#maybe if augustine finally gives up and gives her xerneas

[cheemken]

all this talk about the champions, but what about diantha's own league? what about the kalos league, her elite four, her gym leaders? what do they think of their champion now?

God the Kalos League was absolutely devastated when they all saw the news of what happened in Galar. Fucking imagine all of em vibing and watching the tournament, cheering for Diantha, and everything happened oh so suddenly. Suddenly Diantha had that edge, suddenly Leon started attacking her, suddenly she called out Yveltal, suddenly they see her eyes full of cold fury that they never thought they'd see, suddenly she's there calling out the Galar League, calling out Chairman Rose, telling the entire world about the threats she and the other champions had gotten from the man himself if they so much as beat Leon. And suddenly... They all started attacking her.

They're all so conflicted, they don't know what to do. That's Diantha, their champion, their angel, their queen, the one who protected all of them at all costs, who made sure they were all safe, who gave them purpose, who welcomed them despite their backgrounds, who encouraged and inspired them with her work. Their Diantha... How... How could they do that to their Diantha?

But at the same time, they were lied to. Diantha had lied to them. About Flare, about Yveltal. An argument broke out between the League, when suddenly Gengar showed up, stopping the feud, and dropped two envelopes across the table each containing a letter, with Siebold seated at the head, always her right hand man in the League. And Gengar left, but not before prompting Siebold to read the letter. And read he did.

He read out loud, for everyone to hear. There were two, but Gengar had motioned to read the one from Chairman Rose first. It read of Rose threatening Diantha of death, not only her, but her brother and even the league as well. Every Elite Four member, every Gym Leader, was mentioned by name by Rose, saying how he'll make sure Diantha would watch them all die one by one and he'll kill her brother last, making sure that everyone she loves dies before her.

Everything became cold, some were gripping the edge of the table, some almost couldn't believe that someone could ever write that, and some almost didn't want to hear the rest of it. Even Malva was surprised to hear that Rose knew she meant enough for Diantha to even threaten her too.

And then Siebold read the other letter, the date was set... Yesterday? What? Unfolding it, it's written in Diantha's own hand writing. She wrote her apologies, wrote why she ever encouraged Lysandre to create Flare, why she wanted to create a more beautiful world, so everyone she ever loved, her brother, her league, her friends, wouldn't have to be hurt anymore, so they won't have to suffer anymore. She said she had to lie to keep them safe, so the plan would go perfectly, but Lysandre was incompetent, she said, and thus the plan failed. If it didn't, then all of this wouldn't have happened too, they could be living much peaceful lives, and people like Rose won't be w them in their new world.

The League still felt conflicted, they don't know if Dia's still lying in her letter or not, but it felt so genuine, it sounds so much like the Diantha they know, to put herself out as a shield to protect those she care about. The silence was dense, and suddenly Malva stood up, hands slamming the table, despite what happened during that night, Diantha cared enough to let her heal her Houndoom, and now Malva understood why Diantha didn't want her to come to Galar to broadcast the tournament, because of what Rose would do to her too. And here she thought Diantha hated her as well. So Malva looked at Siebold, and it surprised everyone, it's been such a while since they last saw Malva being so worked up by something.

"well, it's clear what we need to do, so what are we waiting for?" She raised a brow towards the rest of the Elite Four, questioning.

Siebold sighed, heavy and tired, then he nodded, looking at the rest. "I'm sure Diantha is here in Kalos right now. And this time we'll be there for her too. She gave us support when we needed it, it's time to return the favour."

Drasna then spoke, "right. Our dear Diantha is probably so scared right now too, we'll help Augustine in his search, and together we'll all help her."

"we'll split up, all the Gym Leaders you search within your respective zones, us Elite Four will search the entirety Kalos, we'll find her soon." Wikstrom added.

And the Gym Leaders all nodded, determined to help their Champion too, and they all left, back to their respective zones and cities and towns, telling the people of their own zones what they can do to help, and soon the people followed their lead. Everyone was prepared to defend their own Champion this time, and if she finally shows up, they'd welcome her with the same warmth she showed towards them. No more will their Queen fight these battles on her own.

