#arceus is confused by humans

[hisuian-history-makers]

Let's say versions from other universes. Like the mystery dungeon verse

Then pure confusion and disbelief.

“Why is time broken again? Where are the mystery dungeons? What does Arceus mean there are no Time Gears in this universe?! “

It’s debatable whether the Mystery Dungeon Lake Trio know how to form the Red Chain. A key factor of their reaction is whether humans have existed normally in the MD universe. We know the Decrepit Lab friend camp hints at them once existing there. If they did? I figure there are key differences between how each universes’ humans developed. Uxie will be curious about how these “Poké Balls” work and mildly horrified. Mesprit is worried about how much fear they can feel from the humans.

And Azelf? I imagine they’ll be more proactive wanting to test how well the humans can battle.

The Hisuian Forms are the biggest kicker. We know Hisuian Zoroark came about from being shunned by humans. Does their own world have a version of the normal-ghost Zoroark-line? Can the ones with normal pre-evolutions figure out how to evolve into the regional forms? The Lake Trio strikes me as less Godly than in regular canon. We know Grovyle was able to nearly kill Azelf—are Pokémon, legendary or otherwise, from the MD universe able to speak English?

Like Meowth except it comes naturally to them.

There is a lot of confusion between the two Lake Trios. Both Uxie exchange knowledge trying to learn more about their respective worlds. Azelf and Azelf enjoy seeing how the humans have persisted against many natural disasters over the years. The Mesprits enjoy chatting with Enamorus about their favorite emotional moments; marriage proposals, the awkward first courting attempts, a first child…

(There are, of course, somber and bittersweet moments too.) What strikes the native Lake Trio as curious is that the MD Trio guard hidden lakes. Lakes Verity, Valor, and Acuity have been their homes since Hisui/Sinnoh was created. The whole Time Gear situation puzzles them when they just guard a Plate. Visiting Lake Trio kinda have to be babysat because they don’t do a good job of avoiding humans. Poke Balls are harder to break out from than they look.

What are Time Gears even made out of?

[metalmewtwo-kxb]

Pokédex Update:

Auroreon - the Iridescent Feather pokemon. A flying type. When it fans its wings and tail, it can manifest beautiful yet powerful beams of light in concentrated attacks and healing moves. If it ever opens its eyes, it will unleash its wrath on the unjust.

Notes:

- Auroreon's feathers always seem to glimmer in the light, causing even its body to give off a faint prismatic glow. They are also sturdy, soft as cinccino velvet, and capable of keeping sheltered pokemon warm. If the weather and conditions are right, Auroreon will spread its feathers over the grass and sunbathe (or moonbathe at night). This makes the moisture in the air above it become a captivating blanket of shifting colors. The shiny variation of this pokemon is said to also manifest colors of light that very few humans are able to see.

- The 'eye spots' on Auroreon's feathers serve as a natural statement of beauty as well as a means of confusing opponents. And the halo above its head is a result of the fur's natural light refraction.

From Recovered Texts and Documents:

- Long ago, a king encouraged the use of these feathers for decorative purposes during his reign. This greatly decimated the population of both eevee and Auroreon in their region. Those with dark feathers were considered "impure" and hunted for sport. A few were kept as pets and servants, which was illegal save for those with the king's written permission.

- Some groups of the past believed Auroreon to be among the pokemon known as "the Heralds of Arceus", messengers and light-bearers who served the Creator of Worlds. There were a variety of pokemon believed to hold this title, each described as "familiar yet unique" to each respective species. They were more powerful than their counterparts, and some rarely spotted if not considered an illusion. They were also quite gentle and well-mannered, and their roles involved giving life and healing to the world. However, these pokemon were considered dangerous in times of conflict.

- It is said "the false king" of their home region was single-handedly responsible for the disappearance of the Heralds, the beginning of conflict between humans and Arceus, and the terrible aftermath of the last great war. Rumors spread that Arceus removed the Heralds from the world of humans to save those pokemon from the cruelty that would follow in coming years.

Notes Continued:

- Further research is being conducted, as a single pair of Auroreon were recently spotted in an isolated area with an unusual eevee. One white, and one dark. The gender of each is unknown, though ancient texts suggest that females have shorter capes than males.

- There is no documentation of what their open eyes look like. Texts only say that no one who saw them directly lived to tell the tale, including the false king.

----------------------------

Decided to take my own stab at creating a flying type eeveelution, and potentially add a second typing later on.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and glad I had another chance to delve into more of the comic's background lore.

[billycorn]

Imagine PMD2 Riolu Partner if Hero never came back after restoring Temporal Tower: If Arceus hadn't intervened and the Dark Future had disappeared.

Riolu would've returned to the guild, continued with their apprenticeship and that night on the beach, they try to accept that the dark future and hero are really gone. The dark... future?

If Hero and everyone else was from the future, then, they'll be born into this world eventually, right? It's not clear how far in the future the dark future was, but Riolu has to believe that it'll be within their lifetime.

So, Partner sets out, searching the globe for the last of the humans, and their family. Eventually, they stumble across a Duskull, young and innocent, but Riolu would recognise that aura anywhere, they couldn't forget it if they tried. Riolu shrinks away at first but slowly realises, this time, Dusknoir had the chance to be something completely different. So, after a short conversation, Riolu wishes Duskull well and continues on their journey.

Years later, Partner finds a young Treecko, living happily in the woods, surrounded by siblings and loving parents. This Treecko looks totally different from Grovyle, he doesn't have the scars, or that same hard gaze. No, this Treecko is laughing, and Partner tears up, knowing this is what always should have been. If only this Treecko knew how much the sunrise meant to him.

Partner continues, from town to town, across the continent Partner searches and... nothing. No hide nor hair of a human. So, Partner searches the globe again, and still nothing. Everyone says the same thing, humans are a myth, they've never lived in this world.

Heartbroken, Partner returns to Treasure Town, hoping to find some semblance of joy in what was once their dream. Time passes and Marill comes by the guild, saying they found someone lost, wandering through the woods. It's a Phantump. They seem confused, scared, unable to remember anything except a name.

Riolu knows it before they hear the name. This. This is Hero. Someway, somehow, Hero is here, right now. Partner hugs the Phantump and the ghost type flinches away, cautiously returning the hug after a moment.

Partner's heart aches and they offer to let Phantump stay with them at the guild and get this all figured out. Phantump agrees and Partner gets to relive their relationship all over again. Maybe this time they can be the one to give Hero strength.

[fangirlingpuggle]

Super super dumb Pokémon legends Arceus AU/fic prompt where Akari is Giratina.

Arceus sees Giratina causing problems and creating space time shift and dragging people through and is not happy, so is like ‘You broke it you fix it’ and copy and pastes Dawn’s body shoves Giratina in it and just yeets them down.

Giratina/Akari losing their memory and being really confused, also not sure how-to human properly.

Them just going through everything as normal, no one really noticing apart from Pokémon when about to attack stopping because they can sense somethings off, and all the Pokémon lords/ladies just being like ‘The fuck are you?’

They get more confused when Akari accidentally uses Giratina powers. Some people/Pokémon get really confused.

Ingo still totally adopts them and when he finds out is just like ‘Yes still my kid’ and returns back to Emmett like ‘Yes I am back form the past, here meet my child they are an amazing trainer, saved hisui and is also Giratina’

Volo has NO idea what’s happening he keeps trying to summon Giratina and nothing happens Akari keeps having her phone ring but no-ones there. They only realise when Volo challenges them tries summon Giratina and their phone rings.

Bonus:

Summoning Arceus is just them screaming at the sky like

‘YOU FUCKING DICK GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!’

[stitchwraith-stingers]

if i had a nickle for every fop / pokemon related post i made id have 3, which isnt alot but its werid it happened thrice

anyways nerd instincts on, come with me i will show you what full pokemon teams i feel like the characters would have, making like 3 of them in the process lmaooo

ill try not to give many characters repeating mon's cuz it probably makes me look repetitive but whatever its ok only human kids sorryyyy, feel free to ask abt other characters ill try to think of something

timmy turner's family would be one of those people that own 6 magikarp that only know splash down random routes, well hes not good at all with battling and arceus knows with how many battles he keeps loosing at school theyll never evolve, yes hes tired of all the comparisons with his bidoof

he grows up to be a fairy elite four member in johto!!! he has 2 sylveons on his team

chloe carmicheal's ace would be her yamper! the team above is her casual / contests, the one below is for serious battles, her family does so much at the same time - breed pokemon, check their friendship, hunt shinies, are professors, are gym leaders, they want her to become a champion while never missing for contests and having to battle highly expirienced trainers isnt easy for her oof, she probably has aton of mons in her PC and does eventually become the champion of johto

chester mcbadbat, i dont think i need to elaborate

AJ's ace would be reuinclus, though he just owns a mew, and probably multible, because of him being involved in some way in project mewtwo, chespin is here just for casual companionship, probably owns more ghost types as time goes on and chestnaught is the official mascot of the galax insitute, which many people there are confused about

trixie tang would only ever show her ninetales at school to appease her "feminine and elegant" persona people see her as, she sides all her "badass" mon's but cares for them deeply inspite of it all, also with the added bonus of ninetales cursing you if you get too close or smth along the lines

tootie would only own these two, no one knows how she got them

remy buxaplenty is not interested in battling, but he does keep his persian with him wherever he goes, furfrou incase he needs to look richer, his furret looks oddly purple....

kevin crocker's ace would be murkrow! he kept his uncles espeon, cutiefly is from his grandma

for the ANW characters, im gonna go by a fun rule someone had left in the comments that i reallyyyy liked :3 - every student has atleast one fairy type

hazel wells' ace would be elmoga, as its been her best friend since she was young, her zorua is a close second though! she owns alot of ghost types since her father is a ghost type specialist in the elite four in unova (moms a bug type specialist), constantly worrying that she wont be as good as the others in battling even though her school isnt big on battling and more bonding with ur mon

jasmine tran's ace would be jigglypuff! however its not uncommon to see her walking around with her popplio outside its pokeball, the jigglypuff was a gift actually, alot of people say its like theyre made for eachother, for reasons probably not actually positive, joltik is there after fearless and uses it to prank others, tinyyyy...... her leafeon had only recently evolved

winn harper's ace would be alolan raichu! surfing is just water skateboarding, so raichu helps with some cool tricks on the playground, theyre also rlly close with their furfrou, who they constantly also dye their fur to match their hair, and also cuz i think theyre a dog person in general, one of the few kids in their school to have fully evolved pokemon since their parents are gym leaders, loves competitive battling!

jenkins' ace would be his deerling, autumn form specifically, he also owns a douduo! from his home region of ye olden kanto, just a normal type specialist, no big deal

the doe twins would own two umbreons, ones regular the other ones shiny, theyve also been gifted tatsugiri and dondozo from their father from his fisherman days back in paldea, though they never use those two outside of battles, double battlers and weridos

whispers fred's main would be an absol! quiet but gets the job done, he also probably thinks that in addition to predicting natural disasters that his absol can sense mythical mons (which doesnt work that way, dont tell him), whismur helps him on the job, along with being a shiny he came across one day!, his slowpoke, ralts and eevee are there for emotional support, doesnt like to battle, probably thinks shiny pokemon are supernatural and brags about his whismur

dev dimmadome i like to imagine doesnt really own a pokemon of his own, they usually just breed and sell them off so he doesnt get to bond with them enough nor has he though about it, but during the battle of the big wand he gets them from foop, he and hazel have this grand battle (emolga probably does some thunder armor bullshit), the buneary refuses to evolve and admitibly doesnt like him, may or may not join hazels team instead and may or may not symbolise their relationship idk idk

[etherfall]

Glad to see another who imagines a better life for N. The poor guy deserves it. I do wonder how would your N react to my N. My N’s back story is that he is the son of Ingo (he was born in the past in hisui and was a faller…. Hence why he ended up in Unova future and there was no record of him existing or how he ended up in the forest)….. of course due to some time shenanigans in my au N and Ingo managed to get back to their respective time in Unova and N was raised by Ingo in a loving environment…. Though there is some time shenanigans happening later on as N has to travel back and forth between his time and the past to trigger the BW and BW 2 events. (It’s also why in game the protagonist never sees n again)… I do know that if canon N met my au N he would not like him as au N is the opposite of the canon one as he stands and protects the bonds between people and Pokémon, then later on canon N would be jealouse as the au one has everything the canon one wishes he had. A loving family and father, he grew up rather normally (as normal as one can be with the whole talking to Pokemon and time travel shenanigans) and experiences all the world and family has to offer (like school experiences (he went to the blueberry academy and daycare when little), family experiences like family vacations, birthdays, holidays, ect, had plenty of friends both humans and Pokemon among and a father who loves, supports and protects him… so ya…. I see a lot of bitter feelings and such…. But I do wonder about your au n. I know mine would look at yours and be confused as to why your N is calling Alder dad cause to him Alder is grandpa (and his mentor/godfather)

Oh wow, your AU is so thought out! (Probably better planned out than mine, I made it on a whim haha)

I have talked about how my AU N would react to cannon N on the post Here

In my AU N knows Emmet and Ingo as the lighthearted train brothers that take him on rides/teach him about machinery, so I think he would find it incredibly amusing to see your AU N calling Ingo "dad"!

[Idk anything about Legends Arceus so I can't commentate on the whole "Ingo in the past" thing]

Thank you for sharing your AU! This was a fun read :)

[platinumrosetail]

Record of Ragnarok x Pokemon Trainer!Reader?

Maybe she ends up in the ROR universe or the other way around, but either way I just think it'd be interesting if she tries to explain her world to everyone and just throws out a this tiny, cute pokemon, making the ROR characters not take her seriously at first, but then she just throws out pokemon like Mew, Kyogre, or heaven forbid, Arceus himself, casually saying these were the gods of her world.

I quite literally been trying to make a post about this before so this is fantastic for me also yes a ror request whoo! Also yes with the reader having powerful and god like Pokémon along with cute Pokémon.

It felt too crowded with four legendaries with three being bigger than one of them so I had to switch out giratina for a starter, hope that’s alright with you 😅😭.

