Pokémon Answering Machine

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Hey, it’s Augustine. Haha, oh man, did you really hit on Diantha? That’s hilarious. I wish I could have been there. What’d she say? What’d YOU say? Call me back.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I went to your cafe today. Did you put a new uniform in place? Nice suits; very ‘80s. Good years, good years. But aren’t the sunglasses a bit strange indoors? Call me back.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I heard you’ve met my latest trainers. Aren’t they something special? I have high hopes for them. I’ll formally introduce you next time we’re all in town. Call me back.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Haha, you’re so silly sometimes when you get excited. I love that passion! But you say some really bizarre things. I always say you’re a big goofball but nobody believes me! Call me back.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“What’s this I hear about Team Flare? I’m a bit confused. Fill me in sometime. Call me back.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“…Lysandre, is something wrong? I don’t understand your Holo Caster message. You sound so fatalistic. It’s not like you. Call me back.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I’m headed to Geosenge as fast as I can. Don’t do anything stupid. Call me back.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Please, for the love of God, call me back. Please don’t be…Just call me back!”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“…I guess…I guess that’s it then. That’s what you meant all along, isn’t it? I wish I had known. I wish you had told me… C–…”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“That kid was made Champion the other day. Earlier there was a big parade for all of them, and I personally thanked them for stopping you. It really hurt, too, because I meant every word.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“…I went to Geosenge for the first time today. I ended up just standing there, looking down at the hole. No one wants to excavate it. It occured to me for the first time that you’re really down there. I miss you.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Isn’t this stupid? I’m calling just to hear your voice. I have your last Holo Caster message saved but I can’t bring myself to watch it. I still can’t believe what you did. And I…still can’t believe that you’re…”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I went to your cafe again today. It’s been deserted ever since. There’s two Flare agents still hanging around in the basement, but they don’t seem to listen to anything I say. I’m going to try to buy the building. I think anyone else would just tear it down.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I saw Diantha today. The subject of you never came up. No one seems to think about you any more. I’m sure they do, though. You were so popular and well-liked. You had so many friends. And yet you never…I wish you had told someone.”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Every time the Holo Caster turns on, some part of me thinks that somehow you made it out and you were just hiding. But that’s…not what happened, is it?”

***

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Maybe I’m just blathering at this point. But I really wish I could talk to you again. I mi–”

Mailbox full.

 

[K_S]

Overall the piece was a short and bitter sweet work. You can feel Sycamore's warmth twist to confusion in the first few messages, and it's utterly understandable. It's hard to deal with a bad trait in a friend/family member, but someone acting out on their worst impulses and making the world their target must be a special type of torment. And you got that down cold.

When he mentions his "new trainer" I winced a bit. Because isn't that the beginning of the end right there for their relationship? When Sy' slides from concern to panic then goes through the stages of grief shown in these bits and bobs it feels real both to canon and to life.

In the end I was sort of hoping you'd show the other side of the tale. Lysandre listening, responding, or just... not... near the end. Anyways, thanks for the good read.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Aww shucks, thank you so much!

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Aww I'm glad to hear you liked it so much! Even if it continues to rip people's hearts out.

 

[Sinderella]

Hey there! I think I actually read this on Ao3 or FFN ages ago but never left a review, so it's time to rectify that situation a la catnip.

I admittedly don't remember the story of X and Y too well (ironic considering I have a huge fic set in Kalos lul), but I do remember enough to kind of piece together what went down here. I don't remember if it was canon in the games that Lysandre and Sycamore knew each other but either way it's a safe bet so that's not something I dwelled too hard on. Their relationship was clear to me even though this was entirely a one-sided conversation; I almost feel like there were some romantic undertones there (or I'm just a shameless romance fiend and look for any chance to call it romance).

I admittedly don't have a lot of crit here; this is just a good little bittersweet story. Didn't you write this as part of a contest and it won something? Idk if I'm remembering that right but if I'm correct, yeah, I see how this won some awards. I remember it being a gut punch when I read it two or so years ago, and re-reading it now hits just as hard. I'm amazed at how well you told the story of two old friends/lovers and how one of them devolved into complete and total genocidal madness, and how the other just doesn't know what to feel in their regard--there's still love there, and the grief is there, but they know what the other did was completely and totally wrong. And then to round it all off with Mailbox Full leaves me wondering if Sycamore sent more messages than what was just written here. That's a little more saddening to think about.

All in all, great read! Thank you so much for writing and sharing.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Ah yes they did know each other! Sycamore is quite fawning over Lysandre and calls him "so passionate, so fiery". And about romantic undertones oh yeah that's in the game too.

I wrote this on a whim (I think it took fifteen minutes) but yeah it's gotten some awards. This is my most popular fanfic too!

Thank you for reading. I was worried nobody would be able to review it with the word limit and all.

 

[Spiteful Murkrow]

Heya, I was drilling down a list of targets tonight for fics to review and had a bit of spare time left over. This ficlet of yours caught my eye earlier this week given that its premise is apparently messages left behind by Professor Sycamore to Lysandre over the phone, and I had a bit of time to kill, so… eh, why not? Let’s see where this goes:

Spoiler

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Hey, it’s Augustine. Haha, oh man, did you really hit on Diantha? That’s hilarious. I wish I could have been there. What’d she say? What’d YOU say? Call me back.”

