• Welcome to Thousand Roads! You're welcome to view discussions or read our stories without registering, but you'll need an account to join in our events, interact with other members, or post one of your own fics. Why not become a member of our community? We'd love to have you!

    Join now!

AceTrainerWesley

Espeon Lover
Location
Colorado
Pronouns
He/Him
This story contains swearing. If any of this bothers you, proceed with caution.
This story is set in the same world as Midnight Hollow Pokémon School. Please check it out!

This story a part of Short Stories involving Wesley. If you would like to read them, I suggest this order, despite it not being entirely chronological:
Abandoned > Worthy > Liberation

I would love to hear any feedback you have to give me!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



LIBERATION


Sand battered Wesley’s exposed skin. Every step forward seemed to get harder. Liana, his Espeon, struggled with him. He had tried to use his hood to prevent the sand from battering his face, but the heavy winds tossed it off as though it were made of paper.
“I’m beginning to think we took a wrong turn!”
“E-esp…”
“God, Route 4 is a mess. I wish they would just finish construction. Then again, the sandstorms here aren’t usually THIS bad!”
“Esp…”
He looked back at his Espeon. Liana glanced back up to him with difficulty. “Your future vision get messed up in heavy winds,” Wesley deduced, “I’ve decided. I can’t let you be out here any longer.”
Liana shook her head, but Wesley wouldn't let his Pokémon suffer any longer in the fierce sandstorm. He retrieved her Luxury Ball from his pocket, and pressed the button on it, firing a beam of red light at the Espeon. Soon, nothing remained where the Pokémon once was, except slight indentations where her feet were before.
“We’ll figure this out,” He whispered to the Luxury Ball as he looked up, squinting. Hundreds of thousands of grains of golden sand blew around, making a dense, brown layer of fog. “Eventually…”
He grabbed his phone. “No connection… Fuck.” He stuffed it back into his pocket, and pressed onward. He walked for what felt like hours. He knew that his brother was probably worried sick waiting for him in Nimbasa City.
“Sigil…”
Wesley turned around, and a Sigilyph emerged from the sandstorm.
“You do not look happy…”
“LYPH!” It fired a Psybeam at him. He leapt to the side, and sand erupted from the impact where he had just been standing. “Yup. Definitely not happy!” He grabbed Midnight’s Luxury Ball from within his jacket, and pressed the button, sending his Umbreon out. "Umbre!" Midnight howled at the wild Pokémon, whose wings began to glow white with energy, causing grains of sand whirl around them.
Wesley pushed himself up onto his feet, and turned, “Midnight, use Payback!”
Midnight became cloaked in dark energy. Sigilyph locked onto Midnight and sent multiple Air Slashes at it. Midnight braced itself, and endured each and every slash of air. After the attack, Midnight glared and jumped at the wild Sigilyph, slashing it.
Sigilyph’s flight became stunted, and it swayed around in the air for a moment, before collapsing back on the ground. “Good job, Midnight!”
Midnight turned and smiled at Wesley. Suddenly, his ears perked up and his expression became more aggressive, as he turned back to where the Sigilyph landed. Slowly, the pokemon rose back into the air, and fired another Psybeam at Wesley.
Wesley jumped back, and slid on the sand. Midnight darted at the Sigilyph, before noticing that Wesley was sinking. Rather, the sand around Wesley was sinking, dragging his trainer down with it. Midnight turned to the Sigilyph, which was preparing another Air Slash, and back to Wesley. Sigilyph flapped its wings, and sent a wave of the attack at Wesley once again.
Midnight ran to his trainer, and hopped onto him, trying to protect him from the attack. But oddly, none of the Air Slashes hit them. A cracking sound emitted from under them. Wesley and Midnight stared at each other for a split second, as the cracking sound became louder before the sand below them gave way, and they were airborne.
For a solid two seconds, they fell. The sand falling around them made it seem as though gravity did not exist in that time. They landed hard on a sand mound, and slid down it.
“Agh… Shit… You okay, Midnight?”
“Umbre…”
