#i got her on my second try just like Adaman

[robbietech]

Irida's modern outfit!

Please credit me if you use them!

[tetrafy]

Rant/ Spoilers for Pokémon SV DLC: The Teal Mask!! I’ll also add a Sona drawing of my Legends AU and the Paldea one below! I know the style is different. This is my inconsistent style arc LMAO 🫶

Just quick description of why I have 2 Sona Designs! So the first one is the one everyone has seen on this account which is the one that Simps for Adaman and gets taken to Hisui. The other, is the Paldea/Present Storyline (and she simps for Perrin). They both have almost the same backstory (with some minor timeline changes) but one progresses like normal in life while the other gets stuck in the past in the end.

I drew my Typhlosion that way because I thought it would be a cool idea for it to evolve in Sinnoh/ The Distortion World as my Sona somewhat takes over the role of Dawn/Lucas for the Platnuim storyline! And since Hisui and Sinnoh are the same and the Dex entry for Hisuian Typhlosion is:

“…I believe its form has been influenced by the energy of the sacred mountain towering at Hisui’s center.”

And would you look at that? The sacred mountain is Mt. coronet

So since Sinnoh is the Hisui region, it could be cool that the distortion world caused the a mutation of its dormant Hisuian genes to influence its Johtoian/modern day evolution.

- In the distortion world, time doesn’t flow properly and or it doesn’t follow the laws of physics so that could also be a cool loop hole. I get that it wouldn’t make sense for a Pokémon to evolve if time doesn’t flow, but in game, an eevee could still evolve into an umbreon or espeon so I’ll take it LMAO

So it can learn Inferno Parade and some Ghost type moves and it’s Tera Type is Ghost, hehe!

Anyways I’m rambling so move on!

Okay, so all of you know that I’m a fan of Legends Arceus so you can tell that I’m just going to mainly gush over the Perrin Storyline. I think that’s pretty much a given but just know its just me giving a play by play and my reactions so this might not be interesting!

Spoilers, officially starts here!

Okay so seeing Perrin for the first time in game, I literally screamed. Like hello?? You can’t blame me like seriously. She’s kinda my way for coping with the lack of Adaman content and Legends Content but she’s also so prettyyyyyy. So when Kieran literally started saying like, “I’ll meet you there” to progress the main story, I ran up to her trying to progress her story first before anything.

God, they did her justice when they translated her from the official art to the game! I wish to see Adaman in SV rendering style gahhh!!

- I do wish they explained why Hisuian Pokémon are around and not extinct, but that might just be like, “some were bred out of existence”, “they’re rare”, or something of the sort. Either way, due to them bringing back Hisuian Pokémon, im sure they’re might be an explanation in the future!

- I do also wish she explained why she had a Hisuian Growlith in the first place, or our player character mentions “what Pokémon is that?” Or something cause I would assume that Hisuian Variants are rare. Then again, it could be a thing that they talked about them in class. After all, Professor Laventon was on screen in Raifort’s Board

- But Perrin having Growlith just could be a hint that Adaman and Irida got together because she does give you her second Growlith at the end of her story. You know, cause one of the Pearl Clan’s nobles being Arcanine and the whole Colbat Coastline story in Arceus.

- It could mean Adaman and Irida got together, Their clans Merged and or disbanded, or it could literally just be a reference that pokemon did and I’m reading too much into it LMAO

Anyways! As someone who doesn’t do the Dex in Pokémon games, you can imagine me when I heard Perrin mention the requirement of 150 Pokémon for the Kitakami dex. I got like weird Legends Deja-vu and started “sobbing” to my friend, @deflatedrock, over the fact that I have to do the Dex for DLC.

- Also got Deja-vu over the fact that she called me “Kiddo” (yes, I was a Sans simp in my early days…)

- As someone who is not a minor I was like “Perrin please!! I’m not a kid!!” But yes, i understand that the protags in these games are all kids HAHA

- I just imagine my Sona (on the right) just trying to say how she’s not a kid with slight annoyance and embarrassment.

But Did I do it? Yes I got 150 Pokémon under 24 hours, what of it? And that was also including the story and the fact that was under leveled at the beginning of it LMAO

Imagine me screaming when the cutscene of her starts when she challenges me. I love the smile she has and it makes me wish that the switch was a more powerful console! Also Leafeon being her Second pokemon absolutely made me smile and it was super adorable the fact that she was taking pictures of us whenever she battled! Like :((((((((

The story starts after I beat her and she accepts me on taking on the job of helping snap a picture of a hard to find pokemon. I absolutely, am giggling over the “Partner” title I received from her. I was over the moon, on cloud nine LMAO !!

If you saw the direct/played the game, she wants to take a picture of Ursaluna with a unique marking on it’s head and the vague Hisui mentions throughout the story absolutely made me lose my shit. Small bits and pieces that Ursalunas used to be common back in the day or how mentions about her homeland.

Small mentions of Hisui/ Legends make me think of a high possibility of another Legends game could be in the future.

- I am hoping Johto but I do say it would be reasonable for it to be Unova or Kalos. But main reason I want it to be Johto is due to me never playing BW/BW2 or XY. I do plan to play them but the Grind for Unova is rough since DS game and XY i havent gotten the motivation to buy it and play it on 3DS (i know excuses HAHA)

- But I do hope that every region eventually gets its own Legends remake but with actual effort put into it like how Legends did. Legends with it’s music that is a call back to the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum games and a unique take on a pokemon game with Dex being the main priority rather than battles made it that much enjoyable. I do wish they didn’t put out BDSP and focused more time into Legends rather than releasing both.

- obviously not every region needs it, but I would be cool to live through the war or something that was mentioned in Kalos, or live through the events during the Sprout Tower. (I don’t know anything about Unova but *insert something a Unova fan wants from a Unova Legends game*)

But Im rambling so let us continue!

We make our way to the Timeless Woods, the location where the Ursaluna is often spotted and at the time, I didn’t really think much of it. I just thought, “Oh cute! ‘Timeless’ because this story is Hisui coded with Perrin and Ursaluna!”

But love the cute interaction moments:

- Whenever Perrin spoke to the polliwhirl and just calling it a “cutie pie” and speaking to it like anyone would do with their pet. Should’ve been me.

- Her getting embarrassed that the player might’ve tuned in with her pet names to the wild pokemon

- The fact that we saved her from a wild pokemon that came out of nowhere

- The cute camp setup! I will eventually draw her and my Sona sleeping in the tent together as we wait for the fog

- or just any time she would take a photo of us and calling us heroic and such

But before anything Ursaluna related, we must survey the area to see the different species living here. So I go up to her and click “A” to progress the story and we wait for the fog to come in at night…

I didn’t expect much going into it. Literally just thought, Pokémon snap but in SV. Once the survey starts and we officially load in im standing in the woods. The first note plays in the background and I am stunned. My eyes start to well up as the music continues. Heartwoods plays in the background and I had to put down my switch for a moment. I let out an excited squeal as I couldn’t help but just say “oh my god, stop…” with a chuckle. I sat there on my bed just listening to it and letting everything sink in. I couldn’t help but imagine the idea of my Sona possibly getting Deja-vu or her tearing up alongside me.

I stayed in the woods longer than I should have. Taking my sweet time snapping photos of the Pokémon in the area, even though it won’t even matter how good they were as long as the Pokémon were recognizable. I realized I never even screen-recorded anything during this part of the game. I was too immersed to even remember to do that. Perhaps it’s a biased towards Legends but this by far was one of my favorite DLC storylines in a Pokémon game at this point.

But of course, I wanted to progress in the story so I took the photo of the Duskull, completing the side quest. I was absolutely smiling and tearing up over this and my brain making the connection “Eterna” and “Timeless”, the names of the two areas that had this song placed in. Man, this just made me so happy.

Progressing, we learn about Perrin’s creativity problems with her being a burnt out prodigy and all. Focusing on how others want it and how she could get the most points from judges rather than what she thinks looks good.

Telling her that we take photos how we want the Pokémon to turn out makes her think and gets back into her usual mood.

- Her arc in this is great. It’s relatable and I think expands her character her more. I was afraid that she would be just a pretty face that Pokemon won’t do much with other than take photos and be a Legends homage.

We eventually hear stomping off in the Distance that interrupts the moment. We come to the conclusion that it is the Blood-moon Beast and head towards said direction and can I say, THIS GUY LOOKS FUCKING SICK!!

First off I love the fact that it looks like a very old Ursaluna as that as lived through the years and seen the world change along side it. The fact that is stands on 2 rather than 4 legs, the Fur being more Ursaring colored and whatever the gray stuff is growing around it? Perhaps more gray fur to represent it’a age?

I just absolutely love how it looks, I was expecting a regular Ursaluna with a red moon instead of the yellow one it has but this absolutely blew me away. It reminds me of the Crystal Onix that was in the anime! A cool super rare variant that looks like that due to the conditions it was in.

- Don’t count this Ursaluna as a regional variant until it’s confirmed that it is.

I also noticed how it didn’t seem to attack either of us until Perrin accidentally snapped a photo with auto flash. It more or less attacked us by us startling it than Anything.

AND DONT GET ME STARTED WITH THE MUSIC!!!

Like gahhhh!! Like there’s no such thing as a Alpha Pokémon in Present day Pokémon but using the alpha theme to express the tension and idea that this is no ordinary Ursaluna is so good !!

And when you get into the battle with it- LIKE OMG!! The Wild Pokémon battle music used for this just made me scream. And it’s blood moon move One-shorting some of my Pokémon, I was terrified of losing LMAO

- I loved the occasional times that Perrin motives you and cheers you on, I just enjoy the small cutscenes that’s main/ significant characters do that!

But we catch the Ursaluna and the main story part ends. I do enjoy the cute mentions of her taking photos of us while we battled and how they’re her favorite. She wants me fr fr.

She talks about needing to develop them right away and tells us a family saying and We eventually decided to meet back at Mossui.

Again, the call backs/references to Adaman and her being a descendant of the Diamond Clan is just so good! As you can assume, I was just screaming like “Adaman Reference!” And bouncing off the walls. I was at an all time high at this point.

As an Adaman and Legends fan, I was being fed!! With these small details. She also mentioned her dad and how he used the Shaymin Tent but im not sure if we’ll ever see her father. And if he were to be shown, don’t be surprised if I start simping for him too.

- Also can we mention the pose she does whenever she is idol sometimes? The fact that she puts her hand in her pockets like Adaman? Like I can’t be reading too much into it, that’s clearly a Adaman reference, right? IDK IM HAPPY ABOUT THIS

But the rest of the dialogue is her completing her arc of taking photos of how she wants it and now focusing on perfection and the photography standards. I also think it’s cute that she didn’t know the player’s name until now and does a endearing reintroduction with pride. She then gives you a Hisuian Growlith that enjoys battling and talks about how Growliths “like these” tend to come in pairs but even when separated they’re paths will surely cross again. She just confessed to me guys, don’t worry you’re all invited to our wedding, not delusional I swear.

-but guess the Growliths are still around but not often seen based on how she’s referring to them idk

But she leaves and that’s pretty much the end of the story! I do hope we see her again in either a different title or in the next wave but I don’t see her being in the next one. If I remember correctly, it will take place in Blueberry Academy and it’s in the middle of the ocean or something LMAO

Okay but overall: 10/10 experience for the Perrin Storyline!

I am super easy to please but I think it’s such a good story! Did wish it was longer or we had the opportunity to have her stay and have her have like a few more small quests/surveys like that are photo related after the main story? Kinda like how Mai was where you just had to catch Pokémon during the Massive Mass Outbreaks DLC.

My brain is starting to power down but I do wish for Pokémon to do more stories where you get cool unique Pokémon variants that are not shown. Again I hope it’s not a region variant for Ursaluna cause that would make it a whole lot cooler. He’s definitely going on my team.

Im very satisfied with the DLC and i hope we can get more Legends Content in the future. RIP Ingo, Unova Legends could be a good way to some how bring him back is all I’m saying *wink wink nudge nudge*

If you made it this far, thanks! You should comment your thoughts just saying if not then that’s cool too I’m just here to let me brainrot juices out!

[crystalelemental]

Now that we have a new CS run and the Eevee eggmon event is done, I can finally do this.  Eevus Sweepus.

General Overview The biggest impediment to my success was honestly not having Tina.  If I had another support, I think we would've had a generally easier time.  But I didn't, so oops.  Then again, there are clearly other issues.  Not every Eevee team gets along so well, and one choice was...bad.  I'm not gonna front, it was bad and I shouldn't have done it.  But oh well.

Fire, Electric, and Psychic didn't get to participate this run, at least as offensive types.  Kris is just unfortunate to use in general, so off-type is not happening in any way without something like NC Blue backing her.  And that's breaking the Eevee rules.  I'd say I want another Jolteon, but considering the logical outcomes of such a wish are Volkner or Chase, I rescind any such desires forever.  Fire...it's not that Lucas couldn't do it, it's that Triple Flareon is bad.  Also the Tina thing.  Psychic has some potential, and maybe one day we'll get like...Sabrina with a Support Espeon or something to really round out that combo.  But in absence of that, this is the best we've got.  And this was with only two of their eight types available, so thank god there's some off-type potential.

