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sage-nebula · 4 years ago

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I saw the tags on that one ask about Leon and (forgive me if you’ve talked about it before) could you tell me a bit about AlanxLeon? I’m all for new ships and this one intrigues me! Do you have ideas for how they’d meet, would they get along right away, that sort of thing? What’s their general dynamic cause I’ve never considered it as a ship before! (And again if you’ve already explained this somewhere I’m sorry)

Oh, for sure! I have written something up about it before, but honestly I can’t be fussed to go find it now (and I’m not sure I’d still be happy with it anyway), so I’ll just go ahead and give a quick overview. Feel free to ask questions like this any time, I love answering them. :)

So, the basics:

— The Pokémon timeline has been pretty nebulous in recent years and I’m not entirely sure where the Galar story is supposed to fall in relation to the Kalos story, and even setting that aside, I’m using game!Leon rather than anime!Leon despite using Alan, so I’m just throwing any official timelines right out the window. For the purpose of this headcanon, Alan and Leon would meet when they’re both in their early twenties or so, maybe around 22 - 23. Both are Champions of their respective regions, with Alan having become Champion at age 16, while Leon of course became Champion at age 10.

— I imagine they would know each other as online acquaintances (so to speak) before they met in person. I’ve talked a bit about it before, but I imagine all the Champions of the different regions having a private messenger that they use to communicate with each other (that was originally set up for international business, but quickly devolved into a messenger for friends), and so Alan and Leon would know each other a bit through the messenger if nothing else. When they did finally meet in person I imagine it would be in Galar, either for a tournament of some kind, or because Alan was meeting up with Sonia, perhaps to discuss their findings on Mega Evolution energy and Dynamax Particles and how the two relate. (Alan’s not a professor full-time, of course, but he’s still a research-loving nerd and would relay this information back to Sycamore.) Or, better yet, maybe Alan went to Galar in order to meet with Sonia, ran into Leon at her lab, and Leon invited Alan to participate in a tournament that was going to be held in a few days’ time so that they could battle each other, Charizard trainer vs. Charizard trainer. Something like that. And since Alan never turns down a challenge, he accepted.

— My thought is: Leon wins the battle they have in the tournament, albeit narrowly. However, at some point after that they have a race through the skies on the backs of their respective dragons, and Alan wins the race (because a race on dragonback is not as much about speed as it is about the coordination between the human and their dragon, as if one soul in two bodies, looking as one in the sky). Neither is put-out by their respective losses; rather, they’re inspired by the other’s skill, and it drives them to one to improve their own.

— Conversation comes rather naturally, because they have a lot in common. They’re both Charizard trainers, for starters. They both love battling and a challenge in equal measure. They both like traveling and exploring new places. They’ve both got younger siblings who greatly admire them (although Manon isn’t related to Alan by blood). They’re both protective of their homes and the people in them, and both know what it is to have responsibility foisted on your shoulders when you didn’t ask for it, but also what it is to be unable to put that down because you can’t stand to let down the people who depend on you.

— Of course, they don’t talk about the heavy stuff at first. There are enough light topics to keep them talking for a while, which is especially surprising when you consider that Alan is not much of a talker. At some point during this trip (perhaps before or after the race) Leon takes Alan out to explore the wild area, and they have a really great time . . . only Leon has no idea where he’s going and Alan has never been there before, so they get lost. Alan pulls out his GPS, but Leon waves it away and convinces Alan that the journey is way more fun than the destination and they’ll make it back eventually. Alan begrudgingly agrees, but his exasperation fades as he once again gets taken with how beautiful the wild area is. (Plus, Lizardon is flying overhead with Leon’s Charizard, and if Lizardon is having a good time, Alan is having a good time.)

— They camp out since they don’t make it back before dark, and while Leon invites Alan into his tent, Alan prefers to sleep outside under Lizardon’s wing. Really, that’s his legitimate preference. The third or fourth time they go camping, Leon decides to ditch the tent as well and try things Alan’s way with his own Charizard, and finds that he prefers it, too. (Note that this might not be within the same span of time as that initial trip; probably they only camped out the one night, then Alan had to return to Kalos the next morning. But since they were friends they kept in contact more regularly and started meeting up, especially since Galar and Kalos are very close to each other.)

— I imagine things developing pretty naturally; they have fun together and find ease in each other’s presence. The main problem is that Alan has never had a crush on anyone before (he’s 99.9% certain he’s aroace at this point) and is usually oblivious when people have crushes on him, and Leon’s past romances have been with people who were good at picking up on signals and didn’t need things spelled out (e.g. Raihan). So what happens is that Leon keeps dropping lots of hints that he’s interested in Alan, but Alan doesn’t respond in a way that reciprocates interest, and so Leon is pretty sure Alan is not interested and that stalls things for a while. It’s not until Sonia and Raihan both tell Leon to just go for it and be direct that things change, and when they do, they do for the awkward at first, and then the better.

— The TL;DR is: Alan tells Leon that he’s never felt attraction—romantic or otherwise—toward anyone before. He fumbles over the labels because they’re still pretty new to him (he didn’t know things like aromanticism and asexuality even existed until the previous year), but he explains it best he can. He does say, though, that he really enjoys spending time with Leon, and wants to spend more time with him, so he hopes this doesn’t ruin anything. Leon’s an easygoing guy, to be honest, and really accepting, so he says of course! He understands. But he is interested in Alan, and wanted Alan to know that, and perhaps they could just feel things out for a while to see how they go. Alan hesitantly agrees, but warns Leon not to expect anything big to change. And Leon’s okay with that.

— So for the next while (weeks? months?) they talk and hang out as normal. Of course they can’t always hang out—actual meetups have been rare for them given their differing regions and responsibilities. But they still talk regularly, they meet up like they did before, and in the midst of all this Alan does a lot of research on the aromantic / asexual spectrum, if anyone on that spectrum has ever been in a relationship before, what it’s like, etc. He keeps all of this to himself and Lizardon (Lizardon Knows All), but he reads a lot of different material on the subject, from academic writings to forum posts to personal accounts in both book and blog form. What he comes to learn is that being demiromantic is a thing, and it’s possible for aspec people to be in “queer platonic partnerships,” which are when it’s more than friendship but not quite a romantic relationship either. He doesn’t really understand the difference, but it’s a start. And once he has that down, that leads to him trying to sort out what he feels about Leon, which basically amounts to a lot of talking at Lizardon about it. (Like, Lizardon is listening and offers input if Alan wants input, but he also knows when Alan just needs someone to vent to or think out loud at and he’s a very good listener during those times. And to be fair, Alan is always there when the roles need to be reversed, too.)

— And what basically comes out from that is that the next time they’re together, Alan ends up telling Leon that he still doesn’t know where he’s at on the whole situation, he doesn’t know what to label himself exactly, but he does know that he really likes Leon and he thinks that, over the past five or six months or so, he’s come to like Leon as more than just a friend, perhaps, and that he’d be willing to try being more than that. He’s pretty flustered, given that this is entirely new territory for him, and honestly Leon thinks it’s kind of cute, especially since Alan is usually so in control of his emotions and on top of things, so without really thinking Leon leans over and just gives him a soft kiss on the lips. Completely chaste, doesn’t last that long, but is still a shock to Alan’s system.

“How’s that?” Leon asks.

Alan can feel his face turning red. “Not . . . bad.”

Leon grins. “Just not bad?”

“For now,” Alan says, the light of challenge in his eyes.

— By now, though, Leon knows Alan well enough to know that Alan is pretty much forcing that challenge, and will probably need to take things very slow, and that’s fine with him. So for the next while (again, weeks or maybe months, especially since they can’t see each other too often) they just do things like, maybe Leon casually takes Alan’s hand when they’re out in public, or sits close to him on the couch when they watch a movie, maybe shifting juuust enough so Alan can lean against his chest. Maybe Leon just puts a little kiss in Alan’s hair before they turn in for the night. Maybe Lizardon “accidentally” lays much closer to Leon’s Charizard than normal when they’re out camping one night so that Alan and Leon are right next to each other and is then “sleeping too deeply” to move back, and suddenly Leon’s Charizard is also just “too exhausted to move” so whoops, looks like the human boys have no choice but to sleep so close they’re basically touching, can’t be helped :)

— (Lizardon might also at one point use Alan’s DexNav+ to try to send Leon a flirty message on Alan’s behalf since Alan is really, really bad at flirting, but the thing about Charizard claws and tiny keyboards is that they don’t go very well together, so what Leon actually got was a lot of random keysmashes with random emoji sprinkled about. Basically:

What Lizardon tried to send: miss you!! ♥♥ want to see you soon :) ♥ :*

What Lizardon actually sent: kmfd udhf@!23 [taco emoji] [star emoji] qht so arrt yhoi son;lk; [bomb emoji] [taco emoji] [bug emoji]

— So essentially, they take things slow and casual and never really put too much of a label on it, although it becomes mutually understood at some point that they are in a relationship, and Leon does refer to Alan as his boyfriend, and Alan refers to Leon as his . . . (this is where he usually stalls out because he doesn’t know what phrasing he wants to use. He can’t use “partner” because that’s what he calls Lizardon. He’s not sure if saying “boyfriend” would be right though, since he’s ace. What’s he supposed to say? What’s the right thing here? Lizardon has been platonic soulmates with Alan since he hatched and he is still just amazed at how much Alan can get caught up in overthinking things sometimes. Also, Leon is no help here, because when Alan asks him, Leon’s answer is, “call me whatever you’re comfortable with” and that does not help Alan’s overthinking brain at all, let me tell you.)

— I also want to note, though, that as easy as their relationship goes, they do talk about deeper subjects with each other as well. Leon took to Alan as quickly as he did because Alan treats Leon like Leon; he knows that Leon is the Champion of Galar, obviously, and they are rivals of a sort, but also Leon being Champion doesn’t hold any significant weight to Alan. Alan would treat Leon the same if he quit being Champion tomorrow (or was never Champion at all) as he does now. Leon can just be himself around Alan in ways that he can only be with very few others (namely Raihan and Sonia, and Nessa to a lesser extent), which is really freeing to him. Likewise, because Leon is someone that is on Alan’s level, Alan doesn’t feel like he has to protect Leon, that he has to keep his own struggles from him or be on the lookout for any dangers to him. He can relax and have fun with Leon the way he can’t with others in his life, because he worries over and feels responsible for their safety (physical or emotional). So in that way, their relationship is freeing to both of them.

— Additionally, as I mentioned before, they can relate to each other on what it feels like to have that weight put on their shoulders at young ages (10 for Leon, and while Alan officially became Champion at 16, he entered Lysandre’s service at age 13 and was made to feel responsible for Sycamore’s safety at the very least at that age, not to mention the greater good he was allegedly working toward). They both feel like they carry the necessary burden of protecting not just their loved ones, but their entire regions on their shoulders, and that it’s a burden they can’t put down, not without knowing for sure someone else could reliably take it up—and even then, could they really go far? What if something happened? What if they had to be there? On top of all this, while the situations were pretty different (Rose wasn’t evil like Lysandre, for one thing; he was just severely misguided, to put it nicely), they also both know what it feels like to be roped into something against their will because of the machinations of others. Again, it was different; Lysandre used Alan for years while lying to and deceiving him, and did so in a way that deliberately destroyed his home and also threatened genocide on everyone on the planet. Meanwhile, Rose mostly kept Leon out of it, only asking him to get involved once it was time to call upon Eternatus, and Leon didn’t even necessarily say no, he just said not now, and Rose was mostly just like “nah, time’s up beech” and did it anyway. But on the other hand, Leon worked with Rose in the League for ~10 years at least, versus the 2 years that Alan was with Lysandre, so. Again, it’s different, but there are similarities and they can get how each other feels with that. And in that, they can help each other, because they’re much better at saying “no, that wasn’t your fault” when it’s someone else they’re saying it to, so with them saying that to each other, well . . . it helps.

— And that’s mostly all I’ve got! The only other little tidbit I’d add is that Manon and Hop have a sort of instant rivalry the moment they meet, because they’re both their respective brother’s biggest fans, and so they pretty much immediately lapse into “my big brother would crush your big brother in a battle” the moment they meet despite being about 17 or 18 years old at this point. But of course, well . . .

What Manon & Hop expect to happen: Alan & Leon compete to see who’s better

What actually happens: Alan & Leon kiss each other better

Manon & Hop:

#pokemon #champion leon #champion alan #of course Manon & Hop are supportive but also . . . neither foresaw this #esp Manon #''I THOUGHT YOU WEREN'T INTERESTED IN ANYONE''#''Yeah so did I''#''SO WHAT HAPPENED???''#[shrug]#''THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER ALAN!!!''#Anonymous #also - me: ''this will be quick & short!''#something like 45 minutes later . . . smh #I ALWAYS do this #I am That Bitch & I will be That Bitch forever it seems #anyway #alaleo

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thaisibir · 5 years ago

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La Vie en Rose (Bede and young!Opal time travel fic)

La Vie en Rose (Life in Pink) Rating: T (for character deaths and language) Chapter 8/10 - Searching For Pink (length: ~7k words) Summary: Bede doesn’t get why that loony old bat Opal wants him to be the next Fairy-type Gym Leader. To help him understand, Opal has Celebi take Bede back to the time of her youth.

(For other chapters, look up the tag “pokemon la vie en rose” or go to my profile)

When Opal returned to Ballonlea Town to bury Roger and Jasper, she didn’t take time off from her Gym Leader responsibilities or close the theatre. She kept both open, showed up promptly as she always did, and carried on as if she didn’t carry the weight of grief on her shoulders.

Bede knew, however, that her facade fell apart every time she stepped foot inside her house. Her smooth brow and stiff upper lip would crumple, then her Pokemon would run up to her so she could hold on to them for support.

“The hardest part of the day is coming back to an empty house,” she whispered to them.

Empty as in no more Roger and Jasper. The Pokemon were always around, but she would no longer see her husband working on scripts over the dinner table, or hear her son’s laughter fill the house.

