(praying these uploaded in the right order)

(mourning my lack of computer and animation software rn)

Akari disappears not long after Ingo does. Her friends look for her, of course, but fail to locate her. Irida is the one to approach Rei while he's in the Icelands one day, asking if he'd seen Akari recently. When he admits he hasn't her expression crumples and she tells him that Lady Sneasler had informed her something was wrong with Akari but Irida hadn't been able to locate the human-zoroark to find out what, and had been hoping she'd been in Jubilife Village since Ingo had vanished. Sneasler has no way to communicate what has happened to Akari besides what everyone already knows- that she's a Zoroark.

It's Cogita who finds Akari many weeks later, feral and enraged. Were the heavens still opened she'd have thought the girl was frenzied with her aggressive behavior. There are new injuries on her and she's absolutely filthy, but Cogita sees beyond the blanket protection of ferality. She sees the distraught and fear behind the blank Zoroark glare and she mourns for the girl she jokingly called her granddaughter. Rather than running she approaches, risking injury to touch the girl with softness despite her threat to lash out. Rather than attack Akari freezes and then slumps onto the woman, warbling out her father's name.

Cogita tries to provide comfort when someone catches her attention- Ingo himself, hauling at speed towards them. There's someone behind him but that person doesn't matter. Akari looks miserable, not having heard the destruction of snow behind her, and Cogita turns her to face Ingo. The Zoroark freezes in shock before running gleefully to her father, leaping upon him and burying her face in his neck, her form fluctuating between Zoroark and human in her glee. She freezes when footsteps approach them, tensing her grip on Ingo. He only smiles at the man- the man who shares his face. Akari should be happy but she's fearful instead.

What does this mean? Who is this man?

He greets her gently, and Akari thinks that if her father is smiling and happy to see him, not trying to remove her... maybe she can be happy is well.

xxxxxxx

Fragile Things (Reprise) - Zoroakari edition!

Too many songs fit this au far too well

I am reminded that Chevalier has not lived in this region for a very considerable amount of time. We originally intended to land in Mistralton anyway, and then we would travel along Unova Route 7 to reach the Celestial Tower and visit Twist Mountain-- both of which being locations that interested him.

The tower still stands, but the mountain is supposedly not so easy to traverse. I somehow doubt my friends could be inside it, but on the other side of it lies Icirrus City-- the most likely place where Pallas could be hiding. Not to mention that it supposedly holds a second tower, namely Dragonspiral Tower.

Chevalier insists on climbing towers when he can. It's a superstition of his. One that I think I might be partially to blame for, but a superstition and a pattern. Both locations are on a semi-beaten path to Icirrus in general, so I'll be checking Celestial Tower first in order to try and catch Chevalier on his way there... assuming that's where he landed. From there, I'll simply fly around Twist Mountain to bypass the cavern route. It's unlikely I'll find him inside, and in the city I'll either find information (or a lack thereof) about him and Pallas, meanwhile if he WAS in the cavern, he'll like as not be on his way out going towards Mistralton. And as a Pokemon that is currently Johto's champion, he's bound to attract attention in any other city he happens to land near, so once he finds civilization, meeting up with him will be trivial.

I've covered my options best I can. Miss Skyla will be searching around the city to ensure we don't miss anything, so all that's left is to make the journey... on foot, for now. I've purchased a personal charger for Chevalier's phone--solar powered, of course. It should prevent me from being stranded. In the meantime... perhaps I'll check in on the other blogs he follows, as I walk. Maybe I can at least maintain some semblance of normalcy...

SAVAGE SHAKEDOWN STYLE! (P:LA ANCESTOR VERSE)

VERSE TAGS: PLA VERSE., (v: ceres evergreen)

SUMMARY: I’ve officially decided that Jupiter doesn’t have ancestor representation in Arceus (Melli doesn’t count), so I’m going to do it myself. Ceres was born in the unforgiving Alabaster Icelands, quickly learning about adaptability and survival in the midst of the ruthless climate. Throughout Ceres’s childhood, members of the Pearl Clan tried their hardest to establish a settlement on the ice, though the brutal conditions often destroyed their civilization efforts. During a particularly nasty blizzard, Ceres was separated from her people while out foraging, forced to live off the land until a member of the newly-formed Galaxy Team stumbled across her impromptu campsite. In recognition of her survival skills and strength, Ceres was assigned a role in the Security Corps, given her first Pokemon (a Sneasel) and taken back to Jubilife Village.   

However, Ceres wasn’t used to settling down or following orders, bristling under Kamado’s harsh oversight and Zisu’s focus-based training exercises. During one fateful night, she struck out by herself again...and ran into the Miss Fortune sisters, fellow outcasts who desired more from the growing region. After a classic battle first, talk later, Ceres joined the unlawful (thrice-defeated) bandits, adding several thieving tactics to her repertoire over time. Adapting the pseudonym ‘Cat,’ she now provides additional force and much-needed survivalist know-how to the squad.

However, even though she’s part of a group that takes what it wants, Ceres usually wanders around Hisui as a solo act, vulturing campsites, terrorizing traveling merchants, and selling off stolen valuables (even Pokemon.) With all of these unethical endeavors, Ceres has flipped an impressive profit with dirty money, though she can’t seem to settle down. Her drive, her selfish hunger for more--much like her descendants--seems to be insatiable.   

KEY HEADCANONS

Ceres lost her right eye in an encounter with an Alpha Beartic. While she lacks vision on that side, her senses have been supercharged from Zisu’s training and a near-lifetime spent in the Hisuian wilderness. 

Although technically born in Pearl Clan territory, Ceres feels no special allegiance towards either side (or the deities that they worship.)

While she is very skilled in hand-to-hand and Pokemon combat, Ceres willingly fights dirty to gain an advantage, often using sneak attacks (to ambush lone travelers) and Sneasler’s poison (to overpower prey.)

If you come up on the short end of an encounter with Ceres, prepare to pay up with cash, goods, and/or your Pokemon. She’s a shakedown artist, after all.

Ceres is fascinated by Pokemon, the rarer the better. While she does sell off nearly all of her captures (in secret, to willing buyers), she keeps a sharp lookout for new species to add to her mental collection.

Due to her desertion from the Security Corps, Ceres is not allowed to step foot in Jubilife Village. However, she has many ‘clients’ who either meet her outside the gates or secretly in the dead of night.   

Ceres is less eloquent than her descendant, but she still knows how to dig deep and put plenty of caustic bite behind her words.

Sneasler (Liss) is her right-hand Pokemon, though Ceres’s Overqwil (Lila) provides additional power and easy transport across water (watch out for those spikes!)

Mary Plays Pokemon Gaia - Part I: the beginning [Reposted from Twitter]

Hi! I'm @miyamoris and this is my blog for essays, let's plays and other more thought-out posts and conversations. To kick off the blogging, I'm bringing my Pokemon Gaia playthrough, styled after forums screenshot let's plays. (I'm not a video person. Sorry!)

I started this playthrough two years ago - it's hardly a long game but took me a while to finish it for... reasons. The first posts are reproductions from the original Twitter threads that I'd rather archive somewhere more reliable. The only thing I'll change is formatting so they flow better as blog posts. It's very likely the posterior updates will look different in style - instead of posting as I play like I did before, I have already finished the game and took a bunch of screenshots to organize while memory is still fresh. This is the first time I post let's plays on tumblr so I'm still discovering what works better.

For those who doesn't know, Pokemon Gaia is a Pokemon FireRed romhack created by Spherical Ice. Right now it's completed up to the Elite Four and thecomplete game with post-game and all is currently being overhauled as a Emerald hack. This hack is pretty popular for getting the exact feel of an official pokemon game plus some impressive technical achievements like perfectly reproducing the Mega Evolution system from gen VI into a 3rd gen rom.

Without more delays, let's begin. Enjoy!

[Original Thread]

let's goooo

-> #maryplaysgaia for my organizing and your muting convenience

Right off the bat, I already like the player sprite - it's visibly drawing from the FRLG sprite but it's well-done.

The Orbtus region map - the game seems to revolve strongly around archaeology (the professor in the intro says he's an archaeologist (typed it right on the first try!)) so it's unsurprising to find a lot of caves and ruins there.

Running shoes before even getting a starter! lovely game!!

I won't do a whole let's play-like thread summarizing every game bit but I'll try to keep threading the most notable game moments and whatever observation I have.

REALLY LOVELY GAME though tbh I am not sure if we even have gyms in this region

So for now an iffy lady asked back a book I got from the library, there's a lot involving earthquakes and instead of getting a mon in a lab, you meet the professor in a library.

Okay this is funny

The starters are 4th gen starters - this game has up to 6th gen mons and mechanics (updated type chart, physical/special split etc.)

Empoleon is easily my fave among those so I'm grabbing piplup. they tell you their nature right once you chose them too.

- there's no rival battle for now, it seems

- you don't see the exact pokemon IVs but they give you an idea how well the mon is faring there

...and yeah I ended up picking another piplup cause those E's were grating me. look, it only took five minutes.

Rival battles you (another neat sprite) after you talk to the professor and get a bunch of stuff and instructions. which is cool to me, cause I just got a neat taillow.😎

NOT CALM NATURE COME ON

Okay so there's the professor asking teens to help him investigate fucking earthquakes and a subquest about a missing weedle and I just got into this special room with a clefairy boss??

Girlboss team!

YOOOOOO

Ariados isn't too good but I could do a few things with this one in the early game.

Early game team: done ✅though I expect a few of these to stick around beyond that.

I just realized I've been writing this thread for nearly two hours and it's lacking a better overview of the game so:

- You're travelling through a region where an ancient civilization was supposedly wiped by earthquakes

- There are tremors happening again now so you're working with this region's ProfessorTM to investigate it. Your rival is very the May/Brandon 3rd gen type of rival (assistant that is pretty chill)

(Thread content will continue on the next post. Apparently tumblr does not want me to post more than 30 images. Ah well!)

Grovyle + future trio headcanons!

i’ve finished replaying PMD2 here’s a few of my thoughts about what happened to the future trio after time is restored. in no particular order and slightly angsty - enjoy the ride!

Grovyle is a grass type, which require sun and rain to survive. while the future was paralysed, Grovyle was in poor condition with wilted leaves that never healed if he was injured. when he first travelled to the past he was shocked at how much healthier the sun made him feel, and that he could finally function - no, thrive - at optimum capacity. he never takes nature for granted in the restored future, and takes every opportunity to watch the sunrise or to bask in the mid-day heat

Grovyle was permanently injured after the incident with Dusknoir where he was drained by the icicle forest pillars. his consciousness was almost entirely destroyed, and that has had lasting effects - he cannot move as quickly as before and his muscles often contract, freeze, or even give way beneath him

however, what he hates most is that it affected his mind. his memory is poorer, his train of thought often grinds abruptly to a halt when it used to run a mile a minute, and his reactions are not as quick and sharp as they once were - as if the fog of fogbound lake is obscuring his brain

but it is a sacrifice that he can deal with - after all, Grovyle had accepted that he would disappear entirely, so this ending is 1000 times better than that option

his injuries stop him from running as often as he is used to, and the lack of a goal leaves him feeling deflated. he doesn’t understand why he feels like this. he achieved his ultimate goal and also gets to live to see the results, why can’t he be happy? 

while many pokemon and humans in the future welcome the return of normal life, Grovyle struggles. he realises that his life will never be normal again. after all, his partner and best friend is not here to be normal with him, and will never be with him again in the same way

he decides to take a more backseat role in the planetary investigation team, who are now working on readjusting Pokémon to normality and investigating areas where time is still playing havoc. he decides to step back from the adventuring role, and instead throws himself into researching the time travel process and particularly why the accident caused the hero to lose their memory

Dusknoir is also now working with the planetary investigation team. people were all still wary of him at first but he wants to redeem himself and prove that he’s a skilled explorer dedicated to restoring world balance (now his fear of disappearing isn’t an issue)

Grovyle and Dusknoir take every opportunity they can to argue - lightheartedly but constantly. everyone around them agrees that this is probably the best their relationship can be, and would rather it be like this than dig too much into their past disagreements

Dusknoir feels a lot of guilt for his actions, but Grovyle would never fully forgive Dusknoir. he understands that he was only acting out of fear and self-preservation. deep down he isn’t inherently bad and has the capacity to change which is evidenced in his work with the planetary investigation team - but this doesn’t excuse his past actions (he would have killed Grovyle at least 3 times if given the chance). so their relationship is slightly strained but civil nonetheless

the other members of the planetary investigation team see Grovyles research on time travel as bordering on obsessive. they understand that this is a grieving process of sorts - for the loss of his partner and also the loss of his fighting abilities and sense of purpose -  but seeing him pour his entire self into something that has no real answer is hard on them all. they don’t feel that it is beneficial for him to be constantly analysing the time travel accident, but telling him this will just result in an unnecessary fight

Celebi and Grovyle are by far the closest friends out of the remaining planetary investigation team members. in a future where nobody knows who they can trust, the pair trust each other entirely. they are both equally as dedicated to their mission and also enjoy a little harmless flirting - just as friendly banter of course ;)

while the pair share a very close bond, neither Celebi or Grovyle are good at speaking about their feelings. Celebi puts on a positive front as a coping mechanism for a state of impending doom, while Grovyle put on a brave face for a long time. Neither of the two expected to come back after sacrificing themselves for their cause, so this leads to a lot of complex emotions being unearthed while processing the entire paralysis situation

Celebi will call anyone she remotely trusts a variation of ‘my dear’, ‘darling’ etc. Imagine the shock all around when she says “Dusknoir my dear”

Grovyle has literally never had a good nights sleep. partly because the lack of time meant a lack of a sleep schedule, and partly from basically sleeping with one eye open while being on the run alone. he struggles with nightmares frequently too - recurring dreams feature an icicle forest scenario where Dusknoir doesn’t step in, or the moment where he and the hero are travelling to the past and he just has to watch the hero fall, fall, fall... because of this, Grovyle has a slight dependence on sleep seeds

the future trio were apprehensive for a long while about messing around with time now it was restored, and so they initially decided not to travel to the past again

after a while, with permission from dialga and a whole lot of research beforehand, they decide that it is okay to make occasional visits to the past, as many pokemon already know their legacy already

cue an emotional reunion with the hero and partner. Grovyle realised instantly that seeing his partner again made him feel content. it made the whole mission worth it - even if their memory is gone, they are still his best friend

tying up the loose ends of his mission was exactly what he needed.

Top 5 Video Game Soundtracks

Ok. Let's try this *again*. I had a whole thing written up and I accidentally refreshed the page, so tumblr ate the entire thing, and I lost it.

Destiny 2 There's a reason D2 is one of my all time favorite games, and the music for it is one of those reasons. Destiny 2's sweeping orchestral soundtrack is full of songs that encapsulate that grand, epic nature of the world and conflict you find yourself in as the Guardian. From the mission tracks like 1AU/Forge Ahead , Valkyrie, and Guns Blazin which provide this cinematic backdrop as you fight for your victories, to the epic swelling of the raid bosses where the tension in their first phases is replaced with triumphant moments where the tide turns as seen in Riven of a Thousand Voices or Insurrection Prime (even the most hated boss in Destiny has a pretty baller theme with tons of brass in it as you get ready to put him in his grave one last time after fighting him multiple times throughout the raid). Locations such as the Dreaming City have tracks that manage to encapsulate the mystery and history behind each location. No matter my feelings and critiques on the gameplay or the story, the music in Destiny 2 is just an absolute gift of musical genius. Michael Salvatori (yes, that same Michael Salvatori from Halo) is one of my favorite composers for the work he's put into that series. Favorite track: Journey ft. Kronos Quartet. This is the song that plays after the deafening silence that comes from escaping the city during the initial Red War campaign, where you montage your way through an unforgiving wilderness, powerless, as the city fades into the distance behind you. You've been beaten, your home taken from you, but the music swells with hope as you follow a sign from the Traveler - and you know you'll return to reclaim your city. I highly recommend taking a peek at the mission, as you can't play it anymore, to see what I mean as to how the track absolutely enhances the experience.