Vs. Kahili Ripping the band-aid off immediately, we have Ice.  Ice is the worst possible one, because Irida has zero use of eggmon Glaceon.  Literally none, she sets her own Ice Zone, and is too reliant on Hail to do it any other way.  I brought Leaf for some stalling, trying to roll some lucky flinches.  I think it's safe to say, the only reason any of us are alive is because of the disruption.  Leaf hit some good flinches, and even Glaceon got in on this, setting up our second sync with a clutch freeze on center.  I mean sure, Irida dropped the crit and we miraculously survived sync, but it was really cool that you did that, Glaceon.

Vs. Hala It took an embarrassing amount of time for me to remember that SS Erika existed.  I tried stupid hard to make Adaman work, and he just was not doing it.  Turns out, it's because I had him on Tank grid, forgetting his offenses, and was trying my damnedest to run Lucas for Atk drops to keep us alive through sync, to zero success.  When I finally did remember Erika, we shit-stomped the fight.  So that one's on me.  I forgot the OG.

Vs. Olivia This is perhaps the greatest accomplishment Valerie will ever know, and it is 100% cheating.  Permanent Field Effects saved her ass beyond any doubt.  If not for that, this would be impossible.  But since we did have it, Valerie kicked ass.  See, Penny has every trait Valerie could ever want, and perhaps most significant of all of them is stealing all of Olivia's buffs.  She's really dangerous, bringing up a lot of stats through Ancientpower Swag Bag and boosting defenses per action.  Penny can just steal all of it pre-sync and laugh a bit.  Valerie herself did surprisingly okay.  The sync isn't super impressive, but on HP parameters, we won this fight because Olivia's DPS couldn't break her.  Vigilance tanking Draining Kiss kept Valerie alive, and the Rebuff + Zone combo meant recovering like 500HP per attack, which was well above what Olivia could do in response.  A third sync would've killed, but again, the DPS pressure from Smart Cookie/HP Advantage 8 and Draining Kiss was tremendous.  I'm so proud of this one.

Vs. Acerola Finally, the on-types, we can-oh god I forgot to shift to the on-type parameters of fuck oh god.  Turns out it's alright, Elio's tank set is pretty commendable.  Selene herself as a great flinch rate, and even egg Umbreon's got a nice 30%.  Selene's first sync kinda sucked, but I'm convinced she just missed the crit.  No was way is that little with Zone active.  Crunch dealt a solid 7k, and second sync was like 65k.  Oh, worth noting: thank god for Critical Eye.  With Elio, she can cap her crit rate in one use of his TM, which is much more reliable.

Vs. Kukui Elaine is an excellent Support for any of these Eevee clears, packing pretty much everything they could want into one kit.  Notably, the capped crit in one TM is tremendous for pairs like Lyra, who just don't otherwise have it at all.  Eevee Lyra has good spread damage with ensured accuracy, so this felt like the safest solution.  Her sync dealt 111k.  Very proud of her.

Final Thoughts I don't know that I'd do this again!  Like, it's achievable, and believe it or not...everyone was first try.  Which still staggers me.  But I also have to acknowledge, it was first try because Glaceon kept rolling 10%s, and Selene never missed a flinch, and we hit the quad queues where we needed them to be, etc etc etc.  Alola is also a kind of midpoint in difficulty; harder than Kanto, Johto, and Unova, but nowhere near the ferocity of Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos.  I don't think these teams would win as easily there.  To say nothing of issues of support.  Like okay, what flexibility do these teams actually have?  There's like none.  There aren't even enough supports, Elio had to stand in.  Bad matchups eviscerate these teams something fierce.

But.  It is achievable.  And I am sated knowing it can be done.  Godspeed, you funky little fox babies.

[vaughnwrites]

To the Rescue

adaman x reader

( hello! this is the first time i'm posting an 'x reader' kind of fic in actual years, but i've been in the habit of writing them ever since because it helps me undo a lot of writer's block when it comes to my writing i'm attempting to do. but in the meantime, i've been absolutely feral about adaman, so i decided to take a crack at writing once more. hopefully some people will like it! if you do, be sure to let me know and i will write more! also i do accept prompts selectively if you wish to send any! )

reader is gender-neutral. they/them pronouns will be used if any pronouns at all.

—

You know, in hindsight, this was easily one of your dumber moves in life. Granted you weren’t that old, but adult enough where you should have known the risks.

Besides, this was more of a lapse of common sense and safety measures.

Jumping off of Braviary’s little triangle thing was something you’d borderline mastered at this point. A few feet off the ground, you let go and let Braviary fly off rather than having to land and readjust. It was a timesaver, and it was something you learned early on. After all, sometimes those few seconds was the difference between catching a Pokemon and having it run away.

Honestly, it’s not like you were that far off the ground. Maybe a little further than you should have been, but definitely too far for conditions. You hadn’t been thinking about the rains from the night before, just focused on catching the Pokemon that had gathered in the area. It wasn’t one you got to see too often, so you were excited that there was a horde of them for you to catch.

But of course, nothing could go as planned. You had it easy for far too long, fate decided.

As soon as you hit the ground, your ankle slid on mud and rolled awkwardly, causing you to slip and fall. You tried to grab onto anything around you, but you tumbled down the large hill helplessly with a shout.

Pebbles and rocks from the mud scraped against your hands and arms as you desperately tried to stop yourself to no avail from sliding down. Once you finally skidded to a stop, you took some time to look over your clothes. You were covered in dirt and mud of various levels of dry, your hands and arms scraped up with little bubbles of blood coming from a couple of them. Your clothes were for sure in need of a soak in the river after this, hoping to get most of this out.

However, your ankle quickly wiped away all other thoughts.

It gave an angry throb, and you realised it was twisted hard in a direction it normally shouldn’t be pointing in. Your hands went to cover it, but touching it made it worse. Flexing your hands next to your ankle, gritting your teeth as you tried to think of how to get out of this situation. Today you didn’t plan on battling much, so you only brought a couple Pokemon. Only one of them was bonded to you — your Umbreon.

Finding the grime-covered Pokeball on your pouch, you released your companion and smiled when it chirped coming out of the ball. She was so cute.

“Umbreon, I need your help,” you speak softly but strained, trying to stay calm as to not freak out your friend. A worried chirping noise came as she came closer, nuzzling your arm with her nose. “Yeah, I’m in a bit of trouble. I need you to go to the Diamond settlement nearby and grab someone there. It’s a little over that way.” You pointed in the general direction of the settlement. “Do you think you can do it?”

With a confident bark, your Dark-type girl was on her way.

—

It was a pretty peaceful day in the Diamond settlement. Everyone had been busy doing house chores and in general staying in the vicinity of the settlement, including Adaman. Normally he couldn’t sit still for the day, constantly needing to be moving and checking up on everything around the area, but they knew the land was too muddy to walk. The previous day’s downpour made everything just a tad too dangerous to stray too far from their little village. Even the ground there was on the soft side, forcing everyone to take care in how they walked, lest they end up slipping and covering themselves in mud.

Still, despite having to stay near the settlement for the day, Adaman wasted no time. Instead of leaving to check things like normal, he spent the time training with his Leafeon. It was a two-for-one, in his opinion. Not only was his Pokemon pal getting stronger with learning and mastering its moves, but it was also making their bond stronger as after their training session, Leafeon always got little treats. Sure, Pokemon could be dangerous and scary, but with proper training and a little help from a certain someone who fell from the sky, they could be very good friends.

He was thankful the Survey Corps was helping everyone understand Pokemon more than before. The fear of the unknown was strong, and if everyone got to know Pokemon, maybe they wouldn’t be so feared. Feared a little, maybe, considering some seemed to be much stronger and angrier than others, but at least have a general understanding to forward the thinking of living with the creatures rather than separately.

Adaman was pulled back to reality when he heard murmurs around him. He shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts, heading toward the front of the settlement to see what was going on.

There stood an Umbreon, held back from entering by the guards.

Immediately the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he knew something was wrong. Umbreon wasn’t really a wild Pokemon to just show up, so clearly, this had to be someone’s very own. There weren’t a whole lot of people he knew that even had Umbreons, except one for certain. One Survey Corps member that he knew would be wandering about today in the Crimson Mirelands, despite warnings not to.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” the woman responded, her arms crossed. “This little guy has been trying to come in, but we don’t want any trouble. We can’t be for certain why it’s here.”

Adaman slowly approached the Pokemon, getting on one knee to talk to it eye-to-eye like he did with Leafeon. “Hey, buddy. What are you doing here?”

The Umbreon chirped at him, gently taking his haori gently into its mouth to tug. It wasn’t a hard tug like it was attempting to rip clothes, but enough to show that it definitely wanted the leader to follow it. His eyebrows furrowed as he got up, turning to the woman once more.

“I’m going to follow this Umbreon. I think someone might be in trouble.”

“Just be careful, Adaman.”

“I’ll take my time.”

—

Being alone with your thoughts with nothing around you and no way to entertain yourself, time seemed to go by so slowly. You didn’t know exactly how long it had been, but you knew it had been at least an hour considering the sun had changed positions, but you still weren’t the greatest at gauging time just simply by the sun. Either way, being uncomfortable didn’t help the passage of time go any faster — between the pain and the feeling of being covered in gunk and grime, time seemed to be moving slower than ever.

The sound of footsteps coming closer caught your ears, causing you to hold your breath and listen closely. Was that someone coming to rescue you, or a Pokemon about to find and eat you alive? You weren’t sure — until your Umbreon rounded the corner of the hill.

“Umbreon!”

She let out a trilling sort of noise before running up to you and bumping her head against yours as a greeting. The sound of your name followed, and you looked up to see Adaman staring down at you. A sort of amused disappointment was written all over his face, one hand on his hip and one in his pocket as he shook his head. “I should have known you’d get yourself into trouble.”

Your face grew warm as you grinned sheepishly, calling Umbreon back into her ball. “Yeah, well, I’ve never been one for thinking ahead much.”

He laughed a bit before starting to offer you a hand, before finally looking down at your legs. Seeing your ankle bent awkwardly in a direction it should not be pointing made the smile drop instantly, and before you knew it he was kneeling down to look. “Almighty Sinnoh, what did you do?”

You swallowed hard, looking in the other direction. “I… landed a little hard when letting go of Braviary. When I hit the ground, my ankle twisted and I slid and fell down the hill.”

“Twisted? More like broken. Do you think you can stand on your other foot to get on my back?” Adaman stood up and held out his hand, worry clearly written all over his face.

“With help, yeah,” you respond, taking his hand and hauling yourself up precariously on one leg. Your other leg was bent at the knee to avoid having your foot touch anything more than it needed to. Your balance wobbled a bit with trying to find the correct way to stand on one foot, but Adaman quickly came to the rescue by holding your arm and allowing you to lean on him for support. You sighed, embarrassed by the situation. “I’m sorry for wasting your time like this, Adaman.”

He looked at you, a soft smile on his face. “You’re not wasting my time. You never could.” His cheeks dusted pink for a bit, and he cleared his throat. “I’d rather this than spend time worrying over where you are because no one has heard from you in a while.”

You smiled back, locking eyes with him for a little bit too long before you both look away with matching blushes. “We, uh… we should start heading back before it gets dark.”

With a bit of a strained effort on your part, you finally managed to hop onto Adaman’s back. He held your legs by his waist as your arms wrapped around his neck and dangled down by his chest, your face resting on his shoulder. “It’ll be a bumpy ride, but we’ll get to the settlement soon,” Adaman spoke as he walked, trying to be quick but not slide or drop you. “You can spend the night at my place. Uh, if you want,” he added quickly.

“Nothing would make me happier after this shitty day, Adaman,” you spoke softly, smiling the entire time.

No one mentioned the matching blushes you two shared as you entered back into the settlement.

[dragonofthedepths]

Trip (and Faceplant)

     Irida was having a perfectly pleasant evening, relaxing in a calm little area just outside the Pearl Clan base and trying to get her mind off her still recent promotion to clan leader when she spotted an unfamiliar blue figure making it's way towards her. As it got a little closer though she could tell that although the outfit was utterly unrecognizable, its wild blue hair was actually very familiar...

     "Lord Adaman?!?"

     His face lit up to an almost unnerving degree in response to her startled shout. What was the Diamond clan leader doing all the way out here??? And looking like he'd just barely escaped a run-in with a psychic pokémon at that?

     He let out a something of a choked, victorious laugh. "You are actually Lady Irida! Right? Sorry. I have met way too many doppelgangers of people recently..." 

     The second part was muttered under his breath, and followed by something unintelligible about rowan trees and professions. He shook his head before fixing her with another slightly manic grin.

     "What year is it?" He almost shouted. Sounding, to put it bluntly, a little hysterical.

     Were it not for the fact he was bleeding a bit from what looked like a shallow cut on his left arm, Irida would have been tempted to assume this was some particularly insane Zoroak making an unhinged attempt at mimicry.

     "... It's Thirteen Forty-Seven." Irida said, just barely managing to keep her voice even.

     Adaman let out a breathless little laugh that did nothing to ease Irida's worries.

     "Oh wow, that's actually the right century, I'm only a little bit early." He sat down at that, grabbing one other the nearby trees to carefully lower himself and then slumping against it once he was on the ground.

     "Lord Adaman, are you alright?" Irida was certain her face was displaying no small amount of concern and possibly even alarm, but the longer this conversation went on the more uncomfortable she got.

