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Pokémon Broken Things

WildBoots

Don’t underestimate seeds.
Location
between a hope and a prayer
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. moka-mark
  2. solrock
Yay, BT is back! I need my fix of sad, wet camping and logistics 4 ever.

First, some structural notes: I was definitely thrown by opening a chapter labeled Cuicatl with not-Cuicatl. I think we’ve gotten Mom-flashback before, but I think it would be more digestible if we were grounded in Cuicatl first. (Though I know that throws a wrench in the “hmm how do I feel about this”/“I wish it were snowing.”) I also noticed that the countdown and [???]’s dropped off, and I wasn’t sure why. Was it because it was a countdown to Lyra attack? If so, that makes me think these countdowns are somehow coming from Noci, but I’m also not sure how or why she’d be counting down to a human fight. And if so, I wondered why there was no drop to [0:00:00].

I’m also trying to figure out the significance of these flashbacks for Cuicatl. Like, is the implication that she’s actively poring over these memories as a source of strength? Or is this a parallel we the audience are aware of but she isn’t? And I definitely do see the parallels: Mom survived the snows, bested the ice-type gym leader, and then found a friend. But it would be nice to see Cuicatl’s thoughts reflection that a little bit: Mom did it and so can you. You’re doing this for Alice.

It’s interesting that you’ve drawn us this parallel between Lyra and Alice. Is this foreshadowing that she’s going to join the team? I don’t have a problem with her harshness in and of itself—this is a harsh world—but I wasn’t sure what she wanted to get out of it. Like, her goal is not to travel alone, to convince Kekoa to join her, right? Killing his friend is a bad, messy way to achieve that. And she’s still alone at the end of that. (Though maybe she feels more in control of Cuicatl and therefore less afraid of her. Or at least can tell herself she does.)

Nice to end on a note of Kekoa and Cuicatl playing nice with each other.

because you wouldn’t be the first kid with a fire-type to try and get a little too much heat from your friend.
That so checks out. Nice detail.

“Okay, then, you can stay out.”

“Wet!” Pixie whines.

You sigh. “Nothing I can do about that.”

“Wet…” she grumbles.
Classic Pix. Love this.

You giggle, and your headache flares up in time with every sound you make.
I feel like this wanted to be a “but.”

Sixth badge matches occasionally get televised, especially in the off season, and your mom would never let you live it down if you were on television in flats. Even though it’s her fault that you’re short enough to really need them.
A little muddled—“short enough to need them” appears to refer to flats ... but it has to be heels, right? Though, ooof, mom.

Switch clock is set at five minutes.
If this is how long the battle has to play out before they’re allowed to switch, that feels long! Fights go fast, and I feel like BT fights have been mostly short and quick affairs!

Your opinion of her lowers. She’s making her pettiness into your business.
Nice.

What is it?} you send out to your team.

“Horn runner,” Pixie growls. “Always run away. Never let me catch them.”

Well. At least someone here knows what it is.
Hahaha nice. Though: I don’t remember Lyra’s team, so I don’t know what it is either. Maybe good because it means we know what Cuicatl knows. But I also can picture it.

Powder Snow A}
Missing punctuation! But I liked this setup, how she’s slowly teaching her more complicated moves.

You lend her some mental power for the attack and it goes off faster than it ever has in training.
Oh that’s interesting! Is that new?

Her pokémon is too close to your throat to attack
This was unclear. It seems like being too close to her throat is exactly the problem, isn’t it?

He’s the least melee-oriented and you’re pretty sure his biology is too weird to get rabies.
Too weird to get rabies is awesome. And, yikes, pokemon plus rabies is a scary combination.

You could use Charles for this, but the type advantage is a little unfair. Same for Spike. Searah and Renfield have the opposite problem. That leaves your swanna.

You send out a batch of messages. The bird lands in front of you and calls out a challenge while your other pokémon back away to the sidelines. Except Spike. The ferroseed stays exactly where he was.
Steel/grass doesn’t have a type advantage against dark/dragon though. (Unless I’m misremembering and ferroseed is a bug?) I wonder what happened to Charles. I don’t remember a conkeldurr in Cuicatl’s early memories with mom’s pokemon.

The deino keeps stumbling forward until he notices that his opponent isn’t in front of him. She turns around and sends out a stream of dragonfire, but it goes wide. Poor guy. Can’t even aim his attacks. Another water pulse punishes her for her effort.
Pronouns a little muddled here. Made it tricky to tell what was happening. If mom doesn’t know the gender, maybe just “it”?

{I. Will. Murder. Her.}

{Her?}

He honks. “Thought the dragon was the blind one.”

“Forgive me for not knowing how to sex a dragon.”
Haha another funny Cuicatl parallel. Nice dig from Tchswanna.

She eats all the jerky, but also half the plate. Oops.
Ha! Cute.

“Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
I wasn’t sure why he said this—they’ve hugged before! If this was about something else, that wasn’t clear.

Definitely excited to check back in with Kekoa—he’s gotta reshuffle his plans. And with Gen! Things can’t be going well back home.
 

Persephone

Infinite Screms
Pronouns
her/hers
Partners
  1. mawile
  2. vulpix-alola
Yay, BT is back! I need my fix of sad, wet camping and logistics 4 ever.
There's nothing stopping you from going camping in the rain in the year 2020. Should fill that void nicely enough.

First, some structural notes: I was definitely thrown by opening a chapter labeled Cuicatl with not-Cuicatl. I think we’ve gotten Mom-flashback before, but I think it would be more digestible if we were grounded in Cuicatl first. (Though I know that throws a wrench in the “hmm how do I feel about this”/“I wish it were snowing.”) I also noticed that the countdown and [???]’s dropped off, and I wasn’t sure why. Was it because it was a countdown to Lyra attack? If so, that makes me think these countdowns are somehow coming from Noci, but I’m also not sure how or why she’d be counting down to a human fight. And if so, I wondered why there was no drop to [0:00:00].
They're still part of the countdown to Necrozma, marking how long it's been since it showed up. I plan to limit them to the start of chapters from here on out, because I hate keeping track of when in each day everything occurs.

I like the current order well enough, but I'll probably add a 1995 at the start instead of [-???].

I’m also trying to figure out the significance of these flashbacks for Cuicatl. Like, is the implication that she’s actively poring over these memories as a source of strength? Or is this a parallel we the audience are aware of but she isn’t? And I definitely do see the parallels: Mom survived the snows, bested the ice-type gym leader, and then found a friend. But it would be nice to see Cuicatl’s thoughts reflection that a little bit: Mom did it and so can you. You’re doing this for Alice.

Nice to end on a note of Kekoa and Cuicatl playing nice with each other.

The parallel got deleted when I removed a part of the lore I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to. I'll add one back in during the final part.

It’s interesting that you’ve drawn us this parallel between Lyra and Alice. Is this foreshadowing that she’s going to join the team? I don’t have a problem with her harshness in and of itself—this is a harsh world—but I wasn’t sure what she wanted to get out of it. Like, her goal is not to travel alone, to convince Kekoa to join her, right? Killing his friend is a bad, messy way to achieve that. And she’s still alone at the end of that. (Though maybe she feels more in control of Cuicatl and therefore less afraid of her. Or at least can tell herself she does.)

