her hair – looking more like obviously fake extensions the more Jay studied them – were caught in one hand as she leant it against the window frame.

“I’m… here to pick up… my kids?” Jay laughed. “They challenged me to a battle, and I could hardly refuse.”

“Yoooo, you battle?” Guzma plunged out of the window in a haphazard jumble of limbs. “Sorry, ‘scuse Plume – woops – fuck – nah I got this.” He slid across slates to hang from the edge of the already broken gutter and drop down. “I’m next, I wanna–” He caught himself, seeing everyone watching. “I mean – I’m challenging you. As leader of Team Skull, it’s my fuckin’ duty to see you get your ass kicked.”

Jay grinned. “Be my guest.” She took a step back, flanked by Lapwing and Gar’aq, and the spectators spread out to give them more of a pitch.

“You watchin’, Plume?” Guzma turned to look back up at the woman in the window.

She sighed and settled herself against the frame. “Since you won’t sit and do your godsdamned work, I guess I might as well.”

Guzma grinned and puffed himself up, tugging an ultra ball from his pocket. “The boss who beats you down, and beats you down, and never lets up... Yeah. Big bad Guzma is here!"

Jay flinched as everyone about her cheered. So he was clearly… something.

She held Inlé’s pokéball loosely in her hand.

Guzma threw out his and released an ariados.

Something Jay was familiar with. “Ok, Inlé, you’re up.” She released the charmander.

He might be one of her weaker pokémon – or younger, at any rate – but he was still a force to be reckoned with.

Inlé – finally grown into his larger-than-average paws – looked up, tail fire with just the hint of shadow at its centre flickering brightly.

Guzma squinted at Inlé and laughed. “That what you’re givin’ me? Despite those two there?” He gestured at Lapwing and Gar’aq.

Jay smiled thinly. “Smokescreen.”

Inlé arched his back and hacked, coughing out black smoke.

Behind Jay – all around them, now – the people… team grunts, Jay realised, because what else would they be. Obviously. This was Team Skull’s headquarters. Or it had been.

They made a swelling noise of “oooooh” as the pitch was obscured in the smoke.

“Toxic Thread!” Guzma swung his fists forward and hunkered down as if to see through the smoke that obscured their battle pitch.

The ariados scuttled forward, back raised to spool thread out.

Jay didn’t bother trying to squint into the smoke. “Fire fang.”

The ariados lunged at something as they heard the skittering of claws in the smoke.

A blast of fire, and the ariados screamed.

“He’s right there, fell stinger!” Guzma yelled, leaping to his feet now and chancing a glance up at the window, where Plumeria was seated.

The ariados’ stinger – held high above the smoke – glowed, poison beginning to condense at its tip.

“Flame burst.”

Inlé appeared, rolling out of the smoke at Jay’s end of the pitch. He twisted to a stop with his tail arched high over his head, one forepaw on the ground and the other curled up to his chest. He snarled, and fire plumed between his jaws to ignite the smoke.

The pitch burnt with an intensity that had everyone shielding their eyes. When the smoke was gone, Guzma’s ariados was on its back.

Guzma spat on the ground as he returned it. “Yeah… you won’t get so lucky again.” He flicked out another ultra ball, one Jay hadn’t even seen him reach for, and a masquerain buzzed above the pitch.

Jay considered it, then called Inlé back to her side. “Vulp, you’re up.”

“Wait, that’s a vulpix?” Guzma laughed. “Fuckin’ hell that’s weird.”

Jay rolled her eyes. “Baby doll eyes.”

Vulpix tilted her head, dropping her ears to either side of her head and making her eyes big, the pupils widening.

The masquerain tilted its wings, curved side up, and drifted down.

“Naw, bro! Use air slash!” Guzma waved his hands from behind. “It’s playin’ wit ya!”

The masquerain twitched its wings to attack, and Vulpix had a moment’s notice before the wind slashed down at her. She rolled to the side, yelping as she was tumbled backwards, scraping up her side.

Jay half clenched one fist. “Confuse ray!”

“Air slash, knock ‘er out the ring!” Guzma yelled, almost at the same time, grinning wildly.

Jay glanced around – Vulp didn’t exactly need ordering, at this point, only really Inlé did anymore – and studied the… grunts. They were getting into this, as much as Guzma was. And there were a shit ton of them, all with their own pokémon.

What would happen, she wondered, if she beat their boss? It was almost tempting to find out.

“That’s right, use ice beam! Show ‘er what a real vulpix looks like!”

Jay snapped her attention back to the battle to see the masquerain aiming ice at Vulpix, having hemmed her into a corner of the pitch with gusts of air.

Jay whistled, sharply, to get Vulpix’s attention, and reached back to tap Lapwing.

The dragonite roared past her, barrelling into the masquerain before it could unleash its attack.