Hades Supergiant games - the people behind Bastion and Transistor, two other games with amazing soundtracks - really did knock it out of the park with Hades. This game's soundtrack is a wonderful blend of classic acoustic instruments (Check it out - it's called a Bağlama) mixed with metal and electronica to create a theme that evokes not only the aesthetics of the region, but also give it a modern twist that meshes with the dark, haunting vibes of the underworld that you reside in. Each track flows so well from one into the next, mixing perfectly with each area or character you encounter. And the two musical characters you encounter - Orpheus and Eurydice - add in plenty of musical flair to the game themselves. The motifs present in the songs are called back frequently to make it a coherent, consistent soundtrack, and it remixes so incredibly well. Favorite Track: God of the Dead - the theme for the final boss of each run, this track is incredible. Not only does it reflect the theme of Zagreus in a different key, showing the link between Hades and his son, before delving into this heavy, frantic track that perfectly encapsulates having to fight

Payday 2 There are exactly two ways to play Payday 2. The first is stealth - you won't have much in the way of music as you silently slip by cops, cameras, and civilians to reach your score. The other is the way I play, where you suit up in the heaviest body armor you can get, grab two automatic shotguns, and go to town to some of the best soundtracks in the game. Payday 2 has a unique musical cue system with it's audio during loud heists, where it amps up the tracks in time with what the cops are doing. At first, before you've been detected, you have the Stealth track which is always low and very basic to not intrude. In low points, like when you first go loud and the first responders arrive on the scene, you're in a Control track. Then, as the police gear up, it switches to a higher temp Anticipation Track, and then when the police storm your position, the Assault track. So each "song" in Payday 2 is actually 4 songs in one, that the game blends seamlessly together in order to match the audio with the gameplay. It's an incredibly clever system that keeps you immersed in the tension of the heist even as Bain, your mastermind, calls out over comms with instructions. And it helps that almost all of the tracks are exceptional bangers in their own right, with amped up electronica with great percussion and bass lines alongside rebellious hard hitting metal and rock. But during those assault tracks, there's something satisfying about hearing the build, reloading your guns, then timing you leaving cover to unleash fury with the bass drop. There's a great playlist here with links to the different types of tracks if you want to take a peek yourself. Favorite Track: I Will Give You My All - one of the few tracks with built in vocals. This particular track feels like the exact kind of music I'd see in a movie, and with the build I run in game for Loud stuff at the moment which incentivizes me running face first at bulldozers and cloakers, giving it my all is *exactly* what I intend to do in that game.

Horizon Zero Dawn HZD's soundtrack is full of the same sort of sweeping orchestral stuff that made me love Destiny 2, with tracks that serve to accentuate the world around you. The only reason it's down here at 4 and not higher is because there's a somewhat lack of variety; as a singleplayer story game, most of the music you encounter tends to be in cutscenes, rather than during gameplay. That isn't a *bad* thing however, and over the hundreds, if not thousands of games I've played, reaching #4 on the list is no small feat. The actual orchestral bits pair so well with being able to cultivate this theme of a world full of grandeur, the kind of which you'd see in nature documentaries. The various tracks illicit this feeling of a long forgotten hope, which if you know anything about the plot, ties in perfectly. The music that *does* play outside of the incredible cutscenes add to the world's aesthetic so well, pairing the sort of instruments you'd find people playing in the civilizations you encounter with the environments you find them in. Even the battle music, when there is battle music, is a tense affair; the game incentivizes you to stalk your prey, as Aloy is not a frontline fighter: she's a hunter among predators, and the music matches that tone. Favorite Track: A tie between Aloy's Journey, which provides not only natural sounds mixed with the instruments of the Nora and the underpinning of techno that permeates the story (in addition to one of my favorite musical things where you have these grand sweeping vocals that aren't actually lyrics) and Your Hand of Sun And Jewels, which gives off this sort of air of walking through city streets in golden sunlight, where people dance just a block away and you can smell the fragrant spices of the local cuisine. It makes me yearn and if I listen to it on full blast I can forget that I'm stuck at home for a moment.

Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Pokemon OSTs hold a special place in my heart because as much as I loved games as a kid, getting started on things like Mappy for the NES (which, now that I write that, really shows how fuckin *old* I am), Pokemon was one of the first things that I basically turned into my personality as a child. Silver version especially was one of the ones that *truly* got me going, as in Blue version I always felt one step behind my brother but Silver was *my* game, my generation. I have extremely fond memories of that game, from the Lake of Rage to trying to beat a ghost gym with a Sentret and it taking four hours because normal types and ghost types are just... immune to each other. But when Soul Silver came out and remastered the soundtrack, it brought back this wave of nostalgia. The bit tunes I remember had been brought to life, in a way that was recognizably Pokemon. Hearing it again brought back the waves of wanting to journey and be a hero again that when the game came out, I was sorely missing. The music in the game is upbeat and chipper, befitting a near solarpunk world that I want to live in. Iconic tracks remain iconic but with a bit of cultural flair, showing that the Johto region hasn't lost touch with it's roots. While it isn't the almighty trumpeting of Gen 3, the nostalgic tracks that are already evocative of nostalgia brings a yearning back for a time when things were simpler and I could just play games. Also, the Rival theme is *rocking*. Favorite Track: Route 26 Theme. Route 26 is also known as Tohjo Falls, the place which connects Johto and Kanto together. And for me, this route represents having reached a triumph and the energy to explore what's next. It's a critique directly against the Hero's Journey's unfortunate end, that they can never go home - the hero here *can* go home, but they choose to set out again for new sights. It's full of the fact that when it plays, you're taking your steps into something new, something bold, and full of new challenges that await you. It is, by far, one of my favorite tracks and the orchestral version brings me to tears.

In which they travel to another continent

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which there are dreams and discussions Previous: In which they arrive at the guild

    The first trio staggered slightly after the teleport, then glancing around at each other and their new surroundings. Nelvana flipped over the now dull stone in her hands, passing it over to Alex to hang onto instead while she got a better look around.

    “Yeah, we’re a bit off, but we definitely made it! There’s Gull Village just a bit south from here,” she told them, pointing out to where she spotted the nearby village, just past some trees from where they currently were.

    “That’s great!” Keahi cheered, “we’ll just have to wait for the others to show up then, and we can head over,” zie continued, stepping up to stand beside zir partner again.

    “Pretty nifty the guild makes extra teleport gems for cases like these, seem to be a capable bunch,” Alex commented, joining the other two. “Seeing as how Team A.C.T. was like, I’ll admit I was a bit worried that the others around the guild would be similar. A bit of a rude assumption to make, I know, but…”

    Keahi sighed, “just being safe. Yeah, I get that’s what you were thinking.”

    Alex smirked back, “glad to know we’ve been together long enough to pick up on those sorts of things.”

    “Hate to interrupt, but shouldn’t the others have shown up by now?” Nelvana questioned, standing up on the tips of her toes in an attempt to get an improved look at their surroundings; searching for their allies.

    “Nel’s got a point,” Alex agreed, his smirk fading away.

    “Well, they shouldn’t be too far, right? Maybe they’re a bit closer to Gull Village, or maybe even a bit farther. Either way, that seems to be the point to meet up at,” Keahi suggested, though a worried look crossed zir eyes as well.

    “Good idea, seems to be the best one we have, anyway. For as good as the teleport gems are, they aren’t perfect.” Alex nodded. “We were a bit off, so it’s reasonable to believe that the others were too.”

    “Alright, let’s make our way to the village then,” Nelvana responded.

    Taking the lead, she began to walk down towards civilization with her partners quickly following suit. They had just appeared right where the forest began thinning out right before the beach town, so it was simple for Nelvana to recall the steps and follow the sight of the buildings over to Gull Village itself.

    It occurred to Nelvana that the last time she had been here, it had been nighttime. Thus, it was a mild surprise to see the town filled with more activity. Though it was beginning to drag on to late evening now, there were still plenty of villagers wandering the streets, and the lights illuminating the inside of the houses displayed shadows through the windows of other pokemon enjoying themselves indoors.

    “Well…” Nelvana trailed off momentarily, adjusting her scarf absentmindedly. “Here’s Gull Village,” she announced, “you can see the docks over there-“ She pointed slightly eastwards of where they were. “-and right by those should be the tourist shop or whatever that runs the ferries.”

    Alex peered over to where Nelvana pointed, and a smile grew on his face, “looks like Ceebee and Tsuki beat us there!” he said.

    “They’re at the docks?” Keahi responded, “we should go over then! Come on!”

    Laughing with relief, the trio hurried over to the docks where they found Ceebee and Tsuki, staring out over the water while they waited for everyone else to arrive. The waiting pair glanced over as the others approached, smiling back and getting up to meet them halfway so they could chat together.

    “Glad to see you made it safely,” Tsuki greeted, “we had been worried at first when we did not see you here right away,” she admitted.

    “But!” Ceebee chimed in, “I soon sensed you all were just by the outskirts, so we decided to wait for you to turn up here on your own. Figured everyone would turn up here eventually, and if not, I could have always just sent a telepathic message.”

    “Hey, we were worried about you two too!” Alex replied, “where did you two teleport to?”

    Ceebee tapped her forehead, “right where we were supposed to, here at the docks! You forget that I can teleport too, I’d be pretty bad at that if I didn’t remember where places were,” she told him with a giggle, “nothing against you, Nel! Don’t worry, you still were pretty close to here. So is Damien and that group, though a bit farther out than where you teleported to.”

    Nelvana shrugged, “it’s alright, I’m not offended or anything. As you said, you’re the one who actually does this more often. You were also here more recently.”

    “True that!” Ceebee agreed.

    “So, how far away are the others now then?” Keahi asked, shaking zir feathers. “Does this place have closing hours? And are we actually going to use the ferry right away, or should we rent a place for the night?” zie continued.

    “It doesn’t seem to have closing hours, when Damien and I showed up last time it was still open in the middle of the night,” Nelvana told zim, “you do have a good point though, this may be our last chance to get an actual room to stay in for the night.”

    “Also, looks like the others are showing up now!” Ceebee chirped, “we’ll be able to ask for their input too!”

    At Ceebee’s comment, the group glanced over to see the three ghost-types in the group heading over from the other end of the docks. They waved over at the trio, prompting Edgar to split off from the other two he was with and bolt over to the main group, too impatient to wait until all three of them got there together.

    “Hello everyone!” Edgar greeted, “I hope you weren’t waiting too long for us!” he added.

    “No problem, we have not been here for too long. We had just been discussing plans for tonight,” Tsuki replied, “there is some consideration of finding an inn to stay at for the night.”

    “The original idea was to just set out right away, but if we don’t want to rush ourselves too much, I remember there is an inn we could stay at; seems like a nice spot,” Ceebee added.

    “What’s this about an inn?” Damien asked, finally catching up with the others, Dusknoir right behind him.

    “We’re thinking about staying at the inn here for the night to get rested up again before heading out on the ferry,” Nelvana told him, “we don’t know when we’ll get another chance for a good opportunity like this.”

    “Yeah, I can get behind that idea,” Damien added, stretching idly.

    Alex sighed, “mhmm… I wouldn’t want us to waste our time, but who knows what it’ll be like when we first show up at the Grass Continent. This definitely doesn’t seem like a waste, to build back some proper energy.”

    “Hey, if Mr. Hasty can agree to this, we seem to be in the clear!” Keahi teased, “how about we look for that inn? Ceebee, you said you saw it last time you were here?”

    “Yup!” Ceebee nodded. “So, we’re all in agreement to stay in Gull Village for the night then?”

    Tsuki kneaded the ground in front of her with her claws absentmindedly, “I don’t believe this one night will make that much of a difference to our progress, so we should be fine to rest up here before going.”

    “I…” Dusknoir paused, letting out a cough before continuing. “I recall someone mentioning that it could take another day on the ferry ride to get to the Grass Continent. Could we not rest on the ride instead? If we do not, we will end up needing to rest again right when we get to our destination.”

    “Might be for the best though,” Keahi replied, “it means we’ll have rested right before needing to take on Brine Cave and any other dungeon before Dialga,” zie pointed out.

    Dusknoir paused again, before nodding sagely, “very well, you have certainly convinced me.”

    “Well, I think you were the only one on the fence about the matter,” Alex huffed, “alright, Ceebee, lead the way to the inn then.”

    Obliging to Alex’s instruction, Ceebee fluttered into action again, navigating through the streets of the small town and over to where she could recall seeing an inn. While she paused momentarily at first to catch her thoughts and properly remember where she needed to go, she easily led everyone over to the building they were looking for.

    Fortunately, despite being a docks town, there were enough rooms for all nine of them to stay in. While they had only intended to reserve their places there for the night, the team ended up being identified by another team staying there at the inn, and the two teams began conversing together in the lobby of the building for longer than intended.

    During that, Damien requested to borrow the stone that housed Giratina from Alex, and managed to fill his own time speaking with the deity. He had initially done it to just pass the time, but soon found himself telling Giratina about how Gardevoir was doing and more of what had happened with that incident, and in return, Giratina spoke about Ninetales, and also about their own experiences with spirit guides like Gardevoir. Damien found it strangely comforting, and silently wondered if Giratina felt the same about their own conversation.

    Dusknoir, on the other hand, felt adamantly against speaking to Giratina with Damien, and yet obviously lacked any place with the others’ conversation. He simply watched the larger group at first, but eventually grew bored and oddly envious, and left the building instead. He knew they would not be pleased to find that he had wandered off, and instead leaned against the outside wall right against the doorframe, watching the few townsfolk still walking the streets. For awhile, he was simply silent again, and let himself zone out into his own thoughts.

    “Excuse me, mister?”

    Snapped out of his thoughts, Dusknoir looked down to see that a young munchlax staring up at him. He mentally scolded himself for allowing himself to get so distracted as to not even notice a mere child getting so close to him, but forced himself to keep his body language neutral. It had… been a long time since he had been in the presence of someone so young, and part of him wished to hold onto such a simple moment.

    “Yes?” Dusknoir finally responded.

    Munchlax gave him a wide, toothy smile back, “hello! I noticed you looked kinda sad; do you want this chocolate? That usually makes me happy,” they said, presenting a thinly wrapped bar to Dusknoir.

    Dusknoir blinked, and then narrowed his eye slightly, “…didn’t your parents tell you not to talk to strangers?” he questioned.

    To his surprise, Munchlax shook their head, continuing to offer the item to Dusknoir. He almost wanted to sigh and shoo the child away for being so foolish; didn’t they know he could harm them if he felt like it? However, he found himself instead accepting the gift, eyeing it carefully now that it was in his own hands.

    “I see a lot of new people here,” Munchlax said, “mum ‘n dad said that I should always be nice to them,” they continued, answering Dusknoir’s previous question whether they actually realized it or not. “Why were you sad?” they asked innocently.

    “What made you think I was sad?” Dusknoir asked in response instead.

    “You were standing here all alone and just staring at nothin’!” Munchlax answered, waving their arms in the air. “You looked sad.”

    Dusknoir wasn’t quite sure what to think of this child, but he realized that despite Munchlax’s evident naivety and foolishness, they were right about Dusknoir’s prior mood. He wondered if all children of this time were so innocent, eyes wide open to the world around him. The kids back at Pokemon Square had been far too loud for him to really consider interacting with them much, and he almost found himself regretting that choice now. He couldn’t even recall if he had ever been like that, though he doubted it. He had grown up to a harsh world, and learned to act harshly right back. It was strange how much simpler and more peaceful things could be here.

    “Well, thank you then,” Dusknoir simply replied instead, “you should go back to your parents now though.”

    “Okay, mister! I hope you feel better!” Munchlax chirped, waddling off back to the streets; hopefully back home.

    Dusknoir sighed, shaking his head as he watched the kid leave. Glancing behind him at the in again, he could faintly hear the conversation between the two teams closing up. He turned his gaze down to this… chocolate he held in his hands. Deciding it would be best to deal with this before the others found him, he carefully peeled away the wrapping to look at the contents inside. He had heard of chocolate before, and knew that it was a treat meant to be eaten. Crumpling the wrapper in one hand, he pried open his belly mouth with the other to place the food in. His jaw, or more specifically, the scar running through it, ached from the effort, but he managed to eat the chocolate bar.

    It tasted good.

    Soon afterwards, everyone else in the group exited the inn together. While they were momentarily displeased by Dusknoir leaving the building without them, seeing as he didn’t wander off too far, and they had to admit that they had talked for awhile, no one seemed to judge him terribly for it; which surprised himself slightly.

