#mainly slater and Hilbert

[lyricalchrysanthemum]

Thinking

[antihibikase-archive]

"i see the truth." / The Heart , Cheren Slater 🖤🍒🕸️ - chronological order + meanings

Listen here!

I trimmed down the Slater playlist to just 11 songs, and re-arranged the tracks to fit the order of how Cheren’s arc is supposed to go down in my rewrite!

Edit (5/9/23): Playlist now has 15 songs!

Trigger warnings for mentions of; dissociation, self-hatred, and attempted self-harm.

1. Escapist

This is who I am Escapist, paradise seeker Farewell now time to fly Out of sight, out of time, away from all lies

From the perspective of an outsider, they are listening in to the story of The Legendary Twin Heroes of Truth and Ideals; both princes are accompanied by their loyal scholar and warrior as they pursue their goals in hopes of meeting the legendary dragon, who in turn will lend them the strength needed to earn the respect of the people of the kingdom and ascend the throne.

However, in the story, there is a healer who plays the role of The Heart; a healer who is loved and cherished by both princes. 

At the end of the story, The Heart is killed when the dragon splits itself into two, using his mind and body as the sacrifices needed to give birth to the dragons of truth and ideals, Reshiram and Zekrom.

2. Kami-Iro Awase

Searching for a hope within But the line to despair is so paper-thin It's the nature of the system It's the way of your existence

The Heart is reborn as Cheren Slater, one of the children from Nuvema Town. Along with his best friends Hilbert Blackburn and Bianca Alabaster, they set off on a journey accompanied by their new Pokemon on Pokedexes on hand.

However, they encounter a strange group called Team Plasma, who start forcing them and their newfound friend Hilda Weiss into roles similar to that of the legend.

Though Cheren remains oblivious, he feels a sense of dread as he continues towards his journey.

3. Choice

Nice to meet ya Who could you be? I am injury No you aren't You made the choice to be!

When everything Cheren knows and desires is brought into question, Zinzolin takes that opportunity to use his mind as a sacrifice to forcefully summon Reshiram, as Hilbert cannot will himself to, forcing Cheren into the role of The Heart.

4. Hitorinbo Envy

Dreaming in color, burned it in my mind But then I wake up, with black as raven hands alive Well I was chosen, to burn inside Couldn't be more fun to whistle and sing

Cheren is brainwashed and pitted against his best friend, completely losing his sense of agency. Though he’s unconscious, he dreams of his days playing with Hilbert and Bianca as children, and he unconsciously begs for them to save him.

When he’s rescued, the last thing he sees before his consciousness fades is fire emerging from Hilbert’s back like wings, cementing his status and role as the Hero of Truth.

5. Snowman

The kind nonsense spilled over in the end It's okay to have laughed and cried My body melts away as I watch over the two But I'm sure it will be fine For no matter what winter is like, Spring will come

After the battle at N’s castle, Cheren doesn’t fully regain consciousness until the day after Christmas, where he discovers a letter and Pokeball left on his doorstep. Realizing that Hilbert has left Unova under the pressure as its new hero, Cheren starts to fall into despair over losing both his best friend and his sense of agency.

He’s sent to Flocessy to live with Alder in hopes that the quietness from the media would help him, but Cheren spends his days yearning for Hilbert’s return and rereading the letter left for him. 

When he’s offered the chance to be Lenora’s successor, he is taken to Castelia to train under Burgh and the Striaton Triplets, hoping that his talents as a trainer won’t go to waste.

At the end of the song, spring arrives, bringing with it a new life for Cheren, and a new hero.

6. Lower One’s Eyes

I'll make sure that all my secret sins Everything my heart has hid All the feelings deep within Beating in my heart's the Truth, Amen

The first half of the song begins with Cheren recapping his journey from what little he remembers of it; he remembers mostly the major events, but what sticks out to him most is Hilbert’s kindness, and how it persists even when Cheren loses himself under Team Plasma’s control.

Even as Beheyeem has him under its spell, Cheren is saved by Hilbert, but he loses his hero before he can tell him his feelings.