I, uh, meant it to be more of a Kekoa parallel, but I suppose the scene order does imply Lyra. It also works, albeit to a much lesser extent. There are a lot of scared and fucked up teenagers doing terrible things in this story. Maybe Lyra will get some redemption. Maybe she won't. Maybe she'll grow as a person and still get rejected. Who knows? I don't.

I feel like this wanted to be a “but.”

Don't we all want to be buts? I'm going to cut the line entirely. The headache kicked in because of aforementioned cut lore.

A little muddled—“short enough to need them” appears to refer to flats ... but it has to be heels, right? Though, ooof, mom.

Will clarify. Does mean heels. Cuicatl's grandmother was a trainer in A Certain Era Of Propriety. Also Unova has a big culture of showmanship and style compared to Alola. Not on Kalos or Galar's levels, but still enough that dressing like you're going to a job interview isn't a bad idea.

If this is how long the battle has to play out before they’re allowed to switch, that feels long! Fights go fast, and I feel like BT fights have been mostly short and quick affairs!

Pro switchclocks are long. In part this is because pros have more tools for stalling. Protect / Agility / Teleport / U-Turn / Substitute, etc, are kind of common when pokemon can learn a bunch of moves over a lifetime of training.

Hahaha nice. Though: I don’t remember Lyra’s team, so I don’t know what it is either. Maybe good because it means we know what Cuicatl knows. But I also can picture it.

Absol. Lyra and Cuicatl's chapters are sort of meant to be read back to back, the time skip was an unfortunate out-of-universe thing where I had finals and what not to attend to.

Missing punctuation! But I liked this setup, how she’s slowly teaching her more complicated moves.

Oh that’s interesting! Is that new?

Pixie just learned disable, yes. Cuicatl could maybe lend power to confuse ray, but she either hadn't thought to do it before or didn't want her brain anywhere near a disorientation-inducer during a battle.

This was unclear. It seems like being too close to her throat is exactly the problem, isn’t it?

Will clarify.

Too weird to get rabies is awesome. And, yikes, pokemon plus rabies is a scary combination.

The world of pokemon is actually a terrible place to live. Even if you get sentient animal frens out of the bargain.

Steel/grass doesn’t have a type advantage against dark/dragon though. (Unless I’m misremembering and ferroseed is a bug?) I wonder what happened to Charles. I don’t remember a conkeldurr in Cuicatl’s early memories with mom’s pokemon.

Charles has never previously appeared, but he was mentioned as mostly living in the nearby wilderness. He was loyal enough to his trainer's memory not to drift too far away from her remaining family, but not so loyal that he was going to raise the kids like Alice, Renfield, and Searah did.

Pronouns a little muddled here. Made it tricky to tell what was happening. If mom doesn’t know the gender, maybe just “it”?

Hmm. I think that anyone with N's powers would be hesitant to use 'it' for pokemon.

I wasn’t sure why he said this—they’ve hugged before! If this was about something else, that wasn’t clear.
Something else lost in edits. I'll clarify that it refers more to sleeping right next to her when he doesn't have to.

Definitely excited to check back in with Kekoa—he’s gotta reshuffle his plans. And with Gen! Things can’t be going well back home.

Gen is up next. Despite your fears, everything is going fine for her. Just fine. Mother would never harm her. Mother simply wants what is best. Everything would be easier if her daughter understood that.
 
Fighting 3.9

Persephone

Infinite Screms
Pronouns
her/hers
Partners
  1. mawile
  2. vulpix-alola
CN: Casual transphobia and homophobia. After this chapter (or at this chapter) readers who really don't want to read queer pain stuff given, you know, everything, might want to check out of Gen chapters for a bit.



Fighting 3.9: The Talk

Genesis

You’re bone tired but the sleep won’t come. Maybe you need something to ease yourself into it? Old daydreams, maybe. The Redhelm? As good a series as any. Yeah. Can’t remember where you left off, though. A quest? No, a bit too long. A ball? Feels really wrong after everything.

The siege, then. You think that’s what things were building up to last time you were here…

*​

“We’ve received reports that an army has left from Orodh.” The falconer (Sir… Bentley) pauses, his face growing sterner. “Our spies estimate they have over thirty-thousand orcs and one hundred giants in their ranks.”

“Who could command such an army?” Ferdinand growls. “I slew The Ape of Aurghan. Guinevere,” he gestures at you, “felled the Spikeslinger. The giants were all but destroyed in Dragonfire Canyon. The Dark Lord still slumbers. Who is left?”

“It matters not,” King Renaut declares. “All that matters for now is that the army exists. Sir Bentley, where are they headed?”

The Falconer clears his throat. “They’ve marched to the Winbel Road, destroying all in their wake.” He pauses, letting the implication set in. “It seems they are headed for Redhelm.”

The old king nods. “Then we shall fight them. Sir Bentley, send forth a scouting party to ready traps on the road. It will give us precious time to prepare the fort. Lord Ferdinand, I want you to oversee the siege preparations. Find out how long we can hold. Count Clara—” The dark elf in the corner looks up. “Summon Alrebus. We shall need his help.” He nods and lowers his gaze again. “Lady Guinevere…” He trails off, uncertain on what you should be doing. “Ready the troops and sharpen your blade. You will be vital to our defense when the time comes.”

*​

Total, unnatural darkness settles upon the fort. You can still see the torches, but they cast no light.

“Sorcery,” Clara says.

Ferdinand growls like one of the feralmen. “Looks like their wizard could be bothered to show up, Count.”

“I sent ravens—”

“Then why is he not here?”

“Lords. Lady.” The King’s voice cuts through the argument. “We must not quarrel amongst ourselves until our real enemies have been repelled.” A chorus of battle cries from over the wall punctuates his statement. “Lady Guinevere, unsheathe your sword, please.”

Light shines from within Heartseeker’s crystalline blade. There’s something odd about using a blessed sword as a nightlight. You almost laugh. But you don’t. Because that would be awkward. Lady Guinevere is not awkward.

“Guinevere, guard the back entrance. I don’t expect trouble there, but it’s best to be safe. Everyone else…”

The King continues giving orders, but you have no time to listen. You race down the seemingly endless stairwells and corridors of Redhelm before arriving at the back gate. The castle is built in a canyon with the river running straight through the fortifications. The army has been advancing from one side of the canyon, leaving the other free. The Kingdom Wall runs from Redhelm out away from both edges of the canyon. Unless the castle or Kingdom Wall are breached, it is always possible to retreat through the back gate. Or enter through it, if a stealthy force somehow managed to circle around.

What you definitely weren’t expecting was the sheer chaos that greeted you at the bottom of the stairs. Your sword illuminates a battle in full swing as the back guard are massacred by advancing trolls. The gate is wide open. You swing Heartseeker and a wide arc of holy light rockets out of it. Several trolls crumple from the one attack. The rest come closer. You rush to meet them in a very lethal blur of light. Heartseeker brings down another enemy with every swing, but more and more monsters keep pouring through the gate. How did this many enemies get behind the wall?