    Deciding that while they were staying in a town for the night, they all decided to look for some sort of restaurant to eat supper at. The inn itself was too small for serving food itself, so they had to look somewhere else in Gull Village. Ceebee offered the idea of a bakery she had visited in her time here, but that was turned down in favor of finding something else. While Gull Village was small, they found that it did, in fact, have a restaurant in it. It was a local pub and grill, which seemed to suffice for what the group was looking for. They headed in and managed to get a nice warm meal out of the trouble, and fortunately had enough coins from the two dungeons they had been through to pay for the bill; as they had left their other savings back with Persian.

    The rest of the night continued in a similar, relaxed fashion. Not wanting to just meander the streets for the remainder of the evening, after they had finished eating everyone went back to the inn to settle in their rooms for the night. They had rented two rooms, figuring anyone could go back and forth between the two when needed, and considering nearly half of them technically didn’t even need to sleep, this loose system was comfortable for everyone.

    They stayed all in the same room for the time they were awake though, still having a few hours left in the day before they would need to go to bed. Normally at times like these, as Keahi commented, they would be able to play some of the board games at the base, but they lacked those here. Fortunately, zie instead offered to play some other games that were just vocal, introducing some simple games. Once zie got the ball rolling, Damien had his own ideas to offer, so they were able to keep entertained until it was time to turn in for the night.

    In the morning, the group quickly checked out of the inn, ready to take on the next part of their journey. Ceebee again suggested the bakery for some breakfast, but at that point they had spent most of their spare change on the stay at the inn and the food at the grill, aside from what they were saving for the ferry fee, so they had to pass again on that idea in favor of just going back to the packed rations.

    Without anything else to delay them further, they made their way back down to the docks, entering the building that was familiar to some, and finding Dewgong still there at the counter. Dewgong blinked with surprise as the large group entered, but smiled politely at them and waved them over.

    “Why, hello there everyone! Welcome to the Gull Village Docks,” Dewgong greeted, “I see some familiar faces in the group, hello! How have you been?”

    Nelvana nodded back politely, and Damien waved as well, though it would be Ceebee who would step in to carry on the conversation first.

    “Hi again! We’ve been doing well, thank you,” Ceebee hummed, “we were hoping to get a ride down to the Grass Continent? Do… Do you provide rides down that route?”

    “Yes, we do! Not many of our guides do know that route, but you’re in luck, we do have Lapras on shift. He’s also the best for taking large groups such as these,” Dewgong answered, “some of you got a ride from Lapras as well, which is another bonus! We always try to let visitors ride with familiar guides if they so wish anyway, so this seems to have worked out smoothly.”

    “Yeah, that does sound nice!” Nelvana chimed in, “we’ll get tickets there for all of us then.”

    Nodding, Dewgong rung up their total, with the group thankfully finding that they had saved just the right amount of coins to afford the tickets. With such a large group, and a faraway destination, they had predicted that the price would be high.

    “Do you run this place on your own?” Keahi asked curiously, glancing around at the various souvenirs up for sale around the store.

    “Well, not all by myself,” Dewgong answered, sliding over the tickets to be collected. “I do own the docks though, if that’s what you were wondering! I get plenty of help from a few other employees for this store, and then of course none of this would be possible without my lovely guides here,” she explained, “now then, since there are more than four of you, you’ll need the extra boat…”

    Trailing off, Dewgong shuffled around behind the counter for a few moments before pulling out a thick walkie-talkie. It audibly fizzled with static, and she held down a button and leaned over to speak slowly and clearly into the old item.

    “Barbaracle, Lapras is going to need the spare boat attached for a ferry group,” she said.

    Through the static, they could hear a gruff voice of approval. Dewgong chirped out her thanks before turning off the device and setting it behind the counter again.

    “Alright, Barbaracle should be making sure everything is ready for you all!” Dewgong told them, “Lapras should be on the dock just outside on your right.”

    “Thank you for your help!” Keahi replied cheerily, prompting a chorus of thanks from many of the others.

    “My pleasure! Safe travels, have a nice day!” Dewgong hummed, waving farewell.

    When they got outside and over to where Larry was docked like before, they found the previously mentioned Barbaracle attaching a wooden boat behind the lapras. They tied a few ropes to the spikes on Larry’s shell, letting the small boat float behind him. The boat itself was decently sized, and could probably fit an extra four size category one pokemon in it if needed.

    “Greetings!” Larry called out as the group approached. “Ah, Gengar, Nelvana, it is nice to see you again. Heading out to the Grass Continent with your friends, I see?”

    Damien nodded, “yeah. And it’s actually Damien now,” he responded.

    Larry smiled, “ah yes, names! Such a wonderful thing! I would love to get more introductions underway, but first we should settle the seating arrangements,” he said, oh, and thank you for your help with the boat, Ronald,” he added, turning back to look at Barbaracle, or Ronald.

    “You’re welcome,” Barbaracle responded, though grumbled something about keeping first names to outside of work under his breath before leaving.

    “How many should be fitted on your shell versus the boat?” Alex asked once Barbaracle had left.

    “Well, Dewgong does her best not to overload anyone, but I’d say I could fit most of you onto my shell myself; most of you all are fairly small,” Larry answered, “no more than four on the boat, I’d say, and no more than six on my shell.”

    “I’ll take the boat then,” Dusknoir decided, taking the initiative and carefully floating into the boat himself without another word about it.

    Eyeing the situation, Damien sighed, “I’ve ridden on the shell before, I’ll try the boat too.”

    “In that case, it would probably be best for me to ride on the shell,” Tsuki announced, “I am not sure how well I would have done in the boat regardless of who was in it; it does not appear steady enough for my comfort,” she admitted quietly afterwards.

    The rest of the seating arrangements were handled swiftly afterwards. Alex was the next to go straight for riding on the shell, and finding comfort with her partner, Nelvana was quick to follow, though surprisingly she sat by the back of the shell, close to the boat. Keahi followed suit, and Ceebee simply perched atop one of the spikes on the shell, inviting Edgar to join her up there.

    And with that, they were off.

    As promised, Larry was quick to address introductions. He admitted that he couldn’t promise that he could remember everyone’s names, but assured them that he would try his very best to.

    After that though, the awareness quickly sank in that they were all stuck sitting like this for the next several hours. It would be a long ride, and they had already previously begun exhausting their game options back at the inn the night before.

    “Hey Larry, how’s about some songs?” Damien requested during a long period of silence after the first hour or so of the ride.

    “I would be honored to!” Larry responded, “do you have any specific requests?”

    “Not from me, just wanted something to fill the time.” Damien shrugged, though glanced over at Nelvana afterwards to encourage her to give her input, if any.

    “How about one of the peppier songs?” Nelvana asked, “I feel like we’re in need of one of those.”

    Eager to oblige, Larry chose one of the more upbeat songs he knew and began to sing for the group. Damien, again, began keeping beat, but this time chose to do so by tapping the edge of the boat he had lounged out onto with the extra space from only being himself and Dusknoir; he still felt mildly on edge around the larger ghost-type, but he felt it was worth the leg room to be on the boat regardless. Nelvana began simply keeping beat by tapping her club on the shell like she had the previous time, but she was soon interrupted as Keahi stood up on the middle of the shell and gestured for Nelvana to join zim.

    “Come on, dance with me!” Keahi prompted.

    “Dance?” Nelvana repeated, “I… I’m not good at dancing. I’ve only done it a couple times.”

     Alex smiled, “you’re not bad at dancing, I’ve seen it once, so long as you have the steps down. I’m sure Keahi could teach you something if you can’t remember any human dances,” he chimed in, choosing not to mention that Nelvana had managed to recall something about her past at all as to not ruin the moment, despite how his heart leapt with excitement at hearing her mention even small details of her past.

    “Come on!” Keahi continued, “Alex is right, I could teach you some steps. It’s just for fun, no one’s judging you about it!”

    Sighing, Nelvana relented to the eager eyes of her partner and stood up. It was slightly shaky, to try moving on something that was moving itself, but Larry was steady as he swam and it wasn’t difficult for her to keep her balance. Keahi squealed with delight as Nelvana stepped over to join zim.

    “Alright! Okay, I’ll teach you an easy one first, it goes well with most songs anyway, so it’s a good place to start for this…”

    Beginning, as zie promised, with a simpler dance, Keahi led Nelvana through some steps to follow along as Larry sang. They both had to do the same thing, so if Nelvana ever felt too lost all she had to do was mirror her partner’s movements and just try not to fall behind. Getting excited watching his friends try dancing, Edgar ended up floating in circles around the pair for awhile before leaving to lay back down and just watch instead.

    Afterwards, Keahi progressed to another type of dance that zie explained was traditional for zir family.

    “Do you want to try another one?” Keahi offered, “this one will be a bit harder though, I don’t think we’ll get through the entire thing, but I can teach you some of the early steps at least.”

    “Okay, sure!” Nelvana agreed, feeling more confident while the whole dancing idea by this point.

    This dance required different steps for each person involved, so Keahi would show Nelvana what to do, and when they would actually try together, zie would do something different. They quickly found that this one wouldn’t be as easy. Nelvana’s part required more tapping around with her feet, which was difficult on the back of the shell, and in general the movements were more complicated than the previous one. Still, they tried it a few times, with Larry politely even repeating some songs to keep them better in beat. Besides, it was a pretty and fun dance to do. Even after finally giving up, Keahi promised that maybe some other time they could try again.

    By the time they stopped with that kind of dance anyway, they were both getting pretty tired and decided to take a break from dancing altogether. Nelvana sat down after deciding that, though Keahi stayed standing a bit longer to bounce in place and flap zir wings about, almost similarly to how zie was supposed to in the dance, but quickly ended up wearing zirself out completely and sat down as well.

    Larry continued singing despite the end of the dancing, but his voice by now was beginning to wear out slightly, so he moved on to some of the calmer songs he knew before eventually stopping altogether after a quick apology. At this point, he had been singing for at least an hour, and everyone agreed that it would be unfair to try getting him to continue, and he deserved to give his voice a break.

    The ride remained quieter for the next couple hours, but any previous tensions had been mostly relieved after that and everyone began having various conversations. Edgar floated back down beside Tsuki, who was stubbornly not looking down at the water and just had her head resting in her paws, so he began energetically chatting with her, distracting her from her previous uneasiness. Ceebee leaned down to Keahi to ask for more details about the types of dances the torchic knew, since they had caught her interest.

    Nelvana ended up rolling over to her belly, facing the boat being towed behind Larry again. She wrapped her arms around one of the spikes to make sure she wouldn’t slide off or something, and cleared her throat to get Damien’s attention.

    “Hey,” Nelvana greeted.

    “Nice moves back there,” Damien teased, propping an arm back to rest his head against. “What’s up?”

    Nelvana rolled her eyes, but chuckled, “I actually wanted to ask you something, you jokester.”

    “Alright, shoot,” Damien replied, turning more of his focus towards his friend.

    “If you want, you could strategize a bit more,” Nelvana told him.

    “That wasn’t a question,” Damien snickered, though Nelvana noticed that his smile faltered slightly now.

    She sighed, “fine. Why don’t you contribute your thoughts more when we’re making plans?” she asked instead.

    Damien shifted in place, as much as he really could for his position on the boat, “I don’t really have thoughts to contribute. You all are better at strategizing. What gave you the idea that I would be able to help with that.”

    “Okay, well, this isn’t the best example… but you did plan that entire accusation against me really well,” Nelvana responded, and Damien stiffened. “Yeah, it wasn’t a good thing, we both know that. But at the same time, it was really well orchestrated. If we hadn’t actually gone out for evidence ourselves… I’m not sure how long the town could have just hung there in suspense,” she continued, trailing off slightly at the end of her explanation.

    Frowning more, Damien curled up into himself slightly, shifting his gaze out to the water instead of at Nelvana. Eventually though, he exhaled and faced her again, though he did not say anything, instead looking to her expectantly, silently prompting her to go on.

    “My point is… you’ve proven that you can contribute good ideas, even though you say that you can’t. It’s always good to have more input, especially from varying perspectives,” Nelvana finished.

    “…fine. I’m just… not good at planning in the moment,” Damien admitted, “back when I was a trainer, I would do best when I could plan ahead, and when things didn’t go to plan, I would start struggling. You’ve seen that. Alex coming in during all… that, caught me really off guard,” he chuckled dryly.

    “That’s still pretty good though. Alex ‘n I are a bit better at acting on the fly than strict plans ahead of time, so you could still help with planning more before hand,” Nelvana insisted, “I’m just saying, think about it. You’re welcome to share more of your ideas for planning; you’re smarter than I think that most people think you are.”

    Damien sighed, “alright, thanks Nel.”

    Smiling again, Nelvana nodded back to Damien before sitting up again and then turning to face forward. She simply sat back against the spike she previously had wrapped her arms around, before seeming to change her mind and carefully getting up to move so she could speak to Alex instead.

    The day continued on for their ride across the ocean. Around noon there was discussion about actually having a lunch, but a few members were still feeling a bit seasick, so everyone decided to wait until they were on shore. A few minutes after that, Damien asked if Larry had his own lunch to eat, to which he was relieved that the lapras did, in fact, pack his own lunches for longer trips such as these.

    “Are we there yet?” Edgar’s voice cut in suddenly.

    Larry chuckled warmly, “no, not yet. We are over halfway there now though.”

    “Okay…”

    Finding more ways to occupy themselves for the remainder of the ride varied in difficulty, but in general everyone was able to keep themselves from getting bored for too long. Sitting around for so long with limited space was unusual to them; everyone was used to walking or having other games to play with, but they managed. While there were times they began thinking that they had run out of discussion topics, there was always something new for someone to talk about when reminded.

    Eventually, as the sun began to set on that day, land could be spotted in the distance. Excitement and cheers bubbled up right away, but seeing didn’t mean that they were quite there, and everyone sat anxiously in wait for the last minutes to past before they finally arrived at the Grass Continent.

    “Is there a particular location you wanted to land nearby?” Larry asked as they began approaching. “I’ll want to alter our course slightly if that’s the case!”

    “We’re looking for Brine Cave,” Keahi told him.

    Larry nodded, “got it! I’ll just have to go around some of the land to get as close as possible, hang on for a bit longer!”

    Turning further west momentarily, he altered his path slightly to begin swimming around the land they had spotted. They watched as they moved past forests, mountains, and even what appeared to be a desert, on the mainland, continuing past all that as Larry curved around the land and finally docking where the water flooded in as a lake in the distance.

    Right away… there wasn’t much to look at. In fact, while some of them had been expecting something new and unfamiliar compared to where they had come from, nothing stood out right away. They landed at a rocky part of the shoreline, and in the distance, there was mostly grasslands, with some mountains even further out.

    “This is it,” Alex murmured, hopping off from Larry’s shell to navigate the rocks so that he could look out to the horizon. “Brine Cave should be just a bit north from here. You can almost see it from here.”

    “Oh, wow!” Ceebee exclaimed, following the grovyle up to the land. “I remember this area! We camped nearby here when we came through here to get to the Temporal Tower last time! It’s so strange to see everything in color like this, so much healthier too…”

    Nelvana carefully made her way over to the other two, scanning the area around her in hopes of meeting that same familiarity that her friends obviously had. She bit her lip, furrowing her brows as she studied their location. As Alex pointed out the direction that Brine Cave was supposed to be, she couldn’t help but silently agree with him about that, but past that she barely got any sense of déjà vu. Perhaps it was because last time she had been here it would have appeared differently enough that her current memory couldn’t piece it together the same way she had recognized Alex and Ceebee upon seeing them, but it was still disappointing to her to not recall this place the same way her friends could.

    “Thanks again for the ride, Larry,” Damien told the lapras as he attempted to pull himself out of the boat, with it rocking as he stood up and began trying to walk around on it.

    “Yeah, thanks Larry!” Keahi chirped as well, hopping off onto the rocks, pausing before going to join the others. “Will you be staying here the night, or do you have to swim all the way back tonight?” zie asked.

    “I will rest here for the night, and head back in the morning, so long as you do not need me for the return trip,” Larry answered.

    “We have the badges to get back, thanks though,” Keahi told him.

    “Very well then! Thank you for allowing me to guide you all out on the trip here,” Larry replied cheerfully, “do not worry about how I will get back, I am still prepared to make the return trip on my own; I have done this before. Good luck on your journey!”

    “Thank you!” Edgar responded, following by more thanks given by the others, chorused together and mixed with farewells to their helpful guide and ferry ride.