Ah yes, Sycamore has his priorities straight, I see. Though I honestly could buy him doing this given that the games’ dialogue imply that he’s supposed to be very close to Lysandre on a personal level.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I went to your cafe today. Did you put a new uniform in place? Nice suits; very ‘80s. Good years, good years. But aren’t the sunglasses a bit strange indoors? Call me back.”

And so the downward spiral begins.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I heard you’ve met my latest trainers. Aren’t they something special? I have high hopes for them. I’ll formally introduce you next time we’re all in town. Call me back.”

Wait, just how long of a gap has there been between this message and the last one. I kinda wonder if adding date stamps in some capacity would help for selling a sense of progression between them.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Haha, you’re so silly sometimes when you get excited. I love that passion! But you say some really bizarre things. I always say you’re a big goofball but nobody believes me! Call me back.”

Yeah, “big goofball” there.

I suppose we’ll be finding out really shortly as to how much of this was genuinely ignorance on Sycamore’s part and how much was willful blindness.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“What’s this I hear about Team Flare? I’m a bit confused. Fill me in sometime. Call me back.”

Sycamore: “Seriously, Lysandre. You’re starting to scare me here.” ._.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“…Lysandre, is something wrong? I don’t understand your Holo Caster message. You sound so fatalistic. It’s not like you. Call me back.”

Lysandre just promptly put Sycamore on block after this point, didn’t he?

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I’m headed to Geosenge as fast as I can. Don’t do anything stupid. Call me back.”

Yeah, sure was a good thing that you dismissed all those creepy ramblings as Lysandre being a goofball, huh, Sycamore?

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Please, for the love of God, call me back. Please don’t be…Just call me back!”

Yeah, I can already tell that the rest of these messages are going to get increasingly painful in short order.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“…I guess…I guess that’s it then. That’s what you meant all along, isn’t it? I wish I had known. I wish you had told me… C–…”

Let’s check in on Sycamore right now:

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“That kid was made Champion the other day. Earlier there was a big parade for all of them, and I personally thanked them for stopping you. It really hurt, too, because I meant every word.”

Sycamore… is sending this even though Lysandre is dead or else alive but perpetually entombed with the remains of the Ultimate Weapon, huh?

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“…I went to Geosenge for the first time today. I ended up just standing there, looking down at the hole. No one wants to excavate it. It occurred to me for the first time that you’re really down there. I miss you.”

I mean, the fact that these messages are playing back are at least evidence that at least Lysandre’s phone survived? ^^;

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Isn’t this stupid? I’m calling just to hear your voice. I have your last Holo Caster message saved but I can’t bring myself to watch it. I still can’t believe what you did. And I…still can’t believe that you’re…”

Yeeeeeeah, Sycamore isn’t taking Lysandre’s death / entombment well at all, I see. :<

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I went to your cafe again today. It’s been deserted ever since. There’s two Flare agents still hanging around in the basement, but they don’t seem to listen to anything I say. I’m going to try to buy the building. I think anyone else would just tear it down.”

Huh. I wonder if this is before or after the player character finds the Hidden Floor in the postgame.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“I saw Diantha today. The subject of you never came up. No one seems to think about you any more. I’m sure they do, though. You were so popular and well-liked. You had so many friends. And yet you never…I wish you had told someone.”

That actually makes me wonder what on earth became of the remains of Lysandre Labs, since a major corporation suddenly losing its leadership from him going on a normal one and trying to peace a region sounds like it’d cause some economic chaos.

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Every time the Holo Caster turns on, some part of me thinks that somehow you made it out and you were just hiding. But that’s…not what happened, is it?”

I mean, if you yourself have to ask the question, Sycamore…

You’ve reached Lysandre; leave a message.

“Maybe I’m just blathering at this point. But I really wish I could talk to you again. I mi–”

Mailbox full.

Yeah, I knew that that was going to hurt. That ending note, man…

Well, that got really depressing really fast. Though I see it’s not just Lysandre who was an obsessive personality in your rendering of events. It’s a bit chilling, especially since it doesn’t take that much of a stretch to imagine Sycamore actually doing this in the wake of Lysandre peacing himself in the XY climax.

The one bone that I have to pick about this story is that I kinda wish that there were a few more “lighthearted” messages to play up the sort of relationship that Sycamore and Lysandre used to have with each other (also, if you can think of 4 more messages in general, it brings the total size of the Holo Caster mailbox to a nice, round ‘20’), which would make the later parts where Lysandre and then Sycamore start going off the edge hit a bit harder.

But altogether, I thought that it was a nice piece, @Blackjack Gabbiani . Short and a bit unconventional, but it doesn’t waste any time at going straight for the feels.

Hope the feedback was fun to read, and best of luck with Review Blitz.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

(Gonna be honest I wrote this in fifteen minutes)

Thank you for reading!

 

[BraviaryScout]

Damn this shit slaps. Really mirrors the time going from when Sycamore and Lysandre were on better terms and then genuine concern when his former colleague was slipping.

The "Mailbox Full" notification is really hitting hard too, indicating that Lysandre either hasn't opened any of the messages from his former friend.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Sycamore has called so much that everything filled up, and with Lysandre no longer on the other end of the line, there's only so much space available.