Familiar laughter echoes across the battlefield and the monsters get out of the way. A tall, thin woman with pale skin and pitch-black hair walks towards you. “Why, hello there Guinevere. Fancy meeting you in this place.”

“Allura.”

You growl and Heartseeker glows with the force of a sun. Allura doesn’t seem to notice. She keeps walking towards you, the sound of her footsteps echoing off the walls. Only she would walk into a battlefield in heels.

“Hmph. Why do you look so upset? We are friends, are we not?”

“We were.”

She looks hurt. You don’t buy it for a second. “Come on. You can’t really let one bad day get in the way of—”

“You stabbed me and left my fate to the whims of a demon.”

“One. Time.”

You raise Heartseeker towards Allura and she stops advancing. She doesn’t show any emotions, but you suspect she’s terrified. She was trained as a spy. When you worked together, she infiltrated towns, figured out which rumors were worth pursuing, and unlocked any doors or chests you came across. You did the fighting. You had the sacred blade. Her daggers can’t hold a candle to Heartseeker.

“Well, if we can’t work this out peacefully… then I’ll be going.”

You lower your sword in shock. “What?”

“Oh, yes. I would never hurt a friend. I only came here to give you a present, anyway.”

Allura pours out a small bag and powder falls out. She blows and a plume of it rushes straight towards your face. You fall to the floor coughing the powder out and gasping for air. You blink rapidly to get it out of your eyes before you’re attacked. Yet the attack never comes. When you finally stand up and look around the gates are open and corpses litter the floor, yet all the monsters are gone. Allura must have gone with them.

You shut the gates and wait for more guards to arrive.

It doesn’t take long for a squadron to round the corner and bear their lances. At you. You raise Heartseeker and wave at them. They must be relieved to be out of the darkness. They only grip their weapons harder. Strange.

“Guinevere,” one spits. "You are to come with us by orders of the king. Sheathe your weapon at once.”

“Then it would be—”

“At. Once.”

Whoever this man is, you outrank him several times over. You still comply. If he has been ordered by the king, you will go with them to clear up whatever this is. The soldiers rush forward and bind your hands behind your back the second that your sword is sheathed. Another unclips the sheath from your belt while two others hoist you into the air to roughly carry you up lots and lots of stairs. A trap? From inside the castle? You could probably overpower the guards even without your blade. For now you’ll stay silent and see where this goes. With any luck they’ll bring you straight to their leader.

They do. It’s the king. Or an illusion of him. It’s hard to be sure after whatever magic Allura cast. Because this has to be her doing.

The King glares at you with more hatred than you’ve ever seen him show to anyone. He snarls and punches the wall beside him. The stone cracks. He was a legendary hero back in his time, even if it’s easy to forget that when looking at his wrinkles and white hair.

“I told you to guard the back gate,” he whispers. “NOT TO OPEN IT!” You try to take a step back but you’re already in chains. When did that happen? How—doesn’t matter.

“I didn’t!”

“Liar! We all—"

Something slams into your back and yanks you up into the air. You catch the faint glimmer of green scales above you and hear the flapping of wings as the shouting grows increasingly distant from you. A wyvern. You’re being kidnapped by a wyvern. You can’t tell if this is a welcome development or not.

*​

It’s been eight meals since they locked you in here. They took your phone and all the clocks away so you can’t tell exactly how much time has passed. Whenever someone brings you food, they just set it down and walk away without a word, pausing only to set new plates down and pick up the old ones.

Fluffy died in May. That would be… seven months ago? Maybe eight. You gave up your new pokémon friends. You’re entirely alone.

The only noise in here is what you make, tapping on the headrest or singing to yourself. There’s nothing to see. No one to interact with. You can only sleep and talk to Xerneas. Like Father wanted. Even your daydreams are unreliable now.

You’ve spent most of your reflection time figuring out exactly what you did wrong. Trusting Lyra too much? Perhaps. That still doesn’t feel right, though. You should trust your friends. Probably. Possibly. Maybe. You should ask Mother about that, because Xerneas isn’t getting back to you.

Going onto the roof wasn’t exactly forbidden, but you could have guessed you weren’t supposed to. That can’t be the only thing you did wrong, though. You wouldn’t deserve nearly so much punishment just for that.

Getting worn down?

It sounded right when you gave up your pokémon. Now you’re less sure. You have to convert people so they don’t get their souls ripped apart by Yveltal for eternity. Someone has to talk to people who aren’t already saved. Your teachers and priests always made it sound like you were supposed to do that when you could. And you can’t do that without talking to people who aren’t already saved. Xerneas would want you to deal with sinners, right?

But maybe Kek-Allana did wear you down. For a while you called her something else. Father probably heard about that. Maybe that’s what you should repent for.

Maker of All: I come to you deeply sorry for accepting the lies of The Destroyer and passing them on to others. I reinforced the sins of another. I ask for forgiveness and a path to penance.



There’s no answer.

Xerneas doesn’t talk to people like you directly. He does it through the words of priests and prophets and in whispers in the world. You have access to none of those things right now.



Keep reflecting?



You’re tired, sort of. Maybe you’ll get an answer in a dream.

Whenever you fall asleep.

Any moment now.

For being so very, very bored this is taking a while.

Any day now.

Any

*​

You sit back and watch them yell.

A mass of faceless, formless people are shouting at another one. You join in sometimes, jeering the vile sinner as he fruitlessly claims his innocence. Then things turn. One says your name. And another. And another. All demanding that you defend yourself even though there’s no time and you’re on the spot and YOU CAN’T THINK, DAMN IT!

They all stare at you with hate and disgust in your eyes and you know that your fate is sealed.

“No,” you whimper.

You sink lower, the ground sucking you in like quicksand.

“No,” you say.

You fall down to your waist. All efforts to claw yourself up just lead to you sinking faster.

“No!” you shout.

You sink all the way and the red light of Yveltal consumes you.

*​

There’s a knock at the door. You jolt up in bed and wipe the tears out of your eyes. You aren’t hungry yet. Didn’t realize it was mealtime.

The door opens without your invitation. There’s a woman’s silhouette lit from behind with red light. The light is dim but it’s still almost blinding after days in total darkness. The woman—your mother—walks in until she’s standing right by the foot of your bed. Her presence this far in your space… you can’t say anything, but you wish you could. It’s unnerving. You shiver and it’s not from the cold. The starmie floats in beside her. Since when does she have a starmie? She’s a lurantis breeder.

“I hate,” she cuts off and lets the word hang in the air. “That I need a psychic-type just to talk to my daughter,” she says. “Because I can’t trust my own child not to lie to me.”

“I wouldn’t—”

She holds up a hand. “Don’t start with another lie, please. It won’t help you.” You pout silently. You aren’t lying! The starmie would have proven it. But she clearly does not want to listen to you right now. “Now, have you figured out what you did wrong?”

You aren’t sure if you should ask your question, but you want answers badly enough that you’ll do it anyway. “Aren’t I supposed to be with unbelievers? Someone has to teach them, right? That’s what—”

“Pride.”

“I… what?”

“Pride. Add it to your sins. Thinking that you are capable of missionary work. When you change people, you give them a chance to change you as well. Your brother definitely could. Your sister couldn’t. You couldn’t without being corrupted. But you thought yourself better than you are. Pride. That is one of your failings. Tell me another.”