Me and them talked and fill in some things that I had questions about so you might see some things that was left out of the request, this is a heads up if you get confused on that 😁.

This might be focused on the reaction and fighting than anything romantic as I haven’t gotten any requests for them to do this but I will try and make some romantic moments the best I can 😁😅.

Warning: noob author, female reader, possibly some ooc, and others.

Characters: some gods and some humans (romantic, they didn’t fully specify who so I’ll do the ones in my masterlist that i think would be more romantic for the reader), Valkyrie (platonic)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were visiting alola again after battling in galar and becoming champion there; reason why you were visiting alola again was because you have a relative you want to visit and cause necrozma (solgaleo) wanted to visit where they used to live aagain after so long.

You were just spending time with the ultra beast when you heard the sound of a ultra wormhole opening up from behind you and the next thing you know is that you’re in your space suit that can open by a button and that you’re on the back of necrozma growing past many wormholes with speed that you didn’t know it had as it takes them a while to pick up this speed in the wormhole current.

Next you were falling through as necrozma was forced to go back into their pokeball but some forces you couldn’t see but you could see the struggle they had before going into the pokeball. You screamed even though you know that wouldn’t help as you aren’t sure if you can bring out any capable pokemon at the moment with that force pulling necrozma back into their pokeball and all.

(That’’s just for plot convenience at the moment, it most likely won’t appear here anymore, y’know like a one time thing.)

You felt yourself get caught by a pair of what seem to be strong arms with how muscular they are, you trailed your eyes up and met red tinted glasses eyes, you fainted seconds later because of all the adrenaline finally settling down and because of the hot male that caught you.

(Honestly who wouldn’t for Buddha lol)

When you finally woke up you noticed that you were in bed, at first you thought that you were dreaming all of that in a lucid dream but then began to notice the difference between this room and your room back in your time.

Your train of thought was interrupted by the door to this room opening and in came a tall woman with dark blue hair and from what you could tell by the distance between you two, green eyes.

“I’m glad to see that you’re awake, as i would like to discuss something with you if you don’t mind.” The woman says as she watches you sit up on the bed. “But first lets introduce ourselves, seeing as we might be working together from now on if you agree to a favor i would like to ask of you.”

“Ok……” I hesitantly agree wondering where this was going.

“My name is brunhilde and i would like your assistance on helping save humanity from being destroyed by the gods.” The woman now known as brunhilde introduced and explained the favor to you.

“My name is (Y/n)… and about that favor, can i have some time to think about it, y’know with how it’s a lot to take in and with how big the favor seems to be?” You asked wondering what world you’re in for humanity to be pushed to extinction if they don’t win this supposed battle of gods vs humanity.

“Of course, i understand, when you decide come find me in the meeting room.” Brunhilde quickly exit completely forgetting that you don’t know this place like she does and you don’t know where that is.

“He! Wait where is that?!” You tried to call out to her and get her to tell you before she left but seems she already died making you sigh before doing what you said you were going to do until later though that train of thought was quickly broken but something being dropped on your chest.

You uncovered your eye with the arm you previously placed over them to think and see big blue eyes and a pink short furred cat staring right back at you while their tail is swishing back and forth almost expecting something from you……. Until it hit you, quite literally as the creature you know as mew bap’ed their paw at you and you realized what they wanted.

“Fine~….. but after that no bothering me until later, ok? I need to think about this favor brunhilde asked of me.” You got a nod before going through the bag that was on the desk that was next to the bed you were on, and thankfully everything seems to still be in their original place in it anyway back to the task at hand, mew had wanted you to get the poke treat you always make for them and the others, your parent taught you the recipe for these things and like always it was all of your Pokémon’s favorite which doesn’t surprise you as the recipe was all Pokémon’s favorite, and of course there were different flavors for any pokemon with a different taste bud.

You decided to take a walk outside to get a clear head as the room was becoming too stuffy even though it was a really big room and it took many steps to even get to the door of it.

The place you ended up next was what most likely be the garden for this place you appeared in, while walking around there you spot a male laying down on the green grass that you know all grass type would enjoy running around in.

The male looked strangely familiar with the glasses and hair but you can’t quite place where you might’ve seen from though you guess you’ll know soon enough as when you went to get a closer look you seem to have woken the sleeping man up as the next thing you knew was that you hear a deep voice call out.

“Staring is rude, y’know.” You jumped, startled at the sudden noice breaking your concentration and began to panic while trying to push out an apology.

“S-sorry! You just seemed so f-familiar and i wanted to figure o-out why a-and—” you were cut off by what seems to be a lollipop being pushed into your mouth, and the lollipop you previously sen in his mouth is gone as well……. It didn’t take you long to figure out where that lollipop has gone to which made you blush up a storm and started to look like a (Pokémon name) with how bad you blushed at the indirect kiss you two basically shared.

“Calm down or you’l faint again.” he says which got me thinking on how he knew I fainted before unless…..

“You’re the one that catched me!” I finally figured out who he was and accidentally yelled out a bit as i finally could thank the one who catches and saved my life from that long fall.

“So you finally remember, huh?”

The male introduced himself as Buddha which i responded with my own introduction as well. He soon asked what you were doing here when you’re human and should be in the human realm which you quickly explained your predicament as he thought you fell from their version of human realm by accident and was already ack to your human life after you woke up.

“Well you see, technically I’m from another universe or dimension where there’s these creatures called pocket monster, or pokemon for short, and while hanging around at one of the places i visit to have some alone time, a wormhole opened and one of my pokemon had decided that it was time to go on an adventure again like when i was younger but when getting close to the end of the portal my pokemon was forced back into their pokeball and you know what happened next… sorry about that by the way.”

“Mmm, it’s fine, though you can show me one of these pokemon you have on you.” Buddha says which was alright with you and you guess he got curious on what one would look like with how you talked about them.

You went through your head on which one to bring out to show him before choosing your sylveon who likes getting attention from you and anybody you deem worthy enough to be your friend.

“This is sylveon, one of my Pokémon that been with me since I started my journey.” You say as you pet your beloved Pokémon.

“She’s cute.” Buddha say which made you laugh a little but quickly noticed how sylveon was reacting to that so you hurried to explain before things get out of hand.

“Actually sylveon is a boy, he gets irritated if you call him a girl, the only time he’s alright is when he goes to use to his advantage.”

After a few more hours of you two spending time together it was time for a leave as you still need to inform brunhilde the decision you picked while with Buddha.

(I’m going to speed this along as it’s already long right now.)

It was a few days after you joined the fight for humanities survival. You’ve met some of the human fighters, all with very different personalities and backgrounds.

The only ones who know about you being from another universe and your Pokémon being with you is brunhilde, her sisters, and Buddha, and even then they only know the normal ones you have not the legendaries you have, reason why you didn’t want to share with the others is because you wanted to surprise them within your round which is like a demonstration of what’s to happen though like the others the round is a death match as well.

The god you were facing was a low god to the others gods and goddesses but still strong enough to take down a normal human……. If you were a normal human, but seeing as you came from another universe entirely makes you no ordinary normal human.

“You should just surrender girly! I wouldn’t want you to accidentally break a nail!! Hahahahaha!!!” At that the god of (???) gained a laugh from the others on his side of this battle, he didn’t get the rise out of you like he was hoping for but instead a sweet, sweet smile that seems to scream danger to him but he tries not to be intimidated by a ‘lowly’ human like you.

You had already sent out a Pokémon before the fight, mew, who was invisible and would appear when you call out to it, but for now you’ll hold back on who you chose to send out, the one you send out is a hisuian zoroark that you caught in the past of sinnoh.

“Zoroark! Use shadow sneak!!” You called out a move for your zoroark to use which allows it to move first. A shadow from zoroark’s shadow goes towards the god which confused him on how you and your beast can do that before starting to feel extraordinary pain which made him tilt his head behind him to see what’s going on back there only to see a shadow looming over him being the culprit yo his pain.

Thankfully for him it ended soon enough but he was still littered with long scratches from the attack.

“How?! How did you do that?! And where did that mangy beast come from?!” He yelled out and basically insulted your Pokémon which irritates you when people get like that but make sure to hold that anger for the finishing blow when the time is right.

“I don’t want to reveal any of my secrets so you’ll just have to wait.” You say which makes the gods like hades, shiva, Loki, Thor, Poseidon only shared a small short glance before looking away uninterested in this fight and what happens to the human female, zeus also shared an interest disgustingly enough.

“Hmm, this human is interesting right hades?” Zeus says, hades doesn’t say anything as he saw the same female alone in the gardens one time and also had a interest with her being there and not in the human realm

On the Norse side there was Loki and Thor along with Odin and the two birds that follow him that Loki likes to tease. “Hmmm~ I wonder what she means by that~ what do you say Thor?~” he got no response from him which made Loki pout.

While they were all talking, the battle continued on until you only had three Pokémon left, coincidentally they were some of the legendaries/mythical from your world which theoretically speaking is basically like the gods from your world.

You thought as long and as hard as you could which was only a second before sending out the big one….. the almighty creator of both humans and Pokémon kind in your world; arceus.

“I’m sorry for acting cocky right now buuut….. you’re about to become nonexistent.”

“Huh? What do you mean? It’s just a Llama! I bet it would be like the others, too! Though I wished you let them stay out so I could kill them and make you see that you’re of no match to us gods!!” That sentence right there irritated both you and arceus and made the both of you look at each and nod before you give out the command to end this bloody fool from his embarrassing ways.

“Arceus, could you please use judgement on this poor fool and end his embarrassment.” You say calmly which receives a ‘gladly’ from arceus through your shared telepathy.

And like that the god before you shatters into green shards, disappearing into the place where humans and gods go to after they die in the afterlife.

Arceus returned to his ball as you silently walk back to your side of the stadium through where you had entered, tired and hungry and ready for a shower after what stress that battle brought you.

All of them were shocked before getting interrupted by a big screen came on in the middle of the battle ground of the stadium, the screen had funny eyes and a grin on its face.

“Hello! I’m rotomdex! The Pokémon you saw winning the battle with (Y/n) was called arceus! The creator of humans and Pokémon in (Y/n) universe!! You see, (Y/n) was transported here from a ultra wormhole opening up! Anyway, I need to go! Bye!!” And with that the screen disappeared leaving many shocked beings, wether they were human or deity.

After that you got swarmed by the other human competitors, all complimenting you in their own little way along with the competitors ally’s and friends/family.

You also gained the interest of some of the gods who want to learn about you more after that display you showed them.

(A/n: finally!!!! I hope you guys like it! I decided to try something new, it’s not a bad way to do things, just know I won’t use it for some of your requests as it depends on what you guys request of me, I also wished I could do more with the characters besides Buddha but I just couldn’t think of anything and because I have favoritism for Buddha, I mean can you blame me? Lol, anyway hope y’all have a wonderful day/evening/night!!!)

[teamconductors]

A Day Off: A PMD Lost Tracks of Time AU

Summary: During a weekend where the Battle Subway has shut down for maintenance, Ingo offers Mono a train trip, and Emmet wants to spend time with her at Nimbasa's amusement park.

Background: This is for the Swap AU (forgive the old art). After the events of LTOT, Sneasler is turned into a human and is sent back in time to Unova before Ingo got taken to Hisui.

In terms of timeline, this is after Sneasler aka Mono has established herself as a trainer, is roommates with Elesa, and got a job at the Battle Subway out of pity (or so she claims).

This is a long one. It could've been split, but I didn't want to.

Also, for clarity: Mono is Sneasler's name as a human. Everyone knows her as Mono, but the narration uses both Mono and Sneasler for her. Is that confusing? Maybe. But I'm too lazy to change it.

"Unbelievable," Sneasler said. She wished she figured out human technology by now. Perhaps if she had, she wouldn't have entered Gear Station at the typical early morning time and saw signs blocking the entrance to her workplace.

"Good morning, Miss Mono!"

"Morning, Ingo." Sneasler turned to see Ingo, who lacked his black Subway Boss coat and hat but still wore his button shirt and pants. "I know I'm here because I messed up, I guess. But why are you here?"

"I need to make sure that maintenance occurs as smoothly as possible!" Ingo said. "That said, I only need to do periodic checks. After I complete this first morning check, would you like to accompany me for a train ride around Unova?"

"Just you? Emmet's not coming?" Sneasler almost asked about Elesa but stopped herself upon remembering that she left Nimbasa for a fashion show.

"Since I accepted the responsibility to watch over the Battle Subway, Emmet decided to try alternate routes for his weekend. We work together and have many common interests, but we don't always need to be a two-car train."

Sneasler turned her head so Ingo wouldn't see her cringe. Before she was kidnapped out of her time, Emmet had gotten better about going on separate missions without Ingo. But the literal and metaphorical scars remained. Once in a while, Emmet would suffer a panic attack if Ingo - or Eelektross or even her - were away for too long. He hated that it was still an issue, and so did she. One day I'm gonna kick Arceus' ass for the pain they caused, she thought.

She shook off the mental damage to continue her questioning. "Are you gonna be okay being gone from the station for a while? How long's the trip?"

"Less than two hours! We will return to Gear Station by the end, and there are no stops in between. This is purely a scenic trip!"

"...Okay. Why me?"

"Does there need to be a reason?" Ingo's eyes widened. "Wait, do you have another activity scheduled?"

Sneasler shrugged. Had she known, she could have at least slept in - though that's easier said than done, considering her recent insomnia. "Not really. Sure, I'll do a train ride."

"Excellent! Allow me to finish what I need to, and we will be off!" Ingo sped-walked past Mono before she could ask where she should wait.

---

Sneasler didn't wait long for Ingo. He led her to the wing of Gear Station she seldom visited beyond the her first day in Unova and ended up on a train. Unlike the Battle Subway's trains, they offered plenty of benches and tables for guests to rest at. She and Ingo took a car with no one else in it. Ingo chose a table, and Mono sat across from him, putting her basket next to her on the bench.

"Did you make that basket? It appears well-made and well-cared for," Ingo asked.

"Uh, thanks. It's... an heirloom," Mono said. This is going be a painful ride, isn't it?

The journey began. They started underground, but soon they popped out of a tunnel near Driftviel City. It was Sneasler's first time outside of Nimbasa. The mining city vaguely reminded her of the dungeons near Cobalt Coastlands.