Vulp flounced back to Jay’s side and sat primly, cleaning her ears.

Jay crouched to her level and grinned. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Not that she expected the Pokémon to answer her, although with her team she wouldn’t have been surprised.

“Ice beam – c’mon, hit the fucker! You can do it!” Guzma howled from the other end of the pitch.

Vulpix glanced at Jay and barked, bouncing in a circle as if chasing her tail.

Jay grinned and straightened up. “Hurricane!”

Lapwing soared up and over, coming at the masquerain from behind in a twister-like movement, creating a funnel of air about her.

“Ice beam, dead centre!” Guzma yelled. “Show ‘em what’s for!”

Jay whistled again, but this was softer and two-toned. Twee-errr.

Lapwing flicked a wing and her spiralling slowed, lowering her head as the masquerain hovered before her.

The ice beam hit Lapwing right between the horns, and the dragonite roared in pain. She tumbled over the masquerain and onto her back, coming in fast.

Jay threw up a hand, recalling Lapwing to her rarely-used ball. “Sorry, girl,” she murmured, not even flinching as Gar’aq shoot past her and snapped at the masquerain. “Aerial ace!”

Still facing the other way, exhausted from its attack on Lapwing, the masquerain didn’t – couldn’t – get out of the way fast enough, and Gar’aq caught it with one wing and spun, grasping it to throw into the ground.

Guzma recalled it and sent out two pokemon; a pinsir and a scizor.

Jay raised an eyebrow. “Two against one?”

“Come at me, bro!” he called back, glancing up as if to check that Plumeria was still watching.

“Inlé, you up for more?”

The charmander darted back into the fray.

“Smokescreen!”

“Naw, we’ll have none a’that! Stone edge!”

The pinsir ran at Inlé, and the scizor took to the air and buzzed after Gar’aq.

“Iron head!”

“Sky drop!” Jay called up at Gar’aq, focusing on Inlé.

The charmander leapt and jinked across the pitch as stones erupted seemingly at random from the ground.

Jay narrowed her eyes, watching. Then, “One right prow, flame burst!”

Inlé leapt right, landed on the side of a stone as it broke up through the ground, and leapt again at the pinsir as it charged him down.

“Storm throw!” Guzma whooped, dancing from foot to foot.

The pinsir reached out to catch Inlé before he landed – and Inlé exploded into fire, with a growl so deep and fierce it was almost a roar.

The pinsir, too close to dodge, was caught up in the fire and screamed, lashing out with its spindly arms.

Inlé cried out as well, thrown back as the flames stopped.

The pinsir was charred and smoking, but still on its feet.

“No way!” Guzma laughed. “That’s some good fuckin’ going!”

Inlé tumbled head over tail before bouncing off a jagged rock and landing on his side.

Jay flicked a hand, and Vulp sat up, focusing on it.

Inlé scrambled to his feet and flicked his tail, growling.

Jay grinned. “Swagger.”

Inlé puffed out his chest and coughed out something, standing up to place his claws almost on his hips.

“He’s playin’ ya!” Guzma yelled. “Use guillotine!”

The pinsir charged at Inlé, head lowered and horns tensing to attack.

Jay took a step back, glanced up, and whistled sharply again.

Gar’aq dived to head off the pinsir, the scizor close on his tail.

Inlé leapt backwards, twisting away.

The pinsir lunged after him–

And was slammed into the ground by Gar’aq’s tail as he pulled out of his dive, moments from being too late.

Fine enough to stop his own dive, but the scizor behind didn’t stop in time – whether by accident or design – and slammed Gar’aq into the ground as well, slamming its glowing head into his back.

Guzma whooped, echoed by the people watching.

Inlé twisted and snarled, fire lighting up the scizor where it stood on Gar’aq’s back.

Guzma returned both his pokemon, while Jay only returned Gar’aq. They’d have a hard time returning to Malie at this rate.

She glanced down at Vulpix. “Switch?”

Inlé snarled, and she looked up to see him still on his feet, albeit hulked over and supporting himself on one forepaw. His flame was small, but burning brighter than ever. The scales on his back seemed to be darker.

Jay frowned. “… Alright.”

And Guzma sent out a golisopod. “Let’s get this show on the fucking road!”

Jay stared at it as it towered over Inlé and let out a series of bubbling clicks as a cry.

Inlé, unbowed, snarled back at it.

“Fire fang!”

Inlé sprang forward.

“First impression!”

The golisopod lunged forward to meet Inlé and uppercut him with one of its bulkier arms.

Inlé cried out as he was flung skywards, twisting in the air to rain fire down on his opponent.

Guzma was laughing. “You see this sucker, Plume?” he yelled back towards the house. “I got this!”

Inlé landed and tumbled behind a jagged outcrop of rocks.

Jay could practically feel the eyeroll Plumeria sent his way, and remembered then that golisopod were part water type. “Swagger, Inlé!”