“I suppose I better get right on to clearing out their things,” she said, and at that, her eyes filled up with tears.

Opal emptied the closet of Roger’s ties and suits, Jasper’s little shirts, sweaters, and pants. Boxes of toys and picture books became boxes destined for donation. Bede wanted nothing more than to help her—just as he had done for a much older Opal when she desperately needed to clear up the clutter in her house—but being a traveler from another time, all he could do was stand by and watch helplessly as frequent pauses to collect herself and choke back sobs kept Opal from working as efficiently as she could have.

She didn’t clear out everything from the house. She couldn’t bring herself to toss out Roger’s incomplete scripts. Instead she kept them in a plain, unlabeled binder which would sit next to her mother’s manual on Fairy type Pokemon. She stripped the nightstands, counters, and walls of framed snapshots of her family. Pulling the pictures out of their frames and compiling them into stacks, without regard for any sort of order, Opal tucked them away deep in the attic. Bede knew that she wouldn’t be seeing those photos in a long, long time, until he would stumble on them by accident.

“She’s cleaning up the evidence,” Bede said to Celebi, “like she’s trying to wipe out any sign that Roger and Jasper were ever here.”

He wasn’t speaking out of judgment. He knew where she was coming from. When his parents fell behind on their debts, and literally couldn’t afford to support him anymore, they dumped him at the orphanage. The hand-made clothes they left him, their attempt to give him something to remember them by, were insult to injury. The first thing Bede did was chuck his clothes in the dumpster, so that the caregivers at the orphanage had to give him new ones, and he did not talk to anyone for a week.

Once Opal ended the taxing, thankless task and ruefully rubbed at her aching back, she went outside to spend the rest of the night smoking from her armbench. That became her new evening habit. Smoking. No more reading bedtime stories to Jasper. No more bouncing ideas with Roger as he labored over writing a new play.

Holding Celebi’s hand, Bede was taken through a sad, bleak timelapse as Opal sank deep into her smoking habit, burning through up to three packs of cigarettes a day, all from her armbench, and contributing significant weight gain to her Weezing, which ate up the smoky air she’d make. Bede sat down beside her, and though he wouldn’t call himself a hugger, he wanted to give her one now. A frown seemed to set deep into her face, like etching on a stone, and her hooded, unfocused eyes didn’t register the forest’s charm and beauty surrounding her.

One early evening, Randall arrived at her house by car—the same car she had taken to see him at Wynwall. His arrival took her by surprise, but only for a moment, and her eyes returned to distant dullness.

“Evening, Opal.” He tipped off his tophat to her in greeting, then knelt down to her sitting level and took her hands. “How are you doing?”

“Randy, what are you doing here?” She didn’t answer his question. Trying to dodge either an obvious lie or the hard truth, Bede guessed.

Her twin brother made a small smile. “I thought you ought to be the first one to know. Rather than giving you a call or sending you mail, I ought to tell you in person.” The smile lingered on his lips, like good news sat on the tip of his tongue, and when he paused for effect, Opal beat him to it.

“You have a date for the wedding, don’t you? And I’m invited?”

Delight lit up his face. “Why, yes. Sharp as always, Opal. I figured you would know.” Guilt flickered in his bright blue gaze as he turned it from her face to her hands. “I...I almost didn’t want to tell you, because...well...” He trailed off as he stared at the healing scar on her right hand.

With her left, Opal gripped his shoulder. “Congratulations, Randy. Really. All my best wishes for you and your fiancee. I appreciate you coming to tell me yourself. Whenever that wedding is, I’ll be there. What kind of sister can’t come to her own brother’s wedding?” Her smile told Bede of a brave, sincere attempt to muster happiness for Randall despite the grief she wallowed in.

He stood up and turned to sit on the bench beside her, and Bede was quick enough to move out of the way. “There’s something else I need to tell you, too. Marion wants me to move to Kalos with her after we get married. I...I’m thinking of selling the family estate in the process. I wanted to run that through you before I do that.”

“You’ve been in charge of that place for the past five years now. My home is here in Ballonlea, not at Wynwall. Not anymore, not for a long time, anyway. You don’t need my approval.” She tilted her head at him. “I feel like there’s another reason you’re thinking about that, even without your fiancee’s conditions.”

Randall nodded. “The Rose family gets more rich and powerful with each year,” he admitted. “They’re talking big plans—renovating Wynwall from the ground up, mining the region for new sources of energy, and of course, repurposing the Gyms for Dynamax battles.”

“Oh yes, I’ve heard,” Opal said. “My Gym’s next for reconstruction soon.”

“It’s just me against an entire family of businessmen, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs. I can’t keep up against them,” Randall went on. “Better to bow out now on friendly terms than go on to become bitter competitors and fight a losing battle. Besides, I fall in love with Kalos more and more every time I visit. It’s time to set my sights on a new land and a new life.”

“Your heart is leading you somewhere else. You should follow it.”

He smiled at her. “I’m beginning to understand why you left Wynwall and came here all those years ago.”

“I wouldn’t trade Ballonlea Town for any other place in the world,” Opal murmured. She stared off in the direction of the trail leading to the cemetery, where her spouse and child were buried.

Randall followed her gaze for a few moments before he went on, “I didn’t come here alone. When I released all the servants from my service, I made sure that they found work or retirement. Most chose to be transferred to the Rose family estate, but there are exceptions.” He gestured at the car, and Bede recognized the elderly gentleman who stepped out.

“Winston,” Opal exclaimed.

He bowed at her, then straightened up with an awkward tug at his collar. “My apologies, ma’am. No longer being a butler will take a considerable amount of adjustment.”

“Winston wanted to move to Ballonlea,” Randall said to Opal. “Proper retirement doesn’t suit him quite yet, so he’d like to work at the mart in the Pokemon Center, or at the inn, or the Dancing Impidimp. You know, somewhere that would benefit from his services. I approved the idea wholeheartedly. I thought you might appreciate having a familiar face around here.”

Opal didn’t quite smile at Winston. Having her family cruelly ripped away had also taken away her ability to properly smile and laugh for five years now. Despite that, fondness for the former butler still showed through her tone. “You are more than welcome to stay. I’ll look forward to seeing you wherever you’ll be working.”

Randall rose from the armbench, tucking the tophat under his arm. “Well, Opal, I’m delighted to hear that you’ll be coming to the wedding.” He froze midway in turning around, and returned to face her. “Ah, I almost forgot. I...” He cleared his throat. “I visited him in prison. He’s wondering if you’ll...” Randall trailed off, unable to finish.

Opal shook her head. “No,” she said in a low, tight voice. “I don’t know if I ever will.”

“I see. I’ll give him my regards the next time I see him, then.”

Bede was sharp enough to figure out that they were talking about Kestrel, who wondered if Opal would ever come visit him. The way they dodged about uttering his name told of how cut off he still was from the family. It had been five years since Roger and Jasper died, so Kestrel was halfway through his sentence. Bede doubted that Opal would ever want to see him around Ballonlea Town again, if he would be released in the next five years.

With a gentle hold of Bede’s hands, Celebi pulled him forward in time to the day that Opal and Randall bid each other farewell at the Wynwall airport.

Randall’s newly wedded wife from Kalos, along with his Pyroar and Boltund, stood respectfully to the side as the siblings shared a tight, long hug.

“Will you really be all right by yourself?” Randall asked.

With her chin on his shoulder, Opal mustered a smile. “I’ve already told you a hundred times, Randy. I’m not alone. I have my Pokemon. They’re—”

“Your family, I know.” He pulled back to hold her at arms’ length and return her smile. “I’ll try to call and write to you as often as I can.”

“Likewise.” Opal beckoned at Randall’s wife to come up, and she held their hands. “Go make the most of your marriage for me, okay? I know I already said this at the wedding, but I want you two to love each other with each day to the fullest. Smile at the smallest things and laugh at each other’s corny jokes. Never go to bed angry. You never know when you’ll wake up and find that it’s too late to say sorry.”

Grief and loss had given Opal weighted wisdom beyond women of her age. Looking at her brother and sister in-law, she was probably trying her hardest to recollect her own newlywed giddiness with Roger. She tried to end on a happier, more hopeful note. “If you ever plan on starting a family, I want to be the first to know.”

Randall pulled her into another hug, tears thick in his eyes. “My big sister, always leaving behind advice more valuable than pearls and golden nuggets.” He chuckled and wiped at his tears. “This is the best advice you’ve given me so far. Every other one was about warning me to stay out of trouble.”

“You better keep a close eye on him, Marion,” Opal said as she winked at his wife. “He used to be quite the troublemaker when he and I were little. He didn’t listen to me about shaving all the hair off our father’s Pyroar, and that earned him a spanking of the century.” She chuckled in what must have been the first time in a long time as Randall sputtered in embarrassment, and Marion put a hand to her mouth in mock horror.

Bede didn’t get to hear more of the conversation as he felt Celebi’s fluttering touch and warm light.

Brought back inside Opal’s house, he jumped at the sound of something scattering all over the floor. Something like heavy papers. He peeked into the kitchen to find that Opal had swept a stack of mail off her table. They fell like dead autumn leaves. One letter she had unfolded trembled in her hand, then it crumpled under her grip and she flung it down.

“Are you kidding me?” She burst out. “They could’ve told me in person, or at the very least with a phone call. Not through fucking mail!”

Bede flinched and pressed himself against the wall as she paced between the kitchen and living room swearing up a storm. At Celebi’s prompting, he crept over to the scattered letters and lowered himself on all fours to peer at the one Opal had been holding.

It was legible, and not too crumpled, for him to make out the fine print addressed to Opal from the Wynwall Correctional Institute. He pulled back in shock, almost hitting the back of his head against the tabletop right behind him. “Kestrel hung himself in prison.”

There came a loud, heavy crash as Opal flipped over the coffee table in the living room. Bede ducked under the dining table, hugging Celebi to his chest. He wasn’t alone in his fear of this unhinged Opal. Her and Roger’s Pokemon nearby made no effort to hide it. Alcremie ducked behind a partly open kitchen cabinet door. Mawile fixed its large jaws on the legs of a wooden chair. Togekiss hunched over the sofa, its white feathers puffed out and eyes scrunched shut. Mightyena and Obstagoon pulled back their ears and let out strained growls.

Opal knotted her hair into both fists and sank into the living room sofa with a scream. Her hands slid down to cover her face and she went silent for a while. Finally she lowered her hands to reveal wet cheeks, and horror plain in her eyes, as she took in the mess she had wrought in her house and the Pokemon cowering before her.

“Oh...oh, my darlings, my dears...I’m so sorry.”

Togekiss was the first to approach her by settling into her lap and pressing its soft weight against her. The other Pokemon were quick to join in as Opal held out her arms to welcome them into her embrace.

“I’m terribly sorry to give you all such a fright,” she murmured. “I never thought I’d trash the house and act out like this. I feel like Roger and Jasper took away the best parts of me when they died. You have the misfortune of dealing with the mess I’ve been.” Opal tightened her arms around Togekiss, pressing her cheek against its white feathers. “I was supposed to visit my brother today, you see, but just before I could, that letter from the prison came. Back in Wynwall, when Randy told me that Roger and Jasper had died, I told Kes that I would kill him. And I did.”

Something in her must have snapped that day. That news of her brother’s death was the straw that broke the Camerupt’s back. Since that day, her Gym challenge became a merciless one-sided Gym throwdown.

Bede remembered Opal being always consoling and encouraging to challengers who would lose against her. But here and now, in the darkest time of her life, she would do no such thing for any kid unlucky enough to set foot in her Gym. She spared no time nor mercy for the challengers whose Pokemon were beaten to the ground and League dreams were dashed. She kept a stern tightness about her face and posture, both hands clenched and white over the handle of her parasol. She would make no move or show of sympathy to tears of defeat and humiliation. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Matches against Opal lost their entertainment value. They became plain painful to look at. Rumors and gossip spread like wildfire among spectators.

“Poor kids. They run out of this Gym absolutely crushed.”

“Poor Opal. She’s being like this to the kids because she lost her husband and son.”

“That’s terrible, don’t get me wrong. But if you ask me, I don’t think she should be running the Gym with the way she is now.”

“I can’t watch these matches anymore. No one’s having fun.”

“I heard that the League’s going to do something about that. About her.”

Something or someone had to step in and correct her streak of ruthlessness—Bede hated to admit it, but he had to agree. She was showing no signs of stopping herself, no signs of veering off the self-destructive path she was blazing on. He saw himself, his own pain and rage, in Opal. He wanted to be the one to reach out and stop her before she destroyed herself.

“Of course, in the bid for regional championship, you give it your all and show off your true strength,” Opal once told Bede over tea and scones. “But as a Gym Leader facing challengers with stars in their eyes and dreams flying to the moon, there’s a fine balance between testing and nurturing their potential. You don’t want to be a pushover, but you don’t want to be impossible, either.”

“Sounds tricky,” Bede had said, and that made her smirk behind her teacup.

“It’s an art, my boy, one I know you have what it takes to master.”

Bede had the benefit of coming from the future to know that Opal would return to the art of being a good Gym Leader again. But how?

His question was answered when a black-haired teenage boy stepped up to challenge Opal. Though that boy wore the neutral-colored jersey, he was ablaze with boldness and determination as he sent out an entire team of Fire type Pokemon against her.

The fall of his Arcanine, Torkoal, and Ninetales left him with only Centiskorch, but this didn’t seem to deter him.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Ms. Opal, but your reputation doesn’t scare me,” the teen declared. “You’ve been giving plenty of challengers a hard time. I’ll do my best to turn the tables on you!”

She didn’t respond with a jaunty smile and a witty comeback, as she usually did during matches. While the boy’s eyes were alight with the thrill of battle, hers were dark with bitter anger. She too was down to her last Pokemon—something that Bede and the audience hadn’t seen in a while. Her tightened lips only loosened as she barked orders at Alcremie to attack.