The second half of the song shows Cheren alone in Aspertia City, lost in his new role as a teacher and gym leader. He then meets the trio of Nathaniel “Nate” Blake, Hugh Obsidian, and Rosa Whitefield, who adore him and make him remember what its like to smile and love again.

Unfortunately, Neo Team Plasma shows up, and Cheren finds himself seeing Nate in Hilbert’s shoes. Deathly afraid to lose him as he lost his best friend, Cheren spirals into near madness and tries to stop him from becoming a hero, but ends up jumping in front of Kyurem’s attack.

With his body in a near-date state, it is enough of a sacrifice to summon Zekrom and acknowledge Nate as the Hero of Ideals.

As he loses consciousness, the familiar silhouette of Reshiram descends upon the Giant Chasm, carrying two familiar figures on its back.

7. Lunod

Drowning in anxiety As if it’s punishment that never ends Where do you hold onto when you’re falling in deep They say “it’s just shallow”

Though Cheren is saved once more and treated before hes succumbs to his injuries, he doesn’t find himself in a stable state; feeling as if he’s lost both his mind and body to the dragons, and with Hilbert’s sudden reapparance, he dissociates and distances himself from his friends and family.

Feeling as if he’s now lost himself and all he has had to call himself his own person, he decides to use what’s left of his self-control in an attempt to throw himself off of Aspertia’s lookout.

8. Racing To The Night

"I don't want this, I'm tired of it" I frantically reach for your hand But you push my hands away "I don't want this, I'm tired of it" To tell the truth, I want to say that, too

To Cheren’s chagrin, he’s saved once again by Hilbert, who he views as an illusion his mind has conjured to cope with his anger and resentment towards himself. He rebuffs all of the illusion’s attempts to help him, and repeatedly lashes out, until the league decides that Cheren should go on hiatus until further notice.

Cheren’s anger towards himself and the illusion continues to grow, and in an attempt to stop him from isolating himself further, he’s taken to Nimbasa City to spend time with his students and friends. Unfortunately, Hilbert’s sudden touchiness towards him drives him away, and he falls off the stairs of the Pokemon Musical Theater.

Though he only gets a mild concussion and is relatively unharmed, the sudden pain coursing through his body is enough proof that he is awake and conscious, and the Hilbert holding him is the real deal.

9. Magnetic

Now I'm walking through my star-shaped morgue Singing, "What the fuck'd I do it for?" Heard voices from my closet door "You're all we want and more" Yeah, you said it "I'm magnetic to the things I hate the most"

Cheren’s birthday comes around, and his friends decide to celebrate his birthday at his Castelia condo, the place he stayed at during his training.

However, when Cheren blinks, he finds himself in a strange place with a person whose face is obscured. He recognizes the strange place as a grayed version of his Castelia condo, and curiously, the doors have no knobs, rendering him trapped.

10. Karma

What I desire most, what I fear most Is that somewhere in my heart I left a part of myself, but in no time it’s back in my hands Just like a lie, Oh Amita

Cheren’s birthday is celebrated, with the attendants of the party being him and the stranger.

As he tries to figure out where he is and what happened beforehand, Cheren remembers he was suddenly taken by a strange Pokemon at broad daylight on the streets of Castelia. 

Cheren realizes where he is and how he ended up there; while he was taken around Castelia City by his students, a Sigilyph hypnotized him and whisked him away with the help of a Cofagrigus.

At his sudden realization, the stranger lurches towards him, and Cheren finds himself trying to fight back against a growing void whose face shares his own.

11. Headlock

I'm walking, you've been hiding, And you look half dead half the time. Monitoring you, like machines do, You've still got it, I'm just keeping an eye

Though he is not in control of his body at the moment, he knows who is- The Heart, or at least, their willpower.

Taken into Relic Castle, the restless Yamask of Relic Castle are actually the spirits of the heroes of truths and ideals, as well as their party and the priest who guided them. They’ve mistaken Cheren for The Heart, and are intent on making him stay with them as they themselves have forgotten that he had died.

The stranger that lurched towards him has no intentions of hurting him- rather, it tells Cheren to keep fighting, to break free from the same chains that held The Heart in place.