Inlé leapt up onto the top of the rocks in front of him and puffed himself up, croaking out a challenge.

“Waterfall!” Guzma retorted.

The golisopod lunged at Inlé with frightening speed, drawing water from the air.

Jay winced and squinted, not quite willing to look away.

Inlé leapt sideways and swung from one of the golisopod’s weaker mandible-arms and landed on its back, dashing claws against its scales.

It twisted, swung a fist at him and caught a blow hard enough to throw him away.

Jay recalled the charmander before he landed, and Vulp charged in. “Confuse ray!”

“Time to end this shitshow!” Guzma cried out, bouncing from foot to foot and swinging his arms, and something embedded in the golisopod’s scales was glowing, and–

It caught up Vulpix by one of her tails, unconcerned with the fire that exploded around her in retaliation, and spun her up and around, jumping to get the height necessary to slam her into the ground and scream at her, clicking its mandibles close enough to her ear that it was practically eating it.

“Alright!” Jay raised a hand, water crackling with electricity about it. “You win.”

The golisopod pulled back, and Vulpix limped her way to Jay’s side.

A moment of silence, and then the grunts erupted into cheers and hoots and roars.

Jay dropped to her knees, pulling off her coat to wrap the pokémon in. “You did good,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”

Vulpix licked at her nose.

Jay smiled and bumped her forehead against Vulpix’s.

“Awww hell yes!” Guzma screeched. “You see that, Plume? You see it?”

“I saw it,” Plumeria replied, yelling above the noise of the grunts.

Jay stood, sorting through her bag with one hand, the other cradling Vulp. “Hey – winnings.” She tossed the pouch lightly over to him.

Guzma caught it without thinking and glanced inside. Then up at Jay, and then back to staring inside. “You’re shitting me.”

“What? You won.”

“All this?”

“It was a good battle.”

Guzma whistled, then tossed the pouch to one of the grunts – the one with green hair, that Jay had originally fought. “We’ll heal your pokemon for you.” He swaggered across the torn up battle pitch to her, offering his hand. “And – nice! Your tats are fucking neat!” He stared at her arms, taking in their designs.

Jay laughed and shook his hand. “No bad yourself.” She nodded at his forearms.

“Hey, mam! We found ver!”

“Yeah, we found – hey, budge!”

With a crackle of electricity, the twins stumbled out of the crowd with their friends close behind them.

“Wait, what happened?”

Jay tilted her head to rub against Sesser as the swablu landed on her shoulder. “We’re going to have to stick around here for a bit. Lap and Gar’aq need to rest up.”

Guzma slung an arm around Jay’s shoulders, slouching slightly to make it work. “In the meantime – the grand tour! Welcome to Po Town.”

“We have internet now!”

“And Netflix!”

“Goals,” Onni said, laughing. “That why you come so often, Kite?”

Kite shrugged, but Jay didn’t hear vis answer as Guzma tugged her eagerly on.

“Here, you gotta meet Plume properly, she’s my second in command, she’s just – the best. She keeps everything running properly like, and–” his voice dropped to a whisper as he booted open the door to the mansion, “She’s fuckin’ hot.”

“You should get yourself an intro speech.”

“What?” Jay glanced across at Guzma.

He lay sprawled across a broken couch, beer bottle in hand, watching the battle tournament being played out on the TV. “Ya know. Let people know what they’re up against.”

Jay smiled slightly. “I think most people know who they’re up against. Outside these islands, anyhow.”

“Oooohh, you’ve made a name for yourself, have ya? With that weird ass vulpix of yours?”

Vulp, from Jay’s lap, lifted her head and let out a warning growl.

Jay laughed and stroked Vulp’s head, calming her. “Something like that.”

Guzma settled himself again, waving off the cutiefly that were buzzing about the room. “Still, ya should have a slogan. Or something.”

“‘It’s ya boi, Guzma’?” Jay raised an eyebrow, voice steady even if she was grinning.

“Yeah, yeah, only – wait, fuck. What’s your name?” Guzma twisted over to see her.

Jay snorted. “Varies, on the person.” She held up her free hand. “Jay, Blue, Cap’n, NightGale.” Duchess, Guardian, Shade’s Bane, she continued silently.

“Ya – you’re a Captain? Like of a fuckin’ trial?” Guzma twisted upright, upsetting the stack of old pizza boxes that he shared the couch with.

Jay paused. “Ah – no. Of a crew. A ship.”

Guzma’s face lightened, and he leant across to slap Jay’s hand. “Yoooo! Crew leaders u-nite!”

“What.”

“Here, like this.” Guzma grabbed her hand with his other, demonstrating. He slapped palm to palm, back to back, then a fist bump before pulling his hand away. “Kapow.”