“Alcremie, use Draining Kiss!”

“Here it comes, Centiskorch. Counter with Fire Lash!”

“Alcremie, Acid Armor! Take whatever move’s coming next and get that health back with Draining Kiss!”

The Gym challenger put up a good fight. He set the whole stadium on fire with his tenacity and spirit. Bede could feel it singe the tips of his hair and his skin.

In the end, however, Opal’s experience won out. Against her Alcremie bulked up on its defense, plus her favorite move, the health-sapping Draining Kiss, Centiskorch couldn’t last. Its long body hit the ground with a heavy, undulating thud. The boy took his defeat hard. He sank to his knees and his gaze dropped to the stadium floor. A rousing applause from the spectators jerked him out of his stupor. He staggered to his feet and blinked in a stupefied daze at the show of support for him. Of all the Trainers who challenged the Ballonlea Gym since the loss of Opal’s family, this scrawny kid came the closest to defeating her.

He probably didn’t know that, though. He continued to look glum as he emerged from the Gym after a change of clothes. He was still crying, and he stopped every few steps to wipe his face on his sleeve.

He was about to cross the bridge that connected the Gym to the rest of Ballonlea Town when a slide of the automatic doors revealed Opal.

“You there,” she called to him, “remind me of your name again?”

He whirled around, then dried his face with one more wipe of his sleeve before replying. “It’s Kabu, ma’am.”

“Oh, I thought he looked familiar,” Bede exclaimed to Celebi. “I should’ve guessed from all the Fire type Pokemon he had.”

Opal approached him and jerked her head toward the path opposite of the cottages. “Come take a walk with me, Kabu. You don’t seem like you’re from around here. You should check out how beautiful these trails are. They’re the pride of this town.”

Kabu obliged, clutching at the towel about his neck while jogging up to her. Once he caught up, he matched her stride.

“I guess you’re from Hoenn?” She asked.

The look he gave her was wide with surprise. “How did you know?”

“My husband was from Hoenn. It’s the accent. That’s how I could tell.” Opal shot him a curious glance. “What do you plan on doing now?”

“I was thinking about heading back to my home region since I lost.” Kabu kicked a pebble out of the way, his eyes downcast. “I’ve grown to really like it here. I was hoping to stay in Galar.”

“You may have lost against me, kid, but don’t give up on your Pokemon League dreams just yet. You’ve got potential. Gym Leader potential.”

Kabu almost lurched to a halt in disbelief. “I-I have what?”

“You heard me right.” Opal looked him up and down. “You’re not the one I’m looking for. You’re not pink enough. No, you’re...red. A fiery, indomitable red. The kind of red that refuses to be extinguished, like a fire that doesn’t want to be put out. That was some match we just had back there. You almost gave me a run for my money, you know.” She turned her attention back to the trail ahead of her and resumed walking. “Do you always use Fire type Pokemon?”

“I try to, even though it’d make more sense to have a balance of types. Still, I want to be a Fire type specialist.”

“I see. Then I’ll put in a good word for you to Oswald, the Gym Leader in Motostoke.” She aimed a smirk at him. “He’s hard to impress, but I know that you’ll win him over with your passion, plus a little help from me. I hate to see talent being wasted. You’ll put it to good use through training with good old Oswald, I’m sure.”

“You...you’re endorsing me even after I had lost?” Kabu bowed low at the waist before her. “Ms. Opal, thank you very much for your support.” He lifted his head and tears dotted the corners of his eyes. “How can I ever repay you?”

She smiled. “You already have, Kabu.”

Opal returned to the Gym stadium, which had been cleared of spectators since she had finished her match with Kabu. With both hands propped more loosely over the handle of her parasol, she took in the space and silence of the empty stadium.

“That was quite the match,” boomed a man’s voice from above. “You had me at the edge of my seat, Opal.”

She looked up and smirked. “Oh. It’s you.”

Standing not too far away from her, Bede gasped. “Celebi, I know that guy!”

As someone who was hell bent on becoming a Champion, he had taken it upon himself to know about every past Champion of the Galar region. Of course he knew the man perched on the spectators’ bench. He had just never seen the man in his younger years.

Mustard, the reigning Champion before Leon, jumped nimbly into the arena, followed by his two Urshifus. He straightened up to his full height, which turned out to be a head shorter than Opal. Nonetheless, the strength and confidence emanating from him was palpable to Bede.

Opal quirked a long dark eyebrow. “You didn’t come just to watch things heat up in here, did you?”

Mustard stuffed both hands into the pockets of his green jacket. “Well, no,” he admitted. “I’m here on League orders. You’ve sent enough kids running home crying to get the League’s attention, and not in a good way. I was supposed to warn you if you didn’t let up.”

“Warn me of what? Of being relieved from my Gym Leader post?”

Mustard put up his hands before returning them inside the pockets. “Hey, the committee takes care of all that stuff. I’m just the messenger.”

She smirked. “You were going to warn me with a battle, weren’t you?”

He winked at her. “You know me so well.” He cracked his knuckles. “I don’t talk things out—I fight them out, with my Pokemon!”

“Oh, so you want a match now?” Opal’s hand flitted to the Poke balls strapped to her belt. “Very well. I’m having my best winning streak yet. Maybe this time I got a shot at knocking the Champion off his pedestal.”

Mustard belted out a hearty laugh. “Don’t count on it, Opal. I don’t plan on breaking my winning streak, especially to you.” He chose his rapid style strike Urshifu to take on the first Pokemon Opal sent out: Weezing.

With its telekinesis, Celebi pulled Bede up to safety on the spectator benches. The stadium became alive again with the clash of opposing Pokemon and their attacks. Bede realized that at this point in time, forty something year-old Opal was like the Raihan of her day—a force to be reckoned with, the best among the Gym Leaders, and a worthy rival to the Champion. She was good, but not good enough to beat Mustard.

Despite the type disadvantage, and half the amount of Pokemon, Mustard ultimately won the upper hand and defended his Champion title. Even at Gigantamax proportions, Opal’s Alcremie fell in defeat to blows from his single style strike Urshifu. She withdrew her fainted Pokemon into its ball and handled her loss with a graceful nod.

“You still got it.”

“So do you,” Mustard said. “This is the closest match we’ve had yet.”

Opal hooked the ball containing her ace Pokemon back to her belt. “You know, Mustard, fighting that kid Kabu today reminded me of why I love being a Gym Leader. Finding kids with talent, and lifting them up to fulfill their potential, is a reward in of itself. I used to live for that, but I lost sight of it after Roger and Jasper...” Opal looked away. “Losing my son that young...he was only five. He never got the chance to turn ten and become a Trainer and have his own Pokemon. Meanwhile there are kids running around the region, set loose by their mums and dads to go on all sorts of adventures. Those kids probably don’t know how good they got it, how lucky and blessed they are to just be alive.” Her eyes grew wetter the more she blinked. “That felt so unfair. I would get so angry when I think about it. I took out my anger on all those poor kids coming to challenge my Gym. They didn’t deserve that. I want to tell them sorry for being a bad Gym Leader.”

Mustard closed the gap between them in a few strides and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Opal, you’re not a bad Gym Leader. You’re a damn good one who’s been through hell. I’ve never married, never had kids, so you’re going through pain I can’t even begin to imagine. What I do know is that sometimes it helps to take a step back and take a breather for a bit. Get a few days off from the Gym. Get some rest.” He cracked a wry grin. “You might think that I train myself and my Pokemon by punching rocks all day. But punch that rock too many times and too hard, and you’ll come away broken and bleeding.”

The Champion left Opal with that, and she seemed to consider his last remark as she stared after his retreating back.

Since her match with Kabu, and with Mustard, Opal relaxed the standards of her Gym challenge and her own battling style—not enough to be a walk in the park, but certainly not the approach that had steamrolled on the hopes and dreams of children, either.

She cut down on her smoking habit significantly, and forced herself out of the house more often to go on walks with Mightyena, to the grocery store, to the Gym, anything to get her moving.

Through that, she seemed to forgive the world for what it had done to Roger and Jasper. And she seemed to forgive herself, too, for what she had done to Kestrel.

For the first time since the funeral, Opal visited Roger and Jasper at the Ballonlea Cemetery. Though there was no third headstone, she left an extra bouquet of flowers for her unborn, unnamed child. Instead of standing over and before the burial sites like most people would, she would sit down and lean her back against the side of the headstone, and talk aloud as if her family was still alive to hear her.

“Another day gone by with no successor chosen,” she said with a sigh. “The next Gym Leader after me was supposed to be you, Jasper, darling, when you got older. But I suppose we can’t do anything about that now, can we?” Opal reached out with one arm to touch her husband’s name etched on the headstone. “I’m holding auditions, just as I did with you, Roger. I’m not just fighting the challengers, but testing them to see if any of them have what it takes to be a Gym Leader of Ballonlea Town. So far I’ve had no luck. Do you suppose I should lower my standards?” She paused, as if listening intently to a reply Bede couldn’t hear. Then she chuckled. “No, I better not. I’ve never been one to settle for less. That’s how I roped you in to act and sing at the theatre, after all. Speaking of ropes...” The smile died on her face. “I wonder if Kes is with you now, wherever you are. He left a note addressed to me in prison before he...” She couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence. She started another: “The prison sent it to me, but I haven’t opened it yet. I don’t know if I ever could.”

She let out a shuddering sigh, closed her eyes, and fell into a somber silence, which was gently broken when a young red-haired woman approached the graves on soft, tentative footsteps.

“Oh, I didn’t know you’d be here,” the newcomer remarked.

Opal opened her eyes, briefly startled by the voice, but that was quickly replaced with a smile. “Mag, long time no see.”

Magnolia had grown up to cut a smart figure in the white lab coat. No longer the girl Bede had last seen, she now looked every inch the Pokemon professor everyone remembered her to be.

Magnolia bent down to add her bouquet of flowers to Opal’s. “I come every month to leave these,” she said. “I haven’t seen you around until now.”

“Yes, well, this is the first time I could bring myself to visit them.”

“I don’t blame you at all,” Magnolia said with sympathy. Opal continued to lean against the headstone, while Magnolia knelt down and removed her glasses to dab at her eyes. “I think of little Jasper every day. Sometimes I wish I could have visited you all more, be a better godmother for Jasper...”

Opal clasped Magnolia’s hand. “Don’t feel bad, Mag. You’re a very busy woman doing important research and good work for the region. I always appreciated it when you could drop by for a visit and play with Jasper. He absolutely adored you.”

The younger woman dropped her gaze to the burial sites just past her knees. “I still feel guilty. I can’t help but look back and think of the what ifs and should haves.”

Opal closed her eyes and her voice softened to a murmur. “I’m with you there. Sometimes, on the worst nights I can’t sleep, it’s not from nightmares, but from wishing that I had gone with Roger, Jasper, and the baby, so they didn’t have to leave me behind.”

Magnolia returned Opal’s grip with a squeeze.

Opal clearly tried to steer the conversation to a lighter note as she said next, “How’s your family doing back at Wedgehurst? Your daughter’s about to turn four soon, right?”

“Good memory. Yes, I’ve got to plan her birthday party when I get back.”

Opal rose to her feet and brushed bits of grass off her skirt. “Before I forget, come with me to my house so I can give you some of Jasper’s old toys. I say old, but they’re still in excellent condition.”

“My daughter would love that. Thank you.”

Opal and Magnolia left the cemetery together, and as Bede tried to follow them, Celebi led him with both hands not just through the cemetery, but through the currents of time.

Now, instead of Opal leading Magnolia into the house, Magnolia was leading Opal out of it.

“Just tell me already, Mag. Where are you taking me?” Opal asked. “What could be so important?”

“You’ll see when we get there,” the younger woman teased.

Opal’s show of anticipation and impatience made Bede crack a smirk. “She did the same to me. Got a taste of her own medicine back then, huh?”

Bede trailed after them, in the dark as much as Opal was. That is, until he realized the route he was taking. His eyes went wide as he weaved through the dense undergrowth. “Celebi, I think we’re—“

The time-traveling Pokemon nudged him further in the direction Magnolia and Opal had taken, then drew away from him and danced several figure eights in the air.

Bede frowned. “Huh? What are you trying to tell me?”

Celebi pointed after the two women.

“Okay, follow them. And then?”

Celebi didn’t make any more gestures. Instead a brilliant light engulfed it, and was gone in another blink of an eye.

Alarm spiked in Bede’s chest. Where the hell did Celebi just go? Did it just travel in time without him? Did he just get left behind in a time he didn’t belong in? He always had the Pokemon to guide him. Now what? He tried to take in deep, long breaths to calm himself. Celebi made it pretty clear to stick with Magnolia and Opal, but didn’t indicate anything else after that.

All he could do was trust that Celebi would appear to him again, whenever that was. Hopefully soon.

Bede tailed Magnolia and Opal for several more minutes, hoping with each minute that Celebi would come back for him. The two women stopped at a clearing. A clearing Bede recognized, because it was ringed with yellow mushrooms.

Opal looked around with uncertainty instead of familiarity flickering in her pale blue eyes. “Mag, where are we? What’s so special about this place?”

Magnolia didn’t answer Opal’s questions. Instead she produced a handful of cheri berries from her bag and held it out. A few feet before Magnolia’s extended hand, an orb of light materialized out of thin air. And from that light, Celebi appeared.

Everyone in the clearing reacted differently. Magnolia greeted Celebi with a warm smile, Opal gasped, while realization hit Bede like a clout to the head. Celebi traveled through time to meet up with Magnolia and Opal! When it had been accompanying Bede, it remained invisible to Pokemon and people of the past. Now it was present in that past, really present.

Opal evidently struggled to get over her shock. “I-I’ve only heard about this Pokemon in stories. Could this really be...”