    Once everyone had gotten off from the boat and shell, and in some cases taken a moment to recover from the trip overseas, they traveled on foot a bit off from the shore so they could set up camp further inland, walking until the sun had almost fully set. Due to lacking nearby trees for a campfire, the group was soon submerged into the darkness of the night. Seeing this as reason to sleep early so they could collect their bearings properly the following day, everyone turned in for the night, excluding Dusknoir and Edgar. Tsuki herself decided that this may be her best chance to get some proper rest and refill her energy, having stayed up at their stay at the inn, and thus she too eventually fell asleep with the others for once.

    Nelvana had not been asleep for long, or at least she did not feel it had been long, before, to her surprise, she opened her eyes to a familiar green void in her dreams.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which there are dreams and discussions Previous: In which they arrive at the guild

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

La Vie en Rose (Life in Pink) Rating: T (for character deaths and language) Chapter 3/10 - Beginnings (length: ~3k words) Summary: Bede doesn’t get why that loony old bat Opal wants him to be the next Fairy-type Gym Leader. To help him understand, Opal has Celebi take Bede back to the time of her youth.

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

When the light faded, Bede cracked his eyes open. Slowly he let go of Celebi’s hands. He noticed the same ring of tiny yellow mushrooms, the same curtain of moss hanging over the big old tree. The only difference was that Opal was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t feel like he had jumped back seventy years, but that was because he hadn’t explored yet.

“Where do I go from here?” Bede asked Celebi. “Lead the way.”

“Bi!” The Pokemon flew ahead of him through the glowing mushrooms, but at a steady, hovering pace so he could keep up with it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bede thought he spotted the pink horned ears of Impidimps as they scuttled through the undergrowth. Could they see him? He hoped not. When he was building his new team, he had refused to catch and raise one of those creepy little buggers.

Celebi led him out to the trail that took them to the Ballonlea Gym. It flashed the same pink neon lights and emblem, but the doors had hinges and the Gym was half the size he expected. Bede guessed that both the regional population and enthusiasm for watching Gym battles had climbed since the 1950s, and at some point, the Gym underwent renovation to increase seating capacity and allow Dynamaxing. And automatic sliding doors hadn’t been invented yet.

“I wonder what it looks like inside?” He asked out loud. He made for the doors, but Celebi halted him mid-stride by tugging on his sleeve. Just then the double doors burst open. They could have swung right into him if Celebi hadn’t stopped him. A tall, dark-haired young woman sprinted past the doors, past Bede, and down the opposite path he had taken to reach the Gym.

“That’s Ms. Opal,” Bede exclaimed.

Celebi took off after her, prompting him to run after them both. He tried to follow them past the cluster of cottages and down the flights of stairs. Ballonlea Town hadn’t changed much in seventy years—just as Bede would expect out of an enchanting little town touched by Fairy type Pokemon. Opal sprinted into Glimwood Tangle without a pause or slowing down. Despite the gloom and patches of thick, tall grass, she clearly knew her way around as she wove back and forth through the labyrinth-like pathways and ducked into the gaps under fallen tree trunks.

“Ms. Opal, wait,” Bede called out. Then he remembered that he had no physical presence here. She wouldn’t be able to see or hear him. Bede had been one of the faster boys in the orphanage, if not the fastest, but he pumped his arms and legs hard in great effort to keep up. “Bloody hell, she’s fast,” he managed to say between pants. Definitely not the slow old woman as he had first known her.

Ahead of him, Celebi made a sound close to a tinkering laugh. Bede thought that the chase would go on and on, and he would lose Opal in the thicket, but she slowed down. He pressed both hands to his knees and tried to catch his breath just behind her. She gently tapped at a nearby mushroom, sending a stronger green glow around them.

“Mother,” Opal said softly. “I knew you would be here.”

Bede peeked around her to spot an older woman curled up by the ledge. He recognized that tangle of long dark hair, and her long nose, though the old photo hid the fact that the woman’s shawl was actually a dull yellow, not gray. It took him a few seconds to realize that Opal’s mother, Ruby, was hugging a Mimikyu to her chest. Her Mimikyu, Bede guessed. The Pokemon extended a shadowy claw through its Pikachu-like cloak to rub soothing strokes on Ruby’s shoulder.

Celebi beckoned at Bede to come closer. He edged farther in, feeling weird about eavesdropping on what was supposed to be a private moment between mother and daughter, but that was what the present-day Opal wanted him to do, anyway.

Opal knelt down to rest a hand on her mother’s back. Her right hand. It was bare, and Bede saw no scar there.

Ruby shuddered and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, dear. You know how I am around unexpected guests.”

Opal’s eyes narrowed and her frown deepened, briefly adding a few more years to her young face. “Those reporters were quite rude, barging into the Gym like that for an unwarranted interview. I’ll place more security around the Gym to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Ruby made a small, wan smile. “You’ve become such a mature and responsible young woman, despite everything I’ve done.” She shook her head. “No, because of everything I’ve done. Look at me, Opal. I can’t even handle being around a couple of news reporters without suffering a panic attack. You’ve had to keep the Gym running while I would be away trying to pull myself together. I’m sorry to put that burden on you, dear.”

Opal shook her head. “You’ve trained me for this, Mother. I’m happy to do my duty.”

“Speaking of duty, I think that my time as Gym Leader is over.” Ruby had been stroking the top of Mimikyu’s head, and she lowered her hand to rest it on top of her daughter’s. “I apologize for the lack of ceremony...but Opal, dear, starting today, you will be the next Gym Leader of Ballonlea Town.”

Opal jerked her hand away. “What? Now? But I haven’t-”

“I know, your eighteenth birthday is three months away, and I had planned to hand over the Gym to you then. But in all honesty, I don’t think I can bear another three months. I’m at my limit, Opal. You know as well as I do that I am at odds with civilization. I am quite odd, aren’t I? I won’t be offended if you think so.”

Opal frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling more connected with Pokemon than with people.”

“But feeling so connected with them that I want to cut off people forever?”

Opal stared at her with silent, wide-eyed shock.

Ruby closed her eyes, and Bede saw how the dark bruised look of them contrasted with the paleness of her face. “Yes, I’ve thought about it for years. I grow tired of human chatter and rabble. I can’t stand the roaring and cheering in the Gym stadium. I get this terrible ringing in my ears. It drives me mad. Every day I feel the wilderness and its wild Pokemon calling to me, drawing me away from society, promising a cure. Only in that quietness and seclusion can I find peace, and my ears don’t ring anymore.” Ruby opened her eyes to return Opal’s pitying gaze. “I’ve kept my post as Gym Leader for your sake, so I could teach you what I know, everything I know about Fairy type Pokemon. You may not be eighteen yet, but I believe that you are ready. Consider this an early birthday present from me.”

Opal pursed her lips. “Thank you, Mother,” she murmured.

“You’re welcome, and good-bye, my dear.”

Opal drew back and blinked many times under a scrunched up brow. “Good-bye? You’re leaving today?”

Ruby’s voice was gentle but firm. “This will be my last day among people. No more human contact after today.”

“Even me?”

“Yes, Opal, even you.” Ruby took her daughter’s hand and squeezed it. “That is not to say that I don’t love you. Not at all. A parent is not supposed to have favorites, but of all my children, you are my absolute favorite. I’m sure you know that already.”

Opal smiled. “Well, I’m the only one who can understand you.”

Ruby nodded. “You chose to come with me when your father and I got divorced. You chose to leave behind all the riches in Wynwall, your father and your brothers, to train under me and learn the ways of Fairy type Pokemon. That was not an easy choice to make.” She lowered Mimikyu to the ground and rose to her feet, pulling her shawl tighter around herself. “You have been good company, and a good student, but now that I’ve passed on the torch to you, your place is with Ballonlea, while my place is elsewhere. The best option for us both is to part ways.”

“Where will you go, Mother?”

Ruby tilted her head to one side in thought. “Deeper into Glimwood Tangle, or perhaps into the Slumbering Weald. I heard that the locals in the nearby town are forbidden from entering it.” She smiled. “That sounds like an ideal place for someone who doesn’t want to be found. I will live off the salt of the earth, eat berries from trees in the forest, and drink from the rain and the river.”

Ruby’s sincerity behind that declaration made Opal take on the look of a girl half her age, frightened and overwhelmed. “I won’t ever see you again? You’ll be alone to the end of your days?”

Ruby placed a hand over Opal’s chest. “I’ll always be in your heart, if you care to remember me afterwards, and I’ll never be alone. I’ll have Pokemon by my side. I’ve always taken delight in their company, and I’ll continue to do so for the rest of my life.” She pursed her lips to let out a soft whistle, and from the bushes nearby, a Sylveon, a Shiinotic, and a Florges joined Mimikyu around Ruby. Her team of Pokemon, Bede realized. The only ones who would follow their Trainer into a life of untamed isolation.

Ruby pulled her daughter into a hug—or tried to, as if she had never quite grasped the motions. “Good-bye, my dear Opal. May you be brilliant and glorious as the precious stone I named you after.”

Opal returned the hug with arms wrapped tightly around her mother, and Ruby’s eyes widened as she received the entirety of that embrace. Opal pulled away and nodded. “Good-bye, Mother. Safe travels.”

Ruby tightened the shawl around her body once more and stepped away from the paved path, taking nothing with her but the clothes on her back and the Pokemon she had trained. Her Pokemon followed her into the undergrowth.

Thinking of how his own family dropped him off at the orphanage and didn’t look back, Bede wanted to shout after Ruby, “Go back to your daughter. You can’t just leave her like that.”

But he couldn’t make himself heard, so he wondered if Opal would. She didn’t call after her mother. Nor did she break into pursuit like she did before. Instead she stared at her mother’s retreating back, up until the darkness and mist enveloped her. Finally, she turned away and walked back the way she came. Back to the town.

Even while walking, Opal had a long, quick stride that Bede had to put effort in matching. Once at her side, Bede looked up at her to notice with surprise that tears had been welling up in her eyes. A muscle in her jaw twitched from clenched teeth. Suddenly she stopped near a tree stump to lean on it and let out a sob into her sleeve.

Bede stood by awkwardly, biting on his bottom lip and shifting his weight. Opal had just lost her mother suddenly, strangely, and was left with a new burden to carry on her shoulders. She didn’t succumb to that invisible weight, nor did she dwell in that spot. She wiped the back of her hand over her eyes. After a few moments, Opal gathered herself to a stern-faced composure. She drew in a shaky breath, straightened the black bow on her white blouse, and combed her fingers through short dark hair that had been messy and windswept from running. She carried on and wore that stern mask into town. Reporters in coats and fedoras streamed out of the Gym carrying notepads and those old-timey cameras with the big round flash bulbs. They assaulted her with their inquiring chatter—a rude, jarring contrast from the quiet, private exchange between Ruby and Opal at Glimwood Tangle.

“Miss Opal, might we have a word with you, please?”

“Did you manage to find your mother?”

“Is the Gym Leader available for an interview?”

Opal fixed them with a chilly look that kept them from coming too close to her. “My mother will not be taking any questions. I am Ballonlea’s Gym Leader now.”

The huddle of reporters erupted into a swarm, like a disturbed hive of Combees. Opal kept her chin high and strode past them, refusing to make eye contact and ignoring their flood of questions and exclamations.

Bede followed after her with growing respect. Opal carried on that commanding presence even to her old age. He remembered her rare League Card: a picture of him standing to attention like a soldier at Opal’s side, ready to be taught under her strict regimen.

“Chin up, back straight, shoulders squared, hands to your sides,” she had ordered. “Top form, now. Look like you’re going to take Fairy type Pokemon seriously.”

A tug at his collar made him stop. Bede turned to see Celebi gesturing at him to take both of its hands. Time-traveling again. He supposed he thought that was all to see at this point. But watching Opal’s mother pass on the Gym Leader title didn’t explain why Opal wanted to pass it on to him. Maybe there was more to see. Bede held Celebi’s hands and grimaced as a brilliant light radiated from the Legendary Pokemon.

#

Bede found himself facing a stage. Spotlights pointed at the stage made the rest of the room dim. He must be inside the Gym, its theatre. Though he had never formally challenged the Gym, as Opal’s protege he had been led (dragged, rather) inside the theatre enough times to know it from front to back. The Gym, like the town outside, hadn’t changed much back then. The stage was made of the same wood and the curtains had the same color.

Next to him, Opal sat alone at a narrow table, with a cup of tea in her left hand and a pen hovering over papers in her right. Celebi had Bede jump a bit forward in time, still in the past. Opal looked a year or two older than the last time Bede saw her. Still quite young to be managing a theatre. She seemed at ease with the role, however, as she presided over stacks of resumes, score sheets, and of course, questionnaires of her own design, and she scrutinized a young man who stepped onto the stage.

Bede frowned at Celebi. “She’s looking for a new Gym Leader already? Didn’t she just get it from her mum?” But no Trainer stepped up to challenge the young man to a battle. Bede realized that this was normal theatre business. Straight-up auditioning for a part in some play.

The man didn’t introduce himself, because Opal already had his resume in front of her, and after clearing his throat, he went straight into singing. Opal closed her eyes and rested the pen on her chin. At first Bede thought she was bored and on the verge of falling asleep. Then he noticed how she angled her head toward the stage, how her brow furrowed a bit in concentration. She was, in fact, listening intently. Bede wasn’t into musical theatre, so he didn’t recognize the lines. He couldn’t tell if the man was doing well or not. Opal kept her expression impassive as she gauged the performance.

She didn’t scribble anything into the score sheet until the man finished. She nodded at him. “Thank you for your time. I will release the results sometime next week.”

He bowed and exited the stage. Bede had noticed disappointment flicker in the young man’s face before he had bowed. That man must’ve been hoping to be told his results right then and there. Opal wrote more comments into the score sheet, then arranged the papers into neater stacks in a way that she would look at them later. As she rose from the table, Bede could hear murmuring and rustling as those behind the scenes shut off the spotlights and pulled the curtains closed. Celebi tugged at Bede’s sleeve, beckoning him to follow Opal out of the theatre. He stumbled after her at the same time a Gym Trainer accompanied her outside.

“How were the performances today, Miss Opal?” The Gym Trainer asked.

Opal propped a hand on her hip and huffed a sigh. “Lackluster, I’m afraid. No one’s up to snuff.”

“Not even alumni from your own school, like that man who last auditioned?”

“A degree from the Hammerlocke Royal Academy of the Arts alone doesn’t make exceptions, nor can it save a subpar performance. ”

At Opal’s condescending remark, the Gym Trainer made a sheepish suggestion: “Perhaps you need to lower your standards, ma’am.”

Opal seemed to balk at that suggestion as she flicked her hand in the air. “I will not settle for anyone less than the very best, who I’ve had no luck finding. Today’s the last day for auditions, but I’m thinking about extending them to the next three days, if that’s possible.”

The Gym Trainer looked down at her clipboard and shook her head. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we’re running on a tight schedule. We can’t delay production and rehearsal any longer. You will need to settle on who will play Raoul soon.”

Opal splayed fingers through her short dark hair in response. “At this rate, no one will play the part.” She shook her head. “I’ve been cooped up in the theatre for too long. Perhaps fresh air and a walk will do me a bit of good. I will think more over the candidates we’ve auditioned.”

Apparently the Gym Trainer liked that answer as her face and voice perked up. “Very good, Miss Opal.”

And it was apparent to Bede that Opal only said that to appease the Gym Trainer, because as the older woman went back inside, Opal let the frustration settle back into her face. She turned away from the Gym and took a trail farther into the forest.

“Ms. Opal always did set unrealistic standards,” Bede remarked with amusement to Celebi. He and the time-traveling Pokemon followed Opal off the trail and into the thicket of glowing mushrooms and old trees. The soft beat of flapping wings made Bede glance up. A Togekiss drifted from above to settle on a sapling next to Opal.

She greeted the Pokemon with a grin and reached out to smooth back its blue and red plumage. “You can sense my frustration from a mile away, can’t you? Did you come to help calm me down?”

The Togekiss, her Togekiss, trilled and rubbed its cheek against her palm.

Opal withdrew her hand to ball it into a fist over her chest. “What am I going to do, Togekiss? The casting process had never been this much of a pain. Then again, I have to find someone for not just any song, but my absolute favorite song in the play. I guess that makes all the difference. Perhaps my search for the perfect match is like trying to find a Legendary Pokemon.” She raised her hands, then let them fall to her sides in resigned helplessness. “I may be running a theatre, and I have the authority to cast whoever I want, but it doesn’t feel like I have control. I don’t control how someone else sings and acts, and if they all come in not singing and acting the way I’d like, then I don’t have a choice at all.” Opal looked like she wanted to swat at the nearest glowing mushroom, but Togekiss cooed and jumped up to gently land on her head. She took a stumbling step forward and laughed, catching Togekiss with her hands.