Jay laughed, mimicking the explosion movement on her own. “Nerd.”

He eyed her suspiciously, collapsing back onto the couch – all without spilling a drop of beer. “But fuck, we can do something with NightGale…” Guzma leant back, tapping his fingers along the bottle.

[prof-peach]

Do you ever meet aggressive Pokémon you have to “battle” or use your team to calm them down?

Oh yeah all the time. I have to use my team on a daily basis just about, to crowd control particularly aggressive individuals. We get stampedes, mating seasons, territorial issues, neigbourly disputes, and a heap load of ‘last-chance’ Pokemon. Those deemed too nasty or difficult to fix, doomed to a miserable life elsewhere. We don’t believe in this, and take on those who truly don’t find a place anywhere else. I work with the aggressive ones a lot, rehabilitating them to at least be tolerant of doctors checks and non-confrontational Pokemon around them.

Because of the large number of them I am constantly using cooperative battle tactics to keep visitors and Pokemon safe. My team isn’t set, I will switch between many to get the job done. On average though, Valka that vulpix you see in every pic just about, and Booker, the teddiursa, are usually with me, they have been for the longest and are by far the toughest and most tactical of my team, having been with me during the Ranger days before I chose to be a professor.

Not only do my Pokemon fight but so do I. We act as one, and if the Pokemon who’s acting badly is targeting my team, there’s not a lot I can do about wanting to protect my partners, so I’ve taken a hit or two, and dished out a few with whatever I have on me. Usually if you handle things calmly and Cooley it doesn’t come to that, these days I have a lot more practice, and find it much easier to confront them by deflecting everything they throw at us. Certain attacks do well for this. Protect being Bookers key skill, he’s become quite honed at this attack, with shields that can often take 2 or 3 hits before failing, he has focus trained in that area for this line of work.

As for Val, well she’s a secret psychic brute. Looks small, looks sweet, how fluffy, a cute little vulpix. Wrong. She’s a cheat, a victor at all costs, and we have worked for 20+ years now to focus her training on that psychic power. Rock throw aimed at us? No problem, she can catch them. She’s a heavy lifter, though she may not look it.

Grass types, and Pokemon who can learn Sing also come in handy, I use whatever is closest to the area the Pokemon’s acting aggressively in. Can be any Pokemon, so long as it knows the necessary attacks, sleep powder, stun spore, that sort of thing. We do refrain from using poison powder though as it is sometimes long lasting in its effects, and can cause serious issues to the target when used repeatedly. We usually have the same Pokemon causing trouble here, so they get handled more, with enough defeats to their name by your hands, they tend to ease off causing trouble, and retreat to the north side where they can be left alone by people, and take some time to cool off.

Obviously in the real wild, off the island, I’m always trying to learn, and it does get me in some sticky situations, so yeah I have to fight with my team, or we could get seriously hurt. I believe a good knowledge of battle can help you interact with stronger and rarer Pokemon, and unusual variants that I love so much. Because a lot of what I track and try to find in the wild is not dex registered, having a team that is adaptive and well trained is vital. We don’t know what the new variant Pokemon can do, so it’s best to go in with as much skill as possible to handle any situation thrown at you and your team.

[totodiletears]

Here we fuckin go

Right here we go then, Rare Balls Tier List. Pure opinion here, no need to get pissed if you disagree with anything.

The best ball is, of course, the Moon Ball. Amazing ball, literally every Pokemon looks good in it, 100/10 would enthusiastically recommend for everything.

The Dream Ball is another fantastic ball. Pink is a pleasant color for a ball, and of the two pink balls available among the rares Dream is clearly better. I love the light pink, and it manages to feel fancy without feeling overdone. A strong choice for all your fairies, many psychics, and honestly quite a lot of pokemon across the board.

Friend Ball is also really great. First of all, it’s just a sweet ball concept. This ball means my pokemon and I are FRIENDS. Adorable. Of course, appearance-wise, it’s pretty good. What I really like about this ball is how it looks like it has seeds. This makes it a great match for any grass-type, which is one of my favorite types. This is essentially the grass-type pokemon ball, and how can I not love that? Extra shoutout to the Applin line, which should only ever be in this ball because it just matches so well. That goes double if you managed a shiny.

Safari Balls are also rather good for grass types, but not quite as much. They look muddier, which is fine sometimes but not all the time. With the brown in there it mostly functions well as a good all-around ball: nothing looks bad in it, but not as many look great. I feel like it works best with tougher or meaner looking pokemon. A lot of bugs would work too.

Love Balls are pretty nice, but sadly inferior to the Dream Ball for most pokemon. The exceptions tend to be especially cute. Alolan Vulpix is a particularly good example: the heart on the ball is light enough that it works well with Vulpix’s white fur. Where Dream is a bit more generally fantastic, Love is good for those precious adorable fuzzy babies who stay adorable fuzzy babies even after they evolve, and that’s a vital niche. I think I’d like this one more if the heart didn’t have a line in the middle, but it still works.