Magnolia looked over her shoulder. “Yes, this is Celebi, the Pokemon that travels through time. While conducting research over Dynamax energy in Ballonlea, I stumbled upon this charming, elusive creature. After much convincing with cheri berries and my promises to bring it no harm, Celebi was kind enough to let me study its abilities. It does more than time traveling. It can show you timelines that have yet to exist, or never would. In other words, it can show you the future that could have been.”

“It can really do that?” Opal breathed. She tread on light feet closer to Magnolia and Celebi, who was eating the berries out of her hand.

“Opal, you must have lots of questions,” Magnolia said softly. “The what ifs and should haves. Celebi is here to help you answer those questions. But only if you’re okay with that. I brought you here so you could have the chance to see, but I don’t want to cause you more pain and grief if you’d rather not.”

Opal looked away for a few moments, then back at Magnolia and Celebi with conviction. “I...I want to know. I’ve always wondered what would’ve happened if that day had been different.”

Finished with Magnolia’s offering of berries, Celebi flitted up to Opal, who reached out with a trembling hand. “Celebi...please show me the future that could have been,” Opal whispered. “The future that will never be.”

“Bi...” Celebi peered down at the puckered, star-shaped scar marring the palm of Opal’s right hand. It touched the scar with its small hands, tickling Opal as her fingers twitched in response. Celebi raised its hands to touch the dark hair of her temples. It pulled back to draw out a shimmering stream, and flung its hands upward to open that stream into a pool hovering above everyone.

In the depths of that shimmering pool were glimpses of faded images, voices in faded echoes. Kestrel steered his Corviknight, without a drink beforehand, safely to Wynwall. Randall greeted everyone happily at the family estate instead of the hospital. Jasper grew up, and on his tenth birthday, received his first Pokemon: a Togepi. He was showered with hugs and kisses from his parents before embarking on his adventure as a Pokemon Trainer. More years passed. A teenage Jasper won the championship tournament, but chose not to defend his title as he returned to Ballonlea Town homesick and wanting to spend more time with his mother and father. While working at the theatre and learning the ropes of managing a Gym, Jasper met an up-and-coming actor, who he fell head over heels with. A colorful, flowery wedding followed soon after that. There were smiles all around the house when Jasper and his husband proudly presented the baby girl they had adopted. More years passed, more grey found its way into Opal’s hair, and the baby girl grew up into a woman with curly blonde hair and violet eyes.

Bede’s hair and eyes.

“Whoa, what?” He blurted out. “That’s my mum.”

He didn’t care if he sounded like an idiot talking to himself. The pool kept shimmering and unraveling the nonexistent future. That woman, his mother, got married and had a baby of her own. Opal, now white-haired and stooped but still quite spry, was delighted as she got to hold her great-grandchild for the first time. Roger, looking even more wizened and elderly than his wife, leaned in for a better look. She pulled back the blanket to kiss the top of the baby’s head. That baby was Bede himself.

The pool stopped shimmering. It thinned and trickled into a river that ran down between Celebi and Opal to vanish into the grass. No one said anything for a long time. Tears had run unchecked down Opal’s face as she had looked upon a future when the lives of her family were allowed to run their course. When a tragic accident hadn’t cruelly cut them short. Finally, as if broken free from a spell, Opal stirred and wiped a sleeve over her face. Magnolia rested a hand on her shaking shoulder.

Opal lowered her arm to meet Celebi’s large, ringed eyes. “Thank you for showing me all that,” she murmured. “And thank you, Mag, for bringing me here. Some people might’ve not wanted to see a future that can’t be theirs, but I...I feel more at peace now that I’ve seen it. Now I feel like I can move on. Move forward to try and make my own long, happy future.” A thoughtful expression made her brow furrow a bit. “Those people who came into our lives...who’s to say that they won’t exist someday? Maybe I might run into any one of them in a different way.”

“You’re right, Ms. Opal,” Bede said softly. “You’ll see me again.” He noticed how young she still looked at this time, when her hair hadn’t even turned grey yet. “It’ll take you a while, but I know you’ll wait and wait for as long as it takes until you and I find each other.”

Celebi departed from Magnolia and Opal with a flash of light, and with another, it reappeared before Bede. It reached out to touch one hand to his face, and he realized that he too had been crying. Bede sniffed, hiding a small smile behind his sleeve.

“I get it now, Celebi. What she meant by her story becoming mine. Our paths have crossed before. We’re connected way beyond accident and coincidence. Ms. Opal and I...we are so alike. We’re meant to be each other’s family. And I’m meant to succeed her as the next Fairy type Gym Leader.”

“Bi!” The Pokemon nodded in affirmation, happy that the journey through time, as long and difficult as it was, led Bede to this understanding. It made a wide sweep of its arms, as if drawing out a rainbow, then offered its hands.

Bede tried to figure out what it was saying. “We...we’re going back now? Back to the present, I mean?”

Celebi nodded again. Before taking its hands, Bede snuck one last glance at Opal, who stared up after where Celebi had disappeared from her sight. The smile on her face may be faint, but it brimmed with hope.

It was time to head back where he belonged, where he and Opal would see each other again.

Notes: Musical inspiration (especially the future scene): “Time” from Inception. This wraps up Bede’s blast to Opal’s past. On to the final stretch in the present!

#pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #swsh bede #swsh opal #pokemon bede #pokemon opal #pokemon fanfiction #pokemon fic #bede pokemon #opal pokemon #pokemon la vie en rose

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silverstrangequark · 5 years ago

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A spoiler-free review of SwSh

I don't talk much, but there are things that need to be said, especially for the people out there who are still considering whether or not they want to invest on the new Switch titles. Here's what I've noticed of the several aspects of the game while playing it. Most of these impressions were already evident as early as before the first badge, and didn't change throughout the game. I'm still not done, but I've put a good 12+ hours in and I think that's enough to have an informed opinion of it. If anything changes, I'll update this journal. I fully realise that the following are entirely personal opinions and that some people may differ in their thoughts and impressions of the game. That's fine and understandable. I have written this journal respectfully and with no intention to attack those who are enjoying the games. I ask that you reserve me the same politeness and courtesy. 1. Story It's not a mystery that Pokémon doesn't have the best storytelling, with few notable exceptions like BW. SwSh doesn't really deliver anything exceptional in this sense. The story isn't terrible, just thoroughly uninteresting and hard to get into. The characters feel more like tropes and caricatures than actual people, though this is also a problem in a good portion of the mainline games, so I'll just count it as a point of neutrality rather than a full negative. [/] 2. Mechanics Up to personal opinion, but I find the new battle mechanics absolutely unnecessary. The Pokémon Company has stated previously in official conferences that they want to bring the franchise "back to the roots", and Dynamax is not the way to do it. I can deal with Mega Evolution and Z-moves being removed, but what was introduced in their stead is basically a combination of both with a different flavour (increasing different stats and changing the effect of special moves), at which point I'm really questioning why they didn't maintain the original mechanics in the first place, or just wipe them out altogether. I personally liked battling the way it was before. I don't find that new battle gimmicks make a game more interesting - they make it more annoying, if anything, as they basically force you into a specific battle style to keep up with your opponents. [-] 3. Gameplay What in the world is pacing?!? The game takes you through several hours of early-game tutorials (bits of which are skippable, so at least that's a good thing, I don't want to be shown how to catch Pokémon for the 20th time) which give the player the impression that the game will be long and rich. Once you get to the first gym, that very impression is crushed and you start steamrolling leader by leader in rapid succession. There are moments in the game in which you travel through literally ONE ROUTE and then the next gym is one town over. Kalos has sparked some complaints for awkward pacing after the third gym, but this is just a whole another level of bad game flow management. [-] 4. Designs This is likely the most personal point of all, but I find the new Pokémon okay. Some of them look weird, but overall the designs are true to the series and more or less what I'd expect from Pokémon. I don't have as many favourites in this generation as I do for the others, which means in general terms it didn't really impress me, but if Galar is your thing then go for it. I can at least give them credit for introducing regional evolutions, that's likely one of the most interesting things they've done in this game - one which I hope they keep into the future, as I'd like to see more regional variants and evolved forms thereof. [+] 5. Graphics The one selling point of this game according to its very developers! Graphics have got to be good, right? Nope. 5.a. The overworld is really well done. Cities and towns blend into each other seamlessly and there is a very three-dimensional sense of perspective throughout the region. Lighting is more realistic than ever before (for how realistic a Pokémon game can be, that is), and there is better texturing work than in the previous installments of the series. [+] 5.b. ...Unfortunately, that's about all I can say. The Wild Area, advertised as the game's major attraction, fails to deliver - at least compared to my expectations. While the overworld itself is well done graphically, the WA showcases several odd graphical choices and the shapes, colours and textures are all weirdly unnatural and simplistic. The character keeps glitching in and out of the screen (not sure if this was intended, but I didn't like it; please provide a consistent camera view). The area itself is not even that big and can be completely explored in maybe 30 minutes total. Considering that this game has half the average amount of routes because of the Wild Area, I don't think this is quite enough to make up for what was cut. [-] 5.c. Pokémon models and attack animations are all 100% reused from previous generations. They don't feel any more interesting or realistic and we still have Pokémon shooting Flamethrower and Ice Beam out of something other than their mouths in an average case, or a completely alien corner point of the screen in particularly bad cases. You would think in 2019 they would at least care enough to fix this, but they didn't. [-] 5.d. Battle backgrounds are completely awful and a huge step down from the Sun and Moon generation. If you fight indoors, you will have NO BACKGROUND. There will just be a flat gradient. Even outdoors backgrounds are not perfect, as there are several areas near the sea in which you will just get a weird grassy terrain background (usually recycled from the previous route or some other nearby location). Sun and Moon had individual backgrounds even for battles in the Trainer School, for crying out loud! Who thought this was a good idea? [-] 5.e. Characters look, move, and feel much in the same ways as they did in the 3DS games and I've seen some hilarious gifs comparing the new friendly rival to Hau. They use the exact same movements. I would give this a neutral point if they had at least made an effort. [-] 6. Variety Dexit is obviously an issue, but one that I had coming eventually. With the sheer amount of Pokémon ever invented, there was bound to be a cut somewhere along the line. The selection of around 400 is overall not too small but also not great, and leaves a certain amount to be desired. [/] 7. Music Likely my first time playing a Pokémon game and being thoroughly uninterested in the soundtrack. Several themes are reused throughout, not just in routes (which is average for Pokémon) but also in places like caves, and the city themes feel like an odd mashup of old generations in which the originals definitely did it better. Apart from a couple battle themes of "relevant" characters, I find it really hard to get invested in the music. [-] Appendix: Overall At 2 positives, 2 neutrals, and a whopping 7 negatives, I have to say this is the most disappointing Pokémon game I've ever played, and I've played every single main series release. I enjoyed Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee much more, because at least I knew what to expect and the game was exactly what I expected it to be. Sword and Shield were marketed as some mind-blowing innovative titles with amazing graphics and a whole new gameplay experience, and I can honestly say they don't meet that promise at all. The Dexit rage and #GameFreakLied hashtag have more than a reason to exist. 3/10 If you're a long-term fan, skipping these won't harm you at all. In fact, as a long-term fan myself, I can say it's pretty likely these games will leave a bitter taste in your mouth for how unfinished they obviously are. Some people are enjoying them as-is, and that's fine, I can respect that, but I don't believe they're anywhere near worth their current price tag. If you're not a long-term fan but just looking to get into Pokémon, please please start with a different generation. There are so many good games to play out there, that deserve your time and money more than SwSh do.

#pokemon #sword #shield #review #not art

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pkmnsdarkqueen · 4 years ago

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So calls my heart to bad decisions (Kalos)

Based on this , cause I can’t get it out of my head and I think it’d be funny to give mini versions of the crack ideas I said.

*TRIGGER WARNING HEAVY! Please check tags, thank you.*

Out of all the places they visited so far this was turning out to be their favorite. It was a broken mess of parts, twisted melted metal, and full of dangerous groans from creaking parts. In other words, completely free for them to run a-mock in.

“You know they never did find the body of that guy. What if he’s haunting the place?”

Will pipped using his powers to shake a platform to test it’s stability. Once he was assured it was secure he leapt off the door he was currently standing on to land on the sheet of metal. It wobbled under him but he stayed standing with Karen taking his spot on the door.

“A little early in the year for ghost stories.”

“It is never too early, and I say we find a place to camp to see if my theory is correct.”

He retorted moving aside so she could join him on the platform. Easily she hopped on letting him catch her just to be safe. The two were making there way down the large chasm created by the blast from the weapon that once stood in it’s place. They had hoped to be able to reach the bottom, but due to the size they were starting to have doubts. I mean it was mid day already, and they had arrived in the morning. Not to mention the sun beating down on all of the metal was making it incredibly hot. Sure they dressed for it generally, shorts, a tanks with some sneakers. Karen instead of wearing a tank just had the cropped Magma hoodie they stole from their first excursion having realized it was actually made for hot environments. That was a lesson she’d learned the hard way after trying to take it to Mt. Cornet, and almost freezing in it.

“Camp? Here? Will we’re not that stupid, and I don’t have a death wish.”

She countered taking out her belt for the next stretch. The next stretch wasn’t necessarily far but the path they had to walk was terribly narrow. Wrapping he gold chain around her hand Karen looped it to what was previously a rail of some kind, and unclipped a gold coin from her belt loops to connect the belt into a circle. Then casually began to walk the narrow edge of what was possibly a part of the machine? It was hard to tell with the charring, but with this she was able to use the belt as a safety line if she slipped, and could hold onto it for balance.

“I guess. I still find it funny one of the legendary pokmemon here is a dark type bird. Here you are having partnered with Ho-oh, and Yveltal was an option. Maybe you two ended up in the wrong region.”

Karen rolled her eyes at that comment. Ok, sure Yveltal would of been more thematic for her, but she couldn’t see herself working with any other legendary. Though it felt like such a brief point in time she had genuinely felt such a kinship with the bird.