“You’re not a little Togetic anymore. Off with you, now, before I fall over.”

Togekiss jumped back onto the branch it had been sitting on, and Opal smoothed her hair back into place.

“You know, Togekiss, the only thing I feel that I have true control over is myself.” Opal closed her eyes, as if drinking in the sounds of the forest.

She drew in a deep breath and sang in rich, melodious soprano that startled Bede and sent chills down his back. The most he would hear from the Opal he knew was a low hum here and there, and he had seen her sing in old photos, but he had never heard her sing like this. He shouldn’t be surprised, though. If she had been a talented actress back then, and acting often involved singing and dancing, then she must have been skilled in those areas, too.

Bede wanted to sit there in the forest and listen to her sing forever, but she stopped after five lines. The forest seemed to swallow up her voice. Then, from a distance, came the following few lines in alto.

Opal gasped. “Togekiss, did you hear that?”

Her Pokemon chirped in affirmation. Opal straightened up and looked around, trying to pinpoint the direction of the mystery voice. Whoever was singing fell silent, prompting her to carry on with the duet and sing the next lines.

Bede didn’t have her ear for what kind of singing was good or bad, but it was evident even to him that this mystery voice had her enraptured. She was bent on locating the source of that voice, pushing through the tall grass and sweeping her gaze across the forest like an explorer on a jungle expedition. Togekiss helped her track down the voice as it flew ahead. Bede followed behind her, curious as she was about who could be singing the duet with her.

Opal lurched to a halt, making Bede nearly run into her. He peeked around her to match her wide-eyed surprise.

Huddled against the tree was a man in a tattered coat. His matted brown hair was so thick and unkempt that it hid his lips and nearly hid his dark eyes. A backpack patched with dirt and bulging at the seams sat next to him. Wrapped about his neck like a striped scarf, a Galarian Linoone bared its teeth at Opal. A Mightyena lying down on all fours lifted its downcast gaze at the man’s feet to stare back at her warily.

The surprise on Opal’s face twisted into confusion. “You...were you the one singing with me—“ Her question turned into a cry of alarm as the man collapsed right in front of her.

Linoone and Mightyena growled at Opal, stopping her from running up to him. She raised her hands at them as a disarming gesture.

“Calm down, I’m not going to hurt him,” she said firmly.

Her Togekiss flew down before Linoone and Mightyena to convey her Trainer’s intentions to them. Only then did the pair of Dark type Pokemon flatten their fur and slink back to let Opal kneel down and gently turn the man over.

“Sir, can you hear me?” She called, and she shook her head in panic when he didn’t respond. Bede heard her mutter, “Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.” Then she said, “Togekiss, get help from the clinic.”

Her Pokemon cried out to acknowledge her command and flew out of sight.

Just call for help on the Rotom Phone, Bede thought, but he realized that they hadn’t been invented yet. He knew that there was nothing he could do. Still, he didn’t feel right standing by helplessly as Opal tried to rouse the man.

His eyes fluttered open, making Opal blow out a sigh of relief. “Good, try to stay awake. Don’t worry, sir, I’m getting you help.” She would give him a shake if his eyes were about to close again. “What’s your name? Could you at least tell me that?”

His dried lips quivered. “R-Roger.”

“Jewel of the Seven Pokemon!” Chapter IV

The writing’s slowed down more than I would’ve liked - this is an insane time of year to be me - but we’re still more-or-less on schedule for Halloween. Who’s ready for some battle action?

Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III

FF.Net

AO3

---

The drawing room wasn’t the only set in the soundstage, though it was the largest. All the sets related to the mansion of Jewel of the Seven Pokémon were housed here; the bedrooms, the attic, the kitchens. The production design on all of them was delectable, and under other circumstances, Cilan would have loved to pour over them in detail. At the moment, however, the only thing he was looking out for was any sign of a Cofagrigus, and none was forthcoming.

We really should look into more Pokédexes for our little group, Cilan thought, not for the first time. Not that he needed the encyclopedia’s entry on Cofagrigus to tell him anything, but its scan function might be helpful in detecting their presence. Left to what the naked eye could perceive, all he could discern from the corner of the bedroom set he was inspecting was that the art department deserved commendations for their choice in authentic period bedspreads. Cilan was sure Misty wasn’t having any better luck rummaging through the cabinets behind him. She was really quite good at ratiocination, considering that Oshawott never left her arms and kept trying to claim her attention through hugs, cuddling, and tricks with his shell.

She wasn’t much better than Ash and Iris for patience, though. “Why don’t we just go outside and wait for Ash?” he heard her groan. Cilan didn’t even look up from under the bed, but raised a hand and waved off the notion.

“A detective must make a thorough examination of a crime scene,” he said. “The smallest detail may lead to a critical deduction. Leave no stone unturned, and no tool unused.” He held his magnifying glass to a strange mark on the bedpost; a bit of glue residue, as it turned out.

“Well, I’ve already deduced what tools we’ll need,” said Misty.

“Oh?” Cilan sat up. “And what might – where on earth did those come from!?” His partner was standing in the middle of the room, beaming, with a gold talisman around her neck, a ceremonial teapot in one hand, and Oshawott holding what appeared to be a scroll of papyrus in the other.

“They’re to ward off the spirit of the jewel,” Misty explained. “Here’s tana leaf tea, a talisman from the lost civilization Cofagrigus are supposed to come from, and the Scroll of Life! That one’s just a prop, but all the hieroglyphics on it are authentic.”

It took a lot for Cilan to choke down all the retorts such superstition deserved. She’s more helpful than Mr. Hampton, he reminded himself. The director had – as best as Cilan could understand him – volunteered to serve as a look-out from the drawing room set, then promptly slapped on a pair of headphones and started head-banging to rock music.

“I think we can move on now,” Cilan finally said, beckoning for Misty to follow as he moved behind the set. On an initial glance, the only thing back here was the generator for the soundstage, but it was the one place they hadn’t looked yet.

“You know,” Misty said as they walked, “you wouldn’t be so skeptical if you saw some of the things I have.”

“I suppose that’s a stronger argument than Iris’s ‘sixth sense,’” Cilan replied. “But I repeat – any supernatural event has a scientific explanation, and given the facts we do have, that explanation is likely to be misdeeds by the seven Cofagrigus. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve encountered mischievous Ghost-types.”

“So what’s your scientific explanation for them?” Misty asked, her voice dripping with a sour smugness. Cilan tripped at the question, only just managing to keep on his feet. It was a common comeback to supernatural skepticism, and Cilan despised it – an utterly fallacious, tasteless statement. Of course there was a scientific explanation for Ghost-types! They were a type of Pokémon, after all. Yes, a very simple explanation would suffice for them. And as soon as I think of what it is, I shall return to that subject, Cilan vowed, and kept on walking.

“You traveled with Ash through two regions, didn’t you?” he asked, just to make conversation.

“Three regions,” said Misty. “Actually, I only stopped because I needed to take over the Gym for my sisters.”

“Oh?”

“Mm-hmm. It all worked out for the best, but the day we found out, I was so upset that – ”

There was an unpleasant zap sound, a harsh flare from the work lights, and then black, a total and encompassing black thanks to the soundstage’s lack of windows. “Ah – t-the generator must have b-blown a f-f-fuse,” Cilan stammered, embarrassed by how weak his voice sounded. There was a good reason for the cut-out, surely. Of course, they were quite close to the generator when the lights failed, and there was no sign of anything wrong with it…

“W-Well, w-we were already in the d-d-dark about the case.” Misty’s voice was somewhere between a stutter and a giggle. Oshawott was whimpering, and Cilan felt them brush against his left. “D-don’t worry,” said Misty, her voice strengthening a little. “I’ve got this. Go, my steady!” The flash of a Poké Ball went off. It wasn’t long enough for Cilan to get a good look at the Pokémon, but he could tell it was massive. He hoped it didn’t damage any of the sets.

“Flamethrower, Gyarados!” Misty commanded. “We need some light!” The Pokémon gave a low, agreeable grunt, and a steady stream of flame appeared high above them. It was just enough to illuminate themselves, the generator on the wall, and Gyarados itself.

“What an incredible taste,” Cilan whispered. Even under the circumstances, he couldn’t help but admire Misty’s Pokémon. “We don’t see many Gyarados in Unova. And to have taught it Flamethrower!”

“Not bad, huh?” Misty winked. “But just wait until you see this – Misty calls Starmie!”

“Hyah!” The Mysterious Pokémon seemed to know what its Trainer wanted as soon as it appeared. It took a position, lit up its jewel, and shot a Thunderbolt into the generator. A moment later, the work lights were back up. Misty stood proud with her Pokémon on either side (and Oshawott pouting in her arms.) Gyarados was smiling as well as it could, and even without a face, Starmie gave of the unmistakable taste of pleasure at a well-done Attack. Exquisite! thought Cilan. He wasn’t a stranger to type specialists or to unorthodox move sets, but Misty had achieved something unique with her Water-types. “I have a brother who would fall head over heels for you,” he told her.

Misty laughed and ran a hand through her ponytail. “Of course, the world’s greatest beauty is flattered –”

“Osha?” Oshawott squeaked. He looked up at Misty with big, watery eyes and trembling lip. Misty smiled down at him, pulled him into a tight hug, and nuzzled his face with her cheek. “But you’ll just have to tell your brother I’m taken,” she giggled.

“I see,” Cilan laughed. “But Pikachu is quite taken with you too.”

“It’s a price to pay for being cute.” Misty winked, then gave a small, rather staged shudder. “Even one of Ash’s Bug Pokémon liked me.”

A third one of Ash’s, is it? Cilan tapped his chin with his magnifying glass. While it was a common claim that Pokémon could reflect the feelings of their Trainers, that wasn’t universally true, or a surefire insight into anything. But it was impossible not to notice a certain playful dynamic between Ash and this oldest friend of his. Ash and Iris had their banter and bickering, of course, but not in degree or in kind. This is Ash I’m thinking of, Cilan reminded himself. But perhaps…even if it’s only on her end…

“Misty,” he said. “If you don’t mind my asking – when you call Ash your ‘best friend,’ does that really mean ‘boyfriend?’”

It was a miracle that Oshawott and the supposed curse repellents didn’t go flying. Misty shivered, spun around on one foot, and then went stiff as a board, a furious blush across her cheeks and nose. “W-W-What g-gave you th-that idea!?” she shrieked.

Take your pick. Cilan grinned and tilted his cap to the side. “Well, well…what a curious flavor this is!”

“I – I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Misty insisted. Her blush grew even stronger. “It’s ridiculous, to think that I’d ever…do you hear that?”

“Really, Misty, you’ll have to better than that to avoid your –”

“No, really!” she hissed. “Listen!”

She was right; the whirring sound was back. Above them, to either side around them; even right in front of them, where the generator and a solid wall stood, it seemed to come in all directions except below. And the last time the sound came, there soon followed –

“COFA!” Misty’s tools did scatter that time, as she scurried away from the Cofagrigus emerging from the wall. Cofagrigus plural – there were now three of them. Each had a Will-O-Wisp prepared in one set of hands, while the other reached out with unfriendly fingers.

Misty looked over at Cilan and grinned. “If you battle the way you talk, we’ll be here all day,” she joked. It was quite the change from her nerves when the blackout first came, but Cilan could understand; actually having a foe to face made it easier to feel brave. He gave her a wink back and drew a Poké Ball.

“You forget – you’re not the only Gym Leader here,” he said. “Go forth, my precious Stunfisk!”

“Right!” Misty pumped a fist. “And us too! Gyarados, Starmie, use –”

“Oshawott!” Ash’s Pokémon jumped down from Misty’s arms and ran up in front of the Cofagrigus, paws on his hips and head held high. He spared a moment to look back and wave at Misty, then moved into a battle position. Misty and her Pokémon looked baffled; Cilan shared an incredulous look with Stunfisk.

“Osha!” Oshawott hurled a Razor Shell at the Cofagrigus on his right. He shot Water Gun at the one on his left. And he charged with Tackle at the one right in front of him. The right Cofagrigus dodged the Razor Shell, the left took the Water Gun with little issue, and the center Cofagrigus, being a Ghost-type, felt nothing from the Tackle. Oshawott bounced right off it and landed on his back. He sat up, blinked twice, and took a long look at the Cofagrigus – all of them slowly advancing, Will-O-Wisp still in their hands – before recovering his shell and retreating behind Misty’s leg.

“So that’s what Ash meant,” Misty sighed. “It’s OK, Oshawott. We’ll take care of this. Waterfall, Starmie! And Gyarados, Crunch that one on the left!”

“Mud Bomb, Stunfisk!” Cilan ordered. “Blind them all!”

All three Pokémon moved to carry out their Attacks. Starmie spun to the left, Gyarados reared up as high as he could in the stage, and Stunfisk flattened himself down to the ground. But before any Attacks were let loose, the Cofagrigus on both ends burst open. Out from their bodies emerged two human figures with slick hair, crooked glasses, and business suits barely visible underneath reams of bandages.

“Who are they?” said Misty.

“They must be the missing producers Sir Bela mentioned,” said Cilan. “Anyone who gets too close to a Cofagrigus…”

“…Gets turned into a mummy!” The mummies before them said nothing, but ambled slowly from the bodies of the Cofagrigus. As soon as they cleared the lids, the Pokémon closed back up and their red eyes lit up. A faint blue light surrounded the mummies, and they lifted off the ground, floating in between the Cofagrigus and Cilan and Misty’s Pokémon. They were being used as shields.

“That’s no fair!” Misty growled. “Let them go and fight us yourselves!” The Cofagrigus all gave nasty snickers that stood the hair up on the back of Cilan’s neck. They threw their fire-filled hands forward, and their Will-O-Wisps combined and formed a spinning ring of fire around Cilan, Misty, and Oshawott. The flames were so large and so fast that there was no hope of jumping or dodging through or around them, but that wasn’t much of an obstacle. Even if Misty weren’t at his side with Water Pokémon, Cilan had his Stunfisk. All he had to do was call out for Water Gun, and –

The Cofagrigus on the left moved first. Keeping its mummy between itself and Misty’s Pokémon, it rushed Stunfisk with Energy Ball. Just one hit left Stunfisk down for the count. The second Cofagrigus moved on Starmie, with Ominous Wind. The Mysterious Pokémon was thrown into the back of the bedroom set. Its jewel didn’t go out, but it was clearly damaged. The one Cofagrigus without a mummy flew right up to Gyarados’s face, performed Astonish, and circled around as the Atrocious Pokémon flinched.

“It’s headed for the drawing room set!” Misty shouted. “Mr. Hampton! Oshawott, you need to put these flames out!” Ash’s Pokémon was still holding on to her leg, with his head turned into it. On Misty’s words, however, he slowly let go, waddled out, and used his Water Gun on the Will-O-Wisp. Besides dousing the fire, it created a thick, humid mist that engulfed the remaining Cofagrigus and their mummies. Misty scooped Oshawott up and led the retreat. She recalled Starmie as she ran; Cilan did the same with Stunfisk. A roar and a tremor in the ground told him that Gyarados was close behind them.

They found Mr. Hampton right where they’d left him, in his director’s chair with terrible posture while listening to music. His sketchpad and pen were back out, and he was drawing in large, sweeping motions as if keeping tempo with the music in his headphones.

“Mr. Hampton!” Misty cried, waving her arms to try and claim his attention. “The Cofagrigus are here!” The director looked up, gave a quick wave of his own, and turned back to his drawing.

The Cofagrigus materialized directly above him. Its body opened wide, slammed down upon Mr. Hampton, and snapped shut, spitting the chair, headphones, and sketchpad out. The Coffin Pokémon rattled about violently, fell to the floor, and rolled around the set. Cilan had never seen, nor knew no one who had, a Cofagrigus mummify a person; it hadn’t occurred to him that they could resist from the inside. He started towards the shaking casket. If Mr. Hampton can hold out long enough, and if we can reach him…

The lid swung open again, and Mr. Hampton lurched out, covered from head to foot in black, rotting bandages. The glow of Psychic surrounded him, and he was raised up before Gyarados could make a move. The other two Cofagrigus, and their mummy shields, appeared from the sides, circling around Cilan and Misty to line up with the other, but they kept spread out enough to prevent an easy flanking. It was a difficult and bitter taste they presented, and Cilan couldn’t see a ready way to sweeten the situation.