If Galar wants another war, then Kalos won't be going down without a fight.

[twinchampionsofkalos]

21. run for the memory thing?

Calem, Serena, and Shauna stood silently beneath the Ultimate Weapon. The only sound in the room was the humming of machinery. In front of them stood the Legendary Pokemon of life and death, Xerneas and Yveltal, who they had just freed from their prison. The two Pokemon regarded the three teens calmly and then bowed in thanks.

Suddenly, the sound of loud footsteps broke the quiet. The Legendaries sprang into alert mode and the three teens immediately spun around to see who was approaching. It was Lysandre. At least, it looked like Lysandre. He had the same unmistakable red hair and impeccable black suit but he was wearing a strange contraption and he had none of the composure and dignity that one typically thinks of when they thought of Lysandre de Lys.

“What have you done!” Team Flare’s leader shouted, aghast.

“Wh-what's going on with that outfit!” Shauna asked, placing her hand protectively over her bag where Squishy resided. “Is that really you, Lysandre?”

“Give it up, Lysandre!” Serena shouted. “We’ve freed Xerneas and Yveltal, you can’t use the Ultimate Weapon anymore!”

Lysandre laughed madly, startling the three teens. “Give it up? I can’t just give it up! I’ve come too far for this to be the end!”

“Lysandre, please.” Calem pleaded, placing his hand over his heart. “It’s over. Just turn yourself in.”

“The Professor told us you’re a good man.” Shauna said. “He said you wanted to help people. If you stop now maybe we can find a way to make the perfect world you want without killing everyone. Together.”

Lysandre chuckled quietly, barely audible to the three teens. “Augustine told you… ah, in the end you really are all just children, aren’t you.” He began tapping away at buttons on his gauntlet and spoke louder and more clearly. “The original purpose of this device was to bring a Pokémon back to life. But the ancient king transformed it into this ultimate weapon… When the Legendary Pokémon awakened, they took back much of their energy -- their power -- that had been sent to the ultimate weapon. There's not much power left... But there IS enough to use it once…” He pressed one final button and raised his arms to the sky. The machines in the room whirred too life. The entire chamber began shaking. “I shall grant us all eternal life! You may defeat me here but I assure you I’ll be back to try again and again and again as long as it takes! As for you, you shall suffer endlessly as you wait for the construction of a beautiful world that will never be! Come, Augustine’s pupils, let us live forever!” He burst out into maniacal laughter. The man had lost it.

We’ve gotta get out of here!” Serena shouted.

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Calem responded.

The three teens made a dash for the exit. Before they could make it there, Lysandre tossed out a Pokeball, releasing his Gyarados. The massive Pokemon separated them, leaving Shauna a clear path forward to the door but blocking Calem and Serena's path.

"Ah ah ah!" Lysandre chastised. "No running!"

"Cal! Rena!" Shauna shouted.

"Shauna! Run!" Calem called back.

"Don't worry about us! We'll be fine!" Serena added.

Xerneas and Yveltal both launched attacks at the Gyarados. Against all odds, the Gyarados withstood said attacks. Lysandre tapped the ring on his left middle finger and held it up in the air. The Gyarados began to Mega Evolve, becoming encased in hard light. Shauna looked back and forth between the door and the Mega Evolving Pokemon blocking her friends' way.

"Run, Shauna!" Calem shouted. "We'll be right behind you!"

Shauna took one last look between the Gyarados and the door before heeding her friends' advice and running. As she fled through the base, none of the Team Flare Grunts or Admins paid her any mind. It seemed as though they were, understandably, more concerned about the laser going off than they were about the escaping intruder.

Eventually, Shauna reached the exit and ran into Trevor, Tierno, and Dexio and Sina the Defenders of Kalos at the exit. Last she'd seen them, they'd been headed to Route 10 to rescue all the Pokemon Team Flare was siphoning energy into the Ultimate Weapon from.

"We felt rumbling and came to help!" Sina Defender Red declared

"Shauna! What's happening?" Trevor asked, distressed.