Ingo interrupted Sneasler's musing. "Is something the matter, Miss Mono?"

Sneasler realized she had been staring at him. "Uh, no! I, uh, haven't been sleeping well. That's all."

"Oh, I'm sorry that you've been having such roadblocks. Is there anything I can can for you? Does your schedule need to be changed?"

"Nope, my work schedule is fine." Much to her chagrin, Ingo and Emmet trained Sneasler well to wake up at dawn. Even before then, she preferred mornings and daylight to night. "Don't worry about it, alright?"

"My job is to transport talented trainers to greater heights, and that includes the trainers helping us as well. On that topic, how are your pokemon doing? If I remember, your current team is a Croagunk, a Riolu, and a Whirlipede."

"Wow, you actually remembered that?" Does he usually remember different trainers' teams like that??

"Well, you only recently became a trainer, am I correct? Our guests who have battled against you certainly couldn't tell! You've been performing fantastically so far!"

Croagunk, Whirlipede, and Riolu fight well on their own. I'm just there pretending to guide them. "Got lucky, I guess."

"I don't think it's luck, Miss Mono."

I found Croagunk after he got abandoned by his trainer. Riolu was a stray on the outskirts of Nimbasa and needed a home. And meeting Whirlipede was an accident.

"Please do not discount yourself."

I'm not a trainer. I'm not supposed to be here.

"I think your journey has only just begun."

One of the doors opened. An Audino with a cart walked to Ingo and Mono's table. On top of the cart sat a kettle and bowls with colored packets, tiny cartons of liquid, and small sticks. On the secondary shelf were stacks of cups. "I have coffee!"

"Miss Mono, the coffee is complimentary. There's also a dining kart if you'd like to fuel yourself." Ingo took the cup Audino offer him. "Thank you very much," he said to the pokemon.

"Uh, thanks." Sneasler accepted her own cup. She stared at the dark liquid inside as Audino placed cups with packets and tiny cartons and a couple sticks on the table. She brought the cup to her nose and sniffed.

"Do you like coffee, Miss Mono?" Ingo asked as he prepared his own cup.

"Coffee, huh?" She sniffed again. It didn't smell bad. "I've seen Elesa drink this stuff, but I haven't yet."

"Really? I'm surprised."

"She's offered, but I just didn't feel like it. But, uh... here I go, I guess." Sneasler brought the cup to her lips and took in a mouthful of the liquid.

She slammed the cup to the table and covered her mouth with her hand lest she spit everything over poor Ingo.

"Are you alright?!" Ingo yelled loud enough that Audino, who left for another car, opened the door and ran to Ingo and Mono.

Sneasler waved at both Ingo and Audino with her free hand as she swallowed. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" She looked at Audino, who had placed her feelers on her chest. "No really, I'm alright."

"Okay... But I hope what's making you sad goes away..." Audino retracted her feelers and returned to the other car.

I heard that. "Sorry, Ingo. It was just really, really bitter, and I didn't expect it. Smelled and tasted really different."

"Hm, you do run into surprises in a journey sometimes. May I try something?" Ingo pointed to Mono's cup.

"If you want it, take it." Sneasler grabbed napkins and began wiping up the coffee that splashed out when she slammed the cup down.

Ingo grabbed a packet and a tiny carton and poured their contents into the cup. "I find black coffee too bitter to fully enjoy as well. That surprises people, but I'm not sure why." He stirred the mixture together with a stirring stick and then offered it to Mono. "I added cream and sugar to your drink, which is how I like it. I hope this is more palatable for you."

Sneasler glanced between Ingo and the cup. She grabbed the cup with a delicate hold and slowly took a sip. She braced for the bitterness, but the sweetness calmed down the bitterness like a Light Screen reducing a Psychic's damage. "That's not... terrible. I don't think I'll be drinking much coffee, though."

"That's alright! You need to know what works best for you, just like how you need to know how to keep a machine well-oiled!"

Sneasler chuckled. "Everything comes back to trains for you, huh?"

"Well, trains are fascinating! The way they're made, how they work, how precisely you can make schedules and get everyone to where they want at the right time! Why else would Emmet and I format a battle facility in a series of them? On that line of thought, why did you decide to work specifically at Gear Station? You said you weren't a pokemon trainer, so was there another reason?"

He's conveniently leaving out the part of our first meeting where I said I knew them, but okay. "I... Listen, I'm not that good with technology. I can get the gist of things, but it'll take me a bit to get used to them. But... I... I have two younger brothers that love trains." Sneasler's eyes widened as soon as she registered what she just said, but she could not take that back. "And... it's really nice to hear them excited. They've shown me books about them because they think it's fun to talk about them to someone who doesn't know squat. ...For a lot of reasons, I haven't been able to see them, and the Battle Subway... reminds me of them." She blinked more frequently as something welled behind her eyes.

Ingo's signature frown softened. "I see... Well, I'm glad to have you ride with us, and I hope you see your brothers soon."

"Me, too."

Ingo and Sneasler decided in silence to watch the view as their train passed by different areas. They breezed through forests, went through mountain tunnels and over bridges, and witnessed the sky turn from orange to blue. Ingo made comments about cities and landmarks but was clearly less energetic than before.

By the time they passed through Undella Town, Sneasler groaned, making Ingo jump. "Holy rift, I made this trip so awkward. I am so sorry."

"Please do not apologize! This has not been awkward for me, but does that mean it was awkward for you?" Ingo asked, frowning deeply.

"C'mon, stop deflecting. I can't believe you've always been like this."

"What do you mean?"

"It's been a bad trip, and you know it. I can see it in your face." Sneasler pointed at Ingo and traces circles in the air.

"Really? I've been told that I'm rather stiff..."

"Compared to Emmet, yeah, but... I can still see it." Sneasler sighed. "Maybe it would've been better if you just did this on your own."

ingo hummed. "If you hadn't been at Gear Station, I most likely would have gone on this train by myself. While that would have made for a fine trip, journeys are made better when shared with others." He looked into Mono's eyes. "Miss Mono, I know that Elesa has been a great help for you, but please also know that Emmet and I are here to help you move forward to your destination!"

Sneasler rested her head on her hands. "And dramatic as ever, too. I'll never understand how you always say stuff like that so sincerely."

"My job is to transport passengers along their journeys to greater heights. Why wouldn't I be happy about what I do?"

"The more you talk, the more you keep using Dig." Sneasler laughed as Ingo got more confused. "It's not a bad thing, Ingo. Don't change that part of you, okay?"

Ingo's eyes widened. "I... Thank you, Miss Mono. I shall do my best."

The rest of the trip was quiet, but with the air cleared, they watched the scenery change in comfort. Though fascinated with the shifting landscapes and cities, Sneasler took glances at Ingo. His human face was slightly harder for her to read than his Sneasel face, but he definitely relaxed into his seat.

Ingo said something about liking train rumbling, right? I guess that's why. ...Have I ever seen him like this? My ancestor definitely didn't. He doesn't really relax on vacations either. Maybe the warden and rescuer stuff takes more out of him than he wants to say? I know he enjoys it, but that responsibility...

I really am going to kick Arceus' ass one of these days.

***

When they returned to Gear Station, Ingo left to check on the status of maintenance, and Sneasler returned to her temporary home and take a nap. She didn't know why her body hurt more than normal. She decided to blame it on her weird human body.

Elesa described her apartment as small, but to Sneasler, it was massive compared to Ingo and Emmet's old tent at the Pearl Guild. She also gave Mono her own guest room, but the train ride tired her out so much that she crashed onto the rectangular but plush couch in the living room. She fell asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

The ringing of a bell woke Sneasler from her dreamless nap. She jumped to a sitting position, accidentally making Riolu and Croagunk fall off her and onto the floor.

"What the?" Sneasler cursed as she looked between the two dazed tiny pokemon and Whirlipede wrapped around her basket. "When did you guys get here?"

"Came outta our balls like an hour ago," Croagunk said.

"You looked comfy..." Riolu said.

The doorbell rang again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Sneasler combed her fingers through her hair to fix it. The ends curled back up to their usual position. She opened the door.

"I am Emmet. Hi there, Mono." Like Ingo, he did not wear his signature coat and hat, but his outfit was even more unfamiliar to Sneasler. His pants looked almost like normal ones, but the shirt had some sort of colorful floral pattern she didn't expect, let alone from him.

"Hi. Uh, if you're looking for Elesa, she's outta town right now," Sneasler said.

"I know. You have the day off, and so do I. Do you want to go somewhere with me?"

"First your brother, now you?! Is this some sort of new employee ritual thing, or...?"

"Not at all. I am just curious about you." Emmet smiled even more.

Sneasler sighed. "Alright, fine, I guess. Might as well. Why not?" She turned to her pokemon behind her. "You guys gonna be okay here?"

"You're not taking them with you?" Emmet stared intensely at Mono.

"Am... I supposed to?" Sneasler paused, then she added, "Are you gonna challenge me to a battle?!"

"Not today. For you safety, it is a good idea for pokemon trainers to have at least one pokemon with them at all times."

Why am I getting deja vu? "Alright. Everyone cool with coming with?" After a set of affirmative answers, she walked back to the couch where her basket rested next to. She kept her pokeballs inside, along with her hat and coat, the Toxic Plate, and other important items. "...Wait. Do you have a pokemon on you?"

"Of course!" Emmet said.

On cue, a Jotik popped his head out of the pocket on Emmet's shirt. "Hello!"

Sneasler stared at Emmet and Jotik in stunned silence. "Why am I surprised anymore?"

---

Emmet led Mono to Nimbasa City's amusement park while marching and swinging his arms straight, which was more impressive to witness compared to when he did it as a Sneasel.

"We have arrived at Ronde-View Ferris Wheel. Ronde-View Ferris Wheel," Emmet said while pointing at Mono.

"Elesa mentioned something about a "Ferris wheel". You just go around in a circle?" Sneasler asked.

"Correct. It is not a thrill ride, but they give us a good view of Nimbasa City. Are you afraid of heights?"

"No! I'm a rock climber, and you can't be a climber if you're afraid of heights!" Unless there's a bottomless Distortion World void beneath me, but that's just common sense.

"Rock climbing? Verrrry interesting." Emmet narrowed his eyes at Mono.

Sneasler narrowed her eyes back at him. "Yeah. Haven't done it in a while, though."

"Would you like to try today? A rock climbing wall was set up here recently."

"Wait, really? A wall that you just... climb? As a human?"

"'As a human'?" Emmet repeated.

"...Well, I'm just used to regular rocks and cliffs. That's all."

The ride operator stopped the wheel and let people exit a gondola. She approached the gate that Emmet and Mono stood at. "Hello! How many people do we have?"

"Two," Emmet said. "All aboard!"

The pokeball-shaped gondolas were large enough to fit at least four humans and maybe a few small pokemon. The pokeball designs were upside down, making the white half see-through for people to look out of. Mono stepped onto the gondola and got surprised when the floor gave under her weight.

"What the hell?!" Sneasler jumped backward, hitting Emmet with her basket. He quickly caught himself instead of falling.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss! Some of these cars can swing," the ride operator said. "If you'd like, you can wait behind the gate and the next car will stay still."

"That car would be preferable for both of us, I think. Please stand by, Mono," Emmet said, pointing to the line gate.

Sneasler reluctantly stood back and took the next gondola. To her relief, it remained still when she stepped onto it. She and Emmet took opposite seats. Once settled, the operator closed the door and started the ride.

"That was embarrassing," Sneasler said. "I just wanna say, I think the moving one would be fine. I just didn't expect it."

"You are fine, Mono. As I said, I like the cars that don't move. The wheel moves us, anyway." Emmet looked to their left. "I enjoy riding trains and running the Battle Subway. But I also like rides like this because I get a change in perspective."

"Change in perspective, huh?" Sneasler watched them slowly rise above the different buildings in the city. Previously, she could only get a view like this from climbing mountains or riding on Eelektross' back (though he couldn't for long). Not to mention that she mostly saw man-made buildings as ruins, as landmarks of times long past. Here, they were new and pristine.

"Now that our trip has begun, I need to ask you something," Emmet said. "Who are you?"

Sneasler blinked at him. "Is your memory alright? My name's Mono."

"You introduced yourself as Sneasler first."

Sneasler frowned. She mentally kicked herself for confusing Ingo and Emmet so much when they first saw each other. How was she supposed to know she ended up in Unova before Ingo went missing? "It's just a nickname. I mistook you two for someone else."

"Your nickname is the name of an extinct pokemon?"

"Extinct?!" No, wait, calm down! The Nobles weren't active when humans were around. Not extinct. Just in hiding. "I mean... yeah, weird name, it's a long story. And what does it matter?"

Emmet readjusted himself and leaned forward. "I'm just curious. You had a verrrry strong entrance. What is your goal? I want to see your track is going."

Sneasler groaned and put her head into her hands. "Why are you two like this? Ingo got done talking to me about basically the same thing!"

"Huh. I didn't know that. We took different lines but accidentally converged." Emmet smiled. "But I think he gets something different out of questions than I do. We see things differently, and that makes us strong together. I want to learn more! Where do you want your journey to go, Mono?"

"I..." Sneasler leaned back and lazily stared out the window to think. Talking with Ingo started this train of thought, and talking with Emmet needed to finish it.

I want to fucking go home. But I have no idea how to do that, so maybe if I get money, I can go to the Sinnoh region, find the Nobles of this era, and get them to help me. ...If I can find them. If they can get me in contact with Dialga or someone. Could they turn me back into a Sneasler? Ingo and Emmet kinda turned back, but they kinda didn't either. And there's no way I could become like what they are now!

"Mono?" Emmet asked. "Do you not have an answer? If so, that's fine. That's a valid feeling."

"No, I... I do, it's just..." There's no dungeons here. There's no Nobles or rescue teams or anything I know. I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't know anything about being a trainer or being around humans. And just to top it all off, my body isn't mine anymore! Losing my memories would be a blessing at this point! Because at least I don't have to look at Emmet or Ingo and have them look back at me as a stranger!

The Ferris wheel stopped moving. Their gondola returned to ground level.