Sport Balls are good, yeah. Nice if you don’t want to stray from the pokeball look, but you also want to say, “look at this awesome rare ball I have!” Note that unlike the official art shown here, the in-game model actually has a small pokeball logo instead of an S. This is deceptive and annoying. I assure you the pokeball symbol is way better than the S. It has a nice classic-yet-fancy feel and I have to appreciate that. Best choice for a rare red ball. I prefer it over...

The Fast Ball. Ugh. Why. It looks so much better in its art than it does in the actual game. Why would you do this? From the art you’d think it’s a nice orange that blends into yellow on the top and sides. I want that ball. This one is... well, it’s okay, but when you look in your bag, see the icon looking one way, and then you throw the ball and it looks completely different, that’s just disappointing. Anyway, the actual ball is red with a yellow S on top (for Speed) and more yellow on the sides. Some of the yellow extends onto the bottom half and I wish it didn’t. All that said, it’s a decent ball choice for your fire-types and even a few electric types. It isn’t all that fair that I can’t help but think of what this ball could have been instead of what it is, but that’s how it goes.

Beast Ball I have mixed feelings toward. I really like the blue ball and the way it seems to be glowing inside. I just hate the yellow bits. That thing does not look like it would comfortably fit in my hand the way proper balls will. And the yellow stands out and distracts from the awesomeness of the rest of it. I think maybe it’s supposed to look like it’s being held by a claw or something? But it’s not doing it for me. Give me a ball with those parts removed, a ball that’s just the blue glowing net thing, and that ball will shoot up to A tier, maybe even sneak into S with the Moon Ball because it would just look that cool. But this one? Nah.

Heavy Balls I don’t really have anything against, but I’m not too fond of them either. When I first saw its sprite in HGSS I thought it had a weird ring of beads around it. I thought if you could turn it and see the whole thing you’d have like eight or ten beads all around the ball, and it just seemed kinda weird to me. Now I know I’m wrong and it’s just two big blue spots and two small blue spots, one of each on each side, but that impression stuck with me. Good ball for your steel types and I imagine a good few ice types (nice choice for Glalie) but not one I want to use much.

Lure Balls were green once even though they’ve always been associated with water pokemon via fishing, can you believe that? Wild. Anyway, like the Love Ball, Lure would be greatly improved if you removed those darned lines in the middle. But that’s not really that big a deal. No, Lure’s greatest sin is having an equivalent buyable ball which is blatantly superior. The Dive Ball is so much better-looking than the Lure Ball, and I have to wonder why anyone would bother using the Lure Ball on its most associated type when the Dive Ball exists. The Lure Ball does have a good unique look though, and there are a few pokemon I’d like to see in it. I have “try to get a shiny Scolipede in this ball” on my list of hunts I’d like to do someday.

Level Ball... ewww. As far as I can tell this thing looks good on exactly one Pokemon, and that is Falinks. Falinks has amazing color coordination with the Level Ball. Otherwise I never want to use it. There’s always going to be another ball that would be better. It’s not a good match for anything else.

You can’t catch anything with a Cherish Ball but you can sure have pokemon in it, which is why it’s here and the Park Ball isn’t. And I hate it. The coloring is fine but the shape is awful. Every time I dynamax a pokemon in a Cherish Ball and see my trainer holding it in her hand, I feel my insides twist. Fuck this ball. Either stop ruining perfectly good events by sticking them in this thing or change it so it’s shaped like a normal pokeball.

[phoenixagent003]

The Castle Campaign Diary 01

I have long, long thought that buried in the new X-COM games is the recipe for a great D&D campaign. Something about that core loop of base-building and going on missions feeding into each other, coupled with the ability to customize soldiers, is just so captivating, and the turn based, class based combat gave me the same kind of warm fuzzies D&D usually does. Except, you know, it was guns instead of swords, and aliens instead of monsters. And I actually really missed the swords and monsters after a few dozen playthroughs of X-COM.

So, a while ago, I started crafting some fairly simple systems centered around researching and crafting magic items, and some base building mechanics largely cribbed from the Artisan Followers section of Strongholds and Followers, and eventually I had enough of it built that I was ready to put it in front of the my longtime and long suffering friends and players. The result is a campaign I’m calling the Castle, which, with any luck, will be the campaign I run for my friends for a long time to come.

I started off the way I always do, floating the basic pitch of the campaign to my friends, and when they seemed receptive enough to the concept (Though, I think they just really wanted to play D&D and were willing to accept my weirdness as the price of admission) for me to float them a few documents to get them started with character creation, laying down the basic state of the world, starting level, and what races were most common to the world. And also clarifying that this was a standard fantasy setting, something we have to do in my group because we have played D&D with just about every kind of coat of paint you can image.