Once on the other slide she gave the looped belt a hard snap to send back to him. Adding to the groans of heaving metal came the echoing scrape of metal on metal as it zipped along the rail. Will catching it easily on the other side, and starting to follow in suit.

“In the wrong region, huh? You’d have a different partner though, and I highly doubt they’d be as patient with your antics as I am. Then again, I could probably run an evil team. No help needed either.”

She teased before feeling a tug at her shoe. Looking down she was able to see her shoe laces tighten into a dainty perfect bow. Will’s grinning face there to greet her when her glare lifted to meet him. Without a word she shuffled over to start unclipping her belt from the rail.

“This only proves my point about people putting up with your antics.”

“And while you fume over tied shoes Miss I-could-fight-the-world-if-I wanted-to I’m going to go on ahead.”

Will remarked again testing the next platform which he could only see the edge of by giving it a few tugs with his powers. A large piece of metal seemed to be blocking most of their path from here. They could still get by if they slipped through, but he was double checking the surrounding area a few times to be sure since their vision of what was coming next was obscured.

After discarding a loose pipe to let it fall aimlessly into the pit below he grabbed onto a sturdy chunk above and dropped onto the piece below. There was a solid thunk as his feet hit the ground as he began to wish they’d used the belt again. Oh well, Karen would of likely messed with it after his last little gag on her, so maybe it was for the best.

As he dusted himself off his eyes were on the ground catching a small red object in the corner of his vision. He quickly recognized the logo, and what it was. Ha, Karen was about to be jealous!

“Hey guess what I just found a ba-aaaauhhhhhh.....Karen.”

As his hand had reached for the small metallic badge he realized there was something else on the platform with him. Better yet, someone, because he also now saw a hand nearby. When he followed it sure enough a body was attached.

“I’m retying my shoes give me a second.”

“Ok after you finish that you might want to come here as soon as possible because I found the ghost, or wait-”

“I’m sorry what?”

“I was wrong he’s breathing. Not a ghost, likely will be soon.”

Now he had said that, and he honestly meant it the more he took in the situation. First they were unconscious which was never a good sign. The amount of blood that had drained onto the metal was certainly sizable, and the rank from heat and blood was out right offensive. He was tucked under almost a cave of metal. Then there was the most glaring problem, a pole about half an inch thick had pierced the metal above him, and sunk into the lower abdomen. He inched his way closer trying to get a good look of the situation seeing the other’s chest shakily fall and rise. Gently setting his hand in the other’s he wanted to double check on the unconsciousness.

“Si tu es réveillé, peux-tu me serrer la main?” (translation: If you’re awake at all can you squeeze my hand?)

As he asked this he felt the metal shift a bit under him, and looked back to see Karen had lowered herself down onto the platform using her belt for a gentle landing. Like him her face was quickly filled with concern. They had seen enough that while this was graphic it was not as horrific as other sights. Though unable to understand Kalosian she knew exactly what he was doing, and her face grew more worried when he went from holding the other’s hand to putting two fingers on their wrist. No response then.

“I don’t smell infection. I mean it smells bad, and it normally takes a day for it to set, but with how hot it is I would of assumed the worst.”

“He’s far from out of the woods. His heart beat is pretty weak, and speaking of the heat I don’t need to do any checks for body temperature to know he’s over heating.”

Will muttered a second later hearing the clank of metal at his side. One of Karen’s coins sat next to his foot now. He picked it up flicking open a back stop for a blade to pop out.

“That heavy jacket is probably one of the causes if you want to start cutting that off I’m going to try to think of how we’re getting him out of here.”

“Get him out? Karen he’s practically already dead.”

“You say that like I care, Will can you honestly tell me right now that you’d leave him?”

“Well...no, I couldn’t-”

“Then we’re not leaving him.”

She replied matter of factly watching his reaction. Instead of saying anything though he looked at the metal they were standing on expecting her eyes to follow his. Karen hadn’t noticed before, and Will hadn’t until he crouched down to get the other’s pulse but this platform wasn’t fully clean. Where it jutted from the earth there was some flattened out area of dirt that leaked onto the metal. In it was distinct shoe prints. These prints that didn’t match either of theirs. They both went very quiet having the same thoughts, if someone was already here why didn’t they help him?

“...Karen maybe it was impossible to get him safely.”

“Or it wasn’t and they left him intentionally. He did try to end the world and if there is one thing humans are good at it’s hurting each other with malicious intent.”

Again they went quiet mutually horrified by a thought like that. No matter the situation when they were in the business of crime they could always count on the fact that the other wouldn't let them be left behind. To be left alone to die in such a slow and painful way felt inhuman, and yet they knew all too well it was something a human was capable of doing.

“We get him out, but my priority is keeping us safe.”

He answered going to start cutting at the coat. Karen silently agreed to this turning away to start forming a plan. There wasn’t much room for her to pace so she got out another coin to start fiddling it as she talked her thoughts out aloud.

“Getting out of here is going to be do-able but we’ll have to be as careful as can be. The only flying pokemon we have that could carry a person is Clem, but we have a few problems there. He’s old limiting his strength, we’re currently in a narrow section for a good while here, and I worry about moving him too much. I mean if he’s still breathing after a day of lying here that pole must of missed any major organs, or worse it’s hit something and the only thing keeping him from dying is that pole holding things in place. That means if we move him it could rupture, and he’ll become septic-”

“Getting out of the hole Karen go there first.”

Will interrupted wanting her to stay on the first issue she brought up.

“Right, ok sorry. You have your full team of psychic pokemon, and yourself which can all levitate a person. You’ll likely have to take turns to not wear yourselves out. If you guys can manage to get him the entire way out perfect, if not we’ll use Clem. Although let’s save your bronzong till we’re fully out so that he can carry him to where we need to go.”

“Ok so getting out is solved. Where are we taking him once he’s out? Call the ambulance?”

He asked peeling the rest of the coat off to see the fresh wound blocked only by.a dress shirt. Despite the red color it did not hide the stain that had soaked through. The one upside to the coat is that it had helped shield his wound from debris keeping it cleaner.

“No if we do that they’ll call the cops, and he’ll just get carted to jail.”

“Uh, yes, and why is that bad?”

Will asked turning to her in confusion. Without any words he knew what she was trying to tell him by the flat stare. They never went to jail, it was a very good thing they hadn’t, and she wanted to do the same here. The only thing was that the situations were a bit different considering what he attempted to do that wasn’t even addressing the fact that there was no way they could patch this wound up, or the fact they had jobs in Johto.

“...Ok confession. I opened a secret bar about a year after we joined the league where I have been running most of my security of Johto operations from by keeping in contact with criminals from our crime days, and I also made it into a refuge place because I really hate the prison system finding my method more helpful. You remember Yuki right? The guy who’s garage he kept paying us to set on fire so he could commit insurance fraud?”

She spat out knowing full well that blank reaction she was getting was hiding the flurry of emotions racing through his head. Even with a mask covering his upper face she could feel the anger radiating from his eyes at hearing this secret. If it weren’t for the emergency currently in front of them he would be exploding.

“Yes. I do.”

“Well helped him get straightened out, payed for some medical school, and he is a top notch doctor now. He did move to Kalos recently to escape uh....someone recognizing him, but what’s important is that I have someone who owes me favors.”

There was a heavy sigh as Will attempted to exhale his emotions. This was the second time now he was finding out a secret on one of there trips that she kept hidden from him. Sure this one was far more severe compared to her last one, but still! This was the SECOND time, since when did they EVER keep secrets from each other?!

“We are talking about this later, but fine. Two of the three problems are worked out, third problem is this pole, and the fact we do not have nearly enough bandages in the med kit to perform a surgery.”

Finally stepping closer Karen took in every detail she could of the wound. It was so much worse up close and seeing where it was along with his physique she was even more scared that if they removed it they’d be basically be dooming him then and there. She followed the pole up as well wondering if it was supporting anything. While he was under a great deal of things the only thing tethering him to this place was that pole. If they could just remove him, leave the pole, or-wait what if they took both things?

“You and I can stand on this platform fine without problems. Garnet and Tilla could likely do the same we would just have to be else where to not put too much weight on here. You could be on that platform on the other side of that hole we came through, that door on the other side of the chasm can fit two people. It’ll be a squeeze but manageable.”

“Ok so what are your drapion and houdoom doing here then?”

“Taking the pole with him. If your xatu flies and lifts him just high enough for Tilla to get her claw under him she can snip it out from the bottom, another claw snip the top, and her third on her tail can help hold the pole in place. From your platform you can make sure the overall structure is sound so Garnet can grab all the scrap metal she can to push against the pole and use her fire to meld it together. All the while your xatu can lead him up through the opening. Then you can take over from there, and bring him up to me leaving him levitated so I can bandage him up. Then when I’m done you can return the pokemon to their pokeballs. Can you think of any holes in the plan?”

She asked after rattling everything off. Will was nodding along the whole time envisioning what she had in mind. It left a bad taste in his mouth to have to leave a part of the pole in, but it sounded mostly solid.

“We have a bottle of alcohol for cleaning wounds, let’s use it on the pole to sterilize it. That’s about it, and no puns. Hole? When a man has one through his body?”

“Oh hush I’m stressed! Now come on we don’t have anymore time to waste.”

The woman huffed back honestly not even aware she had made a pun that time around. Reaching in her pockets she took out the two pokeballs he would need as he got to work on cleaning the bit of the pole they’d be using. This was going to work, she told her self mentally trying to keep her spirits up.

#(oof one of the longer ones)#Tw: death mention #Tw: severe injury #Tw: blood #drabble #so calls my heart to bad decisions

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pokeshippingflashfic · 6 years ago

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“trend”

Ooh, no, she internally groans, attempting to blink away the sight before her. Sadly, it’s still there and she’s practically ashamed to say she’s tempted to click on the hashtag sitting on her laptop monitor and see what results pop up.

But she really shouldn’t do it. Who cares what everyone else is saying? Who cares how they feel? Who cares what this will do to his ego, right?

And that’s what resides at the heart of her unease. When Ash Ketchum saw that his name was a trending hashtag on social media, he was going to have a field day and she was never going to hear the end of it.

But her hands are quicker than her sensibility and she’s clicking the hashtag, which is linked to all the recent posts about him, cursing to herself afterwards but still not having the willpower to turn back before it’s too late to save herself.

‘Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu is so cute! They’re the greatest team in Pokemon training!’

Oh. Oh, okay. Well, that’s innocent enough, she thinks to herself, eyes wide and then brow scrunching almost suspiciously. Could they all be that simple and unspecific? Ash’s ego couldn’t possibly be inflated by such a comment, and the poster behind it is right! Ash and Pikachu had always shown to be one of the most profound and selfless bonds between trainer and Pokemon!

‘Ash Ketchum’s been in the game too long to have such a small fandom!’

Um... what? Fandom? As in a community of fans? Ash-freakin’-Ketchum has fans now?

Ooh, no, she cries to herself once more in incredulousness, taking a moment to hold her hands over her face as it flushes scarlet and breathing shallowly through her fingers. Then she cautiously spreads them apart and stares once more at the screen.

Misty scrolls down the feed a little more. There are some more comments on Ash’s team, photos of him standing in different stadiums or gyms, a few creepy shots of him minding his own business eating lunch or buying supplies. There are a couple of short videos of him battling other trainers - again, in the official capacity during gym or league title matches. Some of them are captioned with something along the lines of, ‘My commentary!! Ash Ketchum deserves to be champ! This entire battle is WHY!!!’

She stares at one of these for a few seconds, doesn’t dare to click the video and see what the person - the fan, she thinks ominously - has to say about her best friend. All she knows is... Well, Misty Waterflower will defend Ash Ketchum to the ends of the planet if need be... but if she were ever to get it inside her head that she needed to make video commentaries about his battle history, she’d have to take a dive.

The redhead continues scrolling a bit further. True, there are a couple more photos and even fewer videos, but the text posts take up most of feed by a long shot. Thankfully, while they’re all tagged with Ash Ketchum’s name, at least half seem to actually be about his Pokemon team or stats and nothing too personal.

And then... she suddenly sees it.

‘Ash Ketchum has SUCH a cute butt!’

Wh... she tries to form the word but her brain fractures under the weight of this alarming post content. There’s no way... Who would say something like that about a stranger?! Who would post something so embarrassing for all the world to see?! What is this?!

‘Ash Ketchum’s smile always helps me start my day just right!!’

‘If you don’t think Ash K is the cutest thing since the discovery of SKITTY then your wrong!!1!’

No, wait! How do - did people really talk so openly about people they thought were cute? Just... post anything they want on the web so everyone can see it?! Could this many people really have a crush on dense, short Ash Ketchum, the sometimes whiny, always stubborn and reckless and--

“--What is wrong with people?!” she shrieks aloud, unable to help herself, though she immediately clams up, lips pursed tightly shut afterwards. There’s no way anyone heard her, right?

Alas...

“Ah! There you are, Misty! I’ve been lookin’ all over the gym for ya! I thought we were going to grab lunch? I gotta head back to Pallet after that so we don’t have a lot of time, ya know?”

She doesn’t respond. She doesn’t even look at him as he approaches from her right. She does, however, very inconspicuously try to move the cursor on her laptop to the ‘close window’ icon in the top right corner of the monitor.

“Uh... you okay?” he asks, brow furrowed in what may be concern but she doesn’t have the mental capacity to dwell on it.

“J - just checking email,” she squeaks in half a second. And, well, that was originally the case before the host’s webpage had brought up that list of trending hashtags and stories on the right-hand side and she’d seen the thing and...

“Really? Anything good?” he asks, picking up his pace and leaning in over her shoulder so quickly her breath catches awkwardly in the back of her throat and her heart falters.

“Ash Ketchum has a cute...” he begins to read, eyes squinting at the small font on screen, yet Misty’s retaliatory response is to quick-scroll by thrusting two fingers against the trackpad, and the feed begins to descend at an accelerated pace. “Hey, what’s the big deal, huh, Mist?! That was about me!”