"Why are you crying?" Emmet reached into a different shirt pocket and offered Mono a tissue. "You really don't have to answer if you can't."

"Why do you care?! You don't even know me!" Sneasler stood up and grabbed her basket. She slammed open the cart and hopped over the exit gate. She looked down at the ground as she walked so that no one saw her tears.

She found a patch of grass and trees at the edge of the park. A shrill winding sound came from her basket, making her jump. Sneasler then nearly fall over as her basket got a heavy weight added inside that wasn't there before. After placing the basket down, she leaned on the tree and slid down to a sitting position. She covered her eyes with one hand.

"Sneasler?" Her Croagunk asked, having come out of his pokeball to face his trainer. "You wanna talk?"

"I am never gonna get used to that pokeball sound." She unlocked the latch on her basket and slapped the top off. "Why are you here?"

Croagunk popped his head out. "You're crying and stormed off from your friend and you're surprised I wanna ask why?"

Sneasler sighed. "Stop pretending you care. I only caught you so I could pretend I'm a trainer."

"You do realize that you totally are a pokemon trainer by now, between me and Riolu and Whirlipede?"

"I'm not a pokemon trainer!"

"Then what are you?"

"I... I don't know anymore, damn it! Like, I was just a Sneasel with a Noble mom. Then my mom died, I had to evolve to a Sneasler take over her title, which sounds great, but it's not! Because everyone wants you to be the ultimate rescuer with super strength and memories from past Nobles and other weird powers! And then a whole bunch of shit happened and everyone became convinced Ingo and Emmet are my younger brothers which is fine! I guess! Because pokemon and even the other Nobles started to respect me more!

"And then! AND THEN!" Sneasler took a deep breath. "Without an ounce of warning, I wake up! In a different time period! In a totally different world! I've never been around humans, I only have memories of them, and even THOSE are vague at best, and now I have to ACT like one?! I had claws for climbing, and now I have weak, soft fingers and nails that break under the slightest load! My back hurts if I carry my basket for too long which NEVER used to happen! I have to pretend to not know what every pokemon I hear is saying!" Sneasler pinched her cheeks. "And to top it all off, whoever did this to me decided to give me a face that looks like Ingo and Emmet's! But they don't know me! And they're the only people in this world I should know but I don't!"

Croagunk tilted his head to look at someone behind Mono and wave. "Hi there, Emmet."

Sneasler scrambled to standing position. Though absolutely terrified, she needed to see if Croagunk told the truth. Unfortunately for her, there Emmet stood, his face frozen and his smile open, wanting to say something but no sound coming out.

Sneasler recalled Uxie's description of when Arceus took Ingo: the world opened up below Ingo and Emmet. They were sucked down until the portal touched one of them and threw out the other. Since Arceus thought Ingo and Emmet were two of the same person, maybe they would think the same thing of her. If Arceus opened a portal right below her feet, she would fall in first and then touch the portal first and leave Emmet and Ingo alone. They're left behind while thinking they lost a weird employee. Nothing of value was lost. But that would mean she becomes a target of Chained Giratina. She could weather a blow if she was still a Sneasler, but as a weak, squishy human? She could die and be unable to return home. And Dialga would likely become upset at the time paradox this scenario would definitely make.

She would rather face an enraged Dialga than explain to Emmet what he just heard.

"...How much of that did you get?" Mono asked, voice just above a whisper.

"Not all of it, I think," Emmet said. "...Do you want another few days off? There's some new tech in Paldea. There's something about being able to feel what it's like to become a pokemon."

Sneasler's face started to turn red. "If I'm flying somewhere, I'd rather go someplace else." Namely, the Sinnoh region. "And right now? I'd rather go home. Just forget everything, okay? Forget everything I ever said, and I'm not bothering you or Ingo ever again, okay?!"

Emmet placed a hand on Mono's shoulder. "You are not the first human who wants to be a pokemon. I've thought about it when I was younger."

Sneasler facepalmed. Somehow, that's worse than if he found out the truth. But at least that means he's not paying attention to me "knowing" him. "Emmet. I'm asking a lot as someone you don't know well." She grabbed his shoulders. "But please don't tell people about this. It's... embarrassing."

"Sure." He presented the tissue that he tried to offer her before. "Once you are ready, do you want to try that rock climbing wall? Would that help you feel better?" Emmet pointed in the direction of the attraction.

Sneasler sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She took his tissue and cleaned up the leftover tears. "It might, it might not, but you'll know either way, I guess??" She grabbed her basket, surprised it wasn't as heavy as before. Croagunk returned to the ball, I guess. "Let's go. All aboard, conductor."

A short walk later, Sneasler saw what Emmet talked about. Calling it a wall for climbing would be generous at best. It was maybe 15 meters high, adorned with candy-colored rocks, and surrounded by soft-looking mats.

"You sure it's for adults? Adult humans?" Sneasler asked. She imagined her mom using a wall like that to teach her how to climb.

"Of course it is." Before waiting for a reply, he walked to the line.

Oh. He just wants to try climbing. That's why he's still hanging out with me. May as well join him and make sure he doesn't hurt himself. Sneasler sighed and followed behind Emmet.

Different humans - some kids, some adults - stepped up for the opportunity to climb. They wrapped straps around their waists, which connected to a pulley and then to the operator's pokemon, a Sawk and a Throh. Some people didn't reach the top, but those that did rang a bell hanging there next to some Pidoves. The human running the area had a remote connected to a couple timers. Even small pokemon were allowed to give it a shot, though she noted that none of them were natural climbers.

"We're next. All aboard!" Emmet said as the gate opened to let them in.

"Do you know how to climb, Emmet?" Sneasler asked. The mats squished under her feet, confirming her suspicion of being soft.

"No, but trying could be fun!" Emmet smiled even more.

"Whoa, you already have a harness?" The operator asked, looking at Mono.

"Unbelievably, yes," Sneasler said. When she woke up in this world, she wore the coat and hat the twins gifted her and her basket that still contained the Poison Plate. All the other clothes she arrived in were already on her person: the shirt with a fluffy collar, pants, boots, and fake gemstone decorations. She didn't even know what the harness was until Elesa explained it.

The operator hooked her and Emmet to the safety system and then gave them tips for climbing that Sneasler did not listen to. She stared at her hands. This isn't gonna end well. There's too many humans around looking at us. Is it because of Emmet? I haven't tried climbing with this body yet, but I hate not having my claws. Is this how they felt in their Sneasel bodies?

"Uh, miss? Don't you want to take off your backpack?" the operator asked.

"Nope." Sneasler readjusted her basket for stability. "You ready, Emmet?"

Emmet nodded. "Follow the rules. Safe driving! Follow the schedule. Everybody smile!"

As soon as Emmet began reciting his mantra, Sneasler joined in without even thinking about it. When she realized what she was doing, she turned her head to Emmet, who stared back with wide eyes as he kept going. Sorry Emmet, you've said it so much that it burrowed into me.

"Check safety. Everything's ready! Aim for victory! All aboard!" Emmet and Mono finished together. The operator wisely decided to start the timer right then.

Sneasler jumped and grabbed two rocks. She tapped her nails against the colored rocks protruding from the gray wall, hearing and feeling an unnatural hardness and hollowness. Her fingers couldn't dig into the material. She placed her feet on two rocks, and even though she couldn't feel them through the boots, it was sturdy enough to support her weight.

One foot up. Her leg extended, and she grabbed higher rocks. Another step gave her more height. And another. The colored rocks looked like child's play, but they provided a clear, stable path despite their strange and varied shapes. Her body was weaker, but it possessed enough strength to keep her grip and climb at a steady pace. Even as the steepness increased, she was too focused to let it slip her up.

Before she knew, the bell hanged right above her head. With her feet and hands firmly planted, she grabbed the rope and rang the bell for all to hear.

"YES! I can still climb!" In Sneasler's elation, she lost her grip on the wall. She half-expected a certain ghost's Psychic to catch her, but instead, a tug on her harness indicated that the operator's pokemon held her rope, letting her hang in the air. Below her came claps and cheers, but she looked down to find one person in particular.

"You won! That was fun! You did great, Mono!" Emmet near-shouted. He managed to climb halfway up the wall, which Sneasler did not expect, given his thin frame. He let go of the wall without an ounce of fear.

When they were lowered and touched ground, the operator ran at Sneasler. "You climbed that wall in 15 seconds! That's a new record! What's your name, miss?"

"Uh... Mono." I could've done it in half that time if I was still a Sneasler.

"Thank you for climbing with us! Here's your prize!" The operator reached into a pack connected to his belt and pulled out four tickets.

Sneasler snatched the pieces of paper. "Free... Casteliacone... voucher?" She looked at Emmet. "The hell's a Casteliacone?"

"It's a soft serve ice cream. You can get them in Castelia City, which is south from Nimbasa City," Emmet said.

"Oh. Nice." She turned to the operator. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

After Mono and Emmet left the rock climbing area, they found a bench next to a dedicated space to let their pokemon roam. Besides the Joltik from his pocket, Emmet also let Archeops, Durant, and Crustle. Croagunk and Riolu hanged out in their own area, but Whirlipede ran with Archeops for a race - which Sneasler overheard.

"Do you feel better now, Mono?" Emmet asked.

"Kinda." Her fingertips turned red and tough from the exertion. She turned her palm around to stare at the design of her fingerless gloves. "...Sorry for getting mad at you."

"You're not the first. But that climb was amazing. I was hoping for a competition, but I completely lost. It was so fun!" Emmet said. "Yep. You're definitely someone I want to watch for more than one reason. These are the only three pokemon you have?"

"Yep. I have my hands pretty full right now. Why?" she asked, but she already knew what his answer would be.

"When you find a fourth, you should try working for me on the Doubles Line."

"...When? Not if?" Sneasler turned to Emmet and raised an eyebrow.

"Correct. And when you get stronger, you should face me in a battle - after you face 20 trainers first, that is." Emmet smiled even wider.

Sneasler sighed. "You really were always like this, too, huh?"

"Yes? One day, you should also tell us why you act so casually with me and my brother!"

"I said you needed to forget that!" Sneasler once again promised herself to kick the butt of Arceus and whoever is responsible for her predicament.

[leggerefiore]

Entropy

cw: giratina volo, pokehybrid au, volo centric, 3333 words,

pairing: Volo/Reader

summary: Volo escapes from his banishment and plans to forcibly usurp the powers of Arceus. Sadly, he finds himself played in a trap by the deity with a certain human sent to stop him and his own feelings.

-----

It was a lonely existence that he lived.

He lived in shadows, in a corrupted, distorted world that was unlike the one he could only observe from a distance.

Why was he banished here, unable to interact with others, you may ask? Well, the Renegade pokemon had perhaps made a certain creator deity a bit too mad with his violence. Still, Volo could not help but feel anger for his situation.

Cogita – Arceus – Whatever the damn deity wanted to call herself today, banished him to this world and prevented his reentry into the one he observed. Sure, he had foolishly attempted to stand against her and take her power as his own, but her own strength and that of Dialga and Palkia sent him here and left him. He felt his blood boil the longer he watched humanity through his empty glances.

Hisui, the land in which Arceus supposedly first made, had caught his attention for numerous reasons. It was where his first violent outburst had happened. The blond sighed.

Was this envy? Desperation? Did he want the deity that had created him and then refused to take responsibility for him to be forced to lay her eyes on him once more? He was lonely, he knew.

His long wings, shadowy and like tendrils, swished behind him as he moved. He wished to leave this place. It was both his home and his prison, but he was tired of being locked inside. Centuries of isolation could weigh heavily upon even an immortal being like himself.

His eyes landed upon the clans of Hisui, led by the two that had helped seal him. More rage bubbled up inside him. There had been enough of him waiting around.

An attack called forth from him, slashing the very fabric that tethered the space and time of where he was trapped and into the other world. Without hesitation, he stepped inside.

For a moment, there was nothing.

Then… there was everything. His body forcibly shifted in this world, wings fusing together into a singular entity and his ridges along his neck sealing into the pale flesh underneath. He gasped in a breath. Icy winds lashed around his as chilled water fell from the clouds. He tried to flap his wings, but he had not yet adjusted to his new form. The ground grew closer and closer…

And he crashed.

Volo laid on the muddy ground, eyes peering at the sky distantly. The portal slowly closed, leaving him where he was. He felt exhausted. Everything around him was too distant for him to gasp on to. His eyelids felt like lead as they slowly began to close.

Suddenly, however, a weight crawled onto him. He opened his eyes from the surprise to see a small pokemon had got onto his chest. The pokemon was egg-like and let out a small chirp, nuzzling into him. Confusion rushed through the dragon's mind. Carefully, he reached a hand out to touch the pokemon. It rubbed its cheek against his skin.

Volo felt completely awake.

A smile spread across his lips.

He had made it.

Arceus could no longer restrain him, and he would usurp her power for certain this time.

~

Time passed, Volo entirely managed to hide his features that gave away his true nature, both physically and psychologically. A merchant's guild had taken him in and employed him, much to his luck. He easily became a friendly face among the humans of the Galaxy Team and the clans. A travelling merchant who preferred to spend his time staring at ruins and artefacts rather than selling things.

He felt lucky.

His disguise had given him a perfect opportunity to go to the temple that lied at the peak of Mt. Coronet and begin his plan.

Once again, he unleashed his move and tore a rift in space and time above all of Hisui.

He watched as a poor sap was pulled through from some other place and time in the world. There was little reason for him to seek after the by-product of his destruction, however.

Over the coming days, he watched as the populace of Hisui became aware and frightened of the looming portal hovering above their lands. The person who had fallen through his portal had not a single a memory of what had happened to him before waking up in the frigid lands of the north most icelands. A certain pokemon of the lake had made sure of that.

He watched as speculations went wild, but not one dared to involve him. Volo escaped any suspicion of foul play by his friendly yet distant nature as a merchant.

Soon, the portal would force the clan leaders to act and try to stop the portal, lest it pull them in itself. Dialga and Palkia would fail, he knew. This trap of his design was impossible to stop otherwise.

That was what he thought, but then something he never could have expected came forth.