It hurts to hear her talk down to you but… maybe she is right? She’s been in the church for decades and you’re still pretty new. And young. She sounds like she knows that she’s right and… You want to argue. You want to say that you’re right. But she sounds. What are you supposed to.

You still don’t get it, do you? It’s almost sad… We’re just decorations now. And if we don’t play the part… they’ll throw us in the trash.

Shut up,” you hiss.

“Excuse me?”

Oh. Oh no. “No, that wasn’t to—I was talking to myself.”

The light glows a little brighter.

“Lie. Try again.”

“I was—I was replaying an argument I had with Exodus. That’s all.”

The light dims.

“Hmm. You’ll need to learn to control what you keep in your head. That’s always been a weakness of yours. There are schools that work specifically on that type of thing, if you’re still so insistent that the home isn’t a good enough place to learn.”

She agreed to that! Why is that getting blamed on you? It’s not fair. It’s not fair and that’s the best argument you can come up with and it won’t work.

“There are always schools like your sister’s. If you won’t listen to your own family, perhaps we must send you to people you will learn from. Institutions that help with your particular… issues.”

“I’m not gay…”

Mother sighs and moves to sit down on the bed. A hand falls on your shoulder and she is on your bed in your room touching you and you need need need space and

“Sweetie, being gay wasn’t the sin. That’s fine. Xerneas loves the homosexuals. But when it drives you to act on it, then that’s a sin. You acted on it. Maybe you can relearn control, but it would be easiest if you just didn’t have those temptations. It must be terrible,” she says, sounding genuinely sympathetic. “Having a fearsome addiction and not feeling like you can talk about it. The good news is that there is help; you just have to accept it.”

“I’m—I’m not gay though! I’ve been trying to tell you—”

The starmie glows green. Similar to the shade of Cuicatl’s hair. The glow goes back to bright red. The color of lies.

Your mother frowns in the corner of your vision. It’s oddly menacing, lit up in red. Like blood.

“Maybe you don’t know.” She seems resigned? Concerned? Maybe even a little remorseful. Does that mean… does she get it?

‘Get what?’ you asked Exodus.

‘Well… no, that’s not mine to tell you.’


“It would be hard to figure out, not knowing how normal people feel about the same and opposite sex.”

“I. What?” Any blood left in your face drains.

“Well, sweetie, have you ever really wanted to… to be with a boy? The transvestite doesn’t count.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sin, too?” She has you trapped. Again. Not. Fair.

“Well, acting on it is, yes. The instinct itself is natural and it can lead to good, holy things in the right context.”

“I don’t… I don’t know? I went an all-girls school? I didn’t really see boys anywhere else.” TV, sure, yeah. But those aren’t—well, they are real people, but they aren’t in your life and it’s not normal to—what even is normal?

“Another mistake we made.” Mother shakes her head. “We figured you would grow out of it. Or that you at least knew about it. If you didn’t, it explains some of your behavior after getting caught. You’ve still fallen deep into sin without even noticing it. That will need to be worked upon.”

“Okay.” Because. What else. Are you supposed to say? You aren’t gay? Whatever she thinks? Whatever the stupid starmie thinks? Does this get you into less trouble? More? Will she be mad later that you lied to her here?

“I need to rethink things.” She stands up and crinkles her nose. “And you need to take a shower.”

You feel even more unclean. She walks into your space and calls you gay and that you stink and and and you’re crying and it’s all not fair. Mother either doesn’t notice the tears or pretends not to.

“We’ll talk more later, sweetheart.”

*​

You stand in the shower and glare into the void as water runs down your body. Some stupid starmie thinks you’re gay. You’re not. Why did it even—green light. Cuicatl. It thought you were gay for Cuicatl. You ram a palm into your forehead. Ow. That kind of hurts. Doesn’t hurt in the movies. Anyway. As if. She’s a pagan. And blind. Blind and delicate. She needs a dog just to walk. A very cute dog, sure. That she loves way more than you’ve ever loved a pokémon. That’s kind of cute. In general she’s more cute than pretty. Too many scars and sharp angles to be delicate. And she moves like she’s in some sort of military parade. You can’t tell if her glare is fearsome or adorable, partially because those creepy eyes. Even if her hair is pretty. At this point you’re pretty sure it is natural. The roots have never been exposed and it’s a weird thing to lie about. Wish she’d kept it long, though. The length kind of framed everything well, drawing attention down its length towards her

You feel kind of weird.



Oh no.



Oh no.
 
Last edited:

Pen

the cat is mightier than the pen
Staff
Partners
  1. dratini
  2. dratini-pen
  3. dratini-pen2
hi hi hi, here I am. It is late. My brain probably doesn't work. We proceed, nonetheless.

The pokemon interactions were so on-point in this chapter. Still enjoying how distinctive they each feel, even Mom's pokemon. Tchaikovsky is the best, of course. A very learned swan. I like how Mom's mental battle directions devolve into them swearing at each other.

Mom! I like Mom, but the contrast does paint her as privileged in an interesting way. She's doing something she's meant to be doing. The hardships she's undertaken are ones she chose--at any moment she could join the "cowards" and take the train. She has a sense of rightness and complacency and confidence that Cuicatl has never had in the time we know her, and that hurts a bit.

Lyra attack! Hm. It felt kind of over the top to me. I know Lyra's not rational about psychics, but she does care about Gen, and I'm not sure why she'd pull a stunt like this. She doesn't know how powerful Cuicatl is--what if Cuicatl had made her forget about Gen and what she's even doing there?

I also wasn't sure why Kekoa doesn't step in? He has pokemon. He has some leverage over Lyra. It felt like a huge dick-move that he just lets this happen, especially when the battle gets intense, and I was surprised that Cuicatl feels so kindly towards him at the end of the chapter. A failed intervention on Kekoa's behalf that was more involved than just saying, "come on, don't pick on a blind girl" feels like the minimum. So I guess I'm back on the Kekoa is the worst jerk train.

Looking forward to next chapter and how Gen resolves everything with her family through the power of mature reasonable conversation. Your specialty.

#NoBetasWeDyeLikeMen
yes good job

The nurse back at the Center had been very insistent on that as she lectured you over the counter.
I'd cut "as she lectured you over the counter."

And then she’d run on a little too long with her own journey memories.
Mom's Mom was a trainer, huh? And could actually give her advice. Not an advantage Cuicatl has.

(She’d had a sawsbuck back in the day, you know, before she met your father and moved to an apartment that was a little bit too small for an adult deer to live in. He’s somewhere out on ranch upstate. (Whether that’s a real ranch or a nice expression, well, you’ve never had the guts to ask before and you certainly won’t today.) Anyway, Bucky was just coming out of heat…)
Bold double parentheses here. Maybe use square brackets for the internal ones? Or just . . . forgo the outer set.

I like the attention to what happens to the pokemon post-journey. If a ranch upstate is a euphemism . . . oof.

I got confused by the last sentence there?

On your journey you’re supposed to see Unova in all of its glory: the pleasant and unpleasant alike.
I'd cut "in all its glory." Doesn't mesh with pleasant and unpleasant.