“I, uh...” she stumbles, face so red she feels faint. Thankfully, the ever-dense Ash Ketchum doesn’t seem to notice. “Whoops?”

“I wanted to know what they were say - oh, hey, this one’s about me too! Cool, lemme see!”

He leans in more, his shoulder nudging hers and his left cheek three inches from her lips. Half of her is delirious from the close quarters and half is stuck on how obviously she’s doomed in every way possible.

“Ash Ketchum... was one of the best contenders at the Kalos League last year! He and his Pokemon are goin’ places! They’re definitely gonna be champs one day!” his tone gets more excited the further on he reads, until he snaps backwards and reaches his full height again at the end. “Hah, look at that, Misty! People are talkin’ about me! Where’d you find this stuff? I should show my mom!”

Show his... mom? She can’t help staring blankly, blinking a couple of times. That was... That’s not what she expects from him. All he cares about is showing his mom? Just one short line about how people are saying good things? No derailing speech about how he’s obviously the greatest? He doesn’t even know what social media platforms are...!

She’s exactly two-point-five seconds into feeling overwhelming relief when he just can’t help himself.

“I didn’t know I had so many adoring fans! Wait’ll I tell Pikachu! We split up when we started lookin’ for ya! Man, I’m the best! Of course, right? I mean, everyone’s sayin’ it! I guess you’ve been wrong about me all this time! I kept telling you I was gonna be the number one Pokemon Master one day but you never believed me! Well, now...”

Oh, god, this is how I’m gonna go, isn’t it? This is the end... she groans to herself.

“So now that everyone else believes me, how about you, huh?”

“Uh... What?”

“All this time and you never believed how great I was, Misty! But now tons of people are talkin’ about me so you gotta admit that I’m a really strong trainer! I’ve gotten really good after all this time, haven’t I?” His prideful grin is almost enough to make her retaliate but...

“I...”

Sure, Ash had often brought up to her how much he’d improved as a trainer in the past. When they battled here at her gym during his term in Alola, he’d tried a few times to get her to admit to how cool and strong he was but she hadn’t budged more than an inch in regards to his obvious progress. Part of her figured this was just part of their general banter - part of what made their relationship so tightly knit and unique... However another part of her had always just assumed he was fishing for compliments and had never really cared what she in particular thought. But now...

Now she thinks she may have been reading the situation wrong for far too long... and she’s a little flattered. So she can’t help thinking she owes him another couple inches of latitude after all their years together.

“Yeah, Ash, maybe so.” His grin widens at finally wearing her down and her own stubbornness naturally kicks in.

“You’re okay, I guess.”

#pokeshipping #flash fic #fan fiction #aaml #ash ketchum x misty waterflower #ash x misty #1wordprompt #first post #word count: 1466

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sirinaruth · 6 years ago

Photo

Wanted to try and draw a slightly more “realistic” version of what my pokemon team would be like. Less of “let’s just have all my fully evolved favorites” and more of “what would I have access to and how powerful would they really be”. Three of these kids are based on actual pets I have had in my life and one that is still present. If you want all the details on each mon, the breakdown is below the cut.

Feel free to do this yourself and tag whoever you want!

- First we have, Jasmine or “Jazz”, the Houndoom. She’s based on my beloved dog of the same name. A fiery little beagle/pit mix that was ridiculously smart, wicked fast and always ready to play and romp and learn. Sadly she passed away at just 4 years old due to Lepto complications. In this universe she would have been the pokemon I trained the hardest and evolved the fastest. She was so determined and picked up on tricks way quicker than any other animal I’ve cared for and I think that would really shine in a Pokemon world setting.

- Next is Draco, the Heliolisk. The year Kalos spoilers were released happened to be the year I got a pet Frilled Dragon, Draco. He was pretty jumpy at first, but as he got older he mellowed out quite a lot. He passed away very recently, but I would hope his pokemon counterpart would live a much longer life, growing into a wise, old grandpa character of the team. - Then we have the Torchic, Blaze (so clever I know). Torchic was one of my favorite pokemon since before I’d ever gotten a game of my own to play. When I did get my hands on a DS and a copy of Sapphire, I picked the best birb and threw the name Blaze on there, having no idea what he would turn into.(I was very uneducated and had no internet back then) But I could see actual trainer me, being just as ignorant and getting this fluffy fire birb and being stubborn about wanting to keep him cute and cuddly. He’ll evolve eventually, I’m sure, but for the longest time he was probably more of a pet than a real team member.

- In my real life I have a cuddly demon cat, named Valkyrie. In the poke-verse I’d have a cuddly, demon Salandit, of the same name. Like her IRL counterpart, Valkyrie is missing her front, right arm, though that hardly slows her down. She’s feisty, playful and stubborn, but will gladly accept attention and cuddles if it’s on her terms. She’ll eventually grow into a proud and capable Salazzle, but for now she’s just a babu who is still needs to learn that she can’t be carried everywhere by her trainer.

- Spark is my little Fletchling. I love birds. I love fire types. Fletchlings are pretty widely spread around Kalos and I’d snatch one up the first chance I got. Having this tiny cutie as a shoulder-pet would be the catalyst for really starting on Blaze’s training and making him part of the active team, while Spark just observes and nests in my hair. XD

- Lastly we have what I would have considered as my starter, Nissa the Serperior. I have a baby cornsnake of the same name, but I’ve loved and wanted snakes my whole life. They’re wonderful creatures and I just adore them. Even if I’m not too hot on grass types, the style, grace and confidence that the species exudes would draw me in instantly. Nissa would have been the Pokemon I grew up with and cherished. Her growth would have been steady and slow, but earned over time.

Reptiles and Birds have fascinated me throughout my entire life and I have no doubt that in the Pokemon world I would have gladly surrounded myself with them. Jazz was more of an insistence on my mom’s part, but she ended up being very important to me IRL and I feel like that would play out similarly here as well.

#pokemon #pokemon team #art #sirinadoodles #my team #serperior #houndoom #torchic #heliolisk #fletchling #salandit

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clefaiiiry · 7 years ago

Text

Thanks to @tumblunni for beta reading :p

Companion to this.

Title: Clarity

Fandom: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions

Word Count: 5,265

Additional Tags: Friendship, Sign Language, Selectively Mute Dawn, Recovery Process, Implied Twinleafshipping, Japanese Names as Surnames

AO3 Version

“Only an idiot would go after him,” Barry had said.

It was unfortunate for them that Dawn had never thought highly of her own intelligence.

The pocket dimension (or the Distortion World as Cynthia had called it) was unlike anything Dawn could compare to. It was cold, colder than she was used to even after living her entire life in Sinnoh, but she felt no desire to bundle herself deeper into her coat. Even so, she lingered closer to Infernape than usual.

Gravity appeared to be inconsistent. Dawn had taken to using the tall grey trees that sprung up at seeming random angles. Some walls would pull her down while others would crumble if even the slightly pressure was applied. The swirling blue vortex seemed to be impossibly close and terrifyingly distant at the same time. She tried not to think about it too hard.

The air was heavy with dread, the faint cries of the Pokémon that inhabited this lonely place echoed through the empty space.

Infernape chirped as he clambered up a rock for better vantage of the area. The sprawling floating islands stretched for as far as Dawn could see. But she still couldn’t spot the Galactic leader.

[How hard is it to find one anti-social weirdo?] Dawn signed. Infernape shrugged.

The ground shook violently, a long shadow rose up across the two. While the tremors finally calmed, the shadows took shape. The huge creature that had torn open a rift as Dialga and Palkia were summoned. It took all her self-control to make sure she didn’t start shaking.

Why are you here, dear sweet child? It didn’t speak directly, it’s voice floated in the empty space from no discernible direction.

[I’m here to bring Cyrus back to our world,] she signed. The creature sagged.

A man like that has no interest in returning to the complete world. Why bother?

[Everyone deserves redemption.]

The creature’s body shook, as if laughing, though it remained audibly silent. Ah, that’s it? How utterly hopeless. Before she could argue, it swooped over her, curving around the floating islands with the grace of a Milotic.

He is closer than you think, dear sweet child.

The TV set in Rowan’s lab was about a decade too old to be in such a high-tech environment, but the staff had grown to appreciate the background noise. It was often left on the news, but anyone was free to switch channels with permission.

Barry had long since abandoned the samples he was pretending to look over as he gave his full attention to the slightly fuzzy image. A fake talk show host sat across the desk from Champion Cynthia Shirona.

“Thanks again for coming on, I’m sure you must be awfully busy these days,” the host said, his grin so wide that it almost split his face. Cynthia offered a pleasant smile in return and Barry almost believed it.

“It’s not a problem, we don’t get many challengers these days.”

“Why do you think that is, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Cynthia’s smile wavered for a moment. “I believe it is out of respect for the previous Champion. Miss Hikari only reigned for a few months and never lost a battle in her time as Champion. I feel as though I am not a suitable substitute, and many hope to battle her when she returns.”

The host leaned back in his chair. “Do you have any idea when that may be?”

After a moment of silence, she said, “I can’t say for certain, we don’t know enough about what happened to her to properly predict the outcome. But it’s been a year already and some are beginning to doubt that she may ever come back.”

The host tutted in pity. “We can only hope that Miss Hikari returns home safely.”

Static overtook the screen and Barry groaned, sitting up to tinker with the antenna.

“Need a hand?”

Barry glanced up at the voice. Lucas dropped to a crouch beside him and gave the TV a good whack. Barry snorted.

“You know that doesn’t actually work, right?”

But the image onscreen fizzled back to life. Lucas smirked. “Don’t argue with results.”

His expression faltered when he saw Cynthia.

“Miss Hikari’s family and friends are still grieving for their loss even after all this time,” she said, turning her attention towards the camera, “I ask for only respect from the people of Sinnoh.”

Lucas took off his hat and rubbed the back of his head. “Jeez, it feels like yesterday.”

“She was gonna be eighteen today,” Barry grumbled, though didn’t look up from the screen, “we always said we would go on a trip around Unova or Kalos or something...”

With a sigh, Lucas pushed to his feet and went to open a window. Sandgem Town was only just warming up after a particularly harsh winter, but Lucas had always insisted that the fresh air was good for them.

“I asked the Professor for a field assignment,” he said, lifting a box marked ‘For Oreburgh’ and passing it off to Kadabra, “he’s sending us off to Lake Valor for a week to look at how the Pokémon in the surrounding areas are adapting-”

“After Team Galactic blew it up,” Barry interjected.

Lucas shuffled awkwardly. “Well, yeah, basically.”

“Great...” Barry huffed as he pushed to his feet. When he noticed how Lucas was playing with his coat, he sighed. “I do appreciate the effort, but couldn’t you have gotten anywhere else?”

“It was the only one still open,” Lucas offered meekly, “And I thought it might be good for you to try and face some of this stuff. You can’t exactly avoid it forever...”

As much as Barry hated to admit it, Lucas was right. He’d already put off revisiting the lakes since Dawn disappeared; it brought up too many emotions he wasn’t ready to face. He hadn’t set foot in Veilstone City either, not wanting anything to do with the ‘reformed’ Team Galactic. He knew they were up to something, there was no way they would suddenly shift into a genuine energy company overnight.

“If that’s too much,” Lucas began, “we can start off in Sendoff Spring and work our way up.”

After a long moment, Barry finally nodded.

“So long as we don’t stay in Veilstone.”

Barry had only ever seen Sendoff Spring in photos. They really didn’t do the place justice. It had the clearest water he had ever seen. Goldeen and Magikarp gathered in small clumps, a rare Seaking or even rarer Gyarados poking their heads above the surface to make sure these humans wouldn’t cause any trouble.

Lucas was perched on Torterra’s back as he set up the time lapse camera, muttering to himself as he worked.

“We left a few gauges in Turnback Cave last time we were here,” he said as he rummaged through he duffle bag, “if you wanna go check on them.”

Barry glanced over to the Golduck who were sizing them up from behind the treeline. “Will you be okay by yourself? What about the buddy system?”

Lucas laughed. “It’s fine, I’ll be with you in, like, five minutes.”

Even with Lucas’ assurances, he left Empoleon to keep watch. He found himself regretting his choice of footwear as his trainers struggled to keep grip on the rocky slopes. He ended stumbling and landing on his ass. A pair of Bibarel snickered at him but a quick glare sent them scurrying back into the tall grass.

Everything Barry knew about Sinnoh’s mythology came from Dawn or Cynthia. He certainly wouldn’t go out of his way to study it himself; most of it was pretty dull to him anyway.

Flood lights illuminated the first room, the signs of archaeological excavation everywhere. Cynthia had recently given the go ahead for a dig so long as the local Pokémon populations weren’t disturbed. Barry clambered over the tools and pits, finding the gauges Lucas had been talking about along the back wall.

He had started jotting down the numbers when he heard a heavy, dull sound. Almost as if something was being dragged. Barry reached for his belt, fingers gracing his Poké Balls.

Carefully sliding one foot in front of the other, he creeped along the wall. The sound grew louder as he moved closer to a sprawling painting of the Lake Spirits until another sound made him jump to action.

“Help... Anyone...?”

Someone was behind the wall. Barry threw out Snorlax and yelled through the wall as loud as his lungs could manage,

“Stand back, I’ll get you out!” He whipped around to face his Pokémon. “Body Slam!”

Snorlax roared as he threw himself into the wall with all the force he could muster. The wall cracked and groaned. A weak yelp came from the other side.

“Again!” Barry yelled. Snorlax obeyed. The section of wall shuddered and collapsed, dust billowing up into the air and catching in Barry’s throat and eyes. He choked and spluttered for a few seconds, fanning his face in a meek attempt to clear the air.

When it finally settled, Barry climbed through the hole and squinted through the darkness.

“Hello?” He called, doing a full three-sixty-turn before he caught sight of bright eyes in the dark.

Luxray eyes.

He fumbled for his torch. His heart almost stopped.