Arceus sought to spite him by bringing out a human to stand against him. Taken from out of space and time, falling through a portal similar to his own. He encountered them carefully, observing how they acted. They were nearly as confused and lost as the person he had accidentally brought through his own portal. He even challenged them to a battle to observe their capabilities there.

Needless to say, they easily beat his low level Togepi. He could feel their potential and pondered how to stop them before they became too much of an issue for him. There was something that he noted as they spoke to him, however. A twinkle of trust in their eyes toward them. He could not understand it himself, but any opportunity that bared itself to him would be exploited.

The legendary would set out to become your trusted ally. His friendly demeanour was obviously a welcome change to the harsh looks and suspicious glances of the Galaxy Team. He felt smug as he watched you head out to do your tasks, keeping an eye on you from a distance. Even scaring you once, much to your obvious distaste. You gave him a glare, but he offered you catching advice and an amicable grin.

It was only after you truly quelled a raging Noble, another side effect of his plan, that he realised that you would truly become a problem if he did not stop you. Volo felt frustrated Arceus would spite him with such an odd and cruel punishment. He felt even more mortified when you presented him a plate of Arceus.

… But Volo was no idiot. If his first plan failed, having a backup would never be a bad idea. You had a plate. A plate he knew very well could call out Arceus from her realm.

Poor you just had to be dragged into this by a cruel deity.

Volo's continued monitoring involved battles and attempts to dissuade you from your actions or helping you to the best of his abilities. It was most unfortunate that these involved your random bursts of bright smiles or blissfully ignorant words.

It was only after he found you utterly dejected after being banished from Jubilife when you had just helped everyone with their nobles that he realised something. A strange feeling had been beginning to bud within him for a quite a while. You were pitiful, truly. Brave and reliable, but pitiful. An outsider forced from your home by a deity to fulfil its job since it refused to play its game. When he called out to you, he watched as you turned to look at him, completely deflated. Even the clans had denied you assistance in your grave time of need, fearful of Team Galaxy.

He wanted to laugh at how pitiful the gods of time and space had proven themselves to be. Softly, he laid a hand on your shoulder and promised to take you somewhere for you to stay.

His campsite was certainly lacking, but it was not as though he could take you to his true home. Then you would be fully aware of how easily he was playing you. A pokemon from the team had appeared not long after you settled down. He shook his head at the action. If they truly cared for you, why would they have allowed your banishment? Volo understood your situation with ease. Which is why he decided to go with his second plan completely now. He was well aware of the plates you had collected through your journeys.

That is why he helped you mend the very disaster he had started. Gathering the power of the lake trio and using the red chain to stop Palkia and to stand beside her to stop the frenzied Dialga. He felt annoyed, watching from a distance, but amazed that you had the willpower to stand against the very people who wished ill-will upon you and stand alongside legendaries regarded as deities so easily.

Of course, he remained out of sight and away from them for good reason. One glance at him from either of those two would blow his entire cover completely away. Even disguised as a human, they would recognise him. He did not miss the glance back they would give back to his general area when he stood out too much.

Volo felt something when he watched Dialga embrace you after snapping him out of his frenzied state. Rage poured into his heart. Something about you made him want you all to himself, just as pitiful as you were during your stay in his camp. His plans were to keep you at his side after he stole Arceus's power for his own.

He would just have to convince you now, to help him with his next plan. After all, gathering the plates now on his own would be useless, as he only had a single one in his possession. Besides, he found himself oddly entranced with the idea of spending time with you.

Of course, you eagerly agreed, clearly happy to spend more time with him and wanting to know more about the mysteries of Hisui, too. Volo easily led you around the region, searching for the item required for his next plans. An unintended side effect of his plan unfortunately arose as he spent more and more time with you.

Hi chest tightened when you smiled at him, leaned against him during colder nights, hugged him after a difficult battle, or said such sweet words to him. There was no time to second guess himself at this point. He was too far into his plan to lure out Arceus once more to snatch you away and hide you in his dimension for all eternity, but, he supposed, if this plan failed, he would do just that.

Somewhere in the middle of his hunt with you, a familiar woman appeared before him and you while searching for information on the final plate he needed. Her grey eyes identical to his own, and an ancient, primordial energy swirled around her. He bit his tongue, knowing better to play her in her own domain. She just sighed and shook her head at you both. You tilted your head at her sudden appearance in the village.

“… Volo,” her voice was filled with heavy disappointment, “Have you learnt nothing?” Your gaze went between them curiously.

“Mistress Cogita, how rare to see you,” he forced a smile on his face to continue playing his part, “You know very well how deeply I love to learn about Hisuian legends and myths more than anyone.” As if he had not watched them develop over time from his prison as her unwanted child. She shook her head.

“You haven't then, I suppose,” her attention shifted to you, “He hasn't been too awful, has he?” You shook your head and turned to him with a sweet grin.

“I… I really like him, actually,” your voice was soft, “Doing all this with him has really made me see how much he loves his hobbies…” Cogita's eyebrow raised curiously.

“… I see,” she turned away from them both and gave one last look over her shoulder, “The Pixie Plate is in the Ancient Retreat. You know the place well, Volo.” With that, she walked out of the village and disappeared.

You looked at Volo curiously. He sighed and made up a story about her being his grandmother. They were distant, and that is why he never mentioned her before. You believed it easily. Assembly much easier than you would have believed her to be, the very being you were working towards summoning.

When he told you the story of Giratina, himself, as you walked to the remote location of the location given to you both by Cogita. Your brows pressed together as you listened to him carefully. In the end, he wondered what your opinion of the situation would be. You stopped dead in your tracks and hummed.

“If Giratina was unwanted, why would Arceus make it then?” you asked him curiously, “… You make it sound almost personal, actually. Do you sympathise with Giratina, Volo?” He froze, too. How astute were you? He supposed his bias was not hidden.

“I do,” he said plainly, “I believe Arceus should have taken more responsibility for its creation rather than banishing it. You should know all too well how cruel banishment is.” You were the stunned one this time. Your eyes went to the ground, but your hand grabbed his own.

“I do, Volo, I do know,” you told him, “But… I suppose I can understand why Kamado did, too… I don't know. Is Giratina still banished even after all this time?”

“… Yes,” he said simply, “I'm hoping it will make its appearance at the Temple of Sinnoh after we obtain all the plates.” You nodded but kept your hand locked with his. Stepping to his side, you leaned against him.

“Well, maybe after freeing Giratina from its banishment, it will understand why it happened,” you wondered aloud. Volo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Still, the feeling of being so close to his goals, and you, made him elated.

~

The time came as Volo stood in his true form at the destroyed Temple of Sinnoh. Cold winds lashed at his skin as he stared intently at the sky where his portal once reigned. You were going to arrive soon. How would you react to this truth? Anger? Rage? Dare he even consider… Acceptance? Either way, you two were about to stand opposed. He could already tell that you would not support his urge to create his own, better world than this one.

As much as he had come to care and even… love you. He knew you could not support this, not as Arceus's chosen one. His brain had been a mess since that horrid portal spit you out and laid you before him.

“… Volo,” your voice was soft as he turned to face you. Your eyes were not wide but rather red and glossy. No words had to be said, you understood it all at a glance. “… You were behind it all, weren't you?” you decided to ask the question which held the weight of the world.

“Of course,” his eyes grew cold, but he would still try to have you see his side, “This world is cruel. Ruled by an apathetic deity who would rather banish a being she created rather than take responsibility for him. She is only intervening now as a means to preserve her power. I will create a new, better world.” His hand reached for the pokeball of the first being that had greeted him in this world. You shook your head and imitated his action.

The battle was intense. Volo had not shown you his true hand until now. Battling was something that came naturally to him, especially in a moment where everything lied upon his victory. You were no pushover, either, obviously experienced in your own way. Even after you defeated his last pokemon on his team, he refused to accept it.

If he…

If he lost, he would be banished again. Left in complete and utter isolation and only able to observe distantly.

He would lose you.

In his madness, Volo himself took to battle against you as Giratina, both of his forms employed. Still, even despite the harsh adversity of going against someone as physically strong as he was, you managed to rip victory from his hands.

He fell to his knees. Rage and terror brewing heavily with him. Sadness creeping in from the edges. You breathed heavily, watching him for any more unpredictable actions.

Nothing came.

A hand rested on his shoulder as light poured too brightly behind him.

“… Volo, that is enough,” Cogita's voice was harsh yet pitiful, “I do not hate nor do I consider you unwanted. I simply do not trust you to interact with humans and pokemon of this world without harming them.” You gasped at the sight of her, thoroughly different from the dark clothing she had worn in her human disguise.

You stood up tall.

“Please… Don't banish him alone,” you begged her, “Don't banish him at all… I'll watch him. So, please.”

She gave a curious glance at you and shook her head with a sigh. “Volo… You claim you love them, do you not? Why not protect the world they so love, then?” she questioned him. His head remained low.

You had been through so much pain, just as he had at the hand of Arceus. You were kindred spirits, but you had her favour while he did not.

“… Would you even allow me to come and go into this realm as I pleased,” he wondered? Cogita gazed down at him intensely.

“Of course, if you swear to quit causing problems,” she knelt down and softly brought a hand to comb through his hair, “I do care for you and want you to be happy despite what you believe me to be. Why do you think I even bothered to let you do all of this?” He froze from both her words and the unexpected affection.

You smiled down at him. He felt stuck. If he denied everything Cogita had said, he would be banished back into the Distortion World with no hope of ever escaping, and you would be let here alone. If he agreed, he did not know what to do.

“Fine,” he relented, “… Just don't expect me to be like those two.” Cogita laughed, unexpectedly.

“I never expected you to be like Palkia and Dialga in the first place,” she stood herself and him up. Her eyes, now glowing green, turned to you, “I will hold you to your words to watch him.” You nodded.

You walked over to carry him on your shoulder as you took him from her, his injuries from the battle still needing to be tended to. She watched you both with curious eyes.

Before she left, Cogita leaned into your ear and whispered that Volo was truly her favourite of the three before disappearing into the clouds above. You understood her feelings entirely as you watched the blond man barely keep himself on his feet.

“I love you, Volo,” you told him plainly as you headed back towards the nearest base camp, “I didn't want you to be alone again… I didn't want you to be banished from this world.”

He was silent for a moment after your confession. Closing his eyes, he soaked in the feelings that the words brought him.

“I love you, too,” he managed to get out.

Sadly, despite your love, he was still a wanted criminal in Hisui for the whole nearly destroying the world thing, so he had to return to his dimension for the most part. On the bright side, you could visit him and get away from the stresses of your Survey Corps duties.

[frootloopscos]

1) Where in Arceus’ Name Am I?

Sorry ya'll, I play on the English server so if there's any inconsistencies that's probably why 😅

Chapter 1) Welcome to Twisted Wonderland

Yuu hummed to themself as they walked through the Wild Area with Agent at their side. "It's getting late bud, should we set up camp?" They asked their partner, "Teleon." He responded with a nod, they smile and look around to find a good camping spot. Finding a nice flat, grassy spot they take off their backpack and begin to set up their camp for the night. "Right, I'll text Bede that we're gonna stay here for the night and then we can have curry!" They said with a smile before whipping out their phone and texting their brother.

Yuu: Heyyyyyyyyyy 😋 Agent and I are gonna camp in the Wild Area 2night! We'll be back at the gym sometime tomorrow afternoon!

Teen Angst: Okay, I'll let Grandma know. Stay safe.

Yuu: B, I'm the champion, there's like no way I won't be safe. See you tomorrowww!

Yuu put their phone into their pocket with a smile, "Agent you got the pot out for Curry right?" They asked their partner as they finished setting up the inside of their tent. "Intel," he replied in confirmation. "Great!" They said with a smile and exited the text, "sorry that we can't let Cinder and the others out tonight." They said patting his arm. Agent just shook his head and set a hand on his trainer's own head before ruffling their hair making them laugh.

.

.

.

.

It wasn't long after the two had their curry that they decided to call it a night and entered the tent. "Goodnight Agent," Yuu said to the water type with a sleepy smile. They slowly closed their eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

Opening their eyes they looked around in confusion, it was still dark out, but Yuu could tell they weren't in their tent anymore. "What the?" They mumbled reaching their hands out in front of them to meet with a hard surface, their brows furrowed and they felt around themself more. They were in some sort of box, and were not in their pajamas anymore, "did someone change my clothes?" They asked themself before quieting as they heard shuffling from outside the box, then a voice.

"I better hurry up and find that uniform before someone spots me...urggg this kid weighs a ton!" The mysterious voice spoke, Yuu's eyes widened as they felt something beginning to tug at the box they were inside of. "Try this on for size! Mya-ha!" And suddenly there were blue flames at their feet. "Fire!" They yelled quickly trying to step out of the way of the burning flames but having nowhere to move. The door to the box fell off and Yuu quickly jumped from inside and looked around panicked. "Arcus, where am I?" They asked aloud as they spotted several coffins floating around the room with a mirror in the center. "Coffins? Is that what I was inside of?"

"Mya-haha! Now to grab the goods! Wha?! You ain't supposed to be awake!" The voice yelled and Yuu looked down their eyes widening in shock, "a talking Meowth? With fire? Am I in a new region?" They asked, "how..how DARE YOU! I am no "Meowth"! I'm Grim, sorcerer extraordinaire! Tch. Whatever...you, human! Give me your uniform, and be quick about it! Cause if you don't....you're gonna regret it!" The grey Meowth yelled at them, Yuu reached for Agent's pokeball and their eyes widened they had more than Agent's on their belt. "How?" They mumbled before deciding that it wasn't worth it and quickly ran away from the Fire-Type Meowth.

Yuu ran through the building they were in, down a hallway, out the door into an outdoor area, and into a magical looking library. They quickly looked around "where am I?" They asked again, "if this is a dream, I'd really like to fucking wake up." They were interrupted by the Meowth somehow catching up, "foolish human! Did you really think you could slip away from ME?" It yelled at them, "now, unless you wanna get burned to a crisp, take off that-" before Yuu could  even grab Agent's pokeball the cat yelped as it was whipped and wrapped up in bindings. "Consider it tough love." A new voice said as Yuu saw a tall man sporting a Corvinight-esque mask.