     "I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm just early! Do you know Iiiiiiiiii–aaanywhere that I could find oran berries around here?" About halfway through Adaman appeared to change his mind about what he was going to say, and a nervous smile grew on his face as he corrected, tinged with the same manic energy that the rest of his expressions had been.

     "Umm..." Irida blinked at him, an awkward pause stretching into the air as she floundered.

     "I should be going!" Adaman said brightly, suddenly popping back up to his feet. The smile he fixed her with before spinning and beginning off at a brisk trot back the way he came was his most manic yet.

     "Do you need an escort?" She shouted at his retreating back, feeling very wrongfooted and no small bit alarmed.

     "I'll be fine!" Adaman didn't even bother turning around, waving over his shoulder and somehow managing to inject the feeling of a hysterical giggle into  the action.

     Irida did not trust that statement in the slightest. But in the time it would take her to run back to the village and fetch someone he would already be long gone, and there was no way in the world she was heading after him alone, so she decided that it just would have to be Not Her Problem.

꧁ꕥ꧂ ꧁ꕥ꧂ ꧁ꕥ꧂ 

After the resolution of the distortion and the defeat of Volo, Dialga has blessed Adaman with a gift. The Lord of Time blessed the Diamond Clan leader with the power to cross His domain, and Adaman is Very Much Failing at getting control over it, leaving him falling uncontrollably through time every time he trips or looses his balance. In the past... three? years, Adaman has crossed two continents against his will, discovered where(when) Ingo is from, and nearly died many, many times. There are a few tricks yet to learn to get home, much less to get his new white-clad friend back in time to see his brother.

Day (291/100) in my #∞daysofwriting @the-wip-project 

[imfluentinfangirlandgay]

Extended Family - Ch 2

This was started by @zestofthedepths with this post, so make sure to read their chap first! The second half of that first chapter is in the comments, and I've been building on it. Huge thanks to them for this idea!!! I'm having a ton of fun writing it!

[Part 3]

Words: ~1800

Elesa finally managed to get Emmet to sit down, albeit he fidgeted. She had forced him to sit because she said he looked like he was on the verge of collapsing, but she did not mind his fidgeting. In fact, she fished one of his Pokeballs from his belt and handed it to him. He released it, revealing Eelektross, who immediately chirped at him, noting his distress. The two time travelers cringed away from it. Emmet couldn’t find it in him to care. The Electric eel Pokemon floated close at his side, chirping and humming at him. Emmet was trying not to cry. Eventually, it settled around his shoulders, its head in his lap so he could stroke it and play with its fins. The strangers seemed nervous about this, but didn’t say anything.

“He’ll be okay, Eelektross,” Elesa said to it, “he just got a scare. He needs something to hold,” she added, lowering her voice a little. Eelektross hummed and snuggled up to Emmet. Once they were settled, Elesa folded her hands in her lap. “Now, Who are you? How did you get here? And how do you know Ingo?” That name still reverberated in Emmet’s skull, making him dizzy. He shook his head vigorously, making Eelektross chirp at him. It lightly buzzed, bringing him back to reality.

“My name is Adaman, leader of the Diamond Clan, and this is Irida, leader of the Pearl Clan. In our time, someone messed up the balance of space and time. The person has since been incapacitated, but the issues still remain. At random, space-time distortions appear and bring along dangerous Pokemon from times and regions we do not know. Me and Irida here were at one of these space-time distortions trying to evacuate civilians from the Diamond Camp, as the portal had opened up right next to us. We happened to still be in it when the distortion vanished, and it must have brought us along here. We found ourselves in the path in this time and place instead of Hisui,” the man in blue finished. The woman in pink - Irida - nodded along with his story.

“As for how we know Ingo, he appeared one day in the middle of the Alabaster Icelands almost three years ago. Poor man had severe amnesia and still can’t remember anything other than his own name and some very fuzzy memories. The Pearl Clan found him and took him in. He had excellent skill with Pokemon, catching and training them, and even befriending them, which in out time period is practically unheard of. He showed mastery over Pokeballs, which have only just been invented by a foreign Professor visiting Hisui. Because of his skill, he was recognized by one of the Noble Pokemon - the Pokemon blessed by the almighty Sinnoh we worship - and was appointed as her Warden. He still is trying to remember things, but nothing around seems to be able to jog his memory.” She glanced around. “Which makes sense, as there is nothing in Hisui that could possibly make him remember anything. It is such a vastly different space to this region. The more he does, the more he remembers.

“Recently, another figure fell from the sky, just like he did. A child. They saved Hisui and brought the two gods, the mighty Dialga and Palkia, down from their frenzies and had a battle with Ingo. He says he did jog some memories loose, but there are still many gaps he is missing.” Irida, the whole time she had been talking, had been watching Emmet. She paused as she watched him. “Other than his name, there are exactly three things he remembers. One is a Pokemon partner he used to have, one that, and I quote, ‘wielded flames with mastery’. Two is that he was around something called a ‘train’ a lot, though he has admitted he can’t remember what that is,” Emmet made a choking sound. Ingo didn’t remember what a train was? “And three is, as he has said, a smiling man in white who looks like him. He can’t remember who it was, but that the person was greatly important to him, and the phrase, ‘I love winning more than anything.’ Oh- are you alright?” She stopped suddenly, watching Emmet with concern. Elesa whipped her head around to him, looking at him.

“Oh, Emmet…” He knew there were tears rolling down his face now. Ingo was alive, he remembered Emmet, at least a little! He knew he existed, if nothing else! Emmet took out another Pokeball and tossed it in the air, catching the expressions of shock on Adaman and Irida’s faces. Emmet stood, addressing Chandelure. It saw his face and immediately hovered towards him, whining in concern.

“We know where he is, Chandie. We can find him now.” The Pokemon paused before spinning in a happy circle, letting out a shrill cry of joy. It rushed into his chest and he hugged it, laughing. “We can bring him home!” Emmet laughed harder, the tears rolling down his face still, hot and wet. Chandelure was pleasantly warm in his arms, her aura flickering happily. She twirled with her, Eelektross circling them and crying out in happiness too. By the time Emmet had calmed down, he could dimly hear Elesa speaking with Adaman and Irida.

“-don’t know. I would have to call in some favors, but I might be able to find someone who knows. Let me contact Alder and see if he can get an audience with Cynthia, the Champion of Sinnoh. Sinnoh is modern-day Hisui. She may be able to help. She’s very into the myths and legends of Sinnoh.” Emmet stood at attention suddenly, the Pokemon floating beside him. Eelektross bumped into his side, letting him know its presence was still there. The lack of movement made everyone’s attention come back to him. He felt a smile affix itself to his face, and was mildly surprised to find that it felt less strained and unnatural than it had in a long, long time.

“I am Emmet,” he announced, “I am a Subway Boss. I am Ingo’s brother. I am coming, too.”

Elesa smirked. “Does this mean you’ll finally take a day off again?” Emmet fixed her with his gaze.

“If it means I can find Ingo, yes. The Subway will run without me there. I have vacation days.”

“You don’t say?! You haven’t taken a single day off since Ingo went missing. I think that the workers will be happy to see you take some time off,” Elesa laughed. “I figured you’d say that and there’s no point in trying to keep you away. Do you want to run back to your apartment and grab some things and meet us back here in an hour?” Emmet posed, pointing at Elesa with his left hand, and at the ground with the other.

“I will return in exactly twenty-six minutes. All aboard!” he called as he spun out of the room.

He heard Irida yell, “Ingo does that too!” right as the door shut behind him.

—-------------------------------------------

Emmet returned in exactly twenty-six minutes and seventeen seconds, carrying a small tote bag of a change of clothes, a toothbrush, his passport, and his wallet. He strode back into the room, his hands swinging wildly as the excitement built up inside him. Ingo! They were going to find Ingo! Elesa barely glanced up as the door slammed open because of Emmet accidentally pushing it a little too hard, whereas the other two nearly jumped out of their skin. Eelektross floated happily behind him. “Oh, hello, Emmet, right on schedule. I got a hold on Cynthia and she said to go meet her in Sinnoh, so we’re going to head over to Skylla’s to get a ride there. Do you think you’d be up for that?” She looked up at him now, mild concern written on her face.

Emmet did not like heights. In fact, he preferred being deep underground to ever being above it. But, if this is what it took to find Ingo, he would fly for as long as he needed. Emmet curtly nodded, his smile beginning to strain at the thought of being in the air. “I am Emmet. I will find Ingo, even if I need to fly for it.” Irida and Adaman looked at each other, but didn’t say anything.

“Are you sure, Em? I know-”

“I’ll do it,” he cut her off, mildly annoyed. He’d survive. He had to find Ingo. He had to. This was the fastest way. Elesa sighed, but did not prod him anymore.

“Alright, then. We should head out to try to solve this all as soon as possible.” The three of them stood up, Elesa leading the way out of the building. Emmet kept stride with her, the two from the past behind them. Elesa’s Emolga emerged from its ball and chittered happily as it soared alongside them, enjoying the afternoon sun. Eelektross and Emolga struck up a conversation. It was silent amongst the humans for awhile as they walked along the path until Adaman spoke up.

“What Pokemon are those? I don’t think those are native to Hisui.”

“This is Eelektross. It is my partner. He is verrrry strong,” Emmet said. Eelektross trilled at the mention of its name.

“And this is Emolga, my ace. She’s a little shy, but she is a really good partner to have.” Elesa petted Emolga under the chin as it settled on her fluffy cowl, chittering away.

And what was that Pokemon you pulled out earlier, Emmet? The one that Ingo remembered?” Irida asked. Emmet paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts.

“That is Ingo’s partner, Chandelure. It is a fire and ghost type. It can sense souls.” He paused again. “It was the first to sense he was gone.” Elesa’s gaze watched him out of his peripheral vision. He’d never told anyone this before. The group was quiet again for a while. “Sometimes she likes to sense my soul just to remember what his was like. Because ours are verrrry similar.” He stopped talking, getting the feeling this was too much information. Nothing else was said until they reached Skylla’s.

Skylla already had some Pokemon prepared for departure. For Emmet, she had saddled up a particularly large Braviary and added extra straps. He saw Elesa quietly thank her. Emmet sent her silent thanks as well. He was going to hate this. Everyone mounted their respective Pokemon: an Unfezent, another Braviary, and a Staraptor. Skylla gave the call and all four pushed off the ground, rising into the air, Elesa taking the lead over the vast ocean to Sinnoh.

[r0-boat]

👉👈 it is valentines so give us any headcanons you have 💖💖💖

My treat~

Legends Arceus boy's reaction to MC giving them Valentine's Day Chocolate

Quick bonus:

Mc greeted Cyllene as they walked into her office. Cyllene knowing it was them and not taking their eyes off their work for a second " is there anything I can do for you mc?" Mc nodded and asked " I know this is a weird question but does jubilife City sell chocolate."

Cyllene with a confused look looked up from her paper "yes? Whoever runs the store can sell it to you. They're imported from Galar so they're expensive. Why?"

MC fidgets nervously not sure how to explain what today is"A-ah well today is-"

Cyllene looked behind to check her calendar "ah... today is Valentine's day isn't it? I am aware that you came from someplace far in time but I'm pretty sure Valentine's day has been around for a lot longer then you think it has..."

MC with a surprised look at my face turn to embarrassment as Cyllene continue

" However I have never heard of giving chocolate on Valentine's Day... I have work to do" Cyllene finishes her sentence by picking up her cup of coffee.

Mc quickly left her office basically feeling like a child who just got scolded by their mother.

Adaman

He doesn't understand the concept of Valentine's Day. Like why would you waste time waiting until one single day to give a present to your partner.

But he could never turn down your gift it looked handmade and it looks like you spend so much time on it.

"T-thank you I appreciate anyone who spends something they can't give back into something.... especially if it's you."

Even though he doesn't understand Valentine's Day that doesn't mean it's any less important to you so he would spend the rest of the day with you trying to find a perfect present for you, but would remind you that he isn't going to wait for some holiday to shower you with gifts and affection.

Ingo

He would know of a holiday on this day but wouldn't know where. Ingo would think he got it from probably from overhearing some Galaxy team members talking about it.

"O-oh really? For me? I-thank you. I apologize your first person who is givin me something. I wish I could give you something in return something to return the favor..."

You tell him that today was supposed to be for the people you love. Ingo tells you that Valentine's Day seems like a nice little holiday, and asks if you would like to go somewhere with him for today, because he wants to spend time with the person he loves.

It would take ingo forever to actually try it what does a handmaid gift from you it's something he wants to keep and cherish. But eventually he does he did because he doesn't want all your hard work to go to waste and ingo is going to savor every last bite.

Volo

Of course he knows about Valentine's Day Ginter has been crying about it since the beginning of this month something about 'A brand new treat from Galar that will certainly sell'

You see Volo's smile throw as you give him your Chocolate "Oh? Did you make this yourself? Hah, look how shy you are you're so cute."

Before you could metaphorically you beat him up for teasing you well Volo give you a shy smile and says "your not the only one however." Revealing a bar of chocolate "heh, I guess the whole ' this treat will have your Valentine fall in your arms' thing Ginter was going on about affected more than I thought."

For the rest of today you and Volo at your house eating Chocolate and spending quality time together.