When I was first coming up with the campaign, I was more focused on the structure than story or setting, so I didn’t actually put too much thought into the broader world, but I did eventually decide that the campaign takes place in the distant past of the same world I created for my Glintchasers novels and shorts. I think that decision was mostly motivated by laziness, but the side effect is a nice bit of synchronicity in any future worldbuilding tidbits I come up with for the campaign. I’ve already used the game as an excuse to figure out the original names and origins of the gods. And it already came up in game! That shit was literally never going to come up in the books.

So, speaking of the game, how did it go?

Well, to be honest, it got off to a slightly rocky start. I began the campaign with the players traveling through the wilderness in search of the ruined castle that was going to become their home base, and that I think was a good decision. It was a very evocative starting point. But then I ruined it by trying to force the characters to roleplay too early. As part of the journey through the woods, I had each player roll on a Travel Events chart I crafted for the game, which is basically just a roleplay prompt chart, but the players were not yet super comfortable with their characters, and the prompts of the chart were a little too vague, so they kind of floundered a bit and it was a little awkward. Towards the end though, they did start getting into it. One of the players got the result of seeing a shooting star in the night, and he really hammed up how his character interpreted it as a sign from the gods that they were on the right path.

So maybe it wasn’t the players, maybe some of the prompts were just crap. I think I’ll get a better handle on that as we start using it more.

Eventually, the players arrived at the castle. The secondary characters, who would be like the extra soldiers or B-Team if this were an X-COM game, scouted out the grounds of the castle while the A-Team, everybody’s main characters, went inside the castle itself. And of course, after a bit of searching around where they found some rooms and tools that would become their downtime facilities, they found some bandits it in the process of ransacking this ruin for whatever its worth.

Given the premise of the world being that its basically post-apocalyptic, I wanted to be careful to not make these guys too sympathetic. This was supposed to be the first combat where the players try out their characters. And I was worried since the world has been set up to be a very scrappy, survival of the fittest place, that the players might feel bad cutting down people trying to look for resources. So I played the bandits up as assholes, who immediately mark the players as walking loot drops, and they refuse the players offers of peace and immediately charge in. Later on in the campaign, I’d be more than happy to introduce a greater degree of moral complexity to some of the encounters, but for now, it’s the tutorial fight, and the games about fighting monsters, I didn’t see the need to overcomplicate things.

And that was really all the excuse everybody needed to go ham. The poor bandits actually really didn’t stand a chance. The “main” party’s roster is

Tina Cox, Aasimar Paladin

Selena Caslana, Dragonborn-descended Sorcerer

Camden Wayne, Artificer

Bartholomew Knightengale, Human Paladin

Dominik Leoguard, Human Fighter

So yeah, with three high armor class, heavy hitting characters, the bandits didn’t really do much more than scratch a couple of the PCs. But they had a blast, and everyone actually did a really great job of roleplaying their character during combat, which is not something you always see in combats but on reflection, I actually think my group is pretty great at doing consistently. Dominik and Bartholomew’s players especially really enjoyed the fight, since they were playing comically proud, crusading knights and effortlessly deflecting the blows of these bandits really played into the fantasy of their characters.

Dominik really shined towards the end when the last few enemies were on elevated balconies, and he, a high strength polearm user, actually had just enough reach to stab at them with a running high jump. And because he took the Charger feat, he did a lot of damage (I know Charger is actually bad, and honestly the only reason Dominik’s player took it was because he’s new and doesn’t know its bad, but hey, he managed to get some good use out of it this combat).

The last bandit actually managed to survive like three attacks on him from everybody rolling consecutive super low rolls, which just added to the hilarity that was that fight. After a few rounds of just obliterating these bandits, it took like three people to finish off one guy.

After the fight was over, I announced that the characters officially had the run of the castle, and gave them the rest of the handouts they would need to keep track of the campaign’s metagame, and gave them handouts for “Mission Leads” which are the short, episodic little quests they’ll be embarking on from the castle. And actually the first couple of them take place on the castle grounds. They needed to clear out the surrounding land, and they needed to clear out the lower levels.

But this was the point where I had to remind the players that this campaign was using the Gritty Realism resting rules, which if you don’t know, are variant rules in the 5th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide that say a short rest is eight hours, and a long rest is week. And immediately the two paladins and sorcerer, who had burned literally all their spells were like “Oh God! We’re useless for a week?!”

And, you know, the thing about 5th Edition D&D is it’s supposedly balanced and designed around the party having like 6-8 medium-difficulty encounters between each long rest, but the way I run things (and this is a problem a lot of people seem to run into), it’s often atypical for the party to get into more than one or two fights a day, so when I decided to structure a campaign after X-COM, a game where if you soldier gets hit they can be out of commission for a good chunk of time, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to bust those rules out and see what the game looks like when the party has to pace themselves a little bit more.

