#merman Volorei au

[peccaberry]

Happy Mermay everyone!

I am bringing back the Volorei merman au this month with a slightly redesigned Volo tail and some new art to share!

We finally go full mermaid, love it!

This au takes place in Hisui instead of in the modern day like the other two.

All the PLA cast are members of one of 4 different pods that live in the ocean surrounding Hisui.

The Jubilife Pod: Contains all the prominent members of Jubilife Village. Leader is Kamado.

The Ginko pod: Contains all the members of the Ginko Guild as well as Cogita. Leader is Ginter.

The Diamond Pod: Contains all the members of the Diamond clan. Leader is Adaman.

The Pearl clan: Contains all the members of the Pearl clan. Leader is Irida.

The 4 Pods live on opposite shores for the most part. The Jubilife Pod is near Prelude Beach, The Ginko Pod is in Cobalt Coastlands, the Diamond Pod is just off the Crimson Mirelands, and the Pearl clan lives in the icey waters around the Alabaster Icelands.

These 4 Pods visit their neighboring pods for trade and if they've formed friendships with other members, but the Diamond and Pearl pods are rivals and have been known to get territorial with each other.

Rei met Volo when they were both small and they became fast friends. Living on opposite sides of the island made it hard for them to see each other regularly but as they got older and better at swimming they started to be able to make that journey more and more.

Rei learning how to fly definitely helped and he eventually started to visit the Coastlands on a weekly basis.

Volo ditches work whenever Rei comes to visit him and it's pretty obvious to everyone they've got it pretty bad for each other. They never tell anyone they're dating but they can often be found cuddling with their tails entwined.

Volo becomes more and more interested in what's happening on land as he gets older and spends whatever spare time he can exploring it which is considered incredibly strange for a merpokemon.

Volo brings back many things he manages to get from the humans including clothing which he and Rei have fun figuring out how to wear.

Volo has some traumatic experiences with the humans he was getting stuff from and becomes angry. He doesn't understand why they aren't accepting of him or would want to hurt him. Rei becomes increasingly worried about him but after some time passes Volo seems to have put his anger with the humans behind him.

Volo asks Rei to help him collect these cool colorful plates he found out exist!! Rei is happy to help his boyfriend with this fun new hobby :))) Yippee!! Yay!!

It depends on how he wants to style it! Like human Volo and anyone else in PLA who goes to Arezu for the "Sinnoh Style" cut, it can be like that on land too. Underwater it would probably naturally flow around like anyone else's would unless he was wearing it in Sinnoh Style.

Volo would not have to stay wet at all times. Like a lot of Pokemon he's incredibly hardy! He would ideally spend at least part of the day in the water (or in a PokeBall if this is the Mer-Volo human Rei au) He would not be able to spend days at a time away from water or anything like that but spending the night on land wouldn't be a big deal.

If the mermaids in this au spend time dry on land they like to wear shirts to help keep them warm :) they don't have to, but it's comfortable for them.

[peccaberry]

"What do you mean tail, no haha that's just uh... Part of the dress! Newest bridal fashion, gotta love a fun trend! Haha... Two Phanpy Meals please, we both want the Togepi toy!"

[peccaberry]

merman volo in an inflatable kiddy pool

It is like a couch to him... 🥺

[peccaberry]

EEEE MERMAN AU 😭😭😭 ok but imagine it the other way around with human volo and merman rei. maybe rei would be part white striped basculin

I am so glad someone asked 🙏 I actually already had an idea for what Rei would be and I wanted to draw it!

In the reverse version I think Rei would be a Shiny Gyradoes and live in the lake of rage! This AU would be more in line with LOA and take place in the Hisuian timeline before Volo makes contact with Giratina.

Volo would hear rumors about a mythical Red Gyradoes that's said to live in the lake and be blessed by Arceus. Looking for any leads on how to get closer to Arceus, he would seek out the Red Gyradoes and capture it in a PokeBall with a backstrike when he sees it's tail poking out of the water.

Upon releasing it to further study it, he finds that it's not actually a full Gyradoes but a Mer-Gyradoes! Volo is amazed by this and excited because he is able to communicate with him and ask him questions about Arceus. The merman introduces itself as Rei and agrees to help, confirming it is a Pokemon blessed by Arceus and can try to help Volo find him.

(Rei is not told Volo's plan and only knows he is a human who's greatest dream is to meet Arceus in person)

Volo is also super thick and doesn't realize that Rei finds him attractive and has a crush on him. He's got that Arceus tunnel vision and isn't really paying attention to those cues.

They go on many adventures trying to find Arceus with what Rei remembers about him as a guide. It eventually becomes clear that Rei alone won't be enough to find Arceus and Rei is afraid Volo will discard him now that he's not going to be of any use in his mission.

Volo does not part with Rei because deep down he has begun to care for him a lot. He's not quite ready to admit just how much he does or the fact that it's romantic in nature to himself but he promises that one day they will meet Arceus together.