[smallestapplin]

You know what I need? More parental hero over lian and Sabi just more of that cuteness

MY CHILDREN- reader is called mom but is otherwise gender neutral.

-

-

When you first fell from the sky you never thought you’d adopt the two youngest wardens. But it seems with their titles everyone forgets they are just kids.

You managed to convince Irida and Adaman to let you have them for a weekend just so they can be kids. And so far you aren’t regretting it.

Having taken Lian and Sabi to a nice spot so you three could be safe from Pokémon, the day had been filled with joy.

You were chasing after the two listening to the squeal and laugh.

“Gotcha!”

You wrap them up in your arms and lift them off the ground, laughing along side them and falling backwards to the ground.

“Hey that’s no fair!” Sabi wheezed out, a smile painted on her face.

“Come on ma!” Lain tries struggling out of your hold but he’s laughing too much.

“Oh yeah? You wanna see unfair? How about I dooo this!” You start tickling the young wardens. Cackling when they shout and giggle.

“Okay! Mercy! Mercy!” The two cry in unison.

You stop and just hold them, smothering their cheeks and forehead with kisses.

Sabi leans into the affection, you think the young girl hasn’t been given any or enough in her life.

Lian however is more bashful with the affection given to him. You don’t know what happened to his parents, but you’re going to make sure he grows up loved.

“It’s getting kinda late you two, let’s head back to the village, alright? We can pick up some sweet treats from the general stooore.” You tease, chuckling when the two bolt up.

“Last one there is a rotten stunky!” Sabi shouted with a head start.

Lian quickly gaining on her as the two take off.

You aren’t far behind looking around to see if there is any danger. But you three made it back to Jubilife just fine.

Man these kids have a lot of energy.

Sabi twirls “I win!” Cheering as she does so.

“Only cause you had a head start!” Lian lightly shoved her.

The two blowing raspberries at each other.

“Hey now, you two keep this up the shop will be closed before you two can get your desserts.”

That got their attention before the took off running again, only to come back once they realized you weren’t running behind them.

Lian grabs your left hand while Sabi grabs your right and the two start pulling you towards the shop.

You allowed the two to pick out whatever they wanted while you bought ingredients for dinner.

With that done you took the kids to your home. Smiling as they chattered on about their weeks.

“Thank you for the snacks mom.” You chuckle as Sabi’s face is getting covered with chocolate.

“Yeah thanks ma! These are the best, I don’t get to have them very often.” Lian had a mouth full of his honey filled treat.

“Anytime you two, after you’re finished with those, wash up okay? I’m going to start dinner.”

“Ooo! Are ya makin that stuff Laventon taught you how to make?” Both kids were leaning on the counter to try and see.

“Yeah, Laventon always makes the best curry so I thought I could share it with my sweet babies.” You exaggerate your baby voice, grinning as Sabi gets excited while Lian rolls his eyes at your voice.

Your smile turns soft once they washed up and was handed their plates. It was nice to have the house filled with their chatter.

You didn’t even have to ask to they liked the curry, judging by how they were both shoveling it in there faces.

“Kids please slow down, there is plenty more left for seconds, I don’t need you two choking on dinner.”

Lian sheepishly chuckles “sorry ma, it’s really good! And I’m hungry.”

“Thank you for dinner mom.” The younger warden speaks softly before going back ti eating her portion.

“I’m just happy you two like it so well, I’ll have to ask Laventon for more recipes.”

Once it was time for bed you set up the extra futons that you had and let them choose where ti place it. Your only condition was that you were taking the spot closest to the door.

They settled into their pajamas and looked at you.

“Can we get a story?”

“Sabi we aren’t five anymore….unless ma has a story, then that’s fine.”

You snort “okay I think I got one.”

You tuck them in while they waited with baited breaths.

“Is it an adventure one?” Green eyes stare at you in excitement.

“Yes of course, adventure ones are the ones you two like the most.”

‘A story of two kids lost in the woods having to sneak and dodge monsters on their way back home. Following the advice of their guardian they stick together, using teamwork to reach their goal, defeating monsters with their shared brains and brawn. Their guardian, over joyed to see them again but enraged to see them injured takes over in defeating the final boss with their orders.’

You figured it was a simple enough story.

But they loved it.

“Come on one more! Pleeeease.”

“Yeah yeah! Do they get to go home afterwards? Do they live happily? Or are there more obstacles to over come?”

“Alright alright settle down you two! I’ll give you a hint, they do live happily, but I’ll continue the story another time, okay?”

They groan and flip back against their pillows.

“Now goodnight you two.” You place a kiss on each of their foreheads before settling into your futon.

“Night mom, I love you.”

“Good night ma, love you.”

“I love you both as well.”

Sleep came ease to you three, all the running around and games you played today really took the energy out of them.

You awoke early at your usual time, your internal clock from being here so long makes it hard to sleep in.

Though with the extra weight you look around.

Lian is spread Braviary, his head on your stomach, you didn’t even know how he managed to get like this in his sleep. But he snores away without a care.

Sabi is curled up against you, her head on your shoulder and hands gripping your shirt.

They look so peaceful and content.

You will never let anything happen to them, you refuse to let anything take you away from them.

For now though you will let them sleep in.

[neapolinyan]

About the ask thing, you know i gotta go with someone from PLA lmao

If nobody's asked yet, Volo. If he has been already asked, then how about Irida? ^^

YOURE FINE nobodys snagged the volo ask yet! time to talk about my favourite spoingly little meow meow. cracks knuckles. prepare for some LONG rambles here folks

favorite thing about them:

this is very small but i love his hair with the cap on. i can wear my hair like that (and have done so in the past, low messy buns are VERY nice) and its just cool to see a character with it. plus his hair is also just a nice touch to make him resemble cynthia without being a carbon copy like a lot of the other ancestors. really throws into question who's the real ancestor of cynthia, him or cogita - the physical similarities are obvious, but the game never suggests they're related so it's fun to consider the idea that volo's a sham in every sense of the word, even down to his presumed ancestry.

least favorite thing about them:

i like rambling about his motivations but religion toes a VERY fine line with me so i am forced to keep it brief. i am so mad /j

favorite line:

"You outsider! It's almost as if you were spat out of the space-time rift just to get in my way!"

not sure WHY it's my favourite, but i guess it really just hammers home the protagonist's impact on him. i've said time and time again in my own silly little ramble spaces that volo wouldn't have gotten this far without the protagonist's interference - he grew frantic after learning both the fact they were gathering plates and, eventually, their connection to arceus, and i refuse to believe he's always been this deranged. the protag's presence in his life tipped him off the edge, and if not for them i can confidently say he would have grown old with still no answers from arceus. maybe he'd still be finding some way to live for hundreds and hundreds of years to find his answers, but the protag's being there sped things up dramatically and this line REALLY shows it. they got him closer to his goal than he could've ever dreamed of, but their experience being from the future and understanding pokemon better than HE does (and he's very advanced, mind you) means that they were always going to get in his way.

brOTP:

HIM AND AREZU. pla server people you know where i'm going with this, but they're besties. volo lets her mess with his hair (as long as she doesn't cut it too short and nothing's terribly permanent, he likes it the way it is) and he takes the opportunity to nap while she's working.

additionally, i love the idea of volo and irida having a sibling-like relationship. they battle a lot <3333 he helps her train so that the next time she battles adaman, boy does he have a surprise coming his way

(volo watches them battle from the sidelines and his sides hurt from laughing too much when irida absolutely pummels his pokemon into the dirt and nearly nicks adaman while they're at it)

OTP:

appraisalshipping and poisonhealshipping. did you really expect anything else <3

nOTP:

HAAAAATE hate hate volo/protagonist. ignoring the obvious main first reason that the protagonist is canonically FIFTEEN while volo is absolutely an adult, it's toxic as hell no matter which way you look at it. volo clearly hates, envies and wants to get rid of the protagonist and isn't afraid to use force to get his way. even after he loses, there's about five seconds of "he's given up" catharsis before you get the means to visit arceus and he blows up again. you cannot fix him, please stop trying

(self inserts are kind of a half-n-half situation. i love oc/canon, go off guys i love you, but people who change nothing except age up the main character still lean into that toxic category of a relationship)

random headcanon:

not only does he shirk his merchant duties, but he has a habit of giving discounts (or just free stuff) to people he likes, or people he thinks need the materials and it's just not worth making them fork out the big stacks for. he empathises with young kids just starting out with battered pokemon and zero healing items from being in the wilds too long.

ginter doesn't like it, but volo just doesn't think it's right to refuse aid to a kid just because they're a few hundred short.

unpopular opinion:

i've seen so many people talk about his little face he makes when you beat him in his first two battles like "he is two seconds from ripping you apart, this is his customer service smile"

but tbh! i think it gives him more character than 'two-faced asshole who lied about his entire identity upbringing and favourite hobbies' if you separate it from his whole betrayal, he's-been-using-you-for-a-good-while postgame moment. he's one of the first pokemon trainers! he likes battling. he had to level his pokemon that high somehow, on wild pokemon or whatever, and he eagerly challenges you when you don't have a ton of work on your plate. you can say he battles you to scope out your potential, but the first time he battles you you're not even an official survey corps member.

i just think he likes battling, and his little smile after being defeated is genuine. maybe he's a bit of a sore loser if you want to push it, but i don't think he's about to maul some kid he just met.

song i associate with them:

CRACKS OUT THE VOLO PLAYLIST /J

okay but. rabbit heart (raise it up) by florence and the machine, mad iqs by idkhow and ancient dreams in a modern land by marina are like a top three.

favorite picture of them:

aforementioned silly little losing smile :)

[3ndoftheline]

Savior

Bucky x OFC

Summary: Breaking hearts and being controlled by pens - all in a days work.

Warnings: language, blood is mentioned, possibly confusing greek dialects??

Author’s note: it’s the first day of march and ya girl is coming at you with a brand new installment of Savior!! this part kind of goes into depth of the languages the Greeks used back in ancient times. again, i’d like to point out that i am not an expert in Greek mythology or the linguistics of the Greek language. The information in here is from research on the internet. If there are any questions or something is wrong, please let me know! as usual, feeback is welcomed and i hope you all enjoy xx

Sophia vs The Real World

Avengers Facility: Upstate New York

Sleep, what an odd word.

I almost laughed out loud when Bucky told me to go to sleep. It was cute that he was making sure that I got enough rest, it really was. If the thought wasn’t so hilarious I probably would’ve melted at how adorable it was.

I didn’t sleep. In fact, I couldn’t sleep. I could rest, I suppose, but sleep? And dream? Not a chance.

I didn’t want to tell Bucky that, or even try to explain to him how the hell that worked because even I wasn’t totally sure. Plus, I had dropped enough metaphorical bombs on him for the time-being. I figured he deserved a break.

I hadn’t meant to tell him about Zolo, or about anything regarding his past. It was a bit fucked up that I had been there for a good majority of his life as the Winter Solider. It wasn’t even a little bit, actually, it was completely fucked up.

But Bucky had practically begged me to tell him. It was his life, a part of his life he wanted to forget but also a huge missing piece that he was desperately trying to figure out. His eyes had been my undoing. Big, blue and desperate as he stared at me, it was like puppy dog eyes but a 1000 times more potent.

I could feel the warmth of his skin against my cheek still, and on my hands I could feel the warmth and the cold his hands provided. I found myself tracing the back of my palm, imagining what it would like to be that warm all the time.

I was so consumed in my own thoughts that I didn’t hear the door open as my favorite redhead walked in. “You’re awake.” I turned my head and had to keep myself from rolling my eyes as she approached the cell wall. She had breakfast in her hand and I was willing to bet money that there were potatoes on the plate.

She pressed a few buttons on the tablet in her other hand and a space in the wall appeared – just as it had been for the past three months – and she placed the plate on the little tray underneath the window.

“You should probably eat, it’s going to be a long day for you,” she suggested but she and I both knew I wouldn’t be touching that plate of food. Probably why she didn’t even give me a chance to take the food (not like I was going to) as she sighed heavily. Natasha tapped her tablet for a bit before the entire wall disappeared.

She then pulled out the weirdest contraption I’d ever seen until my brain caught up and realized that it was handcuffs for my hands and ankles but it was all connected with chains and various other buckles. It looked like a strait jacket but without the actual jacket material – just the buckles and straps.

She didn’t speak as she walked forward and locked the cuffs around my wrists, leaving now room for me to move. Every time I tried, I felt the bite of the metal dig into my skin. She didn’t angry as she clamped the ankle cuffs in place but she didn’t look apologetic either.

“C’mon, Tony wants to see you,” Natasha muttered. Normally, I wasn’t so dressed up when I went to go see Tony, but perhaps after my last little show and tell they decided to take precautions. Smart I thought to myself. Bucky’s face flashed in my mind, the twisted features when I said the same thing to him about the government. I had never seen him so angry before. In fact, I hadn’t seen him angry at all before that moment.

I followed her – well, more along the lines of shuffled since the chains only allowed me to move so far. I had to be careful with how long my strides were. I could easily break through the chains but I didn’t want to freak them out any more. I didn’t need another week and a half of isolation.