"Ah, I've found you at last." The male said with a frown, "splendid, I trust you're one of this year's new students? My, were you ever eager to make your debut. And bringing a poorly trained familiar with you? That is a clear violation of the school's rules." He stated crossing his arms much to Yuu's confusion. "Student? Familiar? That's not one of my Pokémon." They tried to explain before the Meowth spoke up, "as if I'd serve some lowly human! Now lemme go!" The Corvinight male simply nodded as if he was playing along, "yes, yes. Rebellious familiars always say that. Do be quiet for a bit, won't you?" He asked as his whip(?) tightened around the feline causing it to struggle and writhe in pain.

Before Yuu could ask the male to let the Meowth go he spoke again, "dear me. Of all the students I've dealt with, you're the first with temerity enough to open their own gate and step out of it. Does the very notion of patience elude you?" He wouldn't let Yuu speak as he continued, "no matter. Your orientation had already begun. Let us return to the Mirror Chamber." He said with a smile, with Yuu finally being able to speak they had about a million questions but left it to only two, "student? Gate? Sir, what are you talking about?" They asked, well, three questions. The male paused looking at them, "you awakened in a room full of gates, did you not? All of the students here at the campus arrived by passing through such gates. Although typically the students have restraint enough to wait until I open them before waking up."

"The coffins all around that room? Well, you can blame the Meowth for me being awake." Yuu said crossing their arms with a small glare sent at the feline. The Corvinight male frowned, "so the culprit is this familiar of yours. You're the one who insisted on bringing it, so curtailing its behavior is your responsibility!" "It's not mi-" he again interrupted them, "but now is not the time for such prattle. You've a student orientation to attend! Go on, now. Make haste." He ushered them forward, pushing on their back to try getting them to move.

Yuu refused to budge and looked him dead in the eyes, "no! First you have to tell me where I am and who you are!" They said putting their foot down on this. The male seemed concerned, "have you not fully regained consciousness?" He asked, Yuu felt their eye twitch in anger "you think I'm not after this Meowth tried to scorch me?!" The male ignored them as he continued to speak to himself, "the time space teleportation must have addled your memories... Well, these things happen, I suppose. I shall explain it all to you while we walk. Truly, my magnanimity is boundless." He said with a smug smile.

The male, now known to Yuu as Dire Crowley, explained to them that they are the headmage of the school that they are apparently at now. Yuu had to calm themself and real themself in. 'I'm not in Galar anymore, and not in any other region that I know of. This, this is another world.' They took a deep breath after coming to this realization, it was rare in Galar, but they must have fallen though an Ultra Wormhole and ended up here. Yuu ended up tuning out Crowley until they realized that the two of them were now back in the room with coffins....

TO BE CONTINUED

——————

Welcome to my new story! As said in the description this book is inspired by "From Trainer to Beast Tamer!" By SnowflakeDragon18 on Wattpad PLEASE MAKE SURE TO GO READ THEIR STORY (they have the audio feature and I love to have it play in the background while doing school work and other things! I've relistened to it at least three times lol!)

Word count: 1331

Published to Wattpad: April 24th, 2024

Published to Tumblr: April 24th, 2024

Edited: n/a

[kharmii]

This comic was called "Step on Each Other's Landmines.

Art credit: Pokémon, volo (pokemon), N (Trainer) / お互いに地雷を踏むＮさんとウォロさん - pixiv

In the first panel, Volo says, "Oh no! It was a good battle." after N's klinklang defeats his spiritomb.

Second panel: "I'm N. I'm glad I was able to battle also," N says tipping his cap. Volo replies, "Your welcome!"

Third panel: "I used to hate battles," N tells Volo, "However, pokeballs are just something that connects people and Pokemon. There is a bond that is more important than anything. I realized that humans and Pokemon don't have a servant relationship, but one where they help each other."

Fourth panel: Volo stuns N by replying, "What are pokemon but something to be used, right?"

Fifth panel: Volo realizes he made a mistep and goes overly cheerful. He says with a smile, "Oh, I got a little confused after our battle. What a shame. Later!" *waves*

Sixth panel: Volo angsts about blowing his cover. He wonders how many people know who he is and what he is hiding inside. Then he says, "I did nothing wrong! I can obey Arceus with absolute certainty!"

Seventh panel: N muses to zorua. He says, "Ah Zorua, were you worried? He (Volo) was a scheming person like Ghetsis. -But I could feel the love they had for each other. Pokemon battles are only possible because of strong bonds."

Eighth panel: Still thinking about his encounter with Volo, N thinks, "

There is someone who can feel such strong love with Pokemon.

Am I wrong?

Or

Did I make a mistake again?

[mynamesaplant]

What Lurks in the Dark

Posting here, but also posting here on AO3 in case reading on Tumblr's not your thing!

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Summary:

Dawn finds herself stuck in her mer form. What's worse is that she's been having nightmares.

Content Warnings:

This fic contains blood, violence against children, and PTSD.

Notes:

Thanks once again to all the inspiration from monsoon-of-art on Tumblr and their PLA Mer AU. They are forever a font of knowledge and inspiration.

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Dawn never realized just how dark the ocean got at night. She was usually back on land with man made light banishing the dark back to its dark corners. The sea has no such luxury. Since being stuck as a mer, her dark vision has gotten a lot better so seeing isn’t really the problem. Her swimming and internal navigation was leagues better than before, but neither clan fully trusted her to be on her own just yet. Still so small and inexperienced to what lurks in the ocean. At least one clan member was with her at any given time, trying to prevent her from scratching at the patchy fur.

“Just be patient.”

Calaba’s chiding did not stop Dawn from trying to steal away and dig her sharpening claws into the uncomfortable, and frankly unsightly, adult coat disrupting her previously pristine white fur. She knew everyone was secretly excited, and she was too, she loved to spend time with her mer family… But this felt like one more little taunt from Arceus.

One day with Ingo at the shoreline, he commented that her coat looked longer than usual and a little darker in some spots. Dawn couldn’t say she noticed, but he scooped her up and set her on the rocky outcrop, withdrawing her flute from her bag. The song sounded… wrong though. Even Ingo’s face quirked in confusion, leaning down to look while Dawn twirled the flute in her hands.

“Your flute looks different.”

It looked very different from his. It looked more like a shell and as blue as the sea. He had never seen anything quite like it.

“Why am I not changing back?”

The minor note of panic was not lost on Ingo. Dawn was peering into the holes to see if something was stuck or if it was damaged in some way, but she didn’t see anything that would prevent her from playing and the magic from working to change her back into her human form. He extended his hand out.

“May I see it?”

She placed the flute down and Ingo brought it closer, squinting to look for the same things she had. He picked it up with delicate fingers and turned it over.

“Why don’t we take it to Warden Arezu? I’ve been told she has dexterous hands, so she might be able to do more than I would.”

Dawn had found that agreeable at the time, but they went to the Diamond clan’s settlement the following day and Arezu found nothing amiss. Adaman also took a crack at it but was about as successful as the previous three. Now bordering on hysterics, Dawn went to all the wardens to seek any assistance and the only ones who provided her with any real insight were Calaba and Sabi.

Calaba was a little more straightforward but cynical. The old warden remarked that if the gods that power the flute’s magic did not want her to return to her human form, there was nothing to be done but wait or accept the inevitable. The idea that she would never go back to being human made Dawn shudder. She enjoyed being a mer sometimes, but she preferred having legs and eating cooked food.

Sabi was more cryptic but provided a glimmer of hope. Dawn did her best to wade through what the youngest warden said to get to the crux of the matter, not that Sabi made it remotely easy. What she got from their exchange was that she should go to the drop off and just ask for a straightforward answer. As if Arceus would really just answer her questions without being as cryptic as the Diamond clan warden.

Ingo had planned to accompany her, but Adaman and Irida ended up being her escorts, the area bearing more spiritual significance now since the events of rising tides and the attack of the many-armed serpent.

Unlike all the times she had tried playing to revert back to her human form, the flute played perfectly, and a voice rose from the depths, booming and alien, but somehow also familiar, to the ears of the mers.

You summoned us, chosen?

Dawn felt the clan leaders press closer to each of her sides. Irida’s upper lip curled back to reveal sharp canines and blue eyes hooded by her furrowed brow, ear pressed flat to her head. Adaman’s tail restlessly stirred up the water, his ears twitching which made the scales shimmer and flash in the dim light, and his gills flared and flushed a dark red.

Dawn knew both of these reactions were signs of aggression and warning. The girl took a deep breath and said as loudly as she could into the dark expanse of sea below her.

“Why is my flute not working?”

There was a long pause before the voice responded.

What do you mean? You just played the song to garner our attention.

“You’re right, I did.” Dawn was trying not to sound frantic, trying so hard to be patient to get the answer she needed. “When I play the song that turns me back into normal, it doesn’t work. It sounds wrong.”

Another pause – even longer this time. She half expected the voice to ask her to play, which she was fully willing to do (regardless of the consequences of being so deep and being a poor swimmer).

Observe your coat, chosen, and tell us what you see.

Dawn twisted herself around and looked down at her tail. She took in the little splotches of gray staining the fur. She ran her fingers through it and felt that it was somehow uneven, just as Ingo had observed. The two clan leaders also took a closer look, about as unsure as Dawn as to why a god couldn’t just be forthcoming about an issue for once.

“Oh… Oh Dawn! Your molting!”

“I’m what?”

She barely had time to say as Irida wrenched her around, fingers nimbly working through her uneven fur and producing a tuff of fur between her claws. Adaman scowled and helped Dawn into a more upright position, the suddenness of being jerked around had given her sort of a head rush and she appreciated the Diamond clan leader for righting her.

“You’re getting your adult coat!”

Lady Irida is correct. The flute will not work until you have gone through your molts, chosen.

And thus, it went. Dawn was stuck in her mer form. Her fur slowly – almost painfully so – dappling with dark gray flecks as the snowy fur turned more of a smoky gray with the passage of time.

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Stuck in the water with not a lot of options, she swam up the river that led to Jubilife and hollered at one of the guards to get the professor. Laventon might not be able to help, but he might be able to offer advice.

“My word,” he exclaimed, kneeling by the water as about half of the village was held back by the Security Corp. “Dear girl, why haven’t you played your flute yet?”

She explained morosely what was happening and Laventon’s brow furrowed. He agreed that it was a conundrum but, as predicted, had no solutions for her. His recommendation was that she remain in the water because trying to stay on land would be far too complicated for her in her current condition.

“How am I going to eat? I always ate here.”

“Well, I suppose you could keep swimming back here and someone can fetch you something, but I imagine that might grow wearisome depending on how long this lasts.”

Dawn tried to keep up with it for a while, returning to Jubilife twice a day, but the trip became exhausting within the first few weeks. The clans were coaxing her to stay closer by, she was burning so many calories trying to get back when they could feed her just as well as Galaxy Team could. Eventually, she agreed with them. She did not realize she would be stuck there for the next few months.

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Dawn hadn’t always been afraid of the dark. The key word there being always. She had been afraid of the dark as a little girl. She remembered her mother putting a nightlight in her room, a little rotating light that displayed the stars across the ceiling of her room, but that had mostly subsided when she got older. Now she had entirely different reasons for being afraid.

She didn’t realize it at first – that this fear was gripping her so tightly once again. Not until she was out near dusk and Gaeric had tried to insist they do a little bit of hunting with him and Ingo.

“Gotta pull your own weight you two. Now, come on. You can set up and check yesterday’s traps.”

At first, she wasn’t opposed to the idea. She took it as an opportunity to get used to swimming with low levels of light and to trust the way the water feels against her body, like Iscan and Mai had tried to explain to her.

“You can feel the current. Sometimes it’s warmer or cooler, but they’re like invisible guides. There is so much you can learn just from the feel of the water.”

Although neither warden was too far away and the task at hand wasn’t particularly difficult, as night began to blacken the water, Dawn felt something inside her constrict. Suddenly everything felt harder to see and she froze, muscles screaming in pain because of how immediately they locked up. She didn’t understand! Maybe… Maybe something venomous stung her?

“Dawn!”

It was not Ingo’s voice she heard first, but Gaeric’s. The mer barreling towards her and quickly assessing the situation. All he could tell was that she was struggling for some unknown reason. Maybe not enough air? Her pupils had shrunk to a fraction of their normal size, her head wiping around wildly. Gaeric scooped her up and moved for the surface, Ingo not far behind.

Her body was rigid – cold like a sheet of ice – and Gaeric was surprised when he felt her shaking against his palm. Ingo was trying to talk to her, trying to figure out what happened, but all they could hear was her teeth chattering. She was gingerly pried away, leaving bloodied scratches in Gaeric’s palm, and Ingo took her back to the settlement to let a medic look her over, but nothing was wrong.

“It seems as though she experienced a shock of some sort.”

That was all they could conclude unless Dawn had something to add, which she didn’t. The girl was actually rather embarrassed by the whole affair, her time with Galaxy Team shining through in her assurances that she would not be a burden to the clans. Well, now she felt like a burden. Ingo swiftly silences those worries. These were unusual circumstances and completely out of her control. She had accepted his half scolding, half reassuring speech, and tried to put the incident out of mind. A few weeks later, that’s when the nightmares started.

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Dawn felt the darkness pressing on her eyes, her heart pounding so fast and loud that she was positive that he could hear it from her hiding spot. This area wasn’t even that deep. In the back of her head, she heard an unhelpful Laventon monologue about cephalopod ink and how it was used as a defense mechanism. Not this time though. This time it was meant to confuse and disorientate.

The eerie silence of the water only severed to make her trembling worse, forced to wait until he made a move. Her only defense seemed to be her small size and the flute clutched tightly in her hands. She could not stop the scream that was wrenched from her throat as long, clawed fingers probed the crevasse, and a burning amber eye illuminated her hiding spot.

“Come now, chosen one.”

The words came across bitter, but also a touch playful. He was going to enjoy toying with her for having what he never could – for being the exact thing he mocked, which he craved to be. All his prayers. All his devotion. All his effort. Yet, the Almighty picked this puny, insignificant, blaspheming child? Volo was going to mince her and offer Arceus’ favored up as a sacrifice to the many-armed serpent – Giratina would enjoy that. Volo all but assured her of her inevitable demise.