Midnight got up off of Wesley, and shook itself rapidly, trying to dislodge as many sand particles as it could. Wesley ruffled his hair, trying for the same effect. Wesley looked up. Sand trickled down from about where they had fallen, but it seemed to already have sealed.
“Great. Well at least it isn’t windy in here.”
Midnight stared at Wesley, who sighed, and said, “How are we going to get out of this mess...”
Wesley sent Liana back out, and took off his jacket, flapping it. He grabbed his phone once again, and turned on the flashlight feature on it. “Whoa…”
They were in a massive room. Pillars stretched from below the sand to the ceiling. There was a huge flight of stairs in the middle of the room. Wesley decided that he could get a better view of the room from the top. He slid down the sand mound further, followed by his Pokémon, and began up the stairs. Going up, he noticed their oddly pristine condition. They displayed next to no sign of weathering, and the white marble was only tainted by grains of sand. Yet the higher he went, the less sand there was. His footsteps, and his Pokémon's footsteps, echoed through the room. Upon reaching the top, he noticed a pedestal. On top of it, was an odd white sphere.
Wesley walked up to it, and examined it. It appeared to be some kind of stone. He turned back at his Pokémon, both of which were also observing the white stone.
Wesley turned back, and took in the sight of the stone. It looked remarkably smooth. He put his hand on it. It was warm to the touch.
“Woah!”
Ever since he was young, Wesley always had a fascination for rocks, gems, and minerals. He picked up the stone with both hands, and the torches behind them suddenly flared with fire. All three of them jumped, and turned around. The room was suddenly ablaze with light. Wesley turned off his flashlight, and returned his gaze to the stone. Liana’s ear twitched, and she turned around, assuming a battle position.
Wesley swung his jacket back on, and shook sand out of the sleeves. Midnight prepared next to Liana, not knowing for what.
Then, Wesley could hear it. It sounded like a drill, from the other side of a dense wall. Suddenly, a loud crash emitted from the bottom of the stairs. Four hooded figures entered the room, followed by a pair of Excadrill, and behind them, an elderly man. “Ryoku. Do you think this is it?”
“It has to be.”
“Look! Up there!”
The three people stared up at Wesley. “Hey, uh. You guys know the way out of here?”
“He has the Light Stone!” The old one shouted, “Child, you do not know the power which that stone holds! Please, give it to us.”
Wesley glanced at Liana. His Espeon stared up at him, and slowly shook her head.
“How about you guys tell me how to get out of here, then we’ll see!”
All of the people down below silenced, and appeared to talk among themselves. They split up, two of the figures in white hoods walked up the stairs towards Wesley.
“We are not in the mood to negotiate,” A feminine voice shouted, “Come down to us and give us that stone, then we will help you get out of here.”
“How did you get in here anyways?” Asked a masculine voice.
“Well, I-ah... I fell through the roof,” Wesley answered truthfully.
As the figures entered the light of the fire, Liana took a cautious step back. “The stone, please,” The man demanded.
“How about you tell me why this thing’s so powerful and why you want it so bad? Then I’ll think about it.”
“That information is not for you to know!” The old man shouted from the bottom of the room. Wesley looked down at the approaching people suspiciously. “Why not?”
The stone became warmer. A wave of heat rippled through it.
“You wouldn't understand it!” The elderly man shouted with an accusatory tone, “You are just another person who uses Pokémon to exert their own will! Have you ever thought about what your Pokémon wanted? If they were wanting- begging- to be set free?”
A pulse of infernal anger flowed through Wesley and his Pokémon at the same time. Memories blazed through his mind as his fingers pressed into his palms, with such force that his own fingernails would likely leave a mark. He glared down at the old man. “And how do you know that I haven’t!?” Wesley shouted suddenly, “All I want is for my Pokémon to be happy, and they all have chosen to remain with me!”
“You don’t understand your Pokémon,” the female figure interjected, “If you’re this childish all the time, your Pokémon must be unhappy!”