Even with a cheap raincoat and a garbage bag skirt, you can still feel the cold water hitting you in the face.
A skirt doesn't protect a face, no?

Coco is resting in her nest ball; attacking cold raindrops was fun for a few minutes, until she decided that it really wasn’t at all and she would like to stop now.
Baby. So good.

It’s impossible to say if it actually was a threat or not, but something gets rammed by a very determined beldum and runs away with a mix of pained and vulgar cries. Nocitlālin was told to keep threats away, and she is really embracing the job.
BEST UNIT. continues to be best.

"runs away with a mix of pained and vulgar cries" is a little clunky. Pained swearing?

The rangers also cull anything that would be too dangerous to people on this route. There are growlithe and raticate, but no arcanine or snorlax.
Cull?! Are we talking relocation or, um, removal?

Snorlax as dangerous is an interesting one to me. I guess as a proxy for bears?

Charles gathers the firewood while you set up the tent. The gurdurr has always been helpful to a fault, but he got knocked out quickly against Drayden and now he feels like he has to make it up to you. He doesn’t. You told him that. He doesn’t believe you.
The alternation becomes clear after this, but it did throw me here to switch back to Mom memories unnanounced, especially since in past chapters we've only had a single flashback at the top of the chapter.

The snow is apparently a fun and fascinating thing to sit in. At least the ferroseed is easily entertained.
Love how you bring metal friends to life.

He could definitely do it better, but he really doesn’t want to so you’ll have to take his word for it.

Calling his bluff will just lead to bird shit coating all your stuff in the morning. You endure the insults in silence.
Tchaikovsky, what a darling.

“Wet!” Pixie whines.

“Do you want to go back into your ball?”

She ponders this for several seconds. “No,” she finally answers.

“Okay, then, you can stay out.”

“Wet!” Pixie whines.

You sigh. “Nothing I can do about that.”

“Wet…” she grumbles.
Pix is so eloquent.

“Coco, Pix, can you watch the camp? Something might try to steal your food.”

Pixie growls. “Eevee?”

Sure, why not?

“Yes.”

The air gets noticeably colder.
Amazing. Comedic timing on the exchanges so far is down pat.

Even though it’s her fault that you’re short enough to need heels in the first place. That’s how genes work, right?
100%

He used to be a moderately successful movie star before he retired. You can still clearly see it. Maybe a little too clearly. You lower your gaze to the hole in the ice.
Nice awkward moment. I like this insight into the difference in Unova training culture, and how it's a lot more commodified.

“Hi, I’m Lyra.”

“Oh. We’ve met, already. I’m Kekoa.”
At first I thought this was a planned thing? But maybe not.

“Oh, I won’t be weakened.” Her voice drips with hate. “But if you won’t send a pokémon out, you can fight yourself, right?”

“Lyra, stop. Now. You’re threatening to beat up a fucking blind girl.”

“I’m threatening to fight a pokémon, Kekoa. That’s allowed.”

Her surface thoughts practically blare out at you. Hatred. Disgust. Pain. Damn psychic. The rest seem to be filthy or bloody mental traps of different kinds. Almost all are visual. Dumbass.
Hm, it seems a little weird that Cuicatl only feels Lyra's mental anger now? Why not earlier?

You lend her some mental power for the attack and it goes off faster than it ever has in training.
Has Cuicatl done this before? Major eyes. Gonna be a fun time if she can lend stealth psychic boosts to that metagross she's totally not going to get.

“Stop it. I… I will kill you, if you ever touch my mind. My dad’s a billionaire, I won’t go to jail. Self-defense. Just g-go.”
Lyra knows.

The tunnel is foreboding, full of flickering lights. The edges probably used to be smooth, but rock- and ground-types have terraformed everything until it looks like a normal cave.
Ooh, I love this idea of the wild pokemon reclaiming routes.

Right. Can’t talk to him. Or feed him. The rangers wouldn’t want dragons frequenting the trail.
Didn't follow this. Why can't she talk to him?

{You fine?}

{I will murder this insolent fool.}

He’s fine.
Tchaikovsky continues to shine.

She eats all the jerky, but also half the plate.
Bless.

You need to tell Miss Bell. You’re worried that she’d just send you home, but if there’s a billionaire heiress out there who hates all psychics. She’ll end up in danger sooner or later.
Think you've got an accidental period?

Glad Cuicatl's got a somewhat actionable plan here.

Everything feels harder for you than it needs to be. You don’t have a Mom to nag to you until yourself, your biggest worry in trials is seeing the enemy and not pain from your shoes, and the monsters you meet in the cold just try to kill you.

It’s still worth it. You’re doing this for Alice and Searah and Renfield. You can’t leave them behind after all they’ve done for you. You’ll go on. Even if you wish that something, anything went your way.
This felt a little on the nose. Perhaps having stuff to the effect that Cuicatl is wrapping herself in her old memories? A sort of reverse justification of the flashbacks? Maybe a bit of wondering how Mom would have handled this, and some pushback--Mom didn't have it like I did? She hero-worships her mom a lot, so it feels like a kind of big realization for Cuicatl to think that this is worse than what Mom dealt with.
 

Pen

the cat is mightier than the pen
Staff
Partners
  1. dratini
  2. dratini-pen
  3. dratini-pen2
Well, I'm glad Gen and her parents talked it all out! Looking forward to seeing Gen take her next steps back into the light of Xerneas--

Some rough stuff in this one. It's brutal of Gen's family to basically leave her in self-isolation, and it clearly starts to take its toll. I like how her thinking stories, what seem to have been one of her main comforts in the past, are warping and turning in on her. The direct jump into the thinking story did throw me, though. I waded through the first section fully baffled and didn't really get what was going on until the scenario turned on Gen. I think it might read less jarringly if it were integrated a bit more, instead of a smooth cut? Like, if in the first part Gen needs several tries before she can get herself into the story? I do a similar thing at night to fall asleep, and when I'm really preoccupied by real-world stuff, it often takes a few false starts to get into the thread of a story, so I don't think it would be unrealistic, and would let me be invested. (Would also be a nice cue that I can ignore all the Proper Nouns, because uh, there are a lot of them, and it was overwhelming.) My initial thought was that Gen was somehow playing D&D with people, since it hadn't been made explicit yet that she was in isolation. And then I was like, but doesn't religious family with D&D is pagan?

I thought it was interesting how Gen really refuses to accept her parent's characterization of herself as prideful and sinful. She's very self-doubting and swayable in some ways, but her conviction in her own rightness is strong here. (Well, maybe not after this chapter. We'll see how she takes it, I guess.)

Mom encounter at the end was really hard to read (in the good way.) The thing is, I get her. She thinks she's trying, she thinks she's being kind, it's so hard on her to have two defective daughters. The psychic-pokemon lie-detector made a ton of sense after everything we learned from Lyra. Am I correct in interpreting that the Starmie actually verified that Gen is telling the truth ie believes she isn't gay? Which is what makes Mom get all thoughtful and for the first time entertain the idea that Gen just doesn't know.

Gen's closing paragraph thinking about Cuicatl would be so cute and wholesome in a different context. Here, though. Oof.

Flying 3.9: The Talk
Love the title choice. 'The Talk' has this implication of goofy, parent-child bonding and that is . . . not what's going on here.