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Dawn sat bolt upright, swallowing a scream that had been part way out of her throat. The sleeping pups and adults around her were not roused, she was still nestled safely beside Ingo’s flank, and there were a few smoldering fires around the space that provided a warm glow that reminded her of a sunset.

“Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning. Red skies at night, sailors delight.”

Laventon had playfully told her. Dawn pressed herself closer to Ingo, gripping the fabric of his parka tightly in her fingers, and forced her eyes shut.

“Go back to sleep.” She mumbled to herself, trying to keep the shake out of her voice. “Go back to sleep. Just go back to sleep.”

She did eventually, but her mind was still plagued by vague nightmares of sheer cold and oppressive darkness. Thoughts filled with slime and decay, sharp mouthfuls of teeth and suckers hiding deadly hooks cutting into her with ominous laughter filling her dreams.

This fitful sleep did not go unnoticed.

Ingo was a little too direct about it, asking her if she was alright and if she slept well when they both knew she didn’t. He couldn’t help it. It was in his nature to get to the heart of the matter and try to be as helpful as he could. To his surprise and dismay, she lied to his face.

“I slept great! Now, what’s on tap for today?”

At first, it was only occasional. Ingo had trained himself to be attuned to the subtle changes in her sleep and would draw the girl a little closer when her dreams were tipping into nightmares. Even if the knowledge made his skin crawl, he had to accept that Dawn just didn’t feel comfortable divulging her thoughts just yet. He could understand in a way. They were similar in that regard. It was hard for him to place his reliance on others, even if that was against his better judgement. Especially since his clan already found behavior like that weird, as they had always had one another to lean on, Dawn’s experience was entirely unique to her.

All mers had growing pains, he knew he must have even if he couldn’t remember precisely, but she probably did not have the words to describe it. The language was her biggest barrier. Everyone tried to be understanding, but sometimes it did not come across that way. So, Ingo relied on patience and the knowledge that Dawn was a smart girl – impulsive at times, but smart – and she would come to him when she truly needed him.

He wasn’t the only one to notice, however.

Calaba and Palina noticed the dark circles under her eyes, but did not know how to properly address it, especially since Dawn wouldn’t even talk to Ingo about it.

Calaba offered her some remedies. Tinctures and oils that had helped growing pups in the past through their growing pains, those growth spurts often accompanied by sleepless nights.

Palina made an effort to make more food that she liked to help her feel a little better. Who couldn’t have a good night’s sleep with a full stomach of your favorite foods? Dawn accepted them, but the restlessness continued.

Gaeric’s solution was the same as Mai’s, just stuff as many activities into a day to exhaust her and she should sleep soundly. It worked at first, the girl instantly passing out when it was time to rest for the evening, but even though Dawn was thoroughly exhausted, it did not stop.

Lian, Arezu, and Sabi were all of the same mind that what she needed was a good distraction because she was homesick, so the younger wardens spent hours playing with her.

Arezu, always fond of grooming sessions, chattered endlessly as Dawn dozed, half listening to what she had to say but mostly finding brief interludes of sleep between Arezu’s stories. Both methods, like all the previous ones, had been temporary. Adaman personally found all these tactics to be a waste of time.

“Give her to Melli,” he had jokingly told Iscan when he had made a suggestion to have her lay out in the sun. “He can sound like the droning of bees and cicadas, that’s sure to put her to sleep.”

The problem was that nobody knew how to broach the topic, not with Dawn immediately withdrawing into her shell by denying there was a problem anyhow. Irida had learned that firsthand. Dawn flinched at the question and stammered out that she slept just fine. The girl wouldn’t look her in the eyes.

If it was so obvious, then Dawn needed to do something about it. She stole away and returned to Jubilife to ask the professor for his advice. Everyone would scold her later for vanishing without a word, but she needed some time alone to think and seek advice from someone she trusted even more than Ingo.

“Restlessness? Hm, I usually find a nice cup of warm tea usually sends me into a nice sleep. I can try to get you a cannister of tea leaves, a cup… a pot to brew it. Do they have fires at these settlements?”

“Yes, I cook all the fish I catch over them.”

Dawn had to admit though, it was becoming more and more tempting not to wait until she returned to the settlement to have a meal. The idea still grossed her out enough not to, but sometimes she watched Gaeric eating something he had just caught with such vigor, that she had brief moments of morbid curiosity.

“Fascinating! I will have Rei gather up all the necessary supplies. I must ask, are you still filling out your research book?”

She nodded and withdrew a notebook from the standard waterproof bag provided to every Survey corp member. He beamed when she handed it over, thumbing over the worn pages, wrinkled from drips of sea water and bleached almost as thoroughly as her warden friend’s coat. Her illustrations were always exquisite, her notes not nearly as detailed as Rei’s, but Laventon appreciated them anyway.

“Professor, has… Has anyone seen or heard anything about Volo?”

Laventon tore his gaze from the book and looked down at the girl. She was not looking at him, tapping a finger on a rock and taking great interest in her patchy tail, attempting to appear uninterested.

“No, unfortunately. The commander had the team scouring the lands and, per our agreement with the clans, they would keep an eye out for him in the waters.”

“Okay.” Her voice was strange. “Just curious.”

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A frigid limb, colder than all the water in icelands, coiled around her. Tighter and tighter until all the air was crushed out of her, a stream of bubbles escaped her and rushed away, showing her the way to go. She could not follow. Sharp teeth dug into her. Cutting her. Making her bleed. She couldn’t even scream.

“Look at me now, chosen one.”

Dawn was jerked through the water, placed eye to eye with a man she had confided in, she had trusted him – how could she not? He had been so kind. She met a sinister grin and two unblinking yellow eyes. A pair of suns filled with nothing but malice as Volo’s grip tightened around her. There was a horrible crunch.

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Dawn woke abruptly with such a fear and pain gripping her chest that she was completely unable to stop the scream from escaping her. She was still disorientated from her nightmare to realize the hand curling around her was not the one she thought it was. She screamed again, sharp claws slashing into the palm, and, when that didn’t stop it, she lunged forward and sank her teeth into flesh.

“Dawn! Dawn – You must relax. It’s me.”

Although the person cringed, they scooped up her body with her other hand. She could feel the bitter tang of iron on her tongue, a growl reverberating through her throat when she was plunged into darkness. She didn’t want to be in the dark! She needed light! In her utter panic, she did not recognize the familiar scent and the warmth and gentleness in the touch. Just blood and dark and salt and a tension that was more than bone deep, something woven right into every fiber and nerve. She couldn’t even form intelligible words, just sobbing and screaming. The enclosed space smelt so much like blood. When that smell hung so heavy in the air, death was approaching. Nothing could survive without its blood.

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Her tail has been stained pink, the water swirling with blood that sure to draw sharks. The threat was gone. The many-armed serpent (what had Volo called it? Giratina?) lifted her to the surface as one last act of penance before sinking back into the depths. She wasn’t even sure what happened. She didn’t know what she had done to defeat Volo and the ancient serpent. It was the same for the other gods of the deep. All she knew for sure was that she was alone.

She turned onto her side and coughed up water and blood, the mix burning her throat. Hot tears stung her face as she wailed into the hands, the dim light of her namesake began to stain the inky sky from black to blue… The same colors her bruises were sure to have. Every move hurt. Each breath felt like someone jabbing a knife between her ribs. She lay there, bleeding out and condemning herself for ever trusting him.

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“Dawn!”

A deep rumble shattered through her memory. That… That was a familiar voice. She remembered where she was. Who she was with. Her tail was still itching like crazy because she was molting, and she was stuck in this form.

She lowered her shaking hands, red painting the tips of her fingers, a fresh wave of tears coming to her eyes as she realized just who she had hurt.

“Ingo… I didn’t… I’m sorry!” He heard her stifle a sob and gingerly brought her closer, telling her it was okay. It was just a bad dream. “B-But it wasn’t!”

What did that mean? At times, he wished he could be smaller, just to hold her close and tell her everything was alright. Why did she have to be so small? Now that she wasn’t trying to claw her way to freedom, Ingo’s grip loosened a bit and he bowed his head to look down at the poor, distraught child in his hands. She was openly weeping, fumbling at the marks she had made and repeating the same apologies over and over.

He kept his back to his clan mates, trying to give her a bit of privacy. Although he knew their stares and murmurs were not malicious, he could still feel a deep instinct to protect Dawn swelling in his chest, practically hunching over when he felt them pressing against his back and sides. A growl not too dissimilar to Gaeric’s rumbled from his throat, warning them to back off now.

What had gone wrong? The evening had been pleasant enough. Irida had kindly invited the surveyor to join them for an evening chat that had evolved into some pleasant communal time. Grooming, chatting, eating, drinking, and, finally, sleeping – Irida had quietly insisted he and Dawn stay because they could use a little bit of “group time,” as his leader had so delicately put it. It had been relaxing. Even Ingo had to admit it was nice to just rest with his clan mates, knowing everyone was full and safe and at ease.

Now that relaxing atmosphere had turned tense. They all knew she was experiencing her own difficulties, but never had they resulted in such an intense reaction.

“Ingo,” Irida said over his shoulder, a hand coming to rest on his elbow, and he almost jerked his arm away from him. “We’re here to help you… and Dawn. We just want to help.”

The warden swallowed thickly, the growl dying back as he forced a breath. Throwing a glance to his leader from the corner of his eyes and then back to Dawn, who had buried herself in his parka, gripping, ripping, and staining the pale fabric with each fresh wave of sobs. This was not something he was going to be able to resolve on his own. All their attempts separately hadn’t been fruitful – their young friend was not alright. Something had shaken her down to the very core and she didn’t know how to tell them.

Dawn flinched when his thumb flicked over her back, the motion meant to be comforting but her nightmare, her memories, of facing off against Volo and Giratina… She didn’t feel safe here. Not anywhere in the ocean. At least on land she felt like she was in control. She knew her body and mind on solid ground, but not here.

“I-I’m sorry - I hu-hurt you!”

It wasn’t her fault, he tried to assure her. She had been in the throes of a terrible nightmare and terrified out of her wits, so he harbored no resentment or anger toward her, but he did need to know why. He needed to know so he could help her. All this child had ever done and accomplished had been on her own and now, even with a support system ready and able, Dawn did not know how to share her burdens.

“What were you dreaming?”

“Ingo-”

“Dawn – please, what were you dreaming?”

She was sinking lower and lower, trying to avoid his gaze when he raised her up to his eye level. No more beating around the bush. He needed to know. He needed to help her. Dawn flattened herself against his open palms, covering her head and cowering under his scrutiny, a sharp keening sound peeling through the space which made everyone’s hair stand on end. That was what pushed Irida and the other wardens to surge forward, offering comfort and gentle appeals to tell them what had her so petrified.

Lian and Calaba were far too small (by comparison) to get close enough to comfort, but that didn’t stop either of them. The younger warden scrambled up Ingo’s back, not that the orca mer even notice with all this focus on Dawn, and clambered up to his shoulder, balancing there rather precariously before scooching himself down Ingo’s arm to wrap Dawn in a tight hug from behind. He was not usually so touchy-feely, in fact he usually hated to infringe upon other people’s space and vice versa, but there was something so awful about seeing his friend crying.

Calaba barked at Gaeric to pick her up, she could offer some herbs to help settle her nerves, then maybe they could get some answers. Although his palm was crowded, the elderly warden insisted she be put down next to Dawn. Once she was safely situated, she removed her pack and began to rummage through it for a few things for her to chew on. Willow bark and some wolfsbane for pain. Ginkgo leaves for clarity of mind. Lavender and chamomile for anxiety. Lord Ursaluna had been so kind as to gather these things for his warden and her clan to keep them healthy, this would be a good opportunity for Calaba to flex her medical muscles, so to speak.

That left Palina, Gaeric, and Irida; all anxious and keenly aware that they could not solve the problem, at least, not any better than Ingo could. Their speech all overlapped, which ended up being more disorientating than anything else, the largest warden shooting them a withering glare that silenced them all. This was Ingo’s pup.

It took nearly forty minutes to coax and answer out of her and it had only been a single word – a name. Volo. There was a chorus of growls, a collective of hackles raised from the mere mention of the man who tried to ruin everything. Dawn had not spoken a word to anyone in the clans about the incident. The one called Laventon had taken it upon himself to meet the clan leaders and explain that something had happened to Dawn. It hadn’t been his place to get into the nitty gritty, but he warned them about a man, Volo, who had been the source of all the unrest in the region.

“He allied himself with a creature, Dawn thinks its name is Giratina, and riled up your gods. He got an artifact similar to Dawn’s to transform…”

Irida and Adaman glanced at each other, the latter’s scarred eyebrows quirked with concern and the former’s arms crossed tight over her chest. They could tell this was serious since the professor was not asking them such unusual questions. Last time they had come near shore, Laventon had impulsively started asking about diet and social habits, grabbing their fingers to compare and contrast the webbing between their fingers.

Nothing.

His eyes looked tired, his cheeks particularly pallid and gaunt, like he had not been taking proper care of himself. The humans were still dealing with the ramifications of the flooding, the clans had taken it upon themselves to offer what food aid they could while the water continued to recede from the lands. This was serious.

“He’s dangerous and at large.”

Laventon warned them, his tone grave and his fingers nervously fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve. They were asked to keep an eye out for him, the professor giving a description, practically spitting out like venom.

Ingo wanted to ask her to explain, but he could already predict the results. He wanted desperately to know more, he still held a gut-wrenching pain in him from his inaction when Dawn voluntarily revealed her secret and now, he was finding that Dawn was dealing with some lingering trauma.

“I w-want to go ho-home.”

Her sob echoed through the cavern, her request plaintive and wobbly, and the Pearl clan exchanged looks. Dawn couldn’t go back to Jubilife, not yet anyhow. With no legs, she would find living on land particularly difficult, and the humans would not know how to help her. Ingo would have to deny her request, at least temporarily.

“Not tonight.”

He said, trying to be gentle as he denied her, and everyone flinched when she wailed. She was just a scared pup, she needed reassurance – she needed their presence and comfort. All it took was a quick glance at each of his clanmates and they all wordlessly slumped to the ground.