So, it was slow going but we finally made it to Tony’s lab. It was huge, spanning so large I couldn’t see the other side of it and it was filled with gadgets and toys, half-finished projects and coiled wires. Today, there was an audience. Wanda and Vision, the two little mind readers and the one who shot the arrows, I had no idea what his name was. Carl? Connor?

“Welcome back,” Tony announced as he emerged from behind a towering pile of metal. I gazed quizzically at him as he walked forward, his hand hidden behind his back. Gone was the snarky remark that begged to be thrown out as I watched his arm. Hm, definitely something. “Nat, uncuff her. The whole point of this is to give her more freedom, now you’re just suffocating her.”

Freedom? Now I was very curious. I tilted my head as Natasha unlocked the handcuffs, looking anything but pleased with the situation as she narrowed her eyes menacingly at me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I dropped my hands to my sides, ignoring the pain that flared around my wrists.

“This wasn’t my idea,” Tony seemed to defend himself. From what, I wasn’t sure. “Vision and Wanda seem to think this will help, but if it were up to me you would’ve been in an entirely different situation.”

Like in the hands of the government, I thought to myself. Bucky would never allow it I wanted to gloat, to brag, and to shove it in his face. But I knew that would do nothing aside from get Bucky in trouble. Because I was 99.9% sure his little late night excursions would not be approved of if anyone knew.

I was still confused by Tony’s words until his hand revealed itself and I saw a massive syringe clutched in his hand, his thumb already hooked through the hole. Dark green liquid filled the canister and it seemed to be moving, flickering beneath the bulbs.

“Microchip,” Tony explained, seeming immensely pleased with himself. I had never seen one in liquid form before, and my interest piqued tenfold. He nodded to my arm and I stretched it out, suffering from déjà vu as I remembered all the times in his lab when we did this. Every day. Same tests. Same results. At least today it was a bit of a change.

Tony began explaining what the microchip did or more aptly what it was supposed to do. As I stared at the liquid tracking device, I knew it wouldn’t work. Even though Tony gloated about how he had made it fit to track a super-soldier, I knew it still wouldn’t suffice. I wasn’t a super-soldier or Vision. I was something different.

Give me something, I heard Bucky plead in my mind. I knew what he had really meant. Talk to the others, tell them something. I didn’t want to. In reality, I really had nothing to say. I couldn’t give them the answers they wanted. I didn’t have the answers they all seemed to think I had magically stowed away in my inner garden of knowledge.

But I realized now, I could tell Tony the microchip wouldn’t work. A part of me – a very large part of me didn’t want to tell him. Being tracked wasn’t exactly something I looked forward to. Having my every move monitored definitely was a giant pain in the ass and made me feel like a child that was sent to its room, confined to a single space. So, really, I could very easily not tell Tony about the chip and go on my merry way and not have anything to worry about.

Yet, all I saw was Bucky’s anguished face. The normally sky blue irises had darkened to a navy blue and I saw true fear in his eyes. The prospect of me going to the government scared him. I could see it, even though I knew he’d deny it the second I ever mentioned it. He wanted me here, at the tower. But in order for me to stay, I had to speak. And while I was very content with keeping my pretty little mouth shut and remaining a mystery, all I heard Bucky’s pleading voice and something twisted in my chest. It was all I needed before I said: “It won’t work.” Oh, here we go. Tony jerked back and glared at me, his face affronted.

“Excuse me?” He looked like I had punched him in the gut and told him the world was ending all in the same second. I sighed and leaned against the table. This is for you I thought to Bucky and made a mental note to myself to remind him of that next time I saw him.

“The microchip, it won’t work. It’ll dissolve in my blood the second you insert it. You’ll never track me with that.”

“This chip does not just dissolve,” he hissed. “It’s not like some…tablet that disintegrates in water. This is top of the line, brand new technology that was imported straight from Wakanda and–”

“I don’t care where it came from, it won’t work,” I told him, trying to keep my frustration at bay. It was like he refused to believe I was different, yet the whole reason why I was here was because I was different.

Tony began to launch into another tirade that I absolutely had no care for. Before he could react I snatched the syringe from his hand with blinding speed and turned to the petri dish that sat idly on the table beside me. I quickly dispensed the microchip into the clear dish and watched as the liquid bubbled and solidified into an unassuming tiny chip.

I turned to Natasha as I eyed the impressions of the knives and weapons that peeked through her clothing. “What metal are your knives made of?”

“Excuse me?”

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. “Your knives. What are they made of?”

“Adamantium and vibranium,” Natasha finally answered as she regarded me cautiously. I frowned. Neither of those would break my skin. They’d barely scratch me.

“Do you have any celestial bronze? Or imperial gold?” I turned to Tony who looked at me as if I had three heads. Of course he wouldn’t know what I was talking about. Celestial bronze and imperial gold were extremely rare, even rarer than vibranium and Adamantium. They only affected a small portion of the population and they were so rare they were considered a myth. Just like me.

“I mean, I’ve got regular gold princess. I got lots of that, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

This time, I did roll my eyes. “No, too weak,” I muttered as I glanced around the lab. There had to be something. But there wasn’t. There was lots of stuff that could hurt a lot of people, all types. But not me. I realized how pretentious that sounded, like I was something special and ethereal. Which wasn’t what I was going for at all. It’s just how I was made. Unfortunately, nothing I could do about that.

I knew I’d have to go straight from the Earth itself, something I didn’t really enjoy doing but desperate times called for desperate measures. This wasn’t exactly desperate but in order to ensure that I wasn’t totally insane, it was desperate enough.

“Do those windows open?” I asked Tony, nodding towards the large bay windows.

He stared at me, completely mystified. He nodded though and the Robin Hood turned to open one of them. I walked towards the window and took a deep breath, smelling the fresh air. The sun was warm and welcoming and I watched as a little blue jay fluttered onto the window sill. It saw me and ruffled its feathers proudly and sang a stunning tune. I smiled as it hopped around, obviously proud of itself. I held my finger out and the bird completely bypassed my crooked finger and flew to my shoulder, nestling itself into the junction of my neck and shoulder. I let him stay there as I leaned my head out of the window.

I closed my eyes and focused my mind on the mines on Olympus. Soon, I could smell the musty Earth and the faint trickle of water and the stifling smoke from the forges. In my mind, I was there, with a pick axe over my shoulder and my skin black from grime and soot. My eyes fixated on a tiny pebble that was as black as the rock around it. As I walked closer, I could feel the power that radiated from the tiny circle. My hands reached out and I brushed off the dirt and found a dull piece of celestial bronze, humming with energy and practically begging to become a part of another piece of weaponry. I pressed the pebble into my palm and when I opened my eyes again my hand was clenched into a fist and I could feel the nugget of bronze warming against my skin.

I walked back to the table, ignoring the gaping stares of those around me. I pressed harder on the bronze and felt the pebble shape into a thin stick. I quickly held the piece of bronze in my hand and pinched the tip off, revealing a sharp edge. This is gonna have to do. If they thought I was crazy before…

With a sigh, I rolled my shoulders and pressed the sharp front against my palm and dragged an opening against my once untouched skin. Immediately, golden ichor – the blood of the gods – flowed from the cut and spilled into my palm. I dipped my hand forward and watched as four droplets fell against the microchip. Almost instantly, it folded in on itself like it was trying to become smaller. Smoke curled from the chip as my blood bubbled and collected around the chip like an angry, golden cloud. Soon, all that was left was a tiny puddle of my blood. The microchip was gone.

I dropped the celestial bronze and it melted into the worktable as the cut on my hand healed within seconds. I turned my head to Tony who looked about two seconds away from passing out or suffering from a stroke.

“See?” I nodded towards the now smoking petri dish. “Your microchip didn’t stand a chance.”

“How?” Was all he managed to say and I was surprised that it was slightly coherent.

I shrugged. “Who I am, chemical makeup. I dunno it’s just how it is.”

“But…when I ran those tests, all of that…why did I get results?”

“You didn’t.” I shrugged again. “They came back normal or inconclusive. Your systems identify unknown substances but unnatural substances. They aren’t equipped to handle that sort of information or results, so they just revert to normal or inconclusive.”

Tony blinked as he stared at me and he suddenly laughed, short and clipped and stressed. “I can’t…we’re going to talk about this later.” He motioned between the two of us. “This conversation is far from over.”

I wanted to laugh but I managed to hide it in a form of a smile. “Not much else to say.”

“Oh, sweetheart. I always have something to say.” He flashed me a lopsided grin and I couldn’t tell if I should feel creeped out or smile in return. “But, this has gone on for too long. We have a team meeting in five minutes and since I can’t track you, you’re coming with us.”

I frowned, having no interest in showing up to a meeting and it seemed like most of the room agreed with me but Tony didn’t give anyone a chance to protest. He strode straight to the door and didn’t wait for anyone to follow, we just did.

I was behind Tony and Natasha and the guy – gods what was his name? – walked behind me at such a close range I could feel their breath on my neck.

We walked through different hallways and doorways and I honestly had no idea where the hell we were until Tony stopped in front of a mirrored door which was extremely unsettling when I realized that the whole wall was actually a mirror. How narcissistic did you have to be to have a whole wall of mirrors in your place? Apparently, Tony Stark was narcissistic enough to find it necessary.

Tony swung the door open and I had to lurch forward to grab the handle as it threatened to swing shut. Rolling my eyes, I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

There was a long oak table that spanned across the room and fifteen cushioned leather chairs surrounded the table. Four of them were occupied with Steve, Sam, a guy whom I didn’t recognize, and Bucky.

But what caught my eye were the walls. They weren’t mirrors on the inside. They were holographic screens, depicting different events across the globe. Fires burned in California, buildings rose in Dubai, streets swelled with people in Tokyo and caution tape crisscrossed behind a news reporter in Toronto. Every major city was broadcasted on the screens and it seemed to be scanning for major news that was shown on the main screen at the north wall of the room.

“Scott, nice of you to join us,” Robin Hood shouted from behind me and I flinched at the sudden noise. The man whom I hadn’t recognized – Scott – looked up and grinned with a sort of boyish charm that made him look about five years younger.

“Clint, it’s good to see you buddy,” Scott bypassed the outstretched hand and went straight for a smothering hug. Clint! That was his name. I knew it started with a C.

The others breezed by me and I cautiously hung in the back as I watched everyone said their greetings and took their seats. I watched as Tony stood at the head of the table, his eyes flashed to me every few seconds as he spoke to Natasha.

“C’mon,” a thick voice said beside me and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned and saw it was the other red-head (why were all the girls redheads here? I felt oddly out of place), Wanda. She smiled kindly and for once I didn’t feel this insistent prodding at the base of my skull. She wasn’t trying to poke around in my head for once. “You can sit next to me.”

I narrowed my eyes skeptically at her, wondering if the seat she pointed to was booby trapped or something. “Are you gonna try to scrounge through my head again or are you over your little scavenger hunt?”

She smiled yet she visibly flinched and I suddenly felt a bit guilty. She shrugged apologetically. “I don’t know. I might keep looking, I sort of like looking at all the dogs you send my way.”

I couldn’t fight off the smile that twitched at the corner of my lips. She winked playfully then sat down and gave me a pointed look. After a second of hesitation I sat next to her and folded my hands in my lap as the table fell quiet.

“Well, glad you could all make it,” Tony began and I wanted to scoff at him but I kept my mouth shut. Everyone shifted in their seats and I allowed my gaze to lazily flicker over everyone. Natasha and Clint were muttering about something and their eyes kept glancing over at me then skittering away whenever I caught their stare. I fought off the urge to roll my eyes. Steve was listening attentively to Tony while Bucky sat beside him and looked enthralled with the pen that flipped between his fingers. I watched, mesmerized as the pen rolled effortlessly until suddenly the tip of the pen stopped and pointed right at me.

My breath froze in my chest as I looked up and was met with silver irises that danced with quiet amusement, hidden behind a sheet of ice. I raised my eyebrow and his right eye dropped in a discreet wink that was only meant for me. I quickly tore my eyes away and tried to ignore the warm heat that spread from my stomach to the top of my head. Gods I needed to relax. It was literally just a wink. It wasn’t like he proclaimed his love to me. I shook my head angrily trying to clear my head.

I turned my attention back to Tony and my breath froze in my chest for an entirely different reason. The north wall screen had changed to a bunch of documents and all of the lettering had black lines through them. But I didn’t care about the black lines. What I cared about were the words that weren’t blacked out.

They were in Ancient Greek.

“These are the files that we were able to download at the base in the Katun Mountains,” Tony claimed as he motioned to the screen. “As you can see, pretty useless.”

“What the hell are those words? What language is that?” Clint pointed to the Ancient Greek lettering as his brow furrowed.

“No idea,” Tony shrugged. “FRIDAY can’t decode it. It doesn’t register as a dialect. It might be a form of code that Hydra has created that we just haven’t been able to crack yet.”

“What about the redaction lines?” Natasha tilted her chin to the thick black lines that blocked out most of the information. “Can you remove them?”

Tony shook his head and his lips twisted in irritation. “They aren’t normal redaction lines. There’s code embedded in the lines. FRIDAY is still trying to decode them but everything she throws at it gets rejected or destroyed. Think you’ve got some contacts that can help?”

Natasha frowned as she stared at the documents. “I’ll see. I’ve never heard of redaction lines being encoded, but maybe someone else has.” She stood up and walked gracefully out of the room while tapping on her cell phone.