“That’s enough, girls.” Father finally breaks your standoff with Mother, but he still won’t look at either of you.
Hah wow calling your grown-ass wife a girl. Very classy, Father. Hail the patriarchy.

You remove your belt and for a long moment you simply hold it in your hand, unable or unwilling to put it on the table. Putting it down feels like you’re throwing the last few months away. Throwing your power away. It feels wrong.



Maybe Mother was right. Maybe Lyra and Kekoa did wear you down. Make you rebellious and prideful and sinful to the point where you would defy your own parents in favor of a pagan and a transsexual. Maybe you can’t trust yourself with power right now.

You set the belt down on the table and walk towards your room.
Ah, the belt moment! Very oh no.

The pokemon definitely are power here, but I'm not sure that's where Gen's thoughts would go, or at least not go first? She wasn't much of a battler and has never really used her pokemon to get out of a bad situation. I feel like she'd be more focused on the idea that she's giving up company and cuddles. But maybe she understands that her parents see this as power?

It sounded right when you gave up your pokémon. Now you’re less sure. You have to convert people so they don’t get their souls ripped apart by Yveltal for eternity. Someone has to talk to people who aren’t already saved. Your teachers and priests always made it sound like you were supposed to do that when you could. And you can’t do that without talking to people who aren’t already saved. Xerneas would want you to deal with sinners, right?
I didn't quite follow the connection between giving up her pokemon specifically and converting pagans?

But maybe Allana did wear you down. For a while you called her something else. Father probably heard about that. Maybe that’s what you should repent for.
A bit lost here. Allana's obviously a stand-in for Lyra, but I don't really know how long Allana as a character has existed, or what Gen would call her that would be bad?

You sister. Couldn’t.
*your

no betas we die liek men

“Sweetie, being gay wasn’t the sin. That’s fine. Xerneas loves the homosexuals. But when it drives you to act on it, then that’s a sin. You acted on it. Maybe you can relearn control, but it would be easiest if you just didn’t have those temptations. It must be terrible,” she says, sounding genuinely sympathetic. “Having a fearsome addiction and not feeling like you can talk about it. The good news is that there is help; you just have to accept it.”
Oh wow, this is so affirming! What a powerful moment of acceptance.

(This is so good. Mom thinks she is being so kind. oof oof oof.)

You feel even more unclean. She walks into your space and calls you gay and that you stink and and and you’re crying and it’s all not fair. Mother either doesn’t notice the tears or pretends not to.
This hits hard, especially with what we've learned in the past gen chapter about Gen's space and privacy issues with her mom.

The roots have never been exposed and it’s a weird thing to lie about. Wish she’d kept it long, though. The length kind of framed everything well, drawing attention down its length towards her

You feel kind of weird.



Oh no.



Oh no.
This is fine. Everything is fine.
 

surskitty

Bug Catcher
Pronouns
They
The fantasy sequence kind of went over my head, ehehe.

Gen's insistence of deadnaming is :( Girl, no.

I'm kind of fascinated by the starmie lie detection. Interesting concept, fun (well, awful, but fun for me) implementation. Sorry about your realisation of homosexuality, Gen! Cuicatl does sound very cute though, and you're hilariously sheltered. Obviously everyone who only spends time around girls likes girls!
 

WildBoots

Don’t underestimate seeds.
Location
between a hope and a prayer
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. moka-mark
  2. solrock
Hi, I came for the well-adjusted, relaxing, heterosexual times. ☀

I’m just gonna dive right in with my pull-quotes.

That’s enough, girls.”
Haha, fuck this says so much about him.

minds. A better argument might work but all of your ideas melt to nothing under Mother’s withering stare. Maybe… Maybe it is fair.
Oof, baby.

It feels wrong.



Maybe Mother was right.
I misread the ellipsis as a scene break at first and it threw me off.

I agree that the daydream was abrupt!

My initial thought was that Gen was somehow playing D&D with people,
I thought she was watching TV or playing an MMORPG until the “you” came back in. I think part of the problem is that Gen’s Fantasy Persona isn’t even looped into the scene until late. Her reactions need to come in much faster. I agree that false starts would help, especially since it intrusive thoughts and verbatim self-talk are already part of the rhythm of your prose. I think it would also help if somehow her pokemon were integrated into this scene to reflect that she’s missing them—let one of her knight friends be Ser Bubbles? Even if only to do a “no, that makes you sad. Name him something else. Gawain? Gawain.”

I do like how Lyra/her dad ooze into this fairy tale.

Fluffy died in May. You gave up your new pokémon friends. You’re entirely alone.
I don’t remember what month we’re in now, so this loses some of its impact.

You should ask Mother about that, because Xerneas isn’t getting back to you.
🙃

Maker of All: I come to you deeply sorry for accepting the lies of The Destroyer and passing them on to others. I reinforced the sins of another. I ask for forgiveness and a path to penance.
Nice.



Keep reflecting?

Reading BT sometimes feels like playing a character-focused indie game but oops none of the choices matter lol.

“I hate,” she cuts off and lets the word hang in the air. “That I need a psychic-type just to talk to my daughter,” she says. “Because I can’t trust my own child not to lie to me.”
Oh, oof. This is classic Scary Parent: *I* don’t like this because I’m good, but you made me do it and it’s your fault.

The starmie would have proved it.
*proven

“Pride. Add it to your sins. Thinking that you are capable of missionary work. When you change people, you give them a chance to change you as well. Your brother definitely could. You sister. Couldn’t. You couldn’t without being corrupted. But you thought yourself better than you are. Pride. That is one of your failings. Now, tell me another.”
Hahahaha 🙃 I love the hypocrisy here. Yes, go convert the masses! No, not you, how dare you think I meant you.

“There are always schools like your sister’s.
Uh oh.

“Sweetie, being gay wasn’t the sin. That’s fine. Xerneas loves the homosexuals. But when it drives you to act on it, then that’s a sin.
dhstsgdjvbv the homosexuals.

“Well, sweetie, have you ever really wanted to… to be with a boy? The transvestite doesn’t count.”
Ew, god, this is so creepy, the presumption of what Gen thought about her traveling companions. Another classic: the folks who think sex is a sin are the ones obsessed with everyone else’s sex lives.

“I don’t… I don’t know? It was a girl’s school? I didn’t really see boys anywhere else.”
“It was a girl’s school” hits my ear funny, I think uh part because it feels like it happened so long before all the journey/adventure stuff.

It thought you were gay for Cuicatl.
Who?!?!! Would?!?!? Ever?!?! Think?!?! That?!?!????????!?

Gen’s mom was so stressful to read oh god.
 

kintsugi

golden scars | pfp by sun
Location
the warmth of summer in the songs you write
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. silvally-grass
  2. lapras
  3. golurk
  4. booper-kintsugi
  5. meloetta-kint-muse
  6. meloetta-kint-dancer
  7. murkrow
  8. yveltal
  9. celebi
is catch-up week, and by that I mean we delve into silly chapters where it's revealed that Cuicatl's worst nightmares involve Pix and a room full of ketchup.