Gaeric took the base of the pile without hesitation, resting his head on Palina’s flank when Ingo settled to the ground with his hands clasping the three mers carefully. With Palina on one side and Irida, who was draped over Gaeric’s tail, on the other, Ingo leaned back against Lord Avalugg’s warden, just as sturdy as his lord. Setting Calaba, Lian, and Dawn down on his chest, the eldest warden asked to be placed between Gaeric and Palina, Ingo setting her down just as Palina rested her head on Ingo’s tail and Irida on his side.

“Don’t lay on your dorsal fin. It’s already bent.”

Calaba growled, so Ingo manipulated himself in such a way as to not crush the fin in question. Lian refused to budge, holding Dawn tightly, and nobody tried to separate them.

“You’re safe here.” Ingo rumbled, placing a hand over the two kids to keep them from moving around too much. “I promise, you’re safe here.”

The surveyor knew he meant it. With him and Gaeric here, this was by far the safest place in the world, but it was hard to dispel the fear and the tears still dripping from her eyes. She listened to the reassuring beat of Ingo’s heart, so much louder than she thought possible in her ears, but it did help her focus and drown out all the other noises.

“If you have any more bad dreams about Vo- … That guy, I guess I’ll just have to remind you that I’d take on a chump like him any day.” She heard Gaeric’s voice distantly, not catching him say under his breath. “Anything for you, kiddo.”

“We would never let anything happen to you.”

Palina echoed his sentiment, casting her eyes toward the mer she treated like a little brother, and he pointedly wouldn’t look at her. A feeling of pride bubbling in her chest because Gaeric was trying to reach out to an outsider.

“Like Ingo might say, safety is a top priority. Especially for pups.”

Dawn shut her eyes tight when Calaba said that, feeling another sob catch in her chest. Lian was mumbling something into her back, the words might have been muffled, but the sentiment was there.

“You’ll always have a place here, Dawn. We will all do our part to keep you safe.”

With that final assurance from the clan leader herself, Dawn finally felt the panic in her chest loosen and a wave of fatigue roll over her. Slumped against Ingo’s chest, her exhaustion finally catching up to her. Dawn had a blessedly dreamless sleep.

[reds-fluff-extravaganza]

Volo x reader

Finally got a request for him and I need to write more for him. So sorry if he’s ooc or anything!

It’s been several weeks since the incident, and you’ve been searching everywhere for Volo. You’ve been worried about him, despite everyone telling you not to, that he doesn’t deserve your forgiveness or anything of the sort. However, you didn’t agree with them. You knew him better than anyone else, even if he didn’t tell you about the whole wanting to capture Arceus thing.

You were out searching for him once again, hoping to finally find him and

“Volo!” You called out, your Luxray walking along with you. He was a bit worried about you, since he knew how close you were with the ex-merchant, and he had gotten close to him and his pokemon as well.

“Wait, I know! I can see if Cogita knows his whereabouts.” You looked back at your Luxray, who just nodded in agreement, as the two of you made your way to the Ancient Retreat.

“Cogita!” You called out her name as you got closer to her home. She had stepped outside, curious to who was calling her name.

“Oh, hello Y/n. What brings you here today?” She made her way over to you.

“I’ve been looking all over the land of Hisui for Volo… no one has seen him and I’m getting worried. I know everyone else doesn’t like him for what he’s done, but I don’t hate him. Have you seen him? Or at least have a possible idea of his whereabouts?” Cogita was silent for a few moments, as if debating something in her mind as she examined your expression of worry and genuine concern for Volo.

“I have seen him. He told me not to tell any one of his whereabouts, but I can tell how much you actually care about him, even if you… probably shouldn’t. However, I think he needs to know that not everyone completely hates him.”

“Please, tell me where he is. I won’t tell him that you told me.”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll figure it out, he’s a smart man after all.”

“I know.” And with that, Cogita had given you the directions to find Volo. You waved goodbye to her and made your way to find him, your Luxray still at your side.

After traveling for a while, you ended up in a secluded area, far away from any possible human presence or interaction. Was Volo really here..? You were really hoping so. Your Luxray kept close to your side as the two of you walked, looking around, before you were snatched back by Luxray as an air slash hit the ground where you had been standing a moment before.

“Whoa..! Thanks, Luxray.” You looked up to see a familiar Pokemon: Volo’s Togekiss!

“Togekiss! It’s me, Y/n!” You called out to it, hoping it would remember you. Luxray had stood in front of you in a protective manner as Togekiss examined the two of you before moving closer. It seems to remember you as it let out a happy cry and hugged you with its wings.

“It’s good to see you again, buddy, but where is Volo..?” You let go and Togekiss motioned for you to follow further into the secluded area. You nodded and followed after it, Luxray right beside you.

“Ah, there you are Togekiss, you had me worried for a minute th-…” Volo cut himself off as he saw you with his Togekiss.

“Y/n..?” He sounded more confused than anything. “How did you even find me? No… the better question is why did you find me? Here to humiliate me further? Tell the others where I am? What?”

“No, not at all!” You took a step closer to him, a worried look on your face. “I would never tell anyone else where you are, not after I’ve spent several weeks looking for you after the incident! I don’t want you to disappear again, Volo..”

“Again, I ask, why are you here then?”

“Because I care about you! I don’t hate you like they do. We were always so close.. When I found out you disappeared I couldn’t believe it.” Your hands were now shaking a bit as you were looking up at him.

“I miss you… I miss you a lot.”

“I’m not going back there, Y/n.”

“I’m not asking you to come back!” You moved closer to him and hugged him, making him flinch in response.

“Why do you care..? I’ve done horrible things.” He looked down at you, a puzzled look on his face. “I don’t understand.”

“I already told you, Volo! We’ve been friends for so long… and I care about you.”

“If you’re here to pity me, then I don’t want it-“

“It’s not pity, I genuinely care about you.”

“You.. actually care about me?”

“Yes! That’s what I was trying to tell you.” It was silent for a few moments… until you felt Volo hug you back, looking away from you.

“I… missed you too, Y/n. I’m glad it was you who managed to find me.”

“Really?” You were rather surprised by this.

“Yes, really. I would’ve told you where I was going but I didn’t want you to be involved with me. I didn’t want the others to shame you or be upset at you because of how close we are.”

“I would never let them get to me… but I’m glad you’re okay and still alive.”

“And I’m glad you’re here now.. and you can come back whenever you want.” He leaned down and kissed your forehead gently. “Promise me you’ll return.” You nodded and rest your forehead against his.

“Of course I will. You know I will. And don’t worry about the others, I won’t let them find you here.”

“I know you won’t. I trust you, Y/n.”

“Come on, let’s step outside and talk, catch up on what we’ve missed.” You let him go from the hug before taking his hand into your own.

“Very well.” You two walked out of the cave and into the forest, where your Luxray and his Togekiss were sitting, as if catching up with each other.

“Looks like they missed each other too.” You looked over at the two Pokemon nearby, a faint smile on your face.

“I think you’re right, Y/n.” You went over to them, taking a seat on a fallen over tree, with Volo sitting by you, and the two of you talked, catching each other up on what was going on in your lives after the incident, while also telling him that you forgive him, and him reluctantly accepting it as he feels as though he doesn’t deserve it, but it was one of the things he liked about you, that despite what he’s done, you still care about him and forgive him. He feels as though he doesn’t deserve you or your kindness, but happy to still have you around.

[depressed-fern]

Felt like finally posting about a Pokémon AU I have. It's based on @pokemon-ash-aus' dead!ash AU, and I felt like it was interesting enough to share.

So the main difference is that Ash is from Hisui. Same time period and everything, no time travel needed, he's just from there. He takes the role of the ingame protagonist.

Eventually, he dies to a Pokémon. Not surprising, they're all pretty murderous. But here's the kicker: Remember Hisuian Zorua's Pokédex entry?

You see that bit about being a "once-departed soul"?

Yeah, that might include dead humans, much like Yamask.

So, Ash gets to become a Hisuian Zorua. He uses the usual Zorua illusions to make himself look like his usual human self and goes about his day pretending everything is fine.

He keeps pretending he's a kid since he doesn't really know how to make himself look like he ages, since he never got to. Eventually, several hundred years later, he gets adopted by Delia Ketchum and sets out on his Pokémon adventure like in canon.

Here's some extra info:

- Ash's Pikachu is actually a reincarnated version of the Pikachu he had as his starter in Hisui. They get along much better in the first episode than they do in canon, since Pikachu remembers him.

- Ash can fully understand Pokémon, being one himself- he just pretends he can't in front of people.

- At one point he accidentally revealed himself as a Zorua during Hisui. Not everyone trusted him after that, and I'm going to say that's why he gets banished like the games since it's originally because the player is a time traveler. Ingo was probably the first to accept him, being from modern Unova he'd probably have gotten used to dealing with Zorua disguised as people. Ash is still cautious about revealing himself because of the event, though.

- Having been around since Hisui, some of the time-travel sections like with Dialga or Celebi get confusing for his traveling partners. When needed, Ash tells them they're his ancestors instead of explaining he's a ghost unless he absolutely has to. His past selves know to play along.

- He still has Aura abilities, and he's much better at it than in canon- I'm going to say Sir Aaron taught him. One idea I really like is that he's actually the prince of Rota, the kingdom the Aura Guardians are from- He's just got the cliché "I'm royalty and I absolutely hate it so I left" backstory.

- He is more than willing to yell at legendaries like they're little kids having tantrums. He's battled Arceus and won, they really can't stop him.

I might add more if I think of any. Feel free to ask about it in the replies or through reblogs! I might not be active but I'll make an attempt.

[peccaberry]

what are your headcanons for Volo, Rei, and Akari??

Great question, thank you anon! Obviously a lot of this is also gonna be stuff I've included in my fanfic but I'll go ahead and put it here too for those who haven't read it djdjdjd.

Rei (MC): He misses home a lot and copes by the huge cultural shift of being stuck in the past by trying to cling onto what he remembers of the future. A lot of this would be things like memes and songs that he could repeat verbally which is a big reason I love him having a Chatot. It would probably be soothing to have something familiar like that while in a place where he has so little of what he remembers with him.

He was around 15-16 during the events of PLA. Late growth spurt which is why he looks so tiny for his age.

Rei is gay and being closeted in the Hisuian Era has been really hard for him. He misses the internet where he could talk to other queer people and find support. He had a HUGE crush on Volo and considers him his first love although he never told Volo that. Volo never had any idea bc let's be real he had Arceus blinders on.

He had to grow up really fast due to the situation he was put in and carries a lot of the trauma of too much responsibility too early on him. He feels like it's his responsibility to fix everything because he's quite literally been expected to from a young age. It would be important to him healing to unlearn that.

He feels incredibly heartbroken over what happened with Volo. He both misses the friend he lost and feels incredibly hurt by the enemy he gained. Both these feelings exist within him at once and it's very confusing to deal with.

Rei does not like Kamado or Cyllene after the trauma they've caused him. He's made more peace with Cyllene than Kamado although he doesn't trust either very much.

Rei loves Akari very much and her constant friendship and support is a big reason he's been able to keep it together after everything that happened to him. They are pretty inseparable.

Volo: This mfer has autism. He's not super popular because a lot of people think he's "off". He doesn't particularly care and spends most of his time on his special interests (history/mythology). His closest (platonic) relationship is with Cogita and she is easily frustrated/annoyed with him.

He's pansexual and how attracted he is to someone correlates more to how interesting he finds them than gender.

He was a teenager during the events of PLA (around 17-18) and hit a massive growth spurt earlier during puberty (13ish)

There is no "real/fake" Volo. Both the Volo you originally meet and the Volo on the mountain are just him expressing different emotions/sides to himself. The only real difference is that he's probably not as genuinely happy as he could be so it's more of a mask at this point to cover up trauma/rage. If he was to recover more from his issues he would probably still act silly and friendly but it would be more genuine and the rage/hate would subside more.

Volo never stops asking questions and is way too curious for his own good. Whether you consider this annoying (Cogita) or charming (Rei) is up to the individual person.

Volo's trauma and worldview has something to do with growing up in a region where there was a lot of war and fighting between clans. Since peace was only more recently established it's not his "normal". He doesn't have any faith it will last and believes humans don't have the capacity to get along with each other without being forced to.

If something catches Volo's interest he will pursue it relentlessly until he understands it.

Volo is really good at the Celestica flute

Akari (NPC):

Akari snuck onto the Galaxy Team Expedition ship when they were docked in her home region because she wanted to join them. Laventon was the one who found her and advocated for her to be allowed to stay and help him as his assistant. Kamado allowed it and she had been there a few months before Rei, trying to get the basics down.

Akari isn't just good at crafting, but doing art as well. She's amazing at painting and it's her favorite thing to do when she has time to herself.

Akari still has a fear of Electric types (especially the shinx line) after being struck down by one. She's come to peace with Pikachu and is learning to get along better with him as time goes on but still struggles from time to time.

Akari is Aromantic and Asexual. She loves Rei Queerplantonicly and he feels the same way about her although she feels confused about these feelings since there's not a lot of cultural understanding about them in her time period.

Akari enjoys listening to Rei when he talks about the future. As long as he doesn't seem to be doing anything that will put him in any danger she will watch him be as weird as he wants and egg him on because it makes him happy. They both know she doesn't really understand what he's doing/talking about but Rei appreciates her being willing to pretend to make him feel less alone.

[harmonia-university]

(Mountainleaf)

If humans are gone and Pokémon were created, does that mean animals still exist?

If so what’s your relationship with them?

Here's the response from our mysterious history professor:

LOL! What a funny question! I think you're getting confused. Pokemon weren't created, hell, it's more the other way around. Everything in this this universe! It was all created by Pokemon. Have you not heard about Arceus and her little minions? We have them to thank for all this!

Pokemon as a civilization in the present day, that was largely due to humans. But a lot of the "older" Pokemon still exist. We call them "ferals", as that's what they are: wild Pokemon of the past. We mostly leave them alone, aside from using some species for produce. Heck, there's even some cases of ferals coming to live a civilized life. After all, they're still Pokemon just like us, we all strive to get along you know?