Cheren realizes that this is The Heart himself, whose spirit was taken to the castle by Hilbert and co.

12. Unknown Mother Goose

How could I grow to adore this world surrounding me? Tell me will I just keep on rolling on eternally? Hey I think I’ll take these feelings no one ever wants Give this world a chance and share them all now with this final song

As Cheren’s friends try to convince the spirits of the castle to pass on, Cheren thinks of the things he’s lost when he’s begun his journey with high hopes; he’s lost his dreams, his sense of self, his agency, and even his heart, as he realizes the heart beating in his chest is not his own.

When he thinks of fully succumbing into the whims of the ghosts and assuming The Heart’s personality, he hears the dreams and wishes of his friends and his Pokemon, who are fighting for his sake.

He asks The Heart what he should do, and though The Heart insists Cheren keep fighting, he understands he’s worn down at being seen as an extension of The Heart’s will.

The Heart then asks Cheren what does he want to do.

13. Homunculus

I realized in my last life, that I hate the light So I keep running, and running I'm trying to hide From everything that's inside This heart that I've tried To erase and wash away all the shame

Cheren makes his own choice.

Having enough of the role he was forced to play, Cheren rejects the truth and ideals of the twin princes to force himself awake, where he finds himself surrounded by the ghosts of their past lives. 

Repeatedly, he rejects them and acknowledges his existence as his own, and not as an extension of The Heart’s.

The Hero of Truth is then reunited with the true spirit of The Heart, whose body was laid to rest all the way at the Abyssal Ruins.

Finally brought together, The Hero of Truth leaves Cheren and acknowledges him as a completely separate person from The Heart he loved, and The Heart thanks Cheren and his friends for offering their spirits peace.

14. Flowering

I want to bloom as the way I am​ What I desire and fear the most cannot be taken in this borrowed form​ As the way I am, as the way I am​

In the aftermath of the Relic Castle incident, Cheren takes his time to ponder on his own existence and sense of self, all while his friends continue to set up his birthday party. 

He learns of the full story of the twin heroes from Bianca, and realizes that she, Hilbert, and the rest of their friends were similarly haunted and forced to play into roles by not only Team Plasma, but also by the restless spirits of the Relic Castle.

As he blows his candles and celebrates his 17th birthday, Cheren finally decides to look at Hilbert straight in the eye again.

15. Matsuri

'Cuz I was crying so hard, until my tears drowned And 'cuz, without any guard, you only laughed loud The summer heat then was burning both our bodies' ends The winter, seething then, froze us to a bitter old death

As the year ends, Cheren spends the new year with his friends and family at Nuvema Town, having invited Nate and his friends and family to celebrate with them.

Though he admits to Hilbert how he felt abandoned and angry, after having met The Heart and seen the grief that the Hero of Truth was going through, he could feel nothing but pity for the both of them. Though he knows what he’s gone through is nothing to be swept under the rug, at the very least, he is thankful he was given the chance to live again instead of having his life fully ripped away from him by the dragons.

When the clock strikes twelve, Cheren asks Hilbert to not repeat the same mistake as the Hero of Truth did, and Hilbert agrees to keep true to his promise.

[antihibikase2]

[ Tags Directory ]

Main tags:

antihibikase.txt -> talk tag, same as the main blog. “Announcements” and guides such as this post will be under this tag.

bw/bw2 rewrite -> anything that falls under my rewrite!

i see the truth. -> anything that falls under the Kuroshipping drabble series! This includes anything that would otherwise have been in other tags, such as Chapter 50 taking place in the rewrite.

bw3 -> anything that falls under the non-canonical BW3 timeskip!

others -> tag that I’ll be using for standalone fics and ones that predominantly take place in the verses of other people! 