After this he manages to make the deal with Giratina and Rei becomes more and more troubled by how Volo is acting and the lengths he is going to. The Space-Time distortions are scary and causing all sorts of problems. A woman named Akari has fallen from the sky and Volo has become obsessed with the plates she's been finding.

The rest of PLA plays out with Rei remaining hidden from the other humans in Hisui. Volo loses to Akari on top of the mountain and after she leaves Volo lets Rei out of his Pokeball to confess what just happened and what his plans had been.

Rei is horrified to hear about what Volo had wanted to do and feels betrayed. He would have never wanted to help Volo if he had known he was going to try and erase the world to create a new one. Volo is clearly not doing well mentally and Rei considers just abandoning him on the mountain but can't bring himself to do it.

Rei approaches the part of the temple where Arceus can be summoned and prays for Arceus to show mercy to Volo and help him. Arceus listens to Rei's prayer and turns Volo into a mer-milotic. He tells Rei and Volo that Volo must reach the lake of rage by sunset or he will die. If he manages to reach the water he will never be able to leave it again for more than one hour per day or he will perish.

This effectively traps Volo in the lake of rage with Rei where he is never able to go and cause trouble again. Volo is angry about it for a long time but eventually forgives Rei and they become a couple.

Volo is never seen again by Akari or any of the other humans. People assume he fled the region or is in hiding. No one who ever knew Volo as a human ever learns the truth.

[peccaberry]

mer volo curiously exploring the inside of rei's house, while rei is busy or asleep volo pops out of his pokeball and wriggles his way about to look around

He immediately starts rummaging through all the drawers to look at random human shit. Rei hates it when he does that. (I can't imagine why)

[peccaberry]

Pfff he straight up caugh mer! Volo in a pokeball 😂 i suppose that does deal with the mobility on land issue, though I guess he can also slither around.

I'm assuming Mer-Volo would be able to get around decently well on land but he's very heavy and not very fast! Volo would be interested in using the PokeBall to circumvent these issues and travel without being seen by people who might freak out over the whole merman thing.

Rei would probably be looking for private places that Volo could be let out of his Pokeball to explore. He wouldn't exactly be able to go into restaurants and eat with Akari and Rei or anything like that but they would take any moments they could to let Volo experience things!

Some ideas:

They sneak Volo into the largest changing room they can find and sneak him clothing to try on. Akari snaps a bunch of photos and does his hair different ways for each outfit. Rei picks the clothes while they goof off and makes Akari send him the pics when they're done. (He sets his favorite one that doesn't have Volo's tail in frame as his phone background)

They take Volo to the outskirts of Floaroma town and find a part of the flower fields that is blocked off from view of other tourists so Volo can see the flowers.

They rent a hotel room and let Volo have his own bed so he can experience how humans live indoors for the day. He gets to watch Jubilife TV all day and keeps flushing the toilet because he thinks the private whirlpool humans keep in their living spaces is hilarious. They order delivery and Volo eats an entire pizza. Rei and Akari are both very impressed.

They take Volo to a section of Canalave Library no one else is in and let him out briefly to pick out a book. He can't read but Rei and Akari help tell him what each is about and he picks a book of Sinnoh pokemon myths with lots of pictures. When they get back to the campsite they are staying at Akari sits down and reads the book to Rei and Volo and they have a great time. Volo is very excited about the concept of books and wants to learn how to read so Akari and Rei start to teach him.

Volo gets to visit the beach for the first time and the gang has a beach episode. You know we had to do it to em

Feel free to comment with your own ideas! These were fun to think up!

[peccaberry]

*wet squeaky sounds as mer! Volo slithers across the smooth polished McDonphan's tile floors*

I honestly don't know if anyone would be genuinely fooled by Volo wearing a long wedding dress to try and cover up the fact he is half Pokemon but if you're at a fast food place the last thing you wanna do is get involved with some weirdo there. Like what would you even do at that point besides stare? Tell the workers? They're just as confused as you are.

[peccaberry]

Rei would have to explain to Volo that not everything he sees on the TV is actually really happening and that the Pokemon universe version of the Little Mermaid is not in fact a documentary 😂

He's probably trying to work out the logistics of what all you could trade your voice for and what the ideal trade would be for maximum power and Rei is just "YOU CAN'T DO ANY OF IT! NONE OF THIS IS REAL!"

Akari is eating popcorn next to them and egging Volo on. She thinks he should trade his voice for the upper body of a Milotic to see if he can reverse little mermaid it. Or even funnier the top half of a Gyradoes to confuse the hell out of people.

I think he would be curious about the idea of legs and how they would work but overall he'd be more like Ariel and just be fascinated with them. He would 100% be lying in bed with Rei and just poking at his legs like "whoa there's bones in there like an arm..." And Rei would be like my guy did you expect jelly 😂

Not since the baby gate was put up 😔✊ /jk

Volo would 100% break out to explore and be like

"no Rei I won't get into trouble I just want to-"

*crashing noise*

"Darling I need help with something..."