Tony turned his hard gaze to me as his eyes narrowed. I immediately tensed and braced myself for whatever he was about to throw at me. “Since you’re our resident expert on Hydra…you have any idea what any of this means?”

I ground my teeth together as I struggled to keep my face impassive. Resident expert on Hydra, who the hell told them I was the encyclopedia for all things Hydra? Whoever it was I hoped they stayed out of sight because I was going to kill them next time I saw them.

I sat back and drew patterns against my legs as I looked away from Tony. My eyes fell on the pen that was trapped in Bucky’s hand. The tip was pointed to me – again – as if to say your time to shine. I flicked my eyes up and saw Bucky staring at me. His eyes held nothing but his eyebrow curved up.

Give me something.

I glanced down at the pen again and found myself shifting in my seat. Like I was intimidated by a fucking pen. But the more I stared at the tip, the more restless I got. Could you believe it? The tip of a pen was slowly convincing me to speak. I was going crazy, I had to be. It was the only logical explanation.

I clenched my jaw and tore my eyes away and looked at Tony who was staring at me expectantly. Actually, so was everyone else. I released a tiny sigh and looked at the Greek lettering.

“The words are Ancient Greek,” I finally said and tried to ignore the various looks of shock on everyone’s faces. I felt like I was the main act in the circus. The main freak in a group of freaks.

“Uh, not to sound like an asshole,” Scott began saying. So you’re about to sound like an asshole I thought to myself, but kept my mouth shut. “But Ancient Greek is a pretty well-known dialect. I doubt that would stump FRIDAY.”

“It’s an ancient form of Greek known as Mycenaean Greek which was spoken by many Greeks in the sixteenth century up to the twelfth century,” I spoke calmly though I was a rage of annoyance inside.

“What are you our resident expert on Greece too?” Tony narrowed his eyes and this time I did roll my eyes.

“Well, Tony, some people are experts in more than one area. As a self-proclaimed genius, I would’ve thought you would’ve understood that. Perhaps you’re not as intelligent as you think you are.” His face blanched and then brightened to a lurid shade of red within a span of three seconds. Before he burst an artery, I continued. “As I was saying, Mycenaean Greek is the oldest form of Greek there is. It’s normally written in Linear B format–”

“What the hell is linear B?” Clint interrupted.

“A type of script. Like your alphabet is written in Latin script, the Mycenaean Greek is written in Linear B.”

“Linear B is an ancient form of script that was deciphered in 1953 by Michael Ventris. FRIDAY has the largest archive of ancient dialects as well as some alien languages. Deciphering Linear B should not give her any issues.” Vision spoke and I immediately decided I liked his voice. It was cool, calculated, measured. Like a robot. A refreshing change from the annoying chatter that came from Tony’s mouth.

“Because what’s on that board isn’t Linear B.” I pointed to the few letters that peeked out from the redaction lines. Each image could mean so many different things it was hard for me to understand. But the different option each image presented, I didn’t like where the context of the document was heading towards.

“Then what’s it written in?” It was the first time Steve had spoken during the entire meeting but he looked the most interested out of everyone.

“It’s written in Linear A.”

“Jesus Christ enough with the lines,” Clint muttered but I pointedly ignored him.

“Linear A is a dialect that Linear B is derived from,” I explained as carefully as I could. “Basically, Linear A is an unknown writing system that has never been deciphered. No AI in this world would be able to decipher it because there is no reference to go off of. It would be like trying to decipher a bunch of keyboard smashes. It’s impossible.”

“Then why can you understand it?” Sam asked. He didn’t look like he was accusing me of something – again, another refreshing moment – but he looked totally confused. I pressed my lips together as my chest tightened.

Give me something.

“Because I was alive when Linear A was used.”

“Um when was that, exactly?” Scott raised his hand and I had to resist the urge to call on him like a school teacher.

“2500 B.C.”

“How old are you?” Tony gaped at me.

“Didn’t your mother tell you, it’s rude to ask a woman what her age is?” I smiled sickly sweet at him. He scowled darkly as he pointed to the board.

“Can you understand this or not?”

I looked at the Greek symbols that jumped out at me. They seemed to swim before my eyes and I had to blink a few times just to focus. I frowned and shook my head. “No. Not without the rest of the documents. There is too much possibility with what the meanings of the symbols could be. It’ll be pointless to try and decipher when the meanings could change so easily.”

“Awesome. Just what we needed,” Tony muttered and silence fell over the table.

I sat back as my frown deepened. Linear A was an ancient, ancient form of writing that only a select few understood. It belonged to a civilization so old I had almost forgotten about it. But Mycenaean was associated with Linear B. Someone had to have found a way to take one language and manipulate it into a completely different writing system, one that only a small group understood much less could write. Whatever was on those documents, Hydra really really wanted no one knowing. And that’s what concerned me.

“Wanda, go show our Encyclopedia to her room.” Tony turned to me pointed a finger at me. “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll have a tracker for you soon.” I just smiled at him and ignored his heavy scowl as Wanda stood beside me and motioned for me to follow her.

I happily scurried after her but not without a quick glance towards Bucky. His eyes were focused on Tony but the pen was pointed in my direction. Instead of it being still, he flicked it back and forth, as if it were waving to me.

“I’ve lost it,” I muttered to myself before I ducked out of the room and welcomed the blissful silence of the hallway. Wanda wove in and out of the corridors and I had to struggle to keep up. Soon, we arrived at the elevator and I breathed out a sigh of relief because it was something I knew. It was normal.

The doors slid open and I followed Wanda inside and immediately retracted my previous statement.

The elevator was anything but normal. There was a TV screen that took up the wall to the left of the doors and images flickered past, revealing what looked like a promotional video for SHIELD and the facility or whatever building we were in. There were no buttons on the right side of the doors, just a square glass door with a tiny screen to the side of it.

“It gives you food,” Wanda said as I peered at the glass. I whipped my head at her, shocked. She tapped the screen and wouldn’t you know it, there was a whole menu. Think of all your favorite fast food restaurants and then throw in a few random healthy options to feel good about yourself and then you had a perfect description of the menu.

“North campus, the fourteenth floor please,” Wanda spoke and I was about to ask who the hell she was talking to when a voice suddenly responded.

“Yes, Miss Maximoff. What music would you like to listen to?”

She glanced at me. “Uh, High School Musical,” I blurted out. Wanda stared at me as – wouldn’t you know it – Breaking Free filtered through the speakers. While my cheeks flushed I didn’t regret my request one bit.

“A classic,” she smiled wryly at me and I couldn’t help but grin in return.

“Will that be all Miss Maximoff?” The despondent voice spoke again.

“Yes, FRIDAY, thank you.”

“Vision requests you in his quarters once you have finished.”

“Thank you FRIDAY.” Wanda’s cheeks blushed a faint pink. Her and the robot? Interesting.

We rode in silence as Troy and Gabriella belted out probably the most iconic song in the entire High School Musical trilogy. I tried not to sing along because that would probably make the situation even more embarrassing, Wanda broke the silence. “What was it like?” She asked. “Back then,” she quickly clarified when I frowned in confusion.

I shrugged as I dug out memories that were buried in cobwebs. “Smelly. We hadn’t quite mastered the concept of hygiene at that point. And hot. Also hadn’t mastered the concept of air conditioning.”

Wanda laughed as the doors pinged and slid open to reveal a single black tiled hallway that had doors that lead to two different staircases. One side the wall was glass, the other was metal. Wanda led me to a metal door and motioned to the keypad beside the door.

“You can set up your own four digit code and scan your hand. All the security here is biometric. Tony will get you into the system later today.”

I had a strong feeling that I wouldn’t have much access but went to the keypad typed in a four number code. I followed the instructions and got my handprint locked into the door and soon the door slid open after a successful ping from the keypad.

“Every Avenger has their own floor in this building. I’m on the third floor, if you need anything.” Wanda’s smile was apologetic as she glanced into the room. “Sorry, you were such short notice so we didn’t really have another room for you.”

I shrugged and breezed by her before stopping in my tracks.

The room was huge. It was easily twice the size of my apartment. There was a small kitchenette to my right and another door to my left was propped open and I saw that it was the bathroom. The floor was covered in a beige carpet and the bed was low on the floor with a plain white duvet. What caught my attention was the span of wall in front of me. It was entirely made of glass and for a brief moment I wondered if that whole side of the building was glass, but I didn’t care. The view was beautiful like something straight out of a painting or a postcard.

“You can decorate it any way you like,” Wanda added. “It’s yours. You do with it what you’d like. Sorry it’s small, like I said. You were short notice.”

I nodded mutely. This was small? I would hate to see what their big would look like.

“Well, if you need anything. Floor three.” She smiled awkwardly before she shut the door behind her. Silence enveloped the room and I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. Today had been hectic, a huge contrast to the past however many months I was locked in my cell. I couldn’t tell if I liked the change or not.

I glanced around my room, mouth open at the sheer size. I cautiously stepped forward, towards the windows and saw two other hallways that led to who even knew where. I didn’t have the energy or the mental capacity to find out at that moment.

You can decorate it any way you like.

With a soft breath, I opened my palm and felt the power of the Earth tug at my chest. I closed my eyes, and let the Earth grow, filling my room with everything I wanted.

[silversilence14]

MCSM: Immortal’s Child

Chapter 8 : Through the Woods

"You didn't exactly explain why you were up in the spider's nest?" Petra asked.

Steve was kneeled at her feet. "Didn't have time I suppose."

True to his words, Steve had led Lukas and Petra out of the spider's lair. It was a relief to be out of the foggy nightmare. Once they broke out of the dead ravine, the forest opened up into large quiet redwoods. There had been a cave on the other side, where the weakening rapids joined the rest of the river down a straight and calm path.

Jesse would have come through here.

Steve made them stop shortly after escaping the nest, despite their objections. He checked to make sure Lukas hadn't been poisoned, but the blonde merely suffered scrapes and bruises. Steve had quickly put some antiseptic on his arrow wound and gave Lukas a bandage to patch with. He now kneeled on mossy ground, reinforcing Petra's wrapped foot with splint.

"I was down here fishing," Steve explained, "When a spider stole my fish and my pole. I chased into the nest, but that big guy back there beat me to it. I was waiting for it to go back into its cave for a nap, when your friend over here came tumbling in."

Petra noticed Lukas flush.

"Did you seriously not know that was a nest? The Perpes River has been their home for centuries."

Petra twisted her fingers into the grass, "We've...never been here before."

"So you said you were from the other side of Adamans?"

Lukas froze, and Petra hesitated.

Clearly suspicious by their lack of answer, but very patient all the same; Steve jabbed his head, "The mountain range?"

"Yes." Petra quickly replied.

"Interesting, what brings you over here?" he finished his work and leaned back on his heels.

"Um-"

"Adventure," Lukas cut in, "To explore the unknown."

Steve let out a soft smile, for a moment there was a longing look in his eyes. "I guess I can't blame you there. But you need to be careful, you're down a person, and you both could have been seriously hurt."

"We got lost," Petra replied, "These woods got us all turned around."

"Well, we'll find your friend; we'll get you all rested and patched up. Then I'll get you in the right direction home."

I wish, Petra thought.

Steve stood, brushing dirt and moss off of his pants. "Ready?"

Petra and Lukas nodded eager to get back on the move in their search for Jesse.

Steve whistled a sharp high pitch note. It echoed through the woods, vibrating off of the tall trees. Just as it faded a large horse trotted into the clearing, followed by a second.

"Up we go!"

Petra stared at the horse. Like the spider from earlier, it was massive compared to the ones Petra was used to seeing.

"I think something ate your horses," Lukas stated equally dumfounded..

Steve snorted, "They're Clydesdales. They're supposed to be big. Meet Gaea and Titan. Gaea will be your ride," He turned to Petra, "Can you get up with your foot?"

Petra stood, "Of course." She hoisted herself up, only to get half way, "Or maybe not."

Lukas shoved her up the rest of the way, before Petra had to pull him up herself. She looked to Steve, the male adjusting the packs on the back of his horse. Clearly the other had been using Titan for the pack horse on his little hunting trip. He moved some bags aside, and tied his fishing bag on.

"Can you get on?" Petra asked.

Steve hooked one foot on the saddle, and easily swung up, "Of course," he replied. He moved Titan in front of Gaea, grabbing her reins and holding them tight.

"Don't trust us with the driving?" Lukas asked.

" We need to go fast, and I know these woods a bit better than you don't you think?" Steve made a funny click with his teeth and the horse immediately broke into a gallop. Steve only held onto Gaea's reins for about a hundred feet, then let go. The female continued following her male partner like a shadow.

The ride was exhilarating and intense. Steve rode the horses through tight curves, high jumps, low trees. The Clydesdales stayed true in all of their footing. Not even pausing or slowing down to turn and adjust. Titan leapt over a creeper at one point, not even alarmed by the creature.

Lukas was holding on tightly to Petra's waste, breath hitching with each dangerous move. Petra herself was gripping Gaea's mane. Only Steve remained calm and sure atop the enormous mounts.

I guess if anyone trusted these horses, he would. Petra concluded.

She felt only felt slightly uncomfortable following Steve through the woods. Something about him put her at relative ease. This was saying a lot, considering Brine had sent them into a death trap. Brine had been old, nothing too intimidating about him, save for his sword. But why had he pointed to the nest?