Wesley felt suddenly cold. They had no idea what he had been through with his Pokémon. He wanted to shout a great many things at them, but he found himself at a loss for words. He glanced to his Espeon, then to his Umbreon, who bore similar expressions of disbelief and hatred.
“Enough of this,” The man growled, growing impatient, “We will take those Pokémon off your hands and give them the liberty they deserve- whether you like it or not!”
The two hooded figures drew their Pokéballs. “And I’m never going to let that happen,” Wesley growled in return. The stone flared with heat. The heat seemed to ignite a powerful flame deep within Wesley’s heart, and he shouted, “YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH MY POKEMON MEAN TO ME!”
“Oh, we have an idea alright,” The younger man’s voice said. Wesley turned and held the stone behind him, signaling his unwillingness to cooperate. “Then let me show you the truth," Wesley threatened.
A second wave of heat, one much warmer than before, pulsed from the stone.
“Very well then,” Ryuko growled, as the other two hooded figures threw their Pokéballs into the air.
The stone was now radiating heat, Wesley noticed. He felt as though it was inciting a fiery feeling within him. Is it… making me angry?
No,
something deep within him answered, It’s making you passionate.
“Liepard! Use Night Slash!”
“Gurdurr! Use Chip Away!”
Both of the foe Pokémon landed on the stairs, and darted up them. “Midnight! Block Liepard! Liana! Use Psychic and throw Gurdurr into Liepard!”
Midnight jumped down the stairs, and got between Liepard and Liana. Gurdurr was hurled into the air by Liana, and thrown across the steps into Liepard. The foe pokemon slid across the steps, and tumbled down. Wesley noticed the two hooded people that remained at the bottom of the stairs were beginning to make their way up with the elderly man. Wesley looked around for an escape, as the two closest to him drew more Pokéballs. He noticed that the platform was built on a steep slope of polished sandstone.
“Well it’s not like today’s crazy enough already. Both of you, return!”
Wesley grabbed their Luxury Balls, and sent both Pokémon back. He darted to the edge of the platform, set the stone in his lap, and slid down it. He heard the sounds of Pokémon being sent out from the stairs. He was sliding down faster than he thought he would. He panicked, thinking the sheer velocity would kill him once he had hit the ground.
He tumbled and went airborne and the stone flew out of his hands. For a couple of seconds, he fell. He slammed into the sand, and with a breath of relief, he deduced that he did not die. Instead, his legs seared with pain as he tumbled down a mound of sand. He looked around for the stone before spotting it nearby, rolling down another sand mound.
He dashed towards it, despite his leg’s objections, and picked it up again. He ran towards the hole that the crazy people had drilled into the room, but a Swoobat and a Mandibuzz swooped in front of him.
Wesley reached into his pocket, grasping for the first Luxury Ball that he could feel. When he felt one roll into his hand, he did not hesitate to send it out, no matter what it was.
“Ah! Perfect!” Wesley grinned, as Luxray emerged and landed on the sand, raring to fight. “Use Thunder Fang!!”
Luxray nodded, and jumped at the incoming Swoobat. Its fangs began to get charged with electricity as they sank into the enemy’s wing, causing electricity to surge through Swoobat’s entire body.
“Mandibuzz! Punishment!”
The foe Mandibuzz swooped down. “Luxray! Jump and dodge it!”
Luxray did as it was told, and jumped over the incoming Mandibuzz. “Thunder Fang!”
Luxray lunged at Mandibuzz, but it took off into the air before Luxray could get a good hit on it. “Shadow Ball!”
Mandibuzz turned, and a shadowy, ectoplasmic ball formed between its wings, which it launched at Luxray.
“Punishment!”
“Thunder Fang- again!”
Luxray ran at Mandibuzz, and Mandibuzz dived at Luxray. Dust exploded from the ground as the two collided. Mandibuzz fell onto the ground, fainted. Behind it, the two Excadrill ran at Wesley. “Delphox! Vibrava!”
Two more Luxury Balls flew up into the air. Delphox and Vibrava emerged, and the four Pokémon clashed.
“Delphox- Mystical Fire! Vibrava- Sand Tomb!”
Wesley jumped through the hole, as fire and sand exploded from behind him. Behind him, Luxray, Delphox, and Vibrava followed. He found himself in a hallway filled with sand. More hooded people turned to him.