“Could Gyarados make it past the mummies?” he whispered.

“I don’t know,” Misty muttered back. “He would never mean to hurt them, but there’s so little space here, and they’re so fast.” Gyarados gave out a low, frustrated growl. The Cofagrigus laughed again, floated up above them with their mummy shields, and began to form Shadow Balls in their four hands each. With them up in the air, the view of the far wall was clear, and Cilan saw the controls for the loading door.

“Recall Gyarados,” he urged Misty.

“What!?” she hissed.

“For now,” he said. “We need to get out into the open. Recall Gyarados and have Oshawott distract them.” He jerked his head in the direction of the controls, as subtly as he could. Misty’s eyes flicked over that way. She bit her lip, but she nodded, and slowly bent down to pick up a trembling Oshawott and whisper into his ear. He shivered, but when he looked up into Misty’s eyes, he took a breath and nodded himself.

“On my signal,” Cilan whispered. “Three…two…one…”

The middle Cofagrigus swept down toward them, dipping just below his mummy shield. Misty held Oshawott up high, and he fired a Hydro Pump that caught the bottom of the Cofagrigus’s body. Oshawott leapt up and spun around, his Attack drenching mummy and Pokémon. No damage was done, but the distraction was just what they needed. Misty recalled Gyarados to his ball, and Cilan made a dash for the controls.

***

I know we get lost all the time, but how did we get lost on a movie set!?

Ash had been asking himself that for the past fifteen minutes, and he still didn’t have an answer. There were so many twists, turns, drops, and slopes in the cave set that it was hard to understand why the film wasn’t just using a real cave. Mr. Christopher said it was built in a stage with a big water tank, where lots of famous musicals had been shot, and it was drained now so that the cave sets could go downhill and underground. That was pretty cool. And unlike the other stage, all the movie lights were still around for the cave, and they were on, so the set really was a dark, spooky cavern with shafts of pale light and a few red lamps rigged up by the characters in the film. But that just made it harder to get around in the set.

Another thing that didn’t help was that, instead of helping Ash and Pikachu find the right way around, Iris kept trying to get Mr. Christopher to talk about that Dragon Squad from the war he was in. “Did they have Druddigons?” she asked, hovering at his elbow. “What about Noivern? You said you were stationed in Kalos – there had to be Noiverns, right? Did you ride any Noiverns?”

“There were, and I did,” said Mr. Christopher. After everything he’d been asked throughout the day, he was finally starting to sound impatient. “But I’ve told you, young lady, that I was not a member of the Dragon Squad, only attached to them at times throughout the war.”

Iris frowned and put her hands on her hips. “What’s the difference?” she asked.

Mr. Christopher banged the bottom of his cane on the floor. “It means I didn’t have the eyesight to be a proper dragon rider,” he snapped. “I served as an intelligence officer for the GAF, and as I’m gifted in languages and connections all over the world, particularly in Kalos, I was seconded to units like the Dragon Squad to assist with –”

“Wait – intelligence officer?” Ash spun around. “I know what that means – that’s spy stuff, right?” Those were some of Ash’s favorite movies – the big action films with gadgets, secret agents, and crazy Pokémon battles. He’d met a few people who were into that kind of work in his travels, but it was always amazing to hear more about it. “Did you go on any secret missions?” he asked Mr. Christopher. “Did you use your Dark Pokémon to steal messages and sneak around enemy lines?”

“Did you fly any Dragon Pokémon on your secret missions?” Iris asked. Axew was sticking out of her hair, eyes wide, and Ash could feel Pikachu’s toes curling with excitement on his shoulder.

Mr. Christopher let out a long sigh, looked both ways, and leaned down. “Can you keep a secret?” he whispered.

“Yes!” Ash and Iris hissed back. They were both on their toes, and Ash balled up his hands into fists. Mr. Christopher raised up one hand, his index finger held high.

“So can I,” he said simply. Iris slapped a hand over her face and fell over, and Ash fell right beside her. “Now may we please get on with this – this – is that whirring sound back again?”

“Huh?” Ash pushed himself back onto his feet. “Yeah…yeah, it is.” It wasn’t the same as in the other stage, though. The noise was still muffled, but it was definitely coming from just one direction, straight ahead. “C’mon, Pikachu,” Ash whispered. “Let’s check it out.”

They tiptoed down the path. The gaps in the plaster rocks that let in “moonlight” disappeared the further they went; everything they could see was from the red glow of the lamps. The path ended in a solid wall of rock, but Ash could just make out, about seven feet above his head, an opening rimmed in red light. The whirring sound was strongest just below it, and Ash could hear another sound – a soft, steady chant of “cofa, cofa, cofa.”

That’s gotta be it, thought Ash. I could get the drop on them if I could figure out how to get up there. Let’s see…Snivy has Vine Whip. She could pull us up, but I don’t see anything she could grab onto to pull herself up. But maybe – “OW! Iris, what are you doing!?”

“Shh! You want them to hear us? Now hold still.” Iris pushed down hard on the back of Ash’s head, put a foot on his back, and pushed herself up until she was standing on his shoulders. Pikachu snapped at being knocked aside, and Ash bit down hard on his tongue to keep from shouting. His knees started to shake, and he put a hand on the rock wall to keep himself steady.

“This isn’t fair,” he hissed. “I want to see too!”

“Quiet!” Iris tapped the side of his face with her foot. “There’s three of them. The Cofagrigus – they’re all together, circling around something. I can’t see what.”

“It must be the jewel.” Mr. Christopher came up beside them. Even at his height, he couldn’t quite see into the opening, but he released Shedinja, who floated up to be level with Iris’s head. “That part of the set is where the ceremony is conducted in the story. There should be an opening in the top, with a light to represent the star that awakens the sprit inside the jewel.”

“I see it,” Iris reported. “And it’s not just the lamps making that light – the thing they’re circling is glowing red too.”

“Are there any signs of Bisharp?” asked Mr. Christopher. “Or any other Pokémon?”

Is there any sign of a way up? Ash wanted to shout. I can’t hold on much longer…

“No…and I can’t see anything that would be making that sound – HEY!” Ash couldn’t keep steady. He stumbled forward, fell on his face, and winced as Iris landed on his back. “Ash!” she snapped, poking between his shoulders. “I was trying to see what’s going on!”

“Well, I’m not a ladder!” Ash hissed back. “Or a chair, so get off!”

“You are such a kid!”

“I am not!”

“You are too!”

“Quiet!” Mr. Christopher’s voice was quiet, but that somehow made its anger even clearer. Ash bit down his next comeback, and Iris rolled off him. Mr. Christopher gave them a cool look, then pointed to the opening with his cane. “Shedinja, I want you to slip inside there and have a good look around. Stay invisible and keep to the shadows. See if you can find where that sound is coming from, but most of all, look out for any sign of Bisharp.”

“Shedinja.” The Shed Pokémon gave a nod with its entire body, then vanished. Ash shook his head and sat upright, Pikachu claiming a spot in his lap. I guess this counts as spy stuff, he thought as he scratched Pikachu’s head. It would’ve been nice to be able to see what Shedinja was up to, but it was still cool. I wonder if Mr. Christopher had Shedinja in that war he keeps talking about? He said it wasn’t an actor Pokémon. That probably wouldn’t matter to Misty, though; she’d still be scared of it.

Ash wondered how Misty’s search with Cilan was going. She knew more about all this stuff, and Cilan was…well, Cilan. If they didn’t have the whole mystery solved by the time everyone met up outside, then they’d at least have a clue or two. If they don’t get caught up in all their movie talk, anyway. I’ll probably have to go see this movie with one of them, if it ever gets finished. Ash still couldn’t get over that ending Misty told him. How was it supposed to be romantic if, at the end, the heroine ended up –

It came up from the floor, without a sound. The Cofagrigus threw its four arms out, seized Iris, and threw her into its open body before she could even scream.

“Hey!” Ash sprang to his feet and caught the lid of the Cofagrigus before it closed completely. “Give back my friend!” Pikachu cried out and grabbed the lid as well, from the base. Together they pulled as hard as they could, but the body was straining against them, heavy as a rock, and slick in Ash’s grip. He could hear Iris banging and kicking on the inside. “Don’t worry, Iris!” Ash grunted. “We’ve got ya…”

“HERE!” Mr. Christopher moved fast for an old guy. He spun his cane around and swung the silver Zacian head so that it caught between the lid and the body. He pulled back on the stick like a lever, and the Cofagrigus started to open up –

“COFA!”

Three loud cries all sounded together, and something small and hard flew from the cave opening into Mr. Christopher’s chest. It was Shedinja, out cold. The three Cofagrigus who had been circling the jewel floated in from the opening, each with a Shadow Ball ready. The one on the left hurled the Attack at Ash, catching him low in the stomach. It was like winter air made into a solid ball, with all the cold soaking inside him. He fell and rolled back until he hit the side wall. Pikachu was small enough that the Shadow Ball struck his entire body, and he slammed right above Ash. Mr. Christopher managed to dodge the last one, but he had to let go of the cane, which did take the Attack and spun through the air until it struck Ash on top of his head.

The Cofagrigus they’d tried to open slammed all the way shut. Its three fellow Coffin Pokémon circled around it, facing outward, with another set of Shadow Balls ready. Ash could see the middle Cofagrigus thrashing around, and he could hear Iris’s muffled yelling. But he could still hear the whirring sound too, an awful mechanical whish-whish-whish-whish, and it was spreading to fill the whole set…

The three guard Cofagrigus floated up and out, and the one in the center swung open. Iris stumbled out, her arms outstretched, her half-shut eyes rolled back in her head. There were bandages wrapped around her from head to toe. Axew was sticking out of her hair; he was wrapped up too, with the same rolled eyes.

“Iris!” Ash moved towards her, but a hand took him firmly by the elbow and pulled him back.

“We have to get outside!” barked Mr. Christopher, as he recalled Shedinja. “We need light and space to fight them!” Ash didn’t want to run, or leave his friend, but he couldn’t argue either. He scooped up Pikachu, gave Mr. Christopher his cane, and followed him down the path.

The Cofagrigus and the Iris-mummy were following – Ash could hear their awful laughter, and Iris’s moaning – but he didn’t look back. Now that they were being chased, Mr. Christopher seemed to know the way around the cave set. They went left, right, left again, up, down, around an arc and through a tunnel. A Shadow Ball went past Ash’s shoulder and just missed Mr. Christopher. A nasty howling sound came with a sudden breeze that nearly took Ash’s hat off – Ominous Wind, it had to be. The set lights started to flicker on and off. “I don’t even want to see this movie,” Ash muttered. “How’d I end up in it!?”

Another left, another right, another right again, and up a sloping path. There were more Shadow Balls, and a spit of blue flame that nearly caught Pikachu’s tail; one of these Cofagrigus knew Will-O-Wisp. The laughing and moaning were getting closer, the whirring sound louder. They couldn’t make it – they weren’t going to make it –

“A-ha!” the sunlight hit Ash like a slap in the face, but Mr. Christopher took his arm again and pulled him through the side door. They spun around to face the stage (a little too quickly; Ash felt dizzy) but instead of following them outside, the Cofagrigus just laughed again and pulled the door shut.

“Hey, what are they up to!?” Ash yelled. “Give back Iris, you creeps! We’ve got to save my friend, Mr. Christopher!”

“Let’s find your other friends first,” he said. His hand was gripping his cane tightly, and his breathing was heavy; all that running must have taken a lot out of him. “They should be out here by now.”

Ash looked all around. “I don’t see them. You don’t think –”

“CRUNCH, GYARADOS!”

They came from around the far end of the stage, down the alleyway. Ash slumped down onto one knee, and Pikachu had to push his jaw shut. He couldn’t help it, though; seeing three Cofagrigus, with mummies floating around them, making a quick retreat from a snarling, slithering Gyarados with Misty, Cilan, and Oshawott on its back, was just too weird.

Pokemon worldbuild concepts: Ages/Eras

Here’s some ideas for the “Pokemon takes place on Earth” concept.

(Lost ages)

This is before Pokemon existed/were known to humans. Due to massive fallout or environmental destruction, most humans evacuated the planet. Most info about history and technology was lost, and what remained survived through oral tradition.

(Fallout years)

Lack of human interference allows the Mew species to grow abundant, and they mutate into the first pokemon (which are considered pre-historic, so fossil pokemon). Legendaries are born. Humans try to salvage their culture and scientific knowledge while surviving in a harsh habitat (now with monsters), but are unable to and civilization eventually reverts after several generations.

(Genesis Era)

Officially considered “the rebirth of civilization” by Historians. This is when larger civilizations started to appear, in which tech and culture was being built up from the ground again (of course, with some shreds of knowledge passed down).

(Age of War and Bonds)

Also considered “the golden era of discovery”. Pokemon first started being universally treated as partners rather than enemies. Huge kingdoms rose and fell (such as the ones in Kalos and Unova). Art and science exploded again, and cultures blended and fought. Due to the power of Pokemon (particularly Legendaries) most regions were cautious or all-together closed off out of fear. While inter-regional wars were uncommon, civil wars were. Kalos, Unova, and eventually Alola made an alliance. The eastern regions felt threatened and followed suite. 

(Modern Era)

(Communicative Years)

Regions gained enough tech to speed up travel and communication. East and West finally started to interact, and the alliances broke down, mixed, and clashed. There were two full blown Inter-regional Wars (called IRW I and IRW II respectively) before things settled down. 

(League years / Age of Friendship)

After the fallout from IRW II, which included several unusually large natural disasters, the regions surrender and decided to appease each other in a deal called the “League Alliance”. Over several years, the regions (starting with Kanto) change their struggling governments to a similarly styled “League”, which mostly uses skilled Trainers to protect the region and keep the bonds alive between those in the alliance. In the contract, the regions are meant to help each other in times of trouble and keep peace between them.

BUNNI WATCHES RANDOM OUT OF ORDER SINNOH EPISODES THAT WERE LEFT ON THIS HARD DRIVE I GUESS

Today is diamond and pearl season one episode 28 "Drifloon On The Wind!"

Huh this one had a cold open showing the climactic moment from the end of the episode before it actually happened. Thats the first time i recall the anime doing that? I thougjt initially it was a flashback and i missed the first of a two parter.

Such a cool neat weird premise! A traditional pokemon centre out in the countryside! That adds so much worldbuilding to the setting! They never state it in the english dub but it seems to be a joke on a japanese onsen? (An inn built around hot springs) the archetecture just seems to be very similar, and from what i've seen in anime the "my mum and my mum's mum and my mum's mum's mum worked here" thing is a common trope. The nurse joy family is probably a joke to exaggerate it? Also i loved the scene where Brock is like "wait what the fuck this identical nurse joy is actually old enough to have a daughter ash's age and also OH NO A WEDDING RIIIIIING" And then he thankfully,blissfully GAVE UP and we had one nurse joy centric episode without him being a fuckboi. Seriously, the older you get the less funny you find brock, it sucks that the stuff that's meant to be over the top jokes is now barely more exaggerated than how some dudes act in real life. All you real life brocks, nobody finds you as charming as a fictional goofball! You're just rude! AND REAL BROCKS DONT HAVE A CROAGUNK TO STOP THEM

Anyway i LOVE the cute cottagey aesthetic pokemon center/hotel place! It seems the family mostly treats wild pokemon in the forest and they were actually so surprised to see customers that they thought they were burglars at first! And then daww ash and co help out doing chores to pay them back for the meal and bed even though the family is like 'no dude thats the duty of a pokemon centre'. I think that was a really mature moment for ash? He realized that this pokemon center gets less business than usual ones and figured he should give them a hand. And its so nice to see him being so super excited and wowed by the chores?? Like i mean its CHORES but for him its all so new cos its learning how to work in a pokemon center. Ash's best characrer trait is how his enthusiasm really has no limits, he'll go 100% be the best choremon master ever! Or maybe he was intentionalky being all THIS IS SO FUN because the joy daughters were fighting and he wanted to help cheer them up? In a lot of ways i prefer season 1's bratty egotistical sarcasm ash just cos he had more of a visible personality and you didnt have to sorta sleuth it out like this and always be left wondering whether they really meant to write nice-Ash this way or you're just imagining it. But when nice-Ash has monents like this he's way better and i just wish it hapoened more often and was 100% confirmed, yknow? Most of the time in sinnoh he feels less like nice-ash and more like nothing-ash or changes-every-day-into-whatever-the-plot-requires-him-to-be-ash. But in sun and moon season they have all those more slice of lifey and emltional plots and he's the more nicer ash that i always wanted, and i love it!