"Lysandre activated the Ultimate Weapon!" Shauna shouted.

"That's not good." Dexio Defender Blue said, stating the obvious. "We need to get out of here!"

"Where are Cal and Rena!" Tierno asked.

"They said they'd be right behind me!" Shauna shouted.

"But... they're not!" Tierno pointed out.

"They'll come!" Shauna insisted. "We just need to wait!"

"If we wait, we'll die!" Defender Blue pointed out.

"But-" Shauna began but was cut off.

"Your friends would want you to escape!" Defender Red said.

"She's right." Trevor said. "Cal and Rena would be pretty upset if you died waiting for them."

Tierno didn't say anything. He just looked down sadly. Tears began to well up in Shauna's eyes.

"But we can't- I can't-" She choked out.

A tremor shook the building.

"Time to go!" Defender Red said.

The Defenders of Kalos grabbed the kids and led them out of the bunker. They all piled into a still running car and gunned the engine. As they drove away the Ultimate Weapon fired, shaking the ground. Squishy was seemingly knocked out of Shauna's bag and out of the car by the tremor, causing the girl to cry out, but instead of falling to the ground the little Pokemon instead merely floated in the air.

Arcs of Green light came from all around, coalescing around Squishy. The light expanded into a massive pillar, blinding anyone watching. When the light level evened out, Squishy was gone and had been replaced with Zygarde 100% form. The Guardian of the Ecosystem flew off towards the massive laser.

[fatedroses]

Pokemon Au

N/: Alright, we’re starting off with this. This au (I have no name for it yet) works on some of the world building provided by the games/anime/manga to kinda synthesize it and make it more of, for a lack of a better word, a realistic universe (like the manga where, spoiler alert, several characters have been killed by both environmental causes and by each other and it is shown). It’s still a work in progress, so I might change how some things work or correct things I get wrong. Anyways, keep in mind this post is hella long, you have been warned.

The World:

Most of the regions remain the same, other than minor tweaks. Because this au is so far focused on the characters below, I’m mainly working on the Kalos region, as while I loved the xy games, the story really lacked details in some areas. I definitely encourage others to pose ideas for the other regions too, please, I’d love to hear from you guys. But anyways, here’s some world building stuff.

Changes to Areas: I’ll have a map drawn out eventually. But I wanted to include the Volcanion movie area, the Azoth Kingdom, and while I was looking at the regional map I noticed there are forest areas north and south east of the mountains that could still be considered part of the region. Hence west Kalos, where the setting is for gen six, is the main political/commercial hub and these two other areas are more closed off and reclusive for several reasons.

Kalos: This region, as shown by the war three thousand years before the game, and a war five hundred years before the anime with the azoth kingdom referenced in the volcanion movie, Kalos could be a very volatile and even admittedly unstable region based on its past. This region also didn’t have a professor until Augustine, as unlike Juniper he had to travel to get trained in sinnoh under Rowan (take that information for what you will, but for me it’s used to represent the instability based around 15-20 years before the xy series). Finally, like how it is implied in other regions, the Pokémon league is the political leadership of the area but there is still a royal family, they just serve more like a regional/national figure (which will be relevant later when discussing Lysandre).

Gyms: Eight gym badges are required to challenge the league (of course), however, there is usually more than eight in the region, based on local towns/populations, and they serve as defenders and local leaders for their communities, and have a higher responsibility of protecting the region as a whole (aka as seen in the ending of xyz).

Pokémon League: The primary council and political leadership, while the champion can vary drastically in age it is noted that the rest of the elite four always has at least one older and more experienced individual that can help lead, and in a normal scenario it is likely that the league was formed to a) create unity among the other regions to prevent further conflict between each other and b) organize a group strong enough to push back against threats that might arise. (In most cases this falls upon the gym leaders, likely the league gets involved as a last resort). The champions (Diantha, Steven, Wallace, Lance, Cynthia, etc) are chosen due to their charisma and likely are meant to be ambassadors between regions, mostly seen with Cynthia.