“Stop him! He has stolen the White Stone! Stop him!”
“Hoo, boy. Come on, everyone!”
He tossed his remaining three Luxury Balls out into the air. Liana, Midnight, and Lopunny emerged.
Several of the hooded people tossed out their Pokéballs, and dozens of Pokémon appeared. “We’ve got one hell of a fight ahead of us! Get ready!”
He pulled his sleeve down, and revealed a mega bracelet. “Lopunny! Mega Evolve!”
. . .
Kieren sat on a bench in Nimbasa City’s amusement park, petting his Manectric. He looked up, and saw his brother walking towards him. His clothes were covered in sand, and dripping with sweat.
“Looks like you were in the desert,” Kieren observed.
“Hey, I told you that I was in Castelia city, checking out the art museum. I also told you that I didn’t have any flying types on me.”
Kieren pulled out his Pokétch+ and checked it. “I didn't get notifications, sorry.”
Wesley thumped down onto the bench, saying “fuckin’ hell,” under his breath.
“... You good?”
Wesley gestured to his clothes and hair, which were still slightly discolored from the dust.
“Uh huh," Kieren hummed, in understanding, "Here, have some soda.”
“Thanks.” Wesley grabbed the soda can, breathing heavily. He cracked it open, and immediately began to drink it. “Sorry I’m so late. There was a massive sandstorm on Route 4. Somewhere along the way I must have gotten derailed.”
He chugged some more of the soda, and leaned forward. He grabbed a Luxury Ball from his jacket, and tiredly held it forward, pressing the button. Liana emerged. She had a few battle scratches, but nothing too severe. She leapt onto the bench with Wesley, who began stroking her head. Kieren sat quietly, drinking his own soda and stroking his Manectric.
“You’re not gonna believe what I found,” Wesley said, exasperated. “What did you find?” Kieren asked, his interest slightly piqued.
“I found an ancient castle under the desert, buried under all the sand.”
“An ancient castle?”
“That’s what I said,” Wesley explained, sarcastically, “Yeah. I was fighting a Sigilyph that attacked me, and it broke through the roof of the castle with its Psybeam. So I spent the last couple hours or so finding my way out of there.”
“Well, now you owe money for the property damage you caused,” Kieren teased.
“Hahah.” Wesley chuckled, before taking another swig of soda. “You think I’m joking. But check out what I found in there.”
He turned, and pulled a pearly white stone out of his bag. There was hardly anything special about it to Kieren. “A… rock.”
“Well, touch it.”
Kieren shrugged and put his hand on the stone. It was smooth, but other than that, it was just a regular stone. “Eh- EH!? It’s warm, isn’t it!?” Manectric looked from Kieren to Wesley. “Yeah, it’s sooo warm.”
Wesley’s excited expression dropped from the sarcastic tone.
“Ah- I’m sorry, it looks and feels just like a normal stone. But I get if you like it if you really did find it in a castle.”
Wesley slumped back into the seat, looking at the stone. “Oh well. You know I like rocks.”
“I do.” Kieren said, shrugging, as his Manectric lifted it’s snout to his hand to get him to start petting it again.
“I’m not kidding about the castle. Also, there were these really weird people in hoods who began attacking me. They threatened to take my Pokémon away from me to liberate them or something. They also wanted this stone for whatever reason”
Kieren began to think, “Sounds like some rumors I’ve heard, but I’ve seen nothing of the sort.”
Wesley shrugged, “Well, I’ve pretty much been fighting since I fell into that castle. My Pokémon need some rest. Care to run over to the Pokémon center before we miss the event?”
“Yeah, I’ve been looking for an Emolga for quite some time now, but only Audino are appearing and I’m getting sick of it.”
“Again? Jeez, how many hours have you been at it again?” Wesley asked as he stood up. Liana hopped next to him. “Three… this week.” Kieren grumbled, also standing.
“Ah, well that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It’s Sunday!”
The twins chortled together as they stood up, and walked towards the amusement park exit, headed for the Pokémon Center. Wesley held the stone in his hand. It seemed to vibrate with heat in his arm. He liked to think that he freed the stone from those weirdos, and from the castle buried under sand.