"Oh sweet creepers tell me we're close," Lukas suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts.

From the corner of her eye she saw a hoard of zombies, the horses bolting by without even the slightest hesitation. One zombie was even unfortunate enough to end up underneath the powerful legs of the beasts, and still they moved on.

"Steve!" Petra called.

He glanced back, the motion making Petra a little uneasy since he no longer was watching where he was going,"What is it?"

"Are we close?!"

Steve ducked a low hanging branch, leaving Petra to wonder how he knew it was coming, "The monsters are getting thicker now."

"Is that a yes?" Lukas called over Petra's shoulder.

Steve nodded, and turned once again forward.

With the fall weather making daytime shorter, sunset was already close, it would soon be dark. Monsters would grow in number in the shadows. The chances of Jesse surviving a second night, much less the rest of the day were slim.

The horses burst into a clearing, and skidded to a stop by the muddy banks of the river. They had lost sight of it shortly after they had taken off, but there is was again. Orange sunlight glittered off the calm waters. Most of the water still moved slowly down the river ways. But a small amount slopped down, making a large pool.

The watering hole.

Steve was already off Titan, walking slowly along the banks.

"I don't see him," Lukas whispered.

Petra didn't reply, just kept her eyes on the waters. There was no Jesse on the banks. But the water was deep and dark at the bottom...

"Steve!"

Steve didn't respond, he kneeled in the mud, inspecting the markings in the ground. "Someone was here." he stated after a moment.

Panic flared in Petra's chest.

"Was?!" Lukas asked, fear dripping in his voice.

Steve nodded, "A few hours ago." he moved farther inland.

Petra was about to get off the horse, "What if he is in the water!"

"He's not," Steve replied, "Just stay on Gaea."

"We're not going to sit on a horse while Jesse is-"

"Jesse isn't here."

"Where is he?!" Lukas panicked.

"Someone else came through here a few hours ago as well," Steve replied, his voice even and calm. "They probably found him."

"Where would they go?! He could be anywhere!"

Steve climbed back on Titan. "There is only one village near here, if anyone took Jesse, they'd take him there." He stirred Titan forward, Gaea following after automatically. "Don't worry we'll find him."

Petra started to say something, but her mouth clamped shut.

"Petra we can't do this," Lukas hissed in her ear, "He's probably leading us on a wild goose chase. If Steve had been truly fishing earlier, like he claimed, he would have seen Jesse don't you think. He's wasting our time. Jesse has to be here somewhere."

"I really think he's trying to help."

"The last guy sent us into spider's nest. Steve's probably some psychopath who lives in his isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere."

Petra frowned, "I don't think so, besides, "She looked down, the horse was already going full gallop, "Do you think jumping off is the smartest thing to do right now?"

Lukas said nothing, and adjusted his grip around Petra's waist.

The village was fairly decent in size. Most of the primitive villages Lukas had seen so far on this never ending journey home had been quaint, if not insecure. The one however was not.

Resting on a rolling hill, the village was built upon layers. All along the town's paths were watchtowers of various height and width. A stone wall circled the village, going not only around the houses themselves, but the multitude of garden's and out building's as well. There was a town hall, a library, blacksmith and what looked like a school. Even at the edge of town there was a race track and a large amphitheater built into the hill-side.

It was one of a kind.

Also the first one Lukas had seen where most of the locals were armed. Most of the men carried swords, and there were archers in the towers as well as guards at the cities gates. To top of security, there were at least a dozen golems within the town, Lukas spotted at least eight or nine more in the farmer's district, the silent stone behemoths walking between rows of corn and wheat.

Secure indeed.

Seeing Steve actually take them to a village and not some desolate cabin in the woods gave Lukas a little relief.

But it was brief.

Steve pulled the horses to a stop in what Lukas assumed - was the blacksmith. "Bach!"

A large thick man exited the building. Easily taller than Steve. He was bald, but sported a thick black beard and mustache, growing all the way down to the middle of his chest. His dark tan face and exposed arms were dirtied with grim and sweat. Burn scars littered his arms, and another on his left jaw, disappearing under his beard. He was different from other blacksmiths Lukas had seen, there was nothing small and humble about this man.

Bach was the definition of scary.

"Steve!" Bach grinned broadly, "Back from the river already? I assumed you'd be up there for a few more days at most. Was the fishing that good?" His smile dropped when he spotted Lukas and Petra, "What happened? Who are they?"

Steve unhook his bag of fish from his saddle and threw it effortlessly towards the blacksmith, who caught it with the same amount of ease, "I'm afraid there was a mishap, has anyone been to the watering hole lately?"

"No why-"

"Our friend fell in the river, he's wounded," Petra blurted, not stopping as Bach looked to her with a hardened stare, "Steve said someone might have found him at the watering hole."

Bach's eyes softened at the explanation, he turned back to Steve, "I'm sorry my friend, but this time of year only you and the Healer go to the pond."

Steve cursed.

Lukas swallowed thickly, his heart pounding hard against his chest. Jesse wasn't here then. He was probably back-

"Bach? Who is that?"

Bach looked back into his shop, "It's Steve luv, he's run into a bit of trouble."

A woman exited the building, cleaner than her male counterpart. Her much paler face was covered in a fine sheen of sweat, a sprig of dill in her dark brown hair. In her hand she carried a large wooden ladle, large enough to bludgeon. She was pregnant, easily five months or so along. But the tender glow of future motherhood did not mask her confident and strong posture.

"Mariah," Bach explained, "His little friend's here lost their mate in the river. Steve thinks he washed up in the pond.

Mariah raised an eyebrow, her cloudy grey eyes immediately filled with worry, "Did they now?" She looked at Steve, "You were wondering if anyone has seen him?"

Steve nodded.

"Aye, I told them no one has been up to the pond for a few weeks now,"

"What does he-" Mariah grabbed her husband's arm, "Bach wait. The Healer."

Steve leaned in, "Was she there?"

"I went to see her early this morning," Mariah replied, "Picking up a potion for my morning sickness. She was very busy cleaning up a young lad. Awful mess he was. Poisoned by an archer she said."

"Jesse!" Lukas and Petra cried.

Steve was already turning the horses, "Bach, Mariah, I owe you."

"You know you owe us nothing!" Bach called as they rode away, "Good luck young ones!"

Petra looked slowly around as the horses came to a stop.

Much to her dismay, this healer, didn't live within the city limits; instead choosing to live about a quarter of a mile out of town. Then to her greater dismay - and her fear - this was the nothing like a hospital.

It was a farmhouse.

Which Steve had the keys too apparently? He was already off the horse and walking up the porch steps.

Petra waited for Lukas to get off their ride- which he almost twisted his own ankle in the process of doing - before she made her descent. Lukas aided her as she moved down the saddle.

Her feet stepped down on mossy, cushy, thick grass, Lukas immediately moved closer to her and there he remained.

"You don't need to stand there like scarecrows you know." the older male called from the wraparound porch.

Lukas had a hand in Petra's, tightening in discomfort. Neither moved.

Steve huffed, "Okay, wait here then." He added, "Can't say I blame you."

Petra watched for a moment as Steve fiddled with the lock, and then slowly looked around the property.

The farm looked harmless enough, large multi-story house. There was a hanging swing on the porch, and multiple cushioned chairs. There was an equally large garden to the left, and blooming flower beds. Animal's pens not far off to the right, each well stocked with feed and barns for the animals. Even sunflowers grew along the vine covered stone wall that lined the property.

Certainly not any obvious sign of danger.

Right?

"Lukas…."

"I'll follow you." The blonde whispered.

Petra nodded and moved forward, her team mate right behind.

They were almost on the porch when Steve finally got the door open, "I really got to fix that lock." He smiled at the pair, "Welcome to my home."

Petra paused, "I thought this was the healer's home."

"It is, and well, it's mine to."

"Does that mean..."

Steve nodded as he walked in; "I am a married ma-" Steve froze.

"Steve?" Lukas asked. "What's wr-"

"ALEX!" The older male's sudden shout startle Petra, confused as he raced into the dim house.

Lukas tapped her shoulder and pointed. Following his finger she spotted the apparent source of Steve's distress. It was shattered glass, glittering in thousands of tiny pieces on the dark oak floor.

"ALEX! Answer me!" To see someone - who had handled a monstrous spider with unnatural calm earlier - look so stressed, was unnerving. Steve was hurrying towards a closed door on the other side of the wide room, "Alex where-" The door opened at that moment.

"Steve what is it-" A carrot top ginger female flew out of the room, oddly enough with a letter opener in hand. She collided with Steve her forehead connecting to his jaw.

Both let out a cry, more from surprise then pain, and tumbled to the floor in a mess of arms and legs.

It was done and over so quickly that Lukas and Petra had barely time to react.

"Um, what just happened?" Lukas said.

The pair quickly began to untangle themselves, grunting and groaning as they went.

"Damn it Steve!"

"Why yell at me? You're the one who didn't answer me! Why in the world are you wielding the letter opener?!"

"You're the one who was screaming for me, I thought you were hurt! I thought something was wrong and I didn't have time to exactly arm myself did I?"

Steve was the first to stand, rubbing his tender jaw, "Understandable, but a letter opener? I mean, really sweetie?"

"Don't sweetie me." Alex stood, dusting herself off, "Who are your friends?"

"Lukas and Petra," Steve said, "I'm gonna cut to the chase here. They got lost in the woods and one of their team mates was hurt and fell in the river. I thought he might have washed up in the watering hole, but there was no one there. Mariah said you had a patient and I was hoping-"

"Alex are you okay?"

Petra's eyes widened. That voice...

Steve made a startled glance towards the door which Alex had exited from moments before, "Who was that?"

"My patient," Alex replied, "His name is-"

"Jesse!" Petra cried.

Lukas and Petra raced by the pair, hardly pausing to squeeze through the door way.

Inside the quaint and well furnished room, Jesse sat propped up in a thick bed. Bandages wrapped the majority of his chest and there were a few scrapes and bruises around his face and arms. But the most important bit, he was alive.

Jesse stared wide eyed, "Guys? How did you-"

"You're okay!" Petra rushed to the bed, "We thought we lost you when you fell in the river!"

"I was poisoned-"

"We know!" Lukas cut in, joining Petra by the bed, "We've been searching all day for you!"

Jesse raised an eyebrow, "How did you find me?"

"Well we followed the river first, and then we ran into -"

" I'm glad this worked out,"

Lukas and Petra turned, to see Steve at the door, one arm wrapped around his wife. He winked at Alex, "Glad you went to the watering hole today,"

Alex shook her head, "I can't imagine how you missed him Steve."

"His friend's say he fell in during the storm," Steve explained, "I wasn't by the river during that." He smiled brightly, "I take it you're Jesse?"

"And you must be Alex's husband, Steve," Jesse replied.

"That I am. Pleased to meet you, shame it was under such stressful times."

"We met Steve by the spider's nest," Lukas started.

"Spider's nest!" Jesse sputtered.

Alex gave Steve a look, "You took them through the crevice?!"

"No, I found them there." Steve replied, "Look, I tell you about it and you tell me about the broken glass." He paused, "And what in Notch's beard happened to your nose." He tapped his wife's nose.

The female exchanged glances with Jesse, who in turn blushed horribly, "It's almost ironic really. But-" She tugged her partner's arm, "I tell you later. Why don't we clean up the kitchen and get dinner for everyone and let these three catch up?"

Steve nodded, "Sounds good, Lukas, Petra," he smiled at the pair, "We'll be out here if you need anything."

And with that, Steve and Alex closed the door behind them.

Petra returned her attention to Jesse, smiling brightly, "I'm just so glad you're okay."

"I'm glad to see you guys," Jesse replied, "But what about you? You look awful, and what's this about a spider's nest?"

Lukas let out a disgusted noise, "Well after we lost you we ran into the woods. Then got attacked by some monster, I was shot- no poison don't worry - and Petra twisted her leg. We followed the river, which led to this gorge between the mountains. It was full of spiders, big ones."

"Okay?"

"No seriously, big ones. We are talking the size of a small house big. One almost ate me."

Jesse's eyes widen slightly.

"Then Steve showed up and just," Petra shrugged, "Killed it."

"Killed it?"

"He didn't even break a sweat Jesse."

Jesse looked towards the door, eyes full of curiosity, "From what I gathered from Alex, Steve is the main hunter for their village; it wouldn't surprise me. But spider's as big as a house? That seems farfetched."

"We're serious; this world is different from the others we've been to." Lukas pressed.

"Speaking of different worlds," Petra said her voice dropping into a whisper. "What have you told Alex?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well Lukas and I haven't told Steve about the portal." Petra explained, " AS fasr as he's concerned, the three of us are from beyond the mountain range."

"The one past the volcano?"

"Yes. What have you told Alex?"

"Nothing so far," Jesse answered. "She's curious but-"

Suddenly the door opened and Steve and Alex walked in. "Who's hungry?" Steve asked, "It's been a long weekend for everyone don't you think?" Alex herself was carrying a large tray filled to the brim of various meats and other delicious food items. It smelled absolutely perfect.

Petra felt her stomach rumble, she glanced at Jesse who gave her an encouraging nod. "Thank you," she said as she took a plate.

"Thank you so much for finding Jesse," Lukas said as he took a plate.