Arcs and AUs:

This is mainly for the rewrite, and as such, they won’t be tagged as fics or drabbles. Though, there will be other fics with their own “arc” tags, despite being considered spinoffs/AUs! Here are some examples;

bw arc -> the fics centered around the bw portion of the rewrite; Hilbert’s journey through the Major Arcana, Upright.

relic castle arc -> the drabbles centered around the rewrite’s arc after BW2, wherein Relic Castle rises from the sand and brings upon a plague around Unova.

burn heal -> the fics centered around burn heal, an arc of the bw/bw2 rewrite that takes place post-bw2; Cheren is unable to process Hilbert’s return, and realizes just how long two years is.

mutual rotting -> the drabbles centered around Mutual Rotting; Cheren Descante of spqpverse becomes NEO PRO’s CEO. As a gift, he’s given The Vessel- a version of Cheren Slater who lost half his heart, and was taken in by Team Plasma afterwards. Heavy content warnings for this AU.

numeron code -> the drabbles centered around Numeron Code, a Yu-Gi-OH AU featuring Cheren Piper of Pokemashe.

Others:

fic -> some of the more organized fics that’s under the main Pokemon tags in my main blog, like Struggle Bug, the untitled rewrite fics, etc.

drabble -> though drabbles traditionally mean fics that are exactly 100-words in length, this is the tag I’ll be using for the ficlets that are under my main blog’s talk tag, as well as ficlets that are written directly from my stream of conscience. All of “i see the truth” is under this category by default, and will not be tagged as such.

trade -> anything that I’ve written for someone else as part of an art trade!

request -> anything that I’ve written for someone who requested it!

Ship tags will be utilized, such as kuroshipping, shiroshipping, etc. Though these tags will only be utilized for fics/drabbles outside of “i see the truth.” which is Kuroshipping by default.

There are tags for certain duos that appear in collaborated AUs made with mutuals. Currently, there is mutualism ( Descante & Slater ), dualism ( Piper & Slater ), and parasitism ( Achroma & Nikolai).

Anything with content and/or trigger warnings will be tagged as [content /trigger] cw/tw. Feel free to ask to tag certain triggers that I may have missed.

I won’t be using the main tags and character tags as I have in my main for fics; I’m worried it might get a little spammy and it’s so far out of canon anyways. 

[antihibikase-archive]

My Blur/Blight storyline playlist rules are basically;

All characters will start out with Escapist by Nightwish (shared song)

Some characters (mainly the ones with the same roles) share a song; both Nate and Hilbert have Re: Birthday for example (both of their past lives share the same sins/regrets)

The 6th song is always their theme song (Slater's is Lower, Nate's is The Blessing, etc.)

[antihibikase-archive]

Type-specialist teams for the Blur/Blight guys!

Hilbert (Fire);

Emboar + Armarouge are shiny for blue flames, since blue is his main color!

His Mega Evolving mon in canon is Absol (Houndoom belongs to Grimsley), but it also fits Hilbert since he's associated with dogs! Also, Talonflame because Hilbert needs to have a flying type (like Braviary) always with him; his "wings" before he earns Reshiram's respect. Volcarona mainly because of its royal imagery- and he has one as Hero of Truth, Ludwig.

Cheren (Fairy);

Was debating with either water or fairy, but I think fairy ultimately fits since he has incarnations (like Vessel) who are scared of water.

Anyway, mostly motifs. Sylveon for rabbit/ribbon/mediator, Primarina because its a water-type that sings, Togekiss because its an angel (Togetic looks more like Slater though), Audino because its a healer + his assigned Mega Evo that fits this typing (canonically its Lopunny) + its shiny colors are Vessel's colors, Scream Tail for the vampire motif + Jigglypuff (who it may be related to) is associated with singing and sleep, and Magearna for doll and heart motif.

Bianca (Grass);

Was debating between grass and psychic- but Nikolai is more psychic than steel, and Bianca's more grounded, in a way- and she's more in touch with the earth and nature, so she gets grass!

Lurantis for flower motif + shiny because its her colors! Gourgeist also has a singing motif like her, as well as being from Kalos. Arboliva looks out for other Pokemon by sharing what it has, Abomasnow is her assigned Mega (its Audino in canon), Cradily because she's a scholar + aspiring historian + has connections with Lenora, so she's definitely unearthed a couple of fossils in her spare time!