Flying 3.4: Cognitive Test
Meredith
haha just kidding

This chapter has a really good through-line of apathy, the cost of caring about others, the tiny sacrifices we make at the expense of others in the name of keeping ourselves afloat. Meredith is a great narrator for it; I like how you establish smaller things like her not bothering to note the pronunciation and then gradually work it into something horrible and sinister. It's a nice parallel for how these thought processes develop slowly in real life, with small concessions gradually eroding your ability to resist bigger ones, until you're patting yourself on the back for even feeling guilty about a thing that could've been avoided if you'd just taken her to a fucking coffee shop instead of hosting any sort of get-together in your haunted apartment. And I like how Meredith projects on everyone around her--does Selene really not care about what happened to Eve, or is that just Meredith assuming that no one cares about anything any more, because the alternative is realizing that sometimes it's better to give a fuck? It's a question that I don't really think needs answering; it's like the memetic Inception ending in that the choice Meredith makes is more powerful than the answer itself.

I like the revisiting on different license classes, and how this system basically paywalls Class V behind getting other people who are currently in charge to like you. Idk if I've commented on it before but it feels like a realistically horrible way that pokemon could transition from being (relatively) merit-based/egalitarian assuming all of us have friends with rich grandparents who can give us the hook-up on incredibly rare and powerful starters into a social structure that seems more, I guess, human/exploitative. Why stop at paywalling things with money? Just make it illegal for people you don't like to have power.

In general I thought this was a really strong chapter. You have a knack for writing believably awful people, and it's vaguely horrifying to watch bad things happen to the main characters from an outsider perspective. There's a nice intersection of a lot of things going wrong that Meredith is only tangentially aware of--Cuicatl's reverence for her sacred symbols of home, her general status as an outsider/unfamiliarity with oricorio, her totally Dealt With skeletons in her closet, her not planning much of this out ahead of "git rich git gud git dragon"--that all really come to a head here, but in a way that the reader is way more aware of the oncoming disaster than the narration. It's a really clever tactic and made this chapter such a good shitshow to watch unfold. Is it true that this wasn't in the initial plan and only got added post oricorio ADex??

Sure, you’re not exactly thrilled to work for the pokémon capture-and-export trade (and your professors would throw a fit if they knew you were A Bad Person). But it’s not even that bad for the island birds; no native one even needs a Class V. Can’t see the harm in it.
didn't quite see the link between "being bad for the island birds" and "needing a Class V". I get that in her apathy Meredith's explanations might be skipping some steps.
And apparently Congress made it so that businesses don’t have to pay unemployment during the apocalypse, but landlords can still charge rent.
yeah sorry in a chapter about channeler birds and casually carting around baby supercomputer robot crabs I simply fail to believe that a government would be this horrible to people.
“I’ll figure it out later. Wild pokémon, maybe? It’s legal to hunt gumshoos. And she won’t get to full size soon.”
yes, good, very good plan, all of this is being thought about very carefully as we consider all possible drawbacks
You’re aware into work on parrot and corvid languages
cackle

“I am very good at hydreigon’s dialect. And I can mostly understand tyrunt.” A frown again. She crosses her legs, earning a yowl of protest from her vulpix. “I think. I did not understand much of Jurassic Park the book, big words and the recording was fast, but I think it said that really smart pokémon might not know their language and culture when they came back
Weird transition into no contractions here re: "I am" / "I did not"
oh no sad velociraptor screeches into the void

“No. Dragons have their own myths. Alice talked about The Split God, Reshiram and Zekrom. And Kyurem, sort. Then Quetzlcoatl…or Rayquazza…they call him…” What she says is some sequence of growls that somehow still sounds like language. “He let dragons fly. Then there’s…” the name is a hiss, a strange growl thing that you’re pretty sure comes from her mouth more than her throat, and another hiss. It sounds sort of like a reptile trying to say ‘Sagaris.’ “But Sagaris isn’t a god. More of a hero. Like… I’m sorry. I don’t know any local heroes. Ohserase? She’s Unovan but…”
<3

“I’m know the story.” You’re a kanaka girl born under American rule. Of course you’ve heard it. Your high school even put on the play before you got your GED and hit the trail. You always thought it was a silly story: if you just pray to the gods and politely ask the government to care about the people, it will all come to pass.
</3
I like the more cynical take on myths, especially with the context of who Meredith is. I never really found myself believing in myths as a thing we should seek to emulate, like the mandate for just praying politely and asking those in power to look after you is actually a solution; rather that it's such a momentous thing that when it does happen, we ingrain that shit into our cultural memory because it's so magical and unexpected that we can only conclude it was supernatural. But I think in a pokeworld this makes a lot of sense--you could believe in gods saving the day in the sense that it probably happened within living memory, so a more visceral reaction to those believes makes a lot of sense here.
“Hello,” Wolsey dutifully adds.
best bird; deserves better
“It’s odd to hear about pokémon with religions. Testing them all day, they’re smart, sure, but not like that. Not human.” Honchkrow are smart, sure, but smart like a toddler. Maybe Ophelia is on adult human level. Maybe. Even then you’re never sure how much is her intelligence and how much is from her borrowed spirits.
At first I thought this was a silly conclusion to draw given, literally trains channeler birds, but it makes a lot of sense why she'd want to believe this.

And this is largely separate from Meredith's takeaway, but I like how you continue to portray different levels of intelligence here--this mostly comes back in Ancestor Stories, but different cultures can value different things, and it's not necessarily lesser.
“She does. A giant bird with one wing made of a rainbow and the other made of ash gave talonflame their fire.” She pauses and purses her lips. “It’s kind of similar to the Split God myth.”
<3
(you really need to tell her not to do that in front of Ophelia)
This was around when I caught on that Meredith was going to royally ruin everything out of sheer laziness.
You curtsy again. “Hello, Eve. This is Cuicatl Ichtaca, my student. Cuicatl Ichtaca,” please don’t correct the pronunciation please don’t correct the pronunciation hey I know you’re psychic please don’t correct the pronunciation, “This is Eve, my sister.”
Italics might've helped here on the interjection bits
You were looking at San Antonio for grad school but, hey, you might get kidnapped, dragged across the border in the dead of night, and publicly executed so Castelia started looking pretty good in comparison.
I think a comma after "executed" would help differentiate that Castelia is a separate clause from public execution
A male voice starts roaring in Nahuatl, right next to you. To Cuicatl. “Ophelia, please stop.” She does, sort of, dropping the voice to a furious whisper. And Cuicatl’s gone still beside you, eyes wide and every muscle tensed up like she’s just heard a ghost.

Which, to be fair, she has.
the dramatic buildup here was good, oof
“You’re safe,” she whispers. “That’s what matters.”
You’re a bad person and you know it. Most of the time you just wish you were even worse. The kind of monster who could look a sobbing girl in the eyes and feel nothing. Because monsters aren’t hounded by guilt at night.