Before him stood a girl, who hadn’t changed in the year she’d been gone. Not physically at least. Her eyes were wild, her stance weaker, leaning on her Luxray for support. Her scarf was hanging untied from her neck, her coat tied around her waist, but her trusty hat remained in place.

Luxray stood strong, her frame wary, weighed down by an unconscious man draped over her back. But Barry couldn’t find it in him to care about that.

“Dawn?” he asked slowly, easing forward.

Dawn’s tired face eased into a relieved smile. “Barry...” she sighed, her voice scratchy from lack of use.

And then she fainted.

The closest hospital was Veilstone, so despite Barry’s preferences, they found themselves sat in the hallway of Veilstone Memorial, twiddling their thumbs and trying not to panic.

Cynthia arrived about an hour after they had first check in, flustered and closely followed by Looker from Interpol.

“Somehow the press already knows that they’re back,” Cynthia said as she paused to catch her breath, “there’s a crowd of reporters outside wanting to know what the deal is.”

“Holy shit,” was all Barry could say.

After the third hour, Professor Rowan appeared, his expression unreadable. Looker finally let out a regretful sigh.

“I know emotions are still high, but I need to take a statement,” he said, looking to Barry and Lucas.

Barry explained what had happened, conveniently leaving out how he’d destroyed a potentially priceless wall painting when Cynthia was still present.

“Wait, I thought she was mute?” Looker asked with a frown.

“Selectively,” Barry explained, “it’s her anxiety.”

“Ah, I see...” Looker muttered as he scribbled down notes in his pad.

Cynthia cleared her throat. “What about Cy- Akagi? Was he... awake when you found them?”

With a shake of his head, Barry said, “No, he was out. Luxray was carrying him.”

“Their Pokémon are at the nearby Centre to make sure they haven’t suffered any ill effects from their time in the other world,” Lucas added.

She seemed a little disappointed with the answer, but said nothing.

Rowan seemed to notice. “Miss Shirona, would you mind accompanying me for a short walk?”

Cynthia exchanged a glance with Looker before she nodded. The two strolled away, speaking in hushed tones.

When Barry frowned, Looker said, “They used to be close. Miss Shirona and Mr Akagi. Grew up together I believe.”

“Cynthia was friends with him?” Barry’s voice dripped with disgust.

Lucas narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly silenced himself.

It was the seventh hour when a doctor came by to confirm that Dawn was stable but still unconscious. She encouraged the boys to head to bed and get some rest. It was only then that Barry realised it was past eleven o’clock and his body sagged with sudden exhaustion. Looker held back to question the doctor, but Barry and Lucas headed for the Pokémon Centre.

As Cynthia had mentioned, there were a few reporters outside. Most of them had headed off when they figured out that they weren’t going to get any of the juicy stuff from staking out the joint. That or the hospital staff had forced them to move along. Only the truly dedicated or clueless remained and they tried to pounce on the boys for an interview only to be totally ignored.

The nurses at the Pokémon Centre handed over a set of Poké Balls once Barry and Lucas could prove their identities. Dawn’s Poké Balls.

“What about Akagi’s?” Lucas asked.

“Miss Shirona already came by a while ago and picked them up.”

Their room was basic, but they didn’t need anything fancy. Lucas was asleep in seconds, snoring like a freight train as soon as his head hit the pillow. Barry lay awake staring at the ceiling. He barely slept a wink.

It was about a week before Dawn was awake and lucid enough to accept visitors. Before they headed in, the doctor pulled them aside to explain the rules.

“Don’t make any sudden moves or loud noises, don’t mention anything about Mt Coronet, and do not tell her anything about Mr Akagi’s condition outside of ‘he’s fine.’ She is still experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety. If she goes into a panic attack, call the nurse.”

Lucas went in first, insisting it was better for Barry to calm himself down before he raced in shouting and freaked her out any more. He begrudgingly accepted.

While he waited, Looker appeared and sat beside him.

“I’ll have to head in after you,” he said.

“Doctor said you can’t ask her about what happened,” Barry warned. Looker sighed.

“I expected as much... But at the very least I want to see how she’s doing with my own eyes.” He reached down to pet Croagunk. “Akagi is still totally out of it. If he does wake up he’s completely hysterical.”

“Honestly? I don’t care if he gets any better,” Barry said. Looker stared at him with an expression he couldn’t figure out.

“Why do you say that?”

“You gotta forgive me for not having much sympathy for the guy who tried to destroy the universe and dragged my best friend through a wormhole.”

“My understanding was that Miss Hikari followed from her own will?”

“You get what I mean!” Barry snapped. “Dawn was always too nice for her own good! She thought that even something like... that can be forgiven. He doesn’t deserve her sympathy.”

Looker sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. “I don’t think she thought he deserved her help, but she thought he needed it.” He tapped his temple. “That’s the working theory, at least.”

“I’m doubting your ‘working theory,’ Mister Looker.”

“If you think that is questionable, don’t read any of the newspaper articles that came out over the last week.”

Barry had made a point of avoiding any news stations after Lucas noted that he would probably just get angry at whatever he saw.

There was a distinct click of the door reopening and Lucas poked his head out. He glanced between Barry and Looker with a frown.

“Is now a bad time?”

Barry pushed to his feet and made his way to the door without looking back. “Now is great,” he said as he shouldered past Lucas into the room. Lucas tensed, ready to bite back but he thought better of it and slipped out, closing the door behind him.

It was like a dream, from the way the light filtered through the window to how utterly defeated the girl in the bed looked.

In all the years he had known her, Barry had rarely seen Dawn looking so broken. The only other time he could think of was after her mother had locked her out one night in their early teenaged years. She had turned up on his doorstep in tears but refused to speak of it the following morning.

Dawn glanced over as he entered and gave him a fragile smile.

“I know, I look super weird without my hat,” she said, her voice straining as she spoke.

The only people she spoke aloud to were Barry, Lucas, and Cynthia but even then she preferred to sign when possible. Barry frowned.

“You don’t have to talk.”

She shrugged. “My arms are tired from talking to the doctors.”

There was a chair next to the bed, dragged over from the corner and battered from excessive wear and tear. Barry slowly lowered himself into it and offered a hand to Dawn. She took it and rubbed a thumb over his knuckles.

“I missed you,” she said. Those words broke something within Barry. His chest felt tight and his eyes stung as tears sprung up in the corners of his eyes. He reached up to wipe them with his free hand.

“I missed you so much,” he sobbed, clutching her hand like a lifeline.

With a soft tug, he found himself bundled into a tight hug. Dawn lightly stroked his back as he wheezed and bawled. His words stopped making sense as he rambled for what felt like hours. She never said a word, just let him cry and kept stroking his back.

Once he’d finally calmed down enough to speak properly, he pulled back to wipe his face. “Why... Why did you leave?”

Dawn blinked in confusion for a moment before the words finally settled and she looked to the window. She squeezed Barry’s hand.

“Giratina would’ve destroyed him if I let him go in there alone.”

White hot rage shot through him. “Who cares about him?! You could’ve died!”

Dawn jumped at his volume. He immediately recoiled with apologies.

“I’m sorry I just... I was so scared that I’d never see you again. That you’d just thrown everything away from some asshole who wanted to destroy everything.”

The air was heavy and cold, making him shudder. Dawn’s eyes were hard.

“You don’t know anything about what happened,” she said, her free hand tightening in the sheets, “you weren’t there. So don’t you dare try to paint this like some black and white issue because this isn’t like one of those dumb cartoons we used to watch.”

Her voice started to quiver in her throat, as if it were about to give out. “Why would I throw away my life for someone I didn’t think deserved a second chance? If he was as evil as you think then why...” She coughed and gasped around the words. “Why did Cynthia cry when she found out he was still alive? Why did Rowan look so relieved? Why would anyone care about a man if he were pure evil?”

“I...” Barry couldn’t form anything, his response dying before it could escape, “I didn’t think...”

“No... you didn’t think with your head. You just went with your heart...” She smiled fondly. “Like you always do.” It was her turn to cry. “It’s why you’re my best friend. But...” Her voice almost gave out with a croak. “I need you to trust me on this... Please, Barry...”

They were quiet for a long moment, only the foggy sounds of the city outside and the nurses roaming the halls punctuating their moment.

“Okay...” Barry hugged her once more. “I trust you.”

Over the next month, Barry dropped in to visit every opportunity he had. Between the short visitor hours and his job at Rowan’s Lab he could rarely spend more than an hour with her, but Dawn appreciated the effort.

“It’s not like there’s anything else to do around here,” she had said, “the doctors won’t tell me anything.”

The time spent in the hospital was either in her room or the rehabilitation centre. Her time in the other world had weakened her muscles and left her easily disorientated and her Chatot was left with her at all times to alert staff of impending panic attacks.

Occasionally her perception of reality slipped and she was back in the other world, clawing at the sheets and crying out for anything to cling to. Barry soon learnt that the worse thing he could do was the call the doctors. She seemed to settle faster if a familiar face was there instead of a looming stranger in a white coat. Not to say that they didn’t work hard to make sure her recovery was as smooth as possible, but there were a few areas in which Barry didn’t trust them as much as he trusted himself.

Whenever they met up, he tried to keep her updated on the situation outside but she could only deal with so much before she wanted to talk about something else.

Dawn tried not to talk about Team Galactic around Barry. Anything about them came from Cynthia or Rowan.

One day, about three weeks after she’d checked in, Barry noticed flowers on her bedside table.

“Apparently they’re from Saturn,” Dawn said as she reached over to readjust the arrangement, “or whatever it is he goes by these days.”

It took far too much self-control not to make a point of knocking them down.

Before he could comment, she had asked about how Lucas was doing and they didn’t mention Team Galactic again for the rest of the exchange.

With Dawn still under the watchful eye of the hospital staff, Cynthia had been turning down interviews from all angles. Interpol was hanging around, trying their best to be covert but everyone knew of their presence. It was enough to scare off most of the reporters, so Barry didn’t mind too much.

It was week four before Dawn finally got sick of not being told anything by the doctors and asked Barry to bring in outside goods. He started sneaking in snacks and newspapers, something Lucas didn’t have the heart to discourage.

“If anyone finds out, I don’t know you,” Lucas joked, but from the look on his face he’d been totally serious.

Dawn always accepted the papers with a mix of excitement and dread. Barry had purposely avoided sensationalist papers and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“What’s the worst one you’ve seen?” she asked, glancing up from the headline ‘Champion Hikari is expected to make full recovery.’

“Some folks from Kalos are trying to push the secret love affair angle.”

Dawn retched. “Ew! That’s so gross! Are you serious?” When Barry nodded, she groaned. “People are the worst...”

Barry shuffled his feet awkwardly. “How much do you know about...”

“About Cyrus’ condition?” Dawn sighed and folded her hands in her lap. “Only what Cynthia told me. That he’s awake more often but he’s always hysterical unless Cynthia or one of his Pokémon is there.” She looked down, brushing some loose hair behind her ear. “He asks about me a lot. He thought I was dead for the first week until Cynthia could get him to calm down.”

When Barry said nothing in response, she trailed off.

“Sorry, I know you don’t care about him.”

With a shrug, Barry said, “I’m trying this ‘empathy’ thing, but it’s kinda hard.”

Dawn laughed. “You’re trying your best and that’s what matters.”

Week five rolled around and Barry felt oddly apprehensive as he entered the hospital. Cynthia was trying to convince the doctors to let her move Cyrus to the medical centre at the Pokémon League, though hadn’t had much luck so far.

She was in a Holo Caster call when Barry spotted her in the lobby, foot tapping rapidly as she let out a huff. She hung up on the person mid-sentence.

“Jeez, what did that guy ever do to you?” Barry joked. Cynthia rolled her eyes.

“Another station wanting an interview. I’m gonna need a secretary at this rate.”

They made their way to the ward, exchanging tips on Roserade care when they noticed a familiar face.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to come by,” Cynthia said softly, reaching out to shake Saturn’s hand.

The young man was awfully stiff, his frame holding no strength. It was hard to believe he was now the head of the leading energy provider for Sinnoh. He took the offered hand through obligation rather than comradery.

“I feel as though I owe him a visit at the very least,” he muttered, “blame Mabel.”

Cynthia chuckled. “Fair enough, I’ll show you to his room if you wish.”

Saturn just nodded and trailed closely behind her, like a child making sure they wouldn’t lose their mother while out shopping.

“I’ll meet up with you later, okay Barry?”

Barry just nodded, watching until the two disappeared around a corner. He headed off to Dawn’s room.

“What do you mean I can’t see her? She’s my daughter!”

The doctor looked exhausted, the effects of this morning’s coffee having not yet kicked in. “She has explicitly requested that you are not allowed in to see her.”

“This is ridiculous!” Johanna threw up her hands in dismay. “You can’t stop me from going in!”

“Ma’am, we keep telling you that we can’t let you in.”

Barry hoped to sneak past without being noticed but the woman whirled round as soon as she heard movement, eyes focusing on him like a Mandibuzz.

“And you! How dare you ignore my calls! I have a right to know what’s going on here!”

“Please, Mrs Hikari, you’re making a scene-”

“Not until this little brat-”

Barry looked straight past her to the doctor. “Am I alright to go in?”

The doctor nodded. Johanna sounded about she was about to start sobbing. He paid her no mind as he pushed into Dawn’s room.

Soft music came from the radio set on her bedside table. She had managed to convince the doctors to let her keep it, even if it did have access to news stations. They couldn’t protect her from the outside world forever

Dawn didn’t look away from the window as Barry walked in, humming softly to herself. “Morning,” she said, stretching a hand out for him to take.

“Did you know your mom’s here?”

She scoffed. “How could I not? She’s gonna scream the place down. I can’t tell if she’s genuinely worried or just mad that all the effort she put into her precious protégé is gonna be for nothing.”