Anyway lol im going wildly off topic. Also fun fact i spell "the" wrong so much that "tge" is the first result in my autocorrect now...

Another thing i like is that these Joys seem to be a ghost type specialist family? The kids have a big pile of drifloon cuties and when the gang first arrived they saw a bunch of happy gastlys enjoying their stay at the inn. I like to think maybe all the ghosts they have are "drifty" types like that? I feel that the writers ppicked gastly cos the pokedex entry saying they blow away on the wind like drifloon. Cos this is actually the valley windworks adaptation episode! That was such a nice surprise when it turned out momma joy's husband was the windmill electrician guy!! He looks SO cute in the anime too! He's really chubby and has such a nice round face with a button nose and big anime eyes and a cute turquoise jacket electrician uniforn thing. And he's funny and goofy with his kids and very caribg and cautious about letting them ride home alone in the bad weather, and also he's a GIANT BADASS with an ampharos that thunderpunches the shit out of team rocket and defeats them before ash can even get there lol! Actually they never show what momma joy's main pokemon is? I like to think maybe its a gengar cos thats the most chansey-ish ghost type. And also itd mean the chubby guy has a tall and thin pokemon and his tall and thin wife has a chubby pokemon. Theyre such a cute couple so itd be even cuter!

Oh and i forgot to mention that everyone travels around via drifloon??? Thats so surreal when you consider their pokedex entries saying them carrying children is a bad thing that means theyre kidnapoing them. Like, they domesticated a very dangerous pokemon and now it uses its dangerousness for the powers of good instead! Maybe its just the anime censoring a scary thing or maybe it was intentional to show how badass this momma joy is that she could tame so many spoopy ghosts that everyone thinks are pure evil? Seriously i LOVE how they show this family working to protect and heal the local wild pokemon and them all being super friendly to humans because of it. And it makes sense theyd be ghost tyoe trainers cos if youre befriending all the pokemon in a forest youre bound to find a few lost souls. Mountains and forests are like the deadliest areas for travellers so mountain forests especially so! Everyone's lucky they have this badass family team watching over the area like guardian spirits~

OH SPEAKING OF WHICH

I forgot to mention that the main conflict of the episode is that the joy sisters have a fight because the older sister is a bit overprotective and dismissive of her little sister, causing her to be reckless and get lost trying to "be grown up and help mommy". And in the end the big sister rescues her with the help of the guardian spirit of the hot springs and they reconcile their differences and have big cute hugs! Its all very well written and dramatic actually.i really felt for the older sister's determination to save her, and i felt it was a good case of a conflict where both of them were wrong and both made mistakes and it was just like they coulda avoided those mistakes if they talked it out better. And both of them had a point at the same time, yknow? So it didnt end with either of them losing the argument or anything, it was more like the lesson is just to appreciate your siblings while theyre there and also talk about your problems in clear language with younger kids instead of using excuses like "you just cant, cos im older and i said so".

Oh also SUICUNE!

The super onsen spirit is suicune?? The little sister just casually mentions her biggest best friend in the forest is suicune and is surprised when ash says its a legendary! Wow thats actually a really cool idea? You wouldnt necessarily think of it cos you kinda think of hot springs for the hot part but theyre also a sort of super clean water like how suicune is meant to be able to purify polluted lakes. Maybe it came here to make its nest cos places that are already purified are comforting to someone who wanders the earth blasting stinky water with its powers every day. I like to think maybe this is the same suicune from Generations where they said the legendary beasts are roaming legendaries because humans treated them as demons when they first walked out of the ashes, and now theyre still scared of us even centuries later. Itd be sad if they literally kept running forever, so i like to think they all have a comforting spot to sleep in, somewhere. And for suicune its this little isolated lake in the sinnoh region which used to be super far away from human civilization. But then this family's ancestors built this hospital here and suicune was initially like "oh no my house is ruined" but then it saw that these humans were helping protect tge forest pokemon too. So its like "ah fellow coworkers" and theyre the only humans it trusts. And whenever theyre in trouble it sneakily helps them and dashes away before it can be seen, but one day it got unlucky and the kids saw it and now OH NO it is stuck havibg CUTE TINY FRIENDS! I bet the littlest joy just treats suicune like a big puppy, and this great noble beast of legend plays along because it loves her so much. But if anyone else sees it demeaning itself with a game of fetch, it would be Total Social Death In The Legendaries Club

Anyway there's some cute moments of Emotionally Wise Kind Ash The Best Of All Ashes where he finds the lost little-joy and he tries to cheer her up when she's scared by the storm and keep her dry from the rain. And he has absolute faith that his friends will come to save them both! The only thing i think coukd have maybe made it better is if the big sister joy didnt beleive in suicune? Cos it just ends with her going to ask suicune for help and then suicune helps. There's a lack of tension cos you know suicune could easily resolve all this and you already know suicune is real cos the lil sis says that big sis told her to keep it a secret cos its a Big Deal and Bad People Could Take Suicune Away and stuff. Like it might have worked better if the big sis thought that little sis was just making up rumours to be all boastful, or playing with an imaginary friend. Then her going to ask suicune for help would have symbolized something, yknow? And the audience might have been tense about whether it was real or not.

But even without that added suggestion it was still a great episode! Lots of cuteness, emotionalness, familyness and a few great jokes along the way! Also i just loved them giving unique character designs and a full backstory to these minor npcs from the game. Whenever i play it now i'm totally gonna headcanon this all as true! I mean all we know about the daughter character in the game is that she says "papa youre stinky but i still love you" and that feels very in character for the slightly mischievious little sis joy that we meet in this episode. Though you only see the one daughter and she acts like she hasnt caught a drifloon yet and dreams of seeing it if you can fix the windmill problems so it'll come back. So maybe the game version takes place a little before the anime? Like, that daughter is the engineer dad's daughter from a previous relationship and the older daughter is joy's daughter from a previous relationship. And i dunno maybe lil daughter's hair colour actually is the generic npc brown from the games but she begged her momma to dye it so she could match. Like she just loves her new momma and sister so much!! And now the struggling mountain poke-center is doing better because both parents work difderent jobs now and have enough money combined to be able to keep the family in a better quality of life. And maybe the team galactic incident at the valley windworks got it a bit of publicity as a tourist destination? and after the daughter caught that drifloon everyone who visited was like GOSH ITS SO CUTIE and the dad was like "yes our special windmill attracts these pokemon that are normally only found high up on the mountains, speaking of which my wife runs an inn up there and you can go on pokemon wildlife tours to see them in their natural habitat!" And just I LOVE THESE GUYS AND I WANT THEM TO HAVE ALL THE SUCCESS IN THEIR LIFE!! There is NOTHING better than "hey we're adapting this gane what should we do?" "Add MORE FAMBLY" Like oh my god whoever had that wonderful idea should be promoted!

Thus ends bunni's disjointed review of FAMBLY EPISODE

Hello, everyone! I was tagged by @giggleboxx3000 which I really appreciate and I’m really happy that some of you guys want to get to know me so here I go!

Rules: Answer the questions in a new post and tag 10 blogs you would like to get to know better.

★ Nickname: Ash or Tink. You know since my name is Ashley and that’s a shorter version of it also Tink is short for Tinkerbell who I really liked as a kid

★ Star sign: Gemini, I post and tag a lot of posts involving Gemini's if you go through my blog lol 

★ Height: 5′9″ and I think I’m still growing

★ Time right now: 4:03 pm

★ Favorite music artist(s): Mystery Skulls, AWOLNATION, Fall Out Boy, Beyoncé, Phil Collins, Melanie Martinez, Sickick, The Weekend, Rihanna, Hamilton Cast, and much more! 

★ Last movie I watched: Avengers Civil War

★ Last tv show watched: Stranger Things (I managed to finish it before the end of the year! It was pretty good)

★ What are you wearing right now?: A hello kitty night shirt with loose pajama pants. (Which I love wearing btw)

★ When did you make your blog?: I made it when I was 16 or 17 I think so... sometime in 2014

★ What kind of stuff do you post: RANDOM STUFF or whatever captures my interest. If you haven’t noticed I reblog and like way too much 

★ Do you have any other blogs?: Yes but its private

★ Do you get asks regularly?: Not really but I don’t mind if I do

★ Why did you choose your URL?: I honestly couldn’t think of anything because I lack a good creative mind so I typed in a bunch of words which ultimately led to Tumblr giving me suggestions.

★Gender: Female

★ Hogwarts house: I took a quiz that said I was Ravenclaw and then another that said I was Gryffindor so idk maybe one of those

★ Pokemon team: I chose Mystic

★ Favorite color: Pastel Blue

★ Average hours of sleep: 6 or 9, I can sleep for a long time

★ Lucky numbers: 7 and 27

★ Favorite characters: I have a TON! But I’ll name the first few of the top of my head: Batman, Garnet (Steven Universe), Elizabeth Comstock (Bioshock Infinite), Clementine (The Walking Dead), Alice (Alice in Wonderland), Will Graham (Hannibal), Connor Kenway (Assassin’s Creed), Dustin (Stranger Things), Deadpool, Tinkerbell, Belle (Beauty & the Beast), Lincoln Clay (Mafia III), John Donovan (Mafia III), Symmetra (Overwatch), and Poussey Washington (Orange is the New Black). Like I said those are just a few but I have a few others in mind.

★ How many blankets do you sleep with?: 3

★ Dream job: I want something that allows me to travel and gain more knowledge along the way. Something that makes me comfortable and pays me a lot to where I no longer have to worry about money anymore. It’s basically another way of me saying I don’t know which makes me nervous.

I shall tag @video-game-imagines @lilmsbatty , @care623, @sweetkimchii, @gilverr , @vetskiiiiii , @blacfkire00 , @veckefer , @thelovearesick @jene-ali and who ever else wants to do it. Just FYI if you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.

The Best RPGs Of 2018 By Review Score The Best Reviewed RPGs By Score - 2018Role-playing games have long since entered the mainstream and the influence of their popularity on other genres is undeniable. The most borrowed facet of the RPG experience is the idea of long-term character growth and customization, a concept now commonly found in fighting games, shooters, and sports sims. It's a universally useful way to remain engaged with a game over time and uncover depth as your skills improve.RPG developers had an opportunity to pounce on the popularity of the genre and aim for more ambitious and unique projects in 2018, and the results are definitely impressive. Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest XI are two exceptional RPGs that proudly iterate on their old-school, JRPG roots in their own way, while Ni No Kuni 2 delivered a more modern, quasi-Ghibli affair.Western developers didn't shy away from tradition either. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire from Obsidian Entertainment is a deep RPG based (in part) on tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, and its meticulously crafted script was the hook that bound you to a long and storied fantasy adventure. Kingdom Come: Deliverance tapped into the history books to give us a taste of medieval life, which is just as dangerous and filthy as you might imagine.We've rounded up these, and every other RPG that scored at least an 8 on GameSpot in 2018, and organized them by score below. If you're interested in other 2018 review roundups, or our bounty of features discussing and showcasing the year's best games overall, jump over to GameSpot's Best Games of 2018 hub. And while you're there, keep your eyes peeled for our most anticipated games coming in 2019. Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition - 10/10From lonely farmhouses through pitched battles with gods in far-flung dimensions, Divinity: Original Sin II is one of the most captivating role-playing games ever made in both its original and Definitive incarnations, with the latter proving that even the most complicated role-players can be ported successfully to gamepad-limited consoles. This immaculately conceived and emotion-wrought fantasy world, topped by brilliant tactical combat, make it one of the finest games of recent years, and it remains an instant classic in the pantheon of RPG greats. -- Brett Todd [Full Review] Diablo III: Eternal Collection (Switch Port) - 9/10Diablo 3 is a game about long term goals accomplished in short, thrilling bursts. It's rewarding and subtle. It's flashy and boisterous. I have spent six years enjoying it, and will likely spend six years more. As far as video games go, that's a long time--I came into the Eternal Collection expecting a eulogy for one of my favorite games. Instead, I stumbled upon a celebration. -- Mike Mahardy [Full Review] Dragon Quest XI: Echoes Of An Elusive Age - 9/10Innovation in games is talked about a lot, but it's also great to see traditional gameplay formulas that have been around for decades presented exceptionally well. Dragon Quest XI is one of the best modern examples of this; its beautiful presentation, both visual- and story-wise, combines with a tried-and-true gameplay formula for a journey that’s full of heart and soul. Once you find yourself sucked into the world of Dragon Quest XI, it's going to be hard to put down until you reach the grand finale. -- Heidi Kemps [Full Review] Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Switch Port) - 8/10Beyond the challenge of combat, Battle Chasers is sustained through the strength of its story, a rollicking tale that takes our heroes literally to hell and back. It's bolstered by some sharp dialogue, gorgeous artwork, and an ensemble that plays extremely well off of each other. Lots of work has gone into Nightwar since its first release, and the balancing improvements make it an easy game to recommend on all platforms. -- Justin Clark [Full Review] Child Of Light (Switch Port) - 8/10It has been more than four years since Child of Light first hit consoles. The somber tone that permeates the adventure still resonates deeply, using its delicate visuals and wistful music to capture a feeling of melancholy that still feels incredibly rare. The passage of time hasn’t undermined the sadness that makes this game so welcoming because there is still nothing quite like Child of Light. The transition to the Switch hasn’t hurt the experience in the slightest. Whether docked or in handheld mode, the beautiful artistic design shines through and the controls are smooth regardless of which controller you use. -- Tom Mc Shea [Full review] Dark Souls Remastered (Switch Port) - 8/10While Dark Souls Remastered on Switch possesses some odd quirks and isn't as technically impressive as its current-gen counterparts, it still retains the heart of what the original game is all about. To this day, Dark Souls remains a watershed moment for the action-RPG genre. Getting to re-experience many of the game's most nerve-wracking and iconic moments can be satisfying in its own right, but coupled with the Switch's flexible playstyle, this equally haunting and triumphant game becomes an even more involved journey. -- Alessandro Fillari [Full Review] Kingdom Come: Deliverance - 8/10It's an impressive and unflinching look at the medieval era that transports you inside the compelling story of a real person caught in the middle of a civil war. As such, this is one of those rare, memorable games that stays with you long after you stop playing. While quirks and bugs can certainly be frustrating, none of these issues interfere much with the unique and captivating nature of the overall experience. -- Brett Todd [Full Review] Monster Hunter World - 8/10Ever since the title was first announced, it was clear that Capcom was gunning for something grander than Monster Hunter Generations. It has succeeded, and this is likely the biggest and best that the franchise has ever been. It's not just the comparative depth of the narrative; it also boasts almost seamless integration between combat systems that were previously incomprehensible for amateurs. The Monster Hunter formula has definitely honed its claws, and all the above factors play their part in making Monster Hunter World a meaningful evolution for the series at large. -- Ginny Woo [Full Review] Ni No Kuni II: The Revenant Kingdom - 8/10Ni No Kuni 2 is a robust game that offers ample ways to spend your time, and even if they aren't all up to the same level of quality, it's easy to appreciate how they collectively contribute to the bigger picture. It's chock full of excellent battles and surprising moments that make for a far more memorable experience than you initially expect and leaves you impressed by your own accomplishments. If you didn't play the first game, don't let this one pass you by too. -- Peter Brown [Full Review] Octopath Traveler - 8/10Despite the lackluster stories that pull you through the world, Octopath thrives on its character progression and the temptations of high-level challenges and rewards. The promise of new jobs, exciting boss fights, and powerful gear will inspire you to poke around every corner, and there are no shortage of discoveries to strive for. And all the while, you're treated to one of the most interesting and effective re-imaginings of a retro aesthetic around. Octopath will likely be a divisive game due to its fractured storytelling, but it's one worth playing despite its lesser qualities. Its high points are simply too good to ignore. -- Peter Brown [Full Review] Pillars Of Eternity II: Deadfire - 8/10Deadfire is dense, and it isn't a small game, easily dwarfing its predecessor in terms of scale. There's a lot to do, and it's easier than ever to get lost in the little stories you find, without following the arcs that the game has specially set out for you. Still, it's worth taking your time. The richness of Deadfire takes a while to appreciate, and like the brined sailors that call it home, you'll be left with an indelible attachment to these islands when you do finally step away. -- Danial Starkey [Full Review] Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu & Evee - 8/10Despite these concessions, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee are delightful reimaginings of the series' origins and a deep RPG in their own right. It makes a lot of smart improvements on the original Red, Blue and Yellow while holding on to what made them so special in the first place. Fans of the series might be let down by the lack of features they've come to expect, but Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee take the Pokemon formula in some exciting new directions. -- Jacob Dekker [Full Review] Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology - 8/10Had this been a straight port of the DS version, it would still warrant the attention of RPG enthusiasts who missed Radiant Historia the first time around. With its upgrades and considerable bonuses--particularly the Sub-History--even those who think they got their fill by beating the original game should check out this definitive edition. -- Miguel Concepcion [Full Review] The Alliance Alive - 8/10There’s a lot to love about The Alliance Alive: a well-paced story in an interesting world, a meaty mashup of unique combat elements, and a fantastic soundtrack that keeps you pumped and eager to explore. If you can put up with a bit of a learning curve, you’ll find a great portable adventure well worth dusting off your 3DS for. -- Heidi Kemps [Full Review] The Banner Saga 3 - 8/10The Banner Saga 3 won't have the same kind of meaningful impact if you haven't experienced the rest of the series. But if you've taken the time to journey with these characters from the very beginning, this finale is a worthwhile and cathartic end to your long journey. -- Edmond Tran [Full Review] Transistor - 8/10Transistor remains an absolute joy to play on Nintendo Switch. The system's screen has no issues with readability, though the game is best enjoyed in docked mode, where its visuals--which remain striking nearly five years after its original release--have room to flourish on a big screen. Its turn-based combat and relatively brief encounters are well-suited to short bursts of gameplay in handheld mode, though the strong writing and pacing are likely to pull you through extended sessions. -- Chris Pereira & Carolyn Petit [Full Review] Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - 8/10Wasteland 2 is still a very special outing. If you haven't spent your time in this irradiated desert just yet, this is one of the best times to do so--especially since the portability of the Switch reissue lets you take the journey on long treks of your own, or as a dense RPG to curl and nestle in with, as you might with an excellent book. -- Daniel Starkey [Full Review] West Of Loathing (Switch Port) - 8/10West of Loathing's visuals are monochromatic, but there's enjoyable comedy painted between every line, a pitch-perfect Spaghetti Western soundtrack, and a full spectrum of role-playing possibilities to choose from that make it a consistently enjoyable madcap cowboy jaunt. -- Edmond Tran [Full Review] Source by [author_name] #games #gamer #gaming #game #play #koragame #freegames #onlinegames