Though she isn't a time traveler, she gets Celebi because, out of all the party, she is the one that makes the most impact throughout history, even when she herself is unknown (like a mythical Pokemon).

Hilda (Fighting);

Falinks because it works in a group (Hilda's Lonely nature; she prefers working with her friends, even if she can work alone), Infernape because she needs a fire/fighting (alluding to her Simisear), Medicham is her assigned Mega in canon, Bewear because she does like cute Pokemon + its a mascot; kind of like how she's one for Gear Station and Nimbasa City as a whole, Pangoro because it matches her temperament and sense of justice, and Iron Valiant to allude her status as The Warrior of Truth, who ruled over the kingdom of Unova once the heroes abandoned the throne + alluding to her connection with Nikolai.

Also, Infernape and Iron Valiant are shiny to match her palette better; the latter specifically highlights the pinks!

Nate (Electric);

Nate's canon Mega is Ampharos, but its Manectric here to connect with his Hoenn roots + his mom has a Manectric! Vikavolt because he needs a bug-type (second favorite type), Toxtricity because of his """association with music""" (he yells and screams and makes loud noises), Lanturn because of its star motif (referred to as a deep sea star; with Cheren's water and drowning motif, Nate is his star/light that guides him out <3), Togedemaru for its unsuspecting appearance (and also spiky like his hair; hence why its brown), and of course. Zekrom, his assigned legendary as The Hero of Ideals.

I initially wanted to give him a Pachirisu for "underdog" purposes (he is squirrelcore to me; and also because of the Pachirisu during the World Championships), but he already has a pure electric!

Hugh (Dark);

He gets a dark typing due to his association with the Purrloin line + he becomes Giima's successor in Blur/Blight! A lot of his Pokemon are fairly easy to explain;

Liepard is self-explanatory (shiny because its his palette), and by extension, Chien-Pao is there because its a cat- and speaking of Chien Pao (swords), it matches well with Hisuian Samurott, who also has a sword motif- alluding to him being the Warrior of Ideals, despite his relic being a shield. Additionally, Oshawott is his starter!

Tyranitar is his assigned Mega in canon due to him specializing in sandstorms. Finally, Morpeko, like with Hilda's Pangoro, is because of his temperament- and also because its associated with the little sister of a dark type specialist. I think he and Piers would get along well.

Also Overqwil. You Know.

Rosa (Flying);

Rosa's Swanna is her starter + main Pokemon in Blur/Blight, and shows up more than everyone else's Pokemon because its always attached to her back! Noivern, like Nate's Toxtricity, is meant to allude to her loud nature (and also, their names being resonance/resonate; which fits well for a bat Pokemon).

Jumpluff because of her carefree spirit as both herself and The Scholar of Ideals (pink to refer to her original palette; but also she wears a bit of pink on her), Bombirdier because of her.. mischief, Landorus being her assigned legendary, and Pinsir being her assigned Mega because of its ability, Aerilate- which give her an advantage as a flying-type specialist.

N (Normal);

His are a little hard to explain, but! N doesn't have a canon Mega; Lopunny is Cheren's, but for the sake of this teambuilding, he gets Mega Lopunny; which fits since its a forest animal = N was found in a forest by Ghetsis. Initially, it was Mega Kangaskhan, but he already has a pure normal in the form of Terapagos- a Pokemon that can bring people of different timelines together, something that alludes to his role as The Priest, the one who sees the past and future.

Sawsbuck and Zoroark are his assigned Pokemon in Blur/Blight constantly, especially Sawsbuck! Pyroar for the "king" motif, and female Indeedee because its more focused on defense and support.

Nikolai (Psychic);

Already explained some of these but; Beheeyem is his ace/partner, Orbeetle because of the mad scientist motif + he likes bugs, Hatterene and Delphox for witch motifs + Hatterene matches his stoic personality and how he easily gets overwhelmed by the emotions of others, and Gardevoir (not Gallade this time) is his Mega- its the village sentry.

Taking his Metagross' place is Jirachi- a Pokemon that grants wishes, something he desperately needs; someone to answer his prayers.