I haven’t really seen much of that yet—so far the group’s standard operating procedure is still to long rest after a single encounter’s worth of fights, but that’s partly because they’re still at a stage where they can get away with that. There isn’t currently a ticking clock forcing them to consider their time wisely, but there will be soon. And for now, just the realization of the players that they needed to be more conservative with their resources or cop a week on the bench was enough sign to me that I think these rules are a move in the right direction.

And one thing the rules did immediately facilitate was the B-Team! The players realized “Hey, there’s all this stuff we have left to do to clear out the castle grounds, but we’re tapped for the day—let’s send our secondary characters to take care of this.” And just—yes! I could not have scripted it better. The players immediately latched on to the secondary characters as a strategic option to use when they were out of commission with zero prompting from me.

So, the players sent a B-Team out to clear the castle grounds while the A-Team recharged their batteries, and this encounter led to my favorite part of the whole session. For reference, the B-Team sent out was:

Emily Thomas, Tabaxi-descended rogue (Tina’s player)

Kyle Reiner, Human Fighter (Selena’s player)

Issac Scout, Human Ranger (Camden’s player)

Kale Vulpix (Bartholomew’s player)

While the B-Team was clearing the castle grounds, they ran into some bandits and some undead. And the undead killed the bandits, the B-Team killed some of the undead, grabbed the treasure the bandits had on them, and then retreated. Which was technically mission success, but then—again, with no prompting from me—Tina’s player did a write-up of Emily giving a mission report to Tina about what happened. And since the B-Team didn’t clear all the undead, Tina told Emily “If those undead aren’t cleared out by the end of my long rest, you are going to scrub the floors of this castle until you can eat off them.”

I loved that. That was basically everything I was hoping to get out of this campaign’s structure in one hit. There was a player reflecting on how the mission went, thinking about the consequences, roleplaying her downtime, and taking the initiative to essentially create her own quest. I immediately awarded inspiration for that, and then I gave inspiration to all the character who went with Emily to go clear out the undead, which ended up being Kyle and Issac again.

And them clearing out the undead was the end of the session. And overall, I thought things went really well, excepting of course the slightly awkward start. Immediately after things were over, all the players pretty much immediately told me that they liked the campaign’s whole shtick and were looking forward to more, which was music to my ears and I think a pretty good sign things are working as intended. Event the first bandit fight, which was kind of a cakewalk, was still fun, and it served as a proof of concept for a little extra ability I’d given them.

Thanks for checking out the campaign diary! I’ve been running D&D since 2015, and I’ve wanted to share my experiences with it for a while, but this campaign was sort of the first time I ever actually knuckled down and started writing about it while the experience was still fresh in my mind.

Huge thanks to my players for being as amazing as they are, and I’ll see you all in the next write up.

[yurio-plisetksy]

Cold: Victor Nikiforov x Alolan Vulpix!Reader

Request:  How about a cute Victor Nikiforov x Alolan Vulpix!Reader fic were Victor sees the reader trying to skate.

A/n: Back with a slightly shorter imagine. Thank you for reading. Reblog to share my work!

To Victor, moments like these were the ones he would remember. These images stored at the back of his mind to reminisce about later in his life. The picture of trees covered in white, a soft blue sky with clouds like cotton balls and the slippery underground on which he tried to walk.

It was getting colder, and winter was just about to reveal itself in St. Peterburg. Victor was exhaling clouds of white smoke, his hands deep in the pockets of his trench coat, trying to hide from the harsh touch of cold morning air. His nose had turned red, and he couldn’t help but sniff every few seconds and bury his face a little more into the collar of his coat.

Life had been pretty hectic lately, and the fact that he was still 17 and inexperienced with this kind of lifestyle hadn’t helped either. He felt like everybody was watching over him, as if they needed to document every second of his life and make sure he was keeping up with what was expected of him. His father had spoken to him about what he could expect of the industry, but his words were far from reality and Victor still barely managed to keep up with his to do list. Yes, he was almost at the top of the skating world and almost nobody had been able to keep up with him, but the consequences that came with his success were going to break him at some point.

That’s why he kept moments like these to himself. Being up at 6 am so he could watch the sun rise, before making his usual stroll around the neighbourhood. He found his way through the park and along the side of the river, watching as the water sparkled under the rays of the early sun. There was nothing but silence, only the sound of snow crunching under his feet audible.

At only 17 he felt like he had hit a wall. He felt sick just thinking about continuing his skating career till he was at least 30, which was 13 more years. Why couldn’t he just go to school and get a normal job like anybody else, why had he been so passionate about ice skating if it eventually only would make him feel depressed. His motivation had been long gone, and the only reason why he could drag himself out of bed in the morning was so the day would be over quicker and he could get back in bed again. He just was desperate to regain his love for skating, but till this day he had never managed to get it back.