Rei: ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

He cannot be contained...

[peccaberry]

Hey I just wanted to give a quick shout out to that one (I am assuming it's the same person) very dedicated anon who keeps sending me asks for the mermaid Volorei au! I am getting all of them and I appreciate your engagement! I promise I'm not ignoring them and I love seeing your ideas!

I will, however, be waiting until after the ACD anniversary on March 14th to answer any of them since I'd like to focus all my energy towards that rn! I hope you'll be around to enjoy that as well! ❤️

[peccaberry]

Akari having to mop up Mer Volo's wet trails when he leaves his kiddy pool and wiggles over to the fridge to look for snacks 😭

Akari would yell at Volo to clean up his own damn trails because she is not his mother 😂

Rei walks in when they're having a stand off about it and just mops it up himself because he is the mother

Housewife Rei is real to me 🙏

[peccaberry]

Okay in the modern sinnoh setting mer volo au, is Cynthia a regular human or is she connected to cogita and volo somehow?

Cynthia is related to Cogita and Volo through the same lineage of Milotic with that recessive trait but is only part Mer-Milotic!

She is the result of a Merman and a human woman a few hundred years ago having a child together. The child ended up mostly human shaped with scaley legs and webbed feet. This happened pre-photography being invented and it was able to be hidden from most people.

From there that offspring line continued to breed with humans and all the Mer-traits disappeared throughout the generations. Besides some rumors of strange birth defects there was never really any public knowledge about it.

So yes they are distantly related in this au but Cynthia would not really count as a Mer-milotic. She doesn't even know about that lineage.

She sure would make a cute mermaid though!

[peccaberry]

I love how Rei catches mer Volo in a quick ball since it has the same colors as his merchant outfit in canon 😂

Oh my god you are completely right, I didn't even notice! Once again I am a genius completely by accident. I should really shut up and be like "yeah aren't I smart?" but no... It was a complete coincidence 😂

[peccaberry]

since the mervolo au is in the modern day i wonder who other characters would be there and if they'd be human or mer

Great question!!! I think that most of the other characters would be human with the exception of Cogita. She would also be Mer-Milotic and live in the lake with Volo.

Half-Pokemon in this AU would be hatched from normal pokemon eggs very rarely when a certain recessive gene is passed down from both parents. No one is certain how or why this happens.

The only other member of the original PLA cast I have so far is Cogita. She would have come from the same lineage of Milotic as Volo! She lives in the same lake although she is much less curious about the human world. She's a standard Mer-milotic and not shiny.

Cogita and Volo existing at the same time is very unlikely given how rare it is for this to happen but they both stick together out of solidarity (no matter how annoying Cogita finds Volo 😂)

[peccaberry]

What if Merman! Volo couldn't speak English at first? Maybe he speaks a strange unknown mer language. Or going by the "part pokemon" thing what if he just says "volo! volo volo!" pfffff 😂 over time though, Rei teaches him how to speak English using books and TV, and he's eager to learn quickly.

Volo 100% would start going "Volo Volo!" Just to annoy Rei. Like one day he just wakes up and pretends he has no idea how to speak human language and Rei is absolutely losing his mind trying to get him to say anything else, becoming more and more uncertain if Volo is messing with him or not as the day goes on.

Eventually Akari has to separate the two of them and scolds Volo for being an asshole. Volo then calmly speaks in the human language asking Akari what she means and then Rei loses it and breaks through Akari to try and fight him.

Rei is no match for someone who is half Pokemon so it's more or less just Rei not even being able to budge Volo as he tries to wrestle him to the ground. Volo laughs at him the whole time and kisses him on the nose when Rei gets too tired to continue.

Tl;dr Volo finds a stupid way to get Rei's attention for an entire day.

The next day Volo hunts and kills a fish pokemon and leaves it at the foot of Rei's bedroom door as an apology snack.

Somehow this does not make Rei feel much happier but he appreciates the effort.

[peccaberry]

I wonder if half-Pokemon mermaids could use Pokemon special moves too.

I think they would be able to! I think Mer-Rei would be able to fly like a Gyradoes and use any of the moves it could learn. For something like Bite it would be hilarious to watch but it would work. They would also be much stronger than a human (even in their upper halves) depending on how strong the Pokemon they are half of is.

I would assume that they would be able to talk to Pokemon and form friendships with them if they get along well! (Or make enemies 😂)

[peccaberry]

Just so you guys are aware I am seeing the asks that are coming in for the Volorei Merman AU and I appreciate you sending them! I'm gonna take my time answering them and drawing stuff for them when possible but I probably won't be able to do super detailed art like I have been (if I do art for it at all). They will all be answered though! Appreciate the interaction so much 😭 ❤️❤️❤️ I'm having a really good time