Ryoku looked around. Several of his grunts leaned over their fainted Pokemon, disgruntled and disappointed from being defeated so rapidly. He sighed. He would have to give his boss the bad news at one point or another, and he decided that it would be better to do it sooner rather than later. He grabbed his Xtransceiver, and pressed button after button. Nothing worked. Kids these days and their complicated technology. He pressed more buttons randomly, until it finally worked.
“Master Ghetsis…”
“Ah, Ryoku. Have you had any luck with the Relic Castle?”
“Well…”
He stood silently for a moment. “Well?” Ghetsis pressed.
“We found the Light Stone. Unfortunately, a boy beat us to it. We tried to stop him, but he escaped.” Ghetsis did not speak. The silence was pressurizing, as though the room was filling with more sand.
“That is fine.”
Ryoku was surprised. He had expected fury, not understanding. “The prince is not yet of age. We will have two years to find him, and take the Light Stone back. And even if we cannot do that- we may yet be able to find the Dark Stone.”
“I understand. I will report back to you at base.” Ryoku ended the call, and turned to his grunts. “Listen here, everyone! We need to find that boy! Search all of Unova until we snuff him out! If you find him, do not engage. Instead, contact me, and I will send more troops to that location! Team Plasma, Move out!”

~Fin
 
Last edited:

AceTrainerWesley

Espeon Lover
Location
Colorado
Pronouns
He/Him
Hello there! I'm here for Smeargle Swap, but first I want to say that this story is super cool!!!

I fought the urge to draw a shitpost and recreate that one scene from Space Jam with the orb (I can draw it if you want me to lol), so I decided to draw Wesley with the Light Stone!

View attachment 1945
I’m rolling at the thought of the space jam shit post XD

Your piece is really good! Tysm! I’m glad you enjoyed the story!
 

Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
This is the final part of my three-part review series for your trio of oneshots.

And oh, hi, Team Plasma! Wasn't quite expecting to see you in this final oneshot, but it was quite an interesting twist. It really helped root things in terms of time and place, knowing little context for the other stories that you've written, at least.

During the clash, him finding the light stone and making a remark about the truth was hype even if a bit forced, and I really liked the culmination of all of it here when he stood up to Team Plasma during what seems to be their infancy, or at least the beginnings of everything. I think I better understand the reasoning behind the order you gave for the three stories, and this showed how he turned out after the first oneshot I read. Was that the intent, beginnings and ends? Or, well, beginnings and beginnings, if we're seeing more of him in the main series or something like that.

"Deduced that he did not die" was a good little narration snark. Earned a snort from me.

Still, what a fight! And actually, I want to make a special note that I appreciated how you cut away from the battle once you got Mega Evolution happening, because at that point it seemed like a foregone conclusion. You cut the extra frills and went straight to the point--a very good choice! It's not always necessary to depict all the action in a written work the same way you'd see it in a visual medium.

So, overall thoughts of the trio of oneshots--it was nice. Like I mentioned before, the first part was a bit of a black sheep in hindsight, and the strongest entry was the second. While this one was strong as well and showed Wesley at his best, I also felt it was a bit of a tie-in with how it felt, compared to the first two that were more strongly standalone and not a "And now, look at the main story for more!" kind of feel.

I don't actually know if that's true or not. It's just an impression I had due to the 'greater scope' implication at the end of this one.

That aside, though, I enjoyed myself. Thanks for the read!
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
Here for Review Blitz! I've seen you around but I don't think I've ever reviewed their stuff b3efore, this should be FUN.

I see you are going for the Unova vibes here. Yes, good, verry nice. Though the protagonist has an Espeon. that's Johto vibes. That's illegal. Oh well, Espeon is not the worst Eeveelution to have.

You say this is part of a series of oneshots right? Is this the beginning? Middle? End? There definitely seems to be setting up going on with The White Stone That Definitely Does Not Hold Reshiram, and also the Team Plasma grunts who I thought were just weird cave cultitsts at firsat. Mabye put an order in which to reead the oneshots at the beginning? I do think it could help.

I did really like the escape sequence with the White Stone, it was really fun. Though it's also cut off at a really weird time? Like. the guy Mega Evolves his Lpopunny (nice addition of Mega Evolution by the way) but then.... It cuts to the next scener. I dunno how thee fuck Wesley escapes. It's like ripping out pages of a book and expecting people to know the details! I say a little more to connect those two scenes would help a lot.

Also there are a few segments where Wesley's outbursts are meant to sound dramatic or inspiring but just come off as immature. That can probanbly be pretty easily toned down though.

Anyway, cute oneshot! I'm curious about the others. Mabye I'll check them out at a later date.
 
Top Bottom