"Gladly," Alex replied, she handed a bowl of stew to Jesse. "Sorry dear, until your stomach settles it's stew for you."

Jesse still took the bowl, "I'm not complaining."

Lukas and Petra remained on the bed as Steve and Alex took the two chairs across the room. Petra hardly paused a second to cool her food she was so hungry. The food tasted as good as it smelled, the meat nearly melting in her mouth.

"So," Steve said as he settled into his chair, he took a small bite of food and smiled at the now complete trio, "What brings you three through the Portal of Worlds?"

[crystalelemental]

Well. That was…a trial. Top 100 for the moment though, thoughts and strats under the cut. Take this as both my clears, and a general guide for what works well where.

Vs. Marlon I started with Marlon because he genuinely seems like the biggest bastard. Condition cuts Striker stats by like 80%, and he's got team Endurance on entry. That sucks, man. Your solution is to tech nuke everything, which is super risky, or to have multi-hit. It's basically a check for Dojo Gloria and NC Serena at that point, so hope y'all are whales.

(Un)Fortunately for me, I am. So I had Neo Champion Serena. I opted to go with some stall strats with flinch, as well as Lodge Adaman to top off special attack and otherwise wall. He did a pretty good job! Serena's function was to denial left, then focus damage on center. It won't be enough to KO at all, but it'll get you there. We actually lucked out here. I had the last sync go on the right to try a quick KO. It failed, so I had two options at low HP but not dead, as Adaman dropped. Meaning if I hit center, side would queue up a move, which it did, like a bastard. Thankfully, Serena's debuffing is hilarious, and the -2 accuracy paid off. Not doing this one again.

Vs. Archie This likely would have been much easier with 3/5 EX Dojo Gloria. Much, much easier. But, I didn't do that, like an idiot, so here's this crap instead. Honestly, even EX Lana would've made this less stupid. The double damage could really matter. As you can tell, I had to tone down the difficulty, because Lodge Rosa is bad.

The strategy is reasonably sound. Dojo Gloria rapidly debuffs for Rosa's sync. Gauges are a little iffy, but prioritize Gloria and Lana and you'll be alright. That said, Lana is the ideal tank here. Sincerely, use Lana. Leech Life is super-effective against Archie, you recover a good amount per action despite what he throws at you. The stage being all physical also means Lana just blocks a ton. Lana is very, VERY good at this stage.

Vs. Lana My greatest ally has become my greatest challenge. Seriously, if Marlon isn't the worst, Lana is. Lana's problem is raw offense. She's got high-BP moves with accuracy issues, that are rectified by +2 accuracy on entry. Combined with "no healing," this makes Lana a fairly significant threat.

SS Blue is a good pick here. He boosts defense, the primary consideration, very rapidly, and his passive healing sucks shit anyway. Team Endurance on sync is also incredibly helpful. I went with May and SS Lysandre, because Lys has all the firepower he needs under Rain and with an EX sync boost at his back. The strategy is to burn all opponents, hoping for +2 special attack from Team Shout, then firing Buddy move after the EX support sync. In my case, I gave my EX Lysandre second sync to quickly remove sides and consolidate May's DPS into Lana. It worked out.

Vs. Misty SS Kris stays winning. Archie is probably overkill with her, but mine's 2/5 and non-EX, so we needed this. Eevee Lyra is for gauge issues, which this team otherwise struggles wildly with. Lyra's honestly great, because Tech nuke on center, to complement DPS spread. The sides will easily drop first though, and thankfully Archie's Origin Pulse compresses, so good stuff.

Misty's only consideration is that she has Hail and Blizzard spam. Shut down Hail, you shut down Misty. Her condition is no status, which sounds scary because it includes flinch and sleep so there's no cheese. But all stages have Resilience activate after recovering from a flinch, so raw cheese strats fail anyway, her condition is redundant. I think she's the easiest overall.

Vs. Nessa Comparable to Lana, but with a few notes. First, I am running out of good, invested Water-types at this point. Second, Hilbert sucks in this mode. These fights are an endurance contest, boosting defenses is essential and he cannot do anything with that, so I had to rely on Marlon. Third, Kris' damage output in this mode is sadly lacking, so she needs another partner for offense. Eusine was that partner, not just because of spread damage, which...doesn't matter as much with her sync. But because of Buddy Surf's flinch. Two 20% rolls isn't much, but it's enough to block Nessa's first attack after sync and delay until Kris can finish the job. At 300 Strength, anyway. 400 was routinely too much for this comp. There's the possibility, albeit slight, that a 3/5 Eusine would perform better with just added Rain. I'd be willing to try it, if I had the resources. But I'm conserving.

Nessa is a pure fight. She has no conditions to speak of, and is kinda like a toned down Lana. Razor Shell has 95 accuracy, but she doesn't boost accuracy so it can miss. It won't, but you know. Nessa's biggest problem is Earthquake. It can really hurt sides. If she leads with it, you've basically lost already.

General Impressions With sufficient tools to actually meet these fights, this is...relatively fun? Like it's annoying in many ways, but this very much feels like an exchange of blows. Like, you know how Champion Stadium is more just "kill them before they kill you?" This is the opposite end of the 3v3 meta. This is the kind where survival skills matter. And it's interesting, because it means not just defensive buffs matter, but Master Passives matter. That damage reduction does stuff now. It's interesting.

I just wish it wasn't so rough. Like, the free Water pairs in the game suck. Water damage is handled mostly by Cyrus, who doesn't count. Hilbert sucks in this mode. Kris isn't too great either. May does alright for herself because Rain. Lana's good in one stage at least. Elio feels like dead weight; bad buffing and Sing is counterplayed. It feels very reliant on having some premium options to win with. I don't love that. And I love it less that the minimum for all rewards is 180k. And I extra super hate that they made a medal for placing top 10k in ranked. Fuck off, Masters. This is low importance enough I don't care, but consider me pissed. This better not lead to anything.

[imfluentinfangirlandgay]

Extended Family - Ch 4

This was started by @zestofthedepths with this post, so make sure to read their chap first! The second half of that first chapter is in the comments, and I've been building on it. Huge thanks to them for this idea!!! I'm having a ton of fun writing it!

[Part 3] [Part 5]

Words: ~1500

Fluff Supreme incoming, you've been warned

Getting to a different time period altogether actually ended up being much easier than Emmet thought. As soon as he heard that Ingo had not only fallen through space, but time, Emmet had just assumed he was going to have to fight some God or other deity tooth and nail to get him back. As it turns out, Cynthia just had Dialga, God of Time, in her back pocket. She pulled out the Pokeball, tossing it up once they were out of the house and releasing the Pokemon. Emmet was shocked, to say the least.

“So funny story. The current Champion, who is missing, caught Dialga in a fight a while back when someone essentially tried to end the world. In their absence, most of the Pokemon have fallen into my care, including Dialga. I have been studying it and trying to learn more about it.” It gave a deep, but soft bellow, nuzzling her cheek. She laughed. “The main thing I have learned is its taste for sweet Poffins.” She explained the situation to the deity, earning some remarks in return. After a few minutes of watching it, she turned back to the group. “Dialga says that it would be happy to help you. It will open a portal through time to where you were last seen, in this exact spot. It will keep the portal open until you find Ingo and return with him, which should only be a few seconds for us, but it can take you as long as you need. Time flows differently with it around.”

“Thank you, Lord Dialga,” Adaman said automatically, bowing. Dialga bellowed again.

“It says it remembers you, Adaman. It has spoken with you before?” Adaman stood, smirking.

“Yes, it has, back in our time. The child that fell from the sky aided us and succeeded in catching Dialga, and I had the honor of fighting it.” Dialga bobbed its head. Then it turned, roaring. A small portal opened through the fabric of time, like a window. Emmet didn’t hesitate. He strode directly though, Elesa calling after him and Adaman and Irida hurrying in behind him. He stepped through, finding a much more earthy smell than he had experienced moments before. Rocky slopes stretched before him, as far as the eye could see. Pokemon dotted the areas around, battling one another and filling the empty space in a way Emmet was not used to. He clutched the brim of his cap as he stepped away from the portal.

“Emmet, I swear to Arceus if you don’t slow down-” Elesa huffed behind him. She jogged through the portal, clearly not having meant to come through.

“I must find Ingo.”

“And we will, but Emmet, don’t just go rushing into things-”

“He’s close. Elesa. I need to find him.” He turned and whatever he held in his gaze made her close her mouth with a clack.

“Well, luckily, Ingo is usually in these parts. Allow me to call for Lady Sneasler, she likely knows where he is.” Irida pulled out a long, thin white instrument and blew a tune into it, eliciting a beautifully haunting melody that rang out above the rock formations and carried well into the distance. Nothing happened at first. Then Emmet heard a growling sound.

And suddenly the huge Pokemon from the photo with Ingo popped up in front of him. It held one claw against its side, resting it on its hip. It flipped its long feather back and out of its face. The Pokemon’s eyes flitted from one person to the other before locking onto Emmet. It gave a confused grunt, cocking its head as it stepped towards him. Emmet didn’t move. He simply watched it, his default smiling expression on his face as he regarded the Pokemon. He could tell that it could rip him to shreds, but he got the feeling it wouldn’t. It stepped up to him and removed his cap, looking at it thoughtfully. It tapped a claw to his chin. It looked at his coat. It replaced the cap and continued looking over Emmet.

“I am Emmet. I am Ingo’s brother. Do you know him?” The Pokemon paused, looking at his face again. Then it gave a snarly cry of recognition. It beckoned to him, leading them along. Emmet followed behind like a Lillipup at the Pokemon’s heels. The small group followed the Pokemon (who Irida said was Sneasler) along the rocky outcroppings, picking their way slowly around loose stones and sudden drops. Sneasler moved fluidly in this environment, obviously used to it. When they reached a certain ledge, she let out a loud bellow that carried almost as well as Irida’s flute had. She paused for a moment, then bellowed again, louder this time.

“My Lady?” came a voice from far below? “Do you require assistance?” Emmet knew that voice. He stepped back a little bit, his hands starting to move. He played with his cuffs and tried to keep himself sane. Sneasler gave a noise of affirmative and Emmet heard some scuffling making its way up the cliff face, closer and closer to them. A dark cap bobbed into existence, quickly followed by a tall, lanky figure wearing a coat so shredded, he could be confused for a ghost. The cap and coat were both in terrible condition, obviously very well-worn in this rough environment. He had a small beard on his chin, his hair longer and unkempt, tufts of it sticking out of his cap at awkward angles. He immediately went to Sneasler, not even seeing the group. “What is it, my Lady?” Sneasler pointed at their group - no, specifically at Emmet.

Ingo’s eyes flicked over the group. He gave a curt nod and a, “Well, hello Lady Irida, Lord Adaman. Who are these-” and he stopped, eyes widening as he took in Elesa and Emmet, or more specifically, Emmet. He stared at Emmet, his hand frozen midway to his cap’s brim. His mouth was still chiseled into a frown, as it always was, but Emmet could still read Ingo like an engine’s instruction manual. He was floored, his eyes much sharper than the last time he remembered and more wrinkles and grooves in his face than Emmet remembered.

But he was there. At long, long last, Ingo was there.

“Ingo…?” Emmet asked timidly. Ingo stood stock-still, hunched over as he took in Emmet.

“I know you. The smiling man in white who looks like me. Who loves winning more than anything else.” He squinted, trying to remember more. Emmet nodded.

“I am Emmet. Your twin brother. I am a Subway Boss. I like Doubles Battles.”

“And you like combinations of two Pokemon!” Ingo shouted suddenly, only surprising Irida and Adaman with the outburst. “I remember! Oh, it’s coming back now, I remember!” Emmet bolted away from Elesa, flying forward and into Ingo. Ingo had done the same, them colliding on the top of the cliff. Emmet grabbed Ingo hard, slamming his arms around his brother as hard as he could. He could feel wet on his face. Ingo was saying something, loudly, but he couldn’t hear it. He smelled like sweaty feet and mud and body odor but Emmet didn’t care, he had Ingo back. He was back! Everything was better now, everything was okay. He felt something wet on his shoulder and realized Ingo was crying. He also felt his feet leave the ground as Ingo picked him up and swung him around-

What? Emmet lifted his head, knitting his brows. Ingo was grinning softly, which meant he may as well have been beaming. Ingo was lifting Emmet though? How? Neither of them had really been fit before. But also, there was a more pressing matter at hand. “Ingo,” Emmet laughed wetly. “You’re smiling at me!” Ingo paused, setting Emmet back down.

“I-I was?” I hadn’t even noticed…”

“You were!” Emmet laughed again, for the first time in years. The noise rang out like a clogged bell over the mountain. “You’re smiling, Ingo!” Ingo was, in fact, still smiling. He reached over and hugged Emmet tightly again, burying his face in his shoulder.

“I have my brother back. This is the best time to smile.” Ingo was laughing too, a deep and booming sound that Emmet had missed so, so much. Emmet’s breaths were coming in hiccups now, his laughter still not ending. His legs gave out finally, but Ingo did not seem to mind. He continued holding Emmet up, like a large ragdoll, both crying into each other’s shoulders. Emmet felt the weight of the last three years suddenly lift from his shoulders. He had Ingo back. And he wasn’t going to leave him again.