Legendary Pokémon: I mean this by the “god tier” pokemon, like the creation trio, arceus, yveltal and xerneas, basically any Pokémon shown to be able to communicate telepathically, (I’m definitely going to make a separate post about this topic but that’s for another time), can manifest themselves in a human like form. However this is very unlikely as it is shown that most of the legendaries really didn’t like humans and probably wouldn’t bother replicating their looks.

Humans: for the sake of keeping the anime/games pg of course pokemon aren’t outright killing people and other pokemon(lol but there have definitely been exceptions Jesus Christ), but in this au this can be explained by the idea that humans in the Pokémon universe are far more durable due to their exposure with pokemon (Ash getting thundershocked over and over again, trainers getting hit by stray attacks, resilience to fire, Meyer getting absolutely bodied by Zygarde and still being able to stand afterwards, etc etc.). This also plays into another concept (again something I’ll go more in depth in another post) that being exposed to a certain amount of certain types of pokemon have innate effects on their trainers.

Lysandre:

Look, we’re starting these sections off on the backstorys of these characters. Lysandre is referenced to very likely be a prince, a descendant of AZ’s brother due to both how he holds himself(plus his height) and the reference of sheer wealth Lys has. While I wouldn’t doubt he could’ve built himself from nothing, there are signs pointing that he is meant to be related to AZ so just as a note he and his family are relevant to Kalos for a variety of reasons. (I mean damn, his Japanese name is Fleur de Lis.)

Mier, Lysandre’s father and Sylvie, Lysandre’s mother, were members of the elite four until they eventually retire (Malva and Siebold take their place). In this au for the sake of it, despite the royal family not officially having control over the region, they still do what they can to look over it. Both Lysandre (and his brother Bastien that I’ll talk about later) are well educated and were, well, trained to be able to potentially take their place in the league. Lysandre didn’t really follow suit, instead founding his own research facility/business with the focus of improving Kalos technologically and making the region more accessible to itself. Bastien takes the role of actively representing the royal family, and is currently the king (despite that title meaning absolutely nothing). He also helps with facilitating communities, establishing relationships between towns, and reinforcing policies and proposing projects for economics first drafted up by the league.

Lysandre himself was very reserved and sheltered during his younger years. Their chateau, located in the forest area north of Geosenge, had very few neighbors. His family wasn’t really around that often due to his parents duty with the league and his brother residing mostly at the palace (which despite it being a museum it still has parts used for their average function... I might redesign it later on), but Lysandre spent most of his time with his childhood friend Augustine on his families ranch, up until the pair left to go explore Kalos (This time in the timeline Kalos, mostly in lumiose and the surrounding areas, is a dangerous place, due to a villain team that I’m working on.)

Lysandre was a very caring and an extremely generous individual (until later something so bad happens that it causes him to become a misanthrope. Referenced to be a bad event plus witnessing general human stupidity and greed). He was known for his love and admiration of life, human and Pokémon, and did what he could to protect it. (I still have some stuff to work out for the story during this time) He was willing to learn both the secrets of mega evolution and move based combat. He, alongside Augustine and the others, helped stop The Order of Midnight (the villain team, still a work in progress) from destroying Kalos.

After that, he establishes what eventually will become team flare (back when it wasn’t an evil organization and I’ll probably come up with a name for it later). He, with the help of Clemont (damn child genius), figure out how to provide lumiose and eventually Kalos as a whole with clean renewable energy. He is a known inventor and philanthropist around the region, he also took Clemont in as an apprentice up until Clemont took his father’s place as the lumiose gym leader.

Eventually something happens (still working out the details, but it will involve shadow Pokémon and maybe something with his brother), and Lysandre loses all hope in humanity. By this time and from his experience he hides his misanthropy very well, his friends notice something’s wrong but could never really pry enough to figure out what it really was, until events similar to a mix of the manga/the anime take place, (again this is a work in progress).