Globe's Worst Places To Get A Sunburn (And Effective ways to Avoid Them).

Researchers have actually long been hard at the workplace in finding out ways for solar panels to change additional sunlight into electrical energy. Transforming these city spring seasons of fresh water right into small churches from awareness can easily make water access best of thoughts-- and also give a better civil service. As drought health conditions remain to endanger sources of well-maintained water in Oregon, California, Texas as well as throughout the west, that has become apparent that our experts should thoroughly take into consideration how our team make use of water. These are areas that often possess the least water initially, as well as for that reason the least to save. One method to use mud is actually to fall that on algae, and after that permit it readied to make a bridge for water to overlook. Perspective Absolutely no Dawn drew in fantastic evaluations as well as sold well (especially amongst PS4 Pro owners ), so our team don't expect Sony to fall it like a. hot stone, but there is actually been actually outright muteness about DLC and growths. Well, The Sun puts that very suggestion right into strategy every morning, as well as has imprinted those pictures for many years. This is a water Pokemon thus leave your rock, ground, as well as fire monsters unemployed. Sadly, another 7 days has actually gone by. However the good news is this's just opportunity for an additional Very hot 5 if we 'd watched the video clip coming from The Ring our experts had actually probably be sweating through today. He additionally produced this a lead to keep in mind that Sunup does not hold iCloud qualifications, but as an alternative utilizes them to get a safe token off Apple. The various other TWENTY TWh enters pushing water throughout the state, consisting of over range of mountains. Along with the water table raised, switch to the superstar on your map as well as jump in the water. It could take a long period of time to get that desired 10 out of 10, yet Fish Out of Water could additionally drop its appeal en route. The Planet Health and wellness Association has some great sources for learning about the risk of water shortage as a whole, that is affected, and so on. Lots of associated with worldwide water causes. You'll be able to steam non-potable water in to drinkable water, which will definitely consume some of your valued Fire Intensity. http://ascendentidefrumusete.info/blog/pentru-a-obtine-musculare-cu-privire-la-care-visezi-cu-powerup-premium/ of these methods at the Sorocaba vegetation are utilized to well-maintained water for commercial requests, not for human intake. The PowerTrekk's method of producing tidy electric energy along with a tbsp of water is the stuff from sci-fi. This offers Wise Area, Texas, Court J.D. Clark, chair from the National Organization from Counties' Non-urban Action Caucus, some wish for a remedy, including repaired financing for the USDA water project or even changes to the EPA's state rotating water funds system that make that more obtainable to rural bodies. Tim Chef has said that he showers along with his view on, and Creator Craig Hockenberry did a rather extensive analysis of the Apple Check out's water resistance as well as discovered that this measures up to its insurance claims. In addition to the four Hot Wheels offerings below, there are actually 5 various other motor vehicles included in the pack. Listed here's exactly what I propose: If you're seeking a well-balanced and also far cheaper technique to hydrate, try consuming water. Whilst celebrations including COP21 have promoted dialogue amongst stakeholders in the water field, it is actually essential that future plan including water and sustainable growth are actually grounded upon observational records and details that should be discussed collectively as well as utilized collaboratively. click site from water generated depends on the energy made use of, the performance of the tool and also the loved one moisture. For cultivating parts of the planet where tidy water is difficult to come through, it could be effortlessly made use of on a larger scale to help purify water off wells, streams, and also lakes. Straightforward, low-cost actions like firewall programs as well as more powerful passwords could possibly provide massive safety and security advantages for water framework. If you ignore our tips as well as race by means of Hot Activity, accepting every final droplet of enjoyment and also polishing things off in around 5 hrs, after that you'll just possess the prospect of time trialling and racing cops arbitrarily to keep you delighted, given that the Planet Championship facet is actually a little cold sober. That the majority of the planet's groundwater accounts are previous durability leaning points" was unknowned before, baseding upon James Famiglietti, an author of both research studies and an instructor from Planet unit scientific research at the University from The golden state, Irvine and elderly water researcher at NASA's Plane Power Lab. Thankfully, the resulting kWh suffices to deliver one more 750 gal to the door, so there is actually no spiraling snare preventing our team coming from taking in water thus. The two primary water therapy vegetations in the metropolitan area have fallen into disrepair; laborers there have suffered non-functioning pumps, unsatisfactory electrical power supply and also creation fees well under capacity.. Nevertheless, the damage to the pipes triggered by the hazardous water will certainly take some time to fully fix as well as Flint will definitely must track the water thoroughly in the months ahead till it's particular the lead concern has mellowed out. HydroPoint states this may reduce water usage through up to 59 percent and also water overflow by 71 percent. The Hot Wheels Bone tissue Hand and also personalized 2005 Mustang are sending back trips (they initially showed up as DLC for Forza Motorsport 6), as is actually the 2010 Pagani Zonda R (although this hasn't been found given that Forza Motorsport 4/Forza Perspective on Xbox 360). Their electricity quality (the volume from power they can hold) is reasonably low, they don't work very well under warm temps and-- naturally-- they have top. Others, nevertheless, claim privatization of a general individual demand like water is illogical. Consistently travelling from airport to airport, hotels and resort to lodging, and convention hall to appointment center doesn't leave much opportunity for searching out the closest cordless coffee shop. Take your opportunity getting through Route 1 if you want - there is actually plenty of Pokemon there certainly to get and also you remain in no rush. The primary reason Substitution is actually not yet assisted is actually that the Sunrise group was actually hard at work including iCloud assistance. Passion or even dislike their far-out jobs like self-driving cars and augmented-reality safety glasses, you happy that they are actually certainly not aiming to modify the planet. The brand-new research capitalized on a more immaculate file from Planet's original water: Volcanic rocks off Iceland and Baffin Isle in the Canadian Arctic. That can provide you a home from water per four folks every day." MOFs are still in experimental phases, however chemical firms have begun sizing all of them for commercialization-- and at the moment Wang said she could acquire them for regarding 10 bucks each kilogram (though other MOFs are far more costly). The extra intense the water lack, the brisker business for some water homeowners.

Snowed In | Silver & Mathew

Plotted Ahead! | @rockettheory

Why in God’s name he decided to travel about in the snow with such light bundling was beyond him. Foolish; it was all foolish. He felt his bones rattle within him, his skin bitten red and he was shaking violently, his teeth chattering. Idiot, was all he could think; God, he was such an idiot. The cold that Johto ushered in was nothing compared to the bitter winds that blew and chilled him to his core, to the stagnant air with the smell of emptiness. He was alone. He was among the mountains and the cold breeze and the whipping snow and the fog and he was alone. Only him. Only Wyvie and him, fighting against the current and marching their way with only Silver’s unprotected jeans and mere sneakers, his light petticoat and gloves that weren’t even thick. His breath ghosted from his lips as though his silver soul was ebbing out of him with every exhale, and he couldn’t see a damn inch in front of him – only the onslaught of pelting sleet; only nothingness for miles and miles of the unknown before him. He didn’t even know if he was going the right way or not, honestly. He could only trust in Wyvie – the only stalwart able to withstand this weather; he couldn’t even fathom the cold long enough to be able to send out Zuzu, and even then, what could she do? She wasn’t built for the cold – none of them were – and the conditions were far too harsh to even be able to flap her wings. It only meant her fainting in no time flat; best not to even try that approach.

So this was the only thing he could dare to think of was hold onto Wyvie’s paw for dear life, and hope his scrappy little friend could see through the cold with his wide, wide eyes, and be able to hold out until he could see some sort of civilization in the distance. But he came to realize all-too-quickly that it was not Wyvie that he should have been worrying about; he could hardly feel the feet he was lifting through the inches and inches of crunching snow; it was only because  of his knees that he could still understand that there were feet at the bottom of them. Part of him wanted to quit. Part of him wanted this all to be over with, wanted to be safe in a Pokemon Center or a warm tub where he could warm up and survive. Another part of him only realized he would get that far by trudging onward, but God, where was he? The only landmark of any kind that he could decipher among the visibility – only about as far as you could see your hand – was the rock face jutting out before him that he kept his hand pressed to for guidance. Where traveling alongside it would take him, he wasn’t sure; perhaps it would finally take him to Saffron City. Perhaps it would only take him further along the mountainside, only to wander aimlessly through it. Perhaps he would just die out here. Route 7… never would he have realized how treacherous it was; but it was nature – cold and unforgiving, making no exceptions and taking no prisoners.

It was useless to even say why he was here in Kanto anymore; the details failed to matter if he was going to die before he could ever reach his objective. But it was all he could think about; he had chased down a set of leads that all culminated to Saffron; he’d even gotten the word from a ragtag scrap of Rocket scum he’d defeated. Perhaps it was a red herring; perhaps the grunt purposefully would lead him astray – but none of that meant a damn if he was too much of an idiot to have dressed warm enough for this weather. He couldn’t even feel his teeth enough to clench his jaw; all of his anger dissipated into shudders. Dammit… How could he have let this happen…? Not even dying at the hands of his adversaries; only in the cold here, fighting against nature because of his stupidity and lack of forethought. Not even a noble death; not even fast – just freezinghere, slowly, slowly…

Eventually, Wyvie’s wide, wide yellow eyes sought to move him and Silver out from the comfort of the moving rock face, and break away from it into the unknown, with only the snow before them and Wyvie’s foresight to be able to see them through till civilization. Silver looked to his partner with untrusting eyes; he couldn’t abandon the one security he had – the one landmark, the one piece of Earth that wasn’t covered all with snow, but he knew – he knew – he would be unable to move forward should he keep going on as he would. His trembling hand gripped tighter to Wyvie’s, before he realized he could hardly feel his muscles flex to hold his Weavile’s paw, and he took his first few steps out into the open cold. His throat was dry and stripped of any possible moisture, and his lungs burned, the mist of his condensed breath sapping away his energy until his skin was alabaster porcelain, cold to the touch, and he could no longer find the air to breathe with.

His world began to grow blurry as he trudged along; Wyvie soon became a watercolor blur of blacks and reds, surrounded by the powdery white like dewdrops. His Weavile shifted into focus, only to dissipate out into the onrushing flurry. He couldn’t see his eyes. Wyvie paused in front of him with a look of concern on his unwritten, lineless eyes and they both stopped. Keep moving, he told himself, trying to command his frozen feet. Keep moving, he tried to breathe out the energy to continue from lungs starved of useable oxygen. Keep moving, he tried to see forward with dry eyes and frozen tears, and could see nothing – nothing but colors all melding together like melting crayons – blacks and reds and whites and blues and whites and blues and whites and grays; soon blacks began to form little spots in his vision, far to the right and to the left and up and down past where Wyvie ever would’ve been, and they grew and they grew and grew until he could feel the crunch of snow against his knees as the cold snaked up his nerves like whiplashes. He swallowed, but he could find nothing to swallow down. Wyvie was holding him now, looking down at him, chittering and chirruping in the little cries Silver recognized as his name. Soon, even then, Wyvie’s cries drowned underwater, and Silver could only vaguely recognize the motion of him being shaken.

Wyvie disappeared somewhere in the black, black splotches that consumed his vision, and the white was gone.

He couldn’t just leave him; this was his best friend; he couldn’t leave him. Wyvie held Silver there as his head bowed back, his chest heaving for the purchase of any sort of air his lungs could still gulp down. He felt so torn; Wyvie knew now that he was too small to carry him any distance, and leaving him would leave him to the elements. He looked around in the distance; unlike what Silver could see, Wyvie knew the city was close; his wide yellow eyes could see the peaks and windows of the skyscrapers ahead that signaled Saffron was near – but not near enough. Instead, his eyes focused on a blur of white and brown in the distance – close enough that it was a few short sprints away, with Wyvie’s feet adapted to run above the snow. The chimney smoked; there was life within it – help; there was helpwithin it. Wyvie looked to the distant cottage with his eyes hopeful, but still, he looked to Silver before him, holding him now in both of his long, wide paws. He couldn’t leave him.

He cried out to the cottage, his low cry swallowed up by the whipping wind surrounding him, but still, he tried to call out louder than it, somehow, somehow to the life within the cottage that they could come out and help him. He called out once more, then twice, desperately fighting off his tears of desperation. He couldn’t. Leave. Him. But after a few moments of his eyes trained on the cottage, no form emerged from it. Nobody came to help him. He would… have to leave Silver there – his eyes closed and skin paled pink, and freezing to the touch, but still breathing, the low foggy mist emerging from his nose and the part of his lips. He looked as he did when he dreamed. Wyvie bit down his lip, finally setting Silver down in the snow there, unable to give him anything to warm him with further than what Silver was wearing already; he could give him no further protection, leave him there – vulnerable. But only for a few moments, he thought to himself, it wouldn’t be long. He pressed his forehead to Silver’s before rising back up, rushing out with his incredible speed to the cottage before him, now untethered to act as Silver’s guide in the slow speed he’d walk through with his human boots deep in the snow.

He approached the cottage with precision, looking into the parted window to see a man there – his orange hair unfurled and drawn down to his shoulders, glasses set atop his nose. Compared to Silver, the man was massive; compared to Wyvie, well, he was still more massive, but he looked just as thin. Either way, he was a human being within that house, and he was help more than anything. He made to move for the front door – knock on it like humans do – but he remembered his skills that Silver had taught him on how to find the ways to unlock windows and sneak into them within. He also remembered Silver’s want to reform the two of them and that no more breaking into houses was something they both aspired for (although, it brought Wyvie great dismay); but this was urgent; his friend could die in the cold now; who the hell cared if he scared the man? Only that… well… maybe he wouldn’t help, and considering his size, the man might be able to chase him off. Maybe Silver’s advice was for the best. He came back to the front door, banging on it intensely, his bison calf cry loud and desperate, tears beginning to prick at the corner of his eyes.Please answer, he cried, please answer! My friend is in danger; please open the door!

Please answer. God, please answer. Silver’s life depended on it.