Until he walked past a small pond, completely frozen and covered in a thick layer of snow. The trees surrounding it would often drop some of their burden on top of the already existing layer, freeing their branches from the weight of the white substance.

But it wasn’t the view that caught Victor’s attention. It was a small creature dribbling around on the pond, chasing snowflakes that came falling from the sky. It scrunched it’s nose as he caught one and visibly shivered while it’s body warmth caused the snow to melt and drip down it’s nose. It kept slipping on the ice, and its feet couldn’t get a grip on the slippery slope it tried to chase the pecks of snow on.

Victor unconsciously stopped to watch the small creature play, and unaware of his own amusement, he smiled  as it continued to slip on the cold surface.

It didn’t take long for you to notice him. It had been quiet until your focus was grabbed by a sudden person giggling over your antics. You eyed him up and down, blue eyes piercing into his presence as you inspected his appearance. Offering him a small whine, you invited him over to play with you. He didn’t look like he wanted to harm you in any way, and with his height he had an advantage in catching snowflakes, well at least that’s what it seemed like to you. Shaking your fluffy tail, you motioned him to come to you, a small howl coming from your throat, trying to convince him just a bit more.

Victor watched you with curious eyes, at first not getting what you were hinting at. He had never seen an Alolan Vulpix before, and he was a little flabbergasted at your presence. It was when you dribbled over to him to tug at the fabric of his sweats with your teeth, that he finally seemed to snap back into reality.

“Hello there… what’s your name?” He crouched down and met the soft fur on your head with his hand, softly caressing you. He eyed your white fur and mentally stated that you were one of the most beautiful pokemon he had ever seen.Your eyes stood out and made him feel like he was looking right into space. You were a truly mesmerizing being.

You didn’t understand what he said, it all sounded like muttering to you. All you could do was blink up at him and howl in response. He chuckled and shrugged as if he meant to tell you it didn’t matter, rising from his crouched position.

“You’re having trouble on the ice, huh?” First he placed one foot onto the frozen pond, slowly leaning on his leg to test the durability of the ice. Once he confirmed it was thick enough to carry his weight, he joined your side. You happily smiled up at him, watching as he got used to the slippery surface. The guy must have been very experienced with slippery surfaces, because within seconds he was twirling and sliding over the frozen pond. Casually he skated backwards, hands deep in the pockets of his coat and a small smile on his face. He seemed relieved in some way, content with the way he currently felt and trying to enjoy the moment as he went.

After a few rounds, Victor  turned back to you, extending his hand towards you and asking if you wanted to join him. You eyed him, curious about the expression on his face. There was something hidden behind his act of positivity. Something sad. Regret shadowing over him that he tried to ignore, but failed as it seeped its way into his head.

Before you knew it, you were walking towards him, trying to keep on your feet as the ice made it nearly impossible for you to reach the Russian. Victor noticed you struggle, and quickly joined your side.

“Here, let me help you.”

“Yes, very good!”

You finally managed to successfully stay on your feet, and you happily barked up at Victor who as praising you for your progress. He didn’t realise how much time had passed. The sun had fully risen, and slowly people began crowding the once quiet park. They smiled fondly as they saw Victor play with the small Vulpix, some even stopping to appreciate the innocence of the two characters as if they were attending a play.

But Victor as well noticed the crowd, and with fear he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the time indicated. He was already 2 hours too late for practice. A sigh filled with disappointment fell from his lips, and he crouched down to pet you on the head one last time.

“I… have to go now. You should too, your trainer must be worried.” You tilted your head. Why would you need another trainer if you already found one. He was teaching you something new, right? So he couldn’t be anything other than that.

You leaned into his touch, purring as he scratch that one spot behind your ear that you loved. He chuckled, removed his hand and proceeded to walk away after offering you a small wave.

What he didn’t realise was that you were obediently following him, wondering why he hadn’t caught you yet. You didn’t mind following him, but wasn’t it easier for him to carry you in one of his Pokeballs.

It wasn’t until he stood in front of a busy street, waiting till he could cross it, when he suddenly noticed the presence beside him. He glanced down to see you seated next to him, waiting to cross the road as well. Victor blinked down at you, hands stuffed in his pocket to protect against the cold. A small cloud escaped from his mouth as he spoke, and you looked up at him.

“You don’t have a trainer?” You blinked back at him, a silent confirmation that you wanted to stay with him. A smile returned on Victor’s face, one that rivaled the one he previously had showed when you played on the ice together. A smile that caused the shadow of regret and sadness to be vanished by its light, and lift the heavy weight from his shoulders. A twinkle appeared in his eyes, and his lips curved into a wide grin. His eyes turned back to gaze into the space in front of him.

“I guess you’re mine then.”