In a failed attempt to use the ultimate weapon the building collapses. Trapping Lysandre, who had direct exposure to the blast during the collapse, in and killing him in the process. However, because he used both xerneas and yveltal, became immortal (in a way were he can die but revives and heals /as long as he’s not impaled to something/ over and over again). Xerneas in an act of pity, as Lysandre helped her and yveltal when fighting the order, and an act of justice by freeing him from the debris and making him her champion to protect the world from those bent on making the same decision he did.

Despite his hesitation he also eventually reconnects with his friends, and through his service to xerneas rekindles his love for the world, despite knowing how unlikely it would be for the world to forgive him for his actions, but because the populace doesn’t know he’s alive he doesn’t really care as long as he could help and protect others, once again finding his purpose and his passion that he though he had permanently lost after ‘the event’.

(This is just a note, but as I scroll through sources I found that his misanthropy is also caused by his fear and his anger over his own shortcomings, as it is referenced in the anime and kinda in the games that his generosity was abused, and therefore holds himself to blame for not being able to help others because of his own blind willingness. It gives him character but isn’t something that isn’t easily incorporated into the timeline so I’m just putting it here.)

Augustine:

Augustine lived with his family (I’ll have names later, probably) on their estate/ranch, his father is a pokemon breeder and his mother is a pokemon ranger. Because of this, August grew up taking care of Pokémon to the point it became a literal second nature to him, and Pokémon are drawn to him naturally. However, even though he found that he was actually pretty good at both of his parents professions he didn’t really have a passion for them.

So as the years went on and he really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, when Lysandre proposed that he could come with him across Kalos he jumped at the opportunity. He was joined by a gabite, one that tended to give the family a really hard time but over time developed a really strong bond with him (at the cost of the smoothness of his hands /rip/).

He hates seeing Pokémon get hurt, but due to his background is a rather epic opponent in battle (he just says he’s weak to avoid conflict). But he is really good at caring for Pokémon after battle (hey maybe you can pay him back with a cup of coffee later or something). Instead during the journey he participated more in entertainment and performing and tried to avoid battling as much as he could.

However, when they get to lumiose (around the time Lysandre gets his third badge and they try to see if they can challenge Meyer) he discovers mega evolution when they encounter blaziken mask for the first time. This sets him on the path, after learning that Kalos has been without a professor for a really long time, to learn the secrets and techniques of mega evolution, (he later discovers that he is capable of mega evolving any one of his team, and the weaker members of the order built up quite a reputation for the man that could pull a super powered monster on you in seconds).

Meyer and Auriel also teach him about using pokemon moves, and how you can boost the strength of your own Pokémon (think like similar to ash greninja or az’s flotte). Once again he becomes quite a force to be reckoned with (and I’m considering making him apart of Meyer and Auriel’s team as a band of super heroes because hero Augustine is cool, okay?)

He also encounters a disguised Alva (the main villain of the volcanion movie to which they are unaware that he’s associated with the azoth kingdom) and finds out that mega evolutions can in fact be forced which a) terrifies Augustine, and b) motivates him to teach others the importance of having a bond with you pokemon if you’re going to have access to mega evolution, hence the entries on everything that goes wrong or the bad stuff that can happen with mega evolution (he discovered them from Alva.)

After the events with the order and through his own notes and research he is able to get a position under professor Rowan, leaving Kalos for a bit so he can go study in sinnoh. (If you mess with Augustine in the presence of Rowan I’m sorry but you’re hella dead, that man becomes a son to him.) Augustine also becomes a pretty well known coordinator in sinnoh, not really to the surprise of his friends but a surprise to the populace of Kalos after some of those details resurface a decade later.

(Not much is really changed with Augustine afterwards, other than making him even more of a force to be reckoned with and adding in some background details for him).

Meyer:

(Oh look one of my favorite characters) So Meyer was the lumiose gym leader, known for being one of the strongest in the region behind Olympia and Wulfric, and he could have become one of the elite for had it now been for the fact the he just wanted to settle down with his kids, his mechanic shop, and his super hero alter ego. He focused primarily on electric types and was rather difficult to get past for most trainers.