Dawn’s words held venom unlike anything he had ever heard from her. She had never been one to outwardly bad-mouth how her mother had raised her, that was Barry’s job. Dawn always found herself trying to excuse her mother’s behaviour, no matter the seriousness.

What had happened to her in the other world?

“Dawn...”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, waving her hand, “I’ll be fine, just...” She took a deep breath. “Give me a minute.”

The music from the radio drifted into soft piano, an old Kalosian piece that had been growing in popularity recently. Barry pushed up to his feet and extended his hand to Dawn.

“What...?”

“Come on, I don’t think we’ve danced since we were twelve.”

Dawn blinked once, twice, and reached up to wipe her face. She took his hand and slid her legs over the side of the bed. Physical rehabilitation had been going well but she was still shaky on her legs. After some careful manoeuvring, she perched her bare feet on stop of his heavy boots and let him guide her around the small room, swaying out of tempo with the music.

They didn’t care, both simply content to be together without having to worry about the outside world.

Dawn was released after two months, but only under the agreement that she would inform the doctors immediately if she experienced any issues and would continue to attend therapy sessions once a week.

Meanwhile Cynthia had somehow convinced the doctors that Cyrus was ready to be discharged alongside her. Either the doctors were just sick of her asking or just didn’t want to deal with him anymore. Barry was willing to believe both.

It was only after he and Cynthia went to pick them up that he realised he hadn’t seen Cyrus since the initial discovery in Turnback Cave. He wasn’t exactly on the edge of his seat to see the man again but accepted that it was going to happen whether he wanted it or not.

The lobby was strangely quiet, though Barry assumed it had something to do with Interpol. Looker hovered besides the two, Dawn excitedly signing as Cyrus struggled to keep up.

The agreement was for Cyrus to stay with Dawn on Route 229, but Cynthia would be arranging for a psychiatrist if necessary.

Barry had offered to take her back to Twinleaf Town, but Dawn had made herself very clear that she had no intention of going back.

[Besides, there aren’t enough bedrooms even if I did want to stay there,] she signed.

The Villa on Route 229 had barely been touched since the incident at the Spear Pillar. Barry and Lucas would drop by every month or so to make sure everything was in working order, but it otherwise stayed empty. It was far enough away to give them space, but close enough to society that they could seek out assistance if necessary.

Tension leaked from Dawn’s form when she opened the door. She and Cynthia went to pack away her things, leaving Barry with Looker and Cyrus.

“Interpol will be dropping by throughout the next few weeks to make sure you’re settling,” Looker said as he glanced to Cyrus, “and to make sure you don’t start anything. Nothing personal, just a cautionary action.”

Cyrus just nodded.

“Right then,” Looker fixed his poor posture and glanced to Barry, “are you sticking around as well?”

“For as long as Dawn wants me here, yeah.”

Looker smiled and opened his mouth to respond, but thought better of it and shook his head.

“Then, gentlemen, I wish you well,” Looker bowed his head, turned on his heel and headed out into the cool spring air.

Cynthia left shortly after she was certain everything was secure. Duty called.

“We’ll have another battle at some point to see who gets to keep the title,” she said as she summoned Garchomp.

[We both know I’ll win,] Dawn signed smugly. Cynthia threw back her head as she laughed.

“We’ll see about that.”

She turned her attention to Cyrus, who had been silent since they arrived.

“Are you gonna be okay? I can stick around if you want?”

Cyrus was still looking at his feet. He shook his head.

[If anything happens, I’ll give you a call,] Dawn signed.

With a sigh, Cynthia reached over to pat his shoulder. Cyrus finally met her eyes. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It’s why you’re here.”

Cyrus stared at her for a long moment, shoulders tensed like a cornered Pokémon. He remained strung high even as Cynthia took her hand away, turning to climb up onto Garchomp’s back.

“Have a good night. I’m not too far away if you need any help, okay?”

[I think we’ll be okay, thanks Cynthia.] Dawn smiled wide. [Have a safe trip.]

With one last look, Cynthia gave her partner a pat. “Come on, let’s get going,” she said. Garchomp chirped and took a running start before taking off, propelling herself upwards into the clear sky.

They watched until the dragon disappeared from sight.

#fanfiction #pokemon #pokemon dppt #team galactic #barry (pokemon)#dawn (pokemon)#team galactic leader cyrus #champion cynthia #ria.txt #my writing

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kalosstarters · 8 years ago

Text

One-shot: Alain is a supportive dad, part 2

It’s Amelia’s turn to get some support after she returns home from a failed league challenge. (She’s like 12-13 in this?)

“Alain, have you seen Amelia? She never misses her meal or spends this much time alone in her room...” Mairin asked her husband who had just finished his dinner.

Back when all their kids had still been living at home, the Moreau family had always eaten their dinner together, but Mari was now working as a Pokémon ranger somewhere near the seaside, and Alex was studying in Alola, so Amelia was the only child who was currently at home. But even so, she usually always showed up in the dining room when she sensed the smell of fresh food coming from the kitchen.

“No, I haven’t. This isn’t like her,” Alain too admitted. “Maybe she went out? You know, she has all those friends...”

“Right. It’s just...” Mairin took a break to think of how to form her question. “Do you think those people really are her friends? They seemed awful lot more interested in her stories about her trip and her Pokémon than in Amelia herself.”

She had been watching her daughter playing with other kids, mostly younger than her, the other day and even though Amelia participated in all the things and talked and laughed and showed the others some of her Pokémon, somehow the young girl had seemed like she hadn’t been there.

“I wish I knew. You know, I think we should talk to her,” Alain answered, and decided to go check if Amelia was somewhere near after all.

The brunette girl wasn’t in her room, but Alain found her sitting on a tree branch on their yard. Her eyes seemed cloudy even from afar and she wasn’t smiling even the tiniest bit when she saw her father, which was very unusual for her. She loved her parents and they had always had a close relationship, but after her return from her journey it seemed like something had changed.

“Amy!” Alain tried catching her attention by yelling her nickname that she allowed only her closest people to use. She claimed the name was way too common, and asked her friends to call her Lia, if they had to use a nickname in the first place.

“What’s up, dad?” she asked in a tone that indicated she definitely didn’t want company right now.

“What’s up with you? It is not like you to sit alone here and not have dinner with with us when you know it’s time for that.”

Amelia’s voice was challenging when she asked: “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why do you even care?” she suddenly got angry. “You are living in a perfect world with a perfect job and perfect Pokémon and perfect wife and two kids who are doing perfectly fine in everything they do. I’m just an inconvenience.”

Alain nearly lost his temper at Amelia’s angry outburst, but suddenly it struck him that he himself had been in quite a similar situation in his earlier life.

“A M E L I A O L I V I A M O R E A U. Don’t ever say such things. You are not an inconvenience, you never have been and never will be. And no one lives in a perfect world. There’s still so much you don’t know. Come on down and let’s talk about this.”

“No,” was the girl’s simple answer.

“I refuse to leave until you tell what has made you feel that way, and until I have told you something I probably should have told you a long time ago. That’s what Papa Sycamore did to me.”

“What? Are you saying that your life hasn’t always been perfect?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Actually, my life was far from perfect for a very long time when I was about your age and a bit older. I had very self destructive thoughts back then, but I was lucky enough to have some very good people in my life who saved me. But I don’t want to talk about it if you are not ready to collaborate. Come here.”

Amelia had a hard time believing that her father would have had any issues similar to hers in his life, but her curiosity won and she gave up.

“Fine.”

Alain pointed towards a bench on the terrace of their house, and they went to sit there.

“Please, Amelia, tell me why do you think you are an inconvenience?” Alain asked then in a serious and concerned tone.

“Because I am! You are like the smartest doctor in Kalos, and mum is an amazing trainer, and Mari is so good with Pokémon and everyone loves her, and Alex is super smart too... But what am I? I am dumb. I can’t learn a shit.”

”Amelia!” Alain warned her, but she continued like she hadn’t been stopped at all.

“I can’t dance or bake or anything so I can’t participate in showcases. I can’t battle. I can’t get that cursed eighth badge! Mew, I can’t do anything! I don’t have any great plans for my future and I’m just sitting here watching my so called friends who don’t even care about me go on their journeys and achieve great things. Oh, I’m also clumsy and ugly and I’m pretty sure everyone, including my Pokémon, hates me,” she finished, her face red from her outburst. “So now do you understand what I’m feeling?”

“That is a lot for one person to carry inside them. But you are wrong. We, as in I, your mum, Mari, Alex and your Pokémon, all love you. And you can do a lot of things. I only have take a look at your Pokémon and I know they are taken care of very well and they share a strong bond with you. I know these things, you just said I’m the smartest Pokémon doctor in Kalos.”

Amelia puffed her cheeks at Alain’s attempt to lighten the mood, and for a moment she looked so much like her mother when she was younger. And she was just as insecure as she had been, Alain realized. He made a mental note to ask Mairin to tell Amelia about her insecurities when the time was right, and continued:

“Just because you are not good at something doesn’t mean you don’t have your strengths. Even though you are a bit self centered sometimes, you are also extremely kind hearted, passionate, caring, hard working, and you get along with everyone! And you are not dumb, you just have dyslexia! That is not something you can affect. You wouldn’t be you without your flaws. We all have them."

Amelia was slightly moved by her father’s words, but then she remembered: “You promised to talk about your flaws and problems earlier, so it’s your turn.”

“Fine. This is not something many people know, and there’s a reason for that.”

He took a small pause to consider how to start the difficult topic, and asked:

“You have heard about Team Flare, right?”

“Of course. Weren’t they those dudes in red who tried to destroy the world?”

“I guess that’s one way to put it... But... what you don’t know is that...”

Alain took a deep breath, because remembering all those things that happened in the past was still hard.

“... I was a part of them.”

“WHAT? Dad, no way? You, who save Pokémon’s lives? Tried to destroy them all?”

“No, Amelia, it’s not like that. I never, ever would have helped them in any way had I known about their plans. But you see.. I was young. And stupid. And desperate. And manipulated and emotionally abused. And also very alone. I lost my biological parents when I was very small, only a toddler. After that I had like 10 different foster families, but none of them cared about me, claiming I was a difficult child. But then professor Sycamore found me and took me into his lab. For some reason I still don’t quite understand he had taken a liking to me, but he sort of adopted me and let me help him in his job. At one point I decided to go to my own Pokémon journey, to learn more about mega evolution. But then I got this idea that I needed to become stronger in order to be able to protect the ones I love, so mostly the Professor and my Pokémon during that time. And I met dir.. Lysandre, the boss of team Flare. He offered me the Charizardite X and I of course took it, because it meant I was one step closer to being the strongest.”

“Oh, dad...” Amy whispered, having completely forgotten about her own problems for a moment.

“The bracelet he gave me collected mega evolution energy ‘for research’, I was told. And it just so happened that pretty soon after I got it, I met your mother.”

“You have never told about that! How did it happen?” Amelia couldn’t hide her interest anymore.

“Well, she saw me battling someone with a mega Absol, and wanted to learn more about mega evolution too... So she started tagging along even though I didn’t exactly let her. But I’m glad she did follow me because otherwise I wouldn’t be here now,” he said with soft eyes and turned his head slightly to see Mairin cleaning in the kitchen.

“Ah! But what happened then?”

“Well, we traveled together for several months, and saw some interesting things for example in Hoenn... But I decided I couldn’t keep letting her tag along with me anymore because she wouldn’t be safe with me. And she didn’t believe me. So, I yelled at her and lied to her, and because of me Chespie fell into coma.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t directly my fault, but because of me he was running around in the Lysandre labs and was hit by some experiment... Lysandre claimed that by collecting more mega evolution energy we might be able to heal it, so of course I was eager to do it. I also helped him to capture a Zygarde core. But none of the things he told me were true. He was planning on using the core and the energy I collected for his plans to destroy the entire world, and when I found out, I was devastated. I had only wanted to help... And he, someone I trusted, had used me, so he could destroy everything.”

He felt chills going down her spine, and his throat felt weird, but he was able to continue:

“Thankfully Ash, a friend of mine, snapped me out of my shock, and together with several other strong trainers we managed to stop their plans and I got Chespie back and healed, like I had promised to your mother. But to this day I feel so much guilt about it that sometimes it is hard to live with it. I also doubted if I could ever repay for all the harm I had done. After the Flare incident I could have challenged the Elite Four and Champion of Kalos, since I was the Kalos league victor, but I didn’t do that either, because I was afraid. I was scared that if I got the power of champion, I would become someone like Lysandre. But your mother and Professor Sycamore were there for me the entire time, and they eventually managed to convince me to forgive myself.”

“Wow. I can’t believe. This is a lot to take in... But I don’t understand, what does this have to do with me?” Amelia asked, not able to connect the dots.

“What I tried to say is that even though my struggles were and are different than yours, they still exist. And I messed up in a much more serious way than you have or ever will. It could have led to things I don’t even want to think about... But for some reason I was still loved even after all that... And I eventually got over my self hatred. Well, it’s not completely gone, but I learned to live with it.”

“So Amy, while I know I can’t magically cure you from those poisonous thoughts, I hope that this makes you understand that you are loved, with your flaws and all, and no one is expecting you to be perfect. That is what your smart mother taught me, and that’s what I want to teach you. Please. Just be you.”

Something about Alain’s words had opened Amelia’s emotional walls, and she was now crying against his shoulder.

“Papa... I don’t deserve...”

“You do. You absolutely do. You have done nothing wrong. And screw that eighth badge. I never liked that guy anyway.” he reassured her, rubbing her back.

After he said that, Mairin came out and found her daughter hugging Alain tightly, still sobbing. She joined the hug and gently kissed Amelia’s forehead, and even though Amelia’s struggles weren’t over yet, during her bad moments she always remembered this one, and it helped her to carry on, with a smile on her face.

#my fics #marissonshipping #alain #mairin #amelia #sorry about the extremely late posting time #i just wanted to get this done bc i most likely won't have time tomorrow #(also sorry i only read it through once)

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