He was one of the major reasons lumiose was even inhabited during the issues with the Order, as he was a defender of the people and did his damndest to keep everything in order. Of course he is just one man, and even beat himself up over that fact that he couldn’t be everywhere at once to protect everyone.

He was also a single father, I’m not exactly sure about the circumstances, but after Bonnie was born their mother just wasn’t in their life afterwards, but he was able to raise his kids pretty well (he gladly accepted the help from his friends when he could, especially when they offered to look over the siblings so he could do his superhero stuff).

No one really discovered his identity other than his friends either because people just didn’t equate his sweetheart mechanic personality with the flying badass that is blaziken mask. His suit, unlike Auriel’s, is actually made by him. He’s not an inventor just because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, but it’s very Ironman-esk in concept to he doesn’t waste time changing if shit starts going down.

He eventually joins forces with Auriel, another vigilante living in lumiose at the time, (maybe also Augustine after he returns from sinnoh) and they work togther to try and stop the order from causing chaos and destruction in Kalos.

Unlike Auriel he learned the process of using Pokémon moves by himself, that in combination with close calls with the order means he has a few scars, they’re primarily on his palms, lower legs, and torso. He tries to avoid that as much as he can because he doesn’t want his kids worrying about him over this stuff (but that plan didn’t work).

(100% Best Dad)

[cheemken]

Oooohh yeah, having Diantha give the mega stones out before the tournament makes more sense

I think taking the second route is more fitting. Diantha doesn’t seem like she could be calmed down at the moment, especially since her brother just told her how much of a monster she is. She doesn’t feel any love towards him at the moment only anger and hate

Having them try to kill Diantha still makes sense cause she’s trying to kill Leon, has already killed rose, and is endangering the people trapped in the stadium. To them it’s may be hard because they all care about and love Diantha but it’s still their job to protect the people of their regions. So if Diantha is a danger then they have to take her out

I imagine that Diantha finally realizes it’s time to escape the battle when Leon and Charizard get enough energy back to Gigantamax and Leon commands Charizard to use G-Max Wildfire straight at her. Or even worse, Augustine is actually set out to injure her to stop her, maybe not kill her because he still loves his sister, and that’s when she knows he isn’t playing around when he commands Xerneas to use moonblast, not at Yveltal but at her

Also does she only teleport herself away? Or does she take Lance, Geeta, Iris and Hau with her?

God fucking imagine how hurt she'd be knowing Augustine is helping Leon. Like imagine her being so bitter abt it thinking that Leon probably manipulated Augustine too to help him bc why would her brother every really go against her? It's all Leon's fault! If he just told the truth, if he just accepted the fact that the Galar League is corrupt, then Augustine wouldn't have to go against her, w them making him believe she's in the wrong.

But no worries, she guesses, Augustine will always come back to her. Like that time he said he'd leave the apartment after not getting smth he wanted, he was back before sundown, crying to her, apologizing, he'd do that again, she just knows it. She knows her brother. Knows him more than anyone does. But right now, he should calm down first, and he knows where to find her, or rather he also believes he knows where'd she'd be if he's right and she'd try to escape

And pfft nah Dia really left everyone else owo

Before she teleported away, she asked Gardevoir to make a barrier around Lance, Geeta, Iris, and Hau, one last time just so they won't get hurt by both GMax Wildfire and Moonblast, her thank you for them for being such devoted and loyal followers. And as soon as GMax Wildfire was gone, so was Diantha

Even the ones within the barrier, as soon as it dissipated, were shocked that Diantha was gone too, not a single trace of her left

Would they try to track her down? I wanna say they did try, for a month, but after not finding out anything abt her, they thought that maybe she is dead, that maybe Yveltal took her life through the chaos that was happening. But nah, she's just hiding somewhere, hiding within the empty and abandoned Carnet manor, smth not even Augustine would be willing to visit. So hey, since she's been quiet, the other champions thought she truly is gone, but were just preparing themselves in case she does show up again

But this time y'know, I actually want her to one by one visit the champions and manipulate them again, slowly but surely breaking their minds and their trust towards Leon, and it will work this time, she'll make sure of it.