A real monster wouldn’t be so damn tired all the time.
in which we finally get to see who the real victim is here!! thank goodness. i was so worried that Meredith would be seriously injured by a sub-five foot child or might have to face some guilt for her long-standing policy of "fuck anyone who isn't us"

---
Flying 3.5: Ancestor Stories
Pixie

This one I like conceptually! Lots of room to tell interesting myths, which I think is another strong suit of yours. I like the ninetales myths in particular--Finneon's Wake felt a bit tacked on; I'd probably read a side series that's just Pixie critiquing stupid human movies, but it doesn't feel like it fits here. But the different takes on the Brass Tower myth, the blessing of the moon goddess--it's nice to see what stories are important to Pixie/ninetales culture in general, the focus on their own beauty, etc. I couldn't help but wonder if the middle finger to eevee is a translator's note from Pixie, since it seems like mountaintop ninetales wouldn't specifically hate eevee to the point of including them in ancestor stories. Or is the point that Cuicatl is the one telling these and embellishing them with details for Pix?

Execution-wise it felt a bit strange--the myths told don't particularly feel relevant to the character arcs at the time, Pixie doesn't really do much as a character/narrator here, and the main emotional focus is on Cuicatl, but because she's (reasonably) not sharing her thoughts with the audience at the moment, we don't really get to see what that entails. Unlike the previous chapter, where Meredith's unfamiliarity with what Cuicatl's thinking + her not caring about learning is an antagonistic force that results in bad things happening, here it feels a bit removed and the result is mostly just that Pixie is bored and shut off from meaningfully impacting the plot this time. Perhaps restructuring it so that Pix chooses to tell these stories, either to entertain herself or to try to make Cuicatl feel better?--something to make the connection between the inclusion of the myths and the events as they unfold. I think a quiet chapter helps here, and I'm not particularly against the idea of having someone view Cuicatl from the outside here, but I wanted a little bit more agency from Pix as the viewpoint narrator for this one.

but I mean this one features eevee being blessed by god to turn into ninetales, so it is 10/10, obviously. Sarcasm aside, lots of good little gems scattered throughout.

You will have to scream at the moon-eater until it gets scared and gives her back. Skysong ignores you as you start screaming. Eggbreath joins you. It might help, even if the hatchling is not at all intimidating.
henlo we are helping
One has a fluffy sparkslinger. You got Eggbreath to see it as food and after two (failed) hunts, she’s now in her ball and away from Skysong almost all the time.
her brain is ENORMOUS
“Mission Alert: Capture one finneon per team member, within legal size limits. Location: Hau’oli City. Flashlights and fishing poles may be rented from the central office. Expect waitlists for equipment rentals.”
god it's so silly that people would still be expected to work as normal in the middle of some massive disaster even though there's basically no infrastructure to support that safely
Bloodrage himself is above her on his.
the "himself" felt a bit extra. Is it out of the ordinary that he'd personally sit on his bed?
“I would but…” She lowers her voice. Not low enough that you and Eggbreath or Eyerock can’t hear it. Wait? Where is Eyerock? You can’t smell her. “My gift doesn’t work over phones. And my actual English isn’t that good.”
I liked this bit--turns out maybe Genesis was necessary to the group, if only because someone has to order pizza for them.
“To you. Sorry to you. I found out she had a hawlucha and… yeah, I get why you hated me.”
I like the implication that this only really sinks in once she has the script flipped on her in real time. It feels realistic--you can feel sorry that you did something, but it takes an extreme amount of empathy to understand how much more sorry you'd be if it actually happened to you.
“Oricorio. Listen, Cuicatl Ichtaca, whatever it said—they’re liars. Horrible liars. I thought about getting one, once, but then I started reading about what they do to people and—just don’t listen to it, okay? It wasn’t your Mom speaking.”
:(
koa being the semi-reasonablep erson on the team? this is truly the apocalypse
“Finneon’s Wake.”
a classic pun
One ninetales can raise seven kits perfectly fine with only four or five dying.
S-tier parents, should nerf in the next patch
“But I guess… I could make it a book of myths. I talked to the talonflame a few days ago. And Alice and Renfield told me a lot of stories. With some from you and Noci… I think it could work.”
Is she canonically the author of WME???
Long ago and across the sea, one clan of humans torched the city of another clan as humans are wont to do. In the blaze, the nest of the Rainbow God was burned. As the Rainbow God descended to survey the damage, he found the bodies of three foxes who had ran into the temple to pray to the Rainbow God to spare the pokémon who had played no part in the calamity.
I think it's interesting that the myth gets turned here to "humans burned down Brass Tower"--canonically the people in Ecruteak say it's just a lightning strike in a storm, right? It's always interesting to see what gets said and what gets removed.
Ashes poured from the god’s wings and became bound to the foxes, transforming them from ordinary eevee into majestic ninetales.
classic
The Sea Guardian gifted them control of the weather itself. The Thunder Guardian gifted them even longer and more beautiful fur. The Mind Guardian gifted them some of her great wisdom. The Earth Guardian gifted them even greater longevity.
I didn't quite follow the link between Tapu Koko and nice fur.
Eggbreath slams her tail down. “Unfair! Mother told you stories but not me!”
Was the implication here meant to be that Cuicatl is the one telling these stories to Pix instead of vice versa?
“I’ll tell you some, then. Let’s start with… The Split Gods.”
big 👀
{Tell him that he’d be safer with me watching over him until he evolves again.}

{I tried.} Skysong sighs, aloud, and the rise and fall of her chest carries you with it. {But he doesn’t like you or your trumbeak.}
I'm sure glad that this recurring issue of how Cuicatl has better communication with Kekoa's pokemon vs Kekoa's pride that as a native he should Know Better is never going to cause issues in the future.
 
Fighting 3.10

Persephone

Infinite Screms
Pronouns
her/hers
Partners
  1. mawile
  2. vulpix-alola
Fighting 3.10: The Summit
Kekoa

January 12, 2020

The dim glow and cool, moist air of Verdant Cavern would suck most of the year. Now it’s warmer and brighter than the world outside. Not sure why you can see by the light of the glowing moss but not the sun or electricity. Something about how Necrozma absorbs light, but not pokémon elemental energy. So light mixed with energy isn’t fully absorbed. Or something. Didn’t sound like the scientists had it figured out themselves.

Lyra is deeper into the cave watching her noibat meet his old friends. Good for her. You understand not being able to say goodbye. When it happens to you, anyway. For your pokémon… you can see where Cuicatl and Kanoa were coming from, and in hindsight it’s not a good look. Makani got sent over to Akala by ferry before you left. Hope he’s living his best life.

You still haven’t talked to Hekeli yet. It’s been months since you found out that a psychic translator was within shouting distance 90% of the time and you still haven’t had a real talk with your trumbeak. At first it was because you didn’t think you needed it since the birds are deeply connected to your people.

Now you’re scared of what you’ll find out. It’s cowardly, but deep down you don’t want her to tell you that she hates you. There’s still a false queen to dethrone and you can’t do that without pokémon.

You take a deep breath. After Lyra’s heart-to-heart with her team, you decided you’d do it. Eventually. When you reached Verdant Cave and there was light. Now you’re here and there are a half-dozen good reasons not to.

Food, for one. Trumbeak eat a lot of berries, but very few are growing in the darkness. Most of the bushes you’ve passed have long been picked clean. Some kids in Hau’oli were talking about how there are still berries to be found in the hard-to-reach places, but you don’t want to wander off trail in the dark. Fresh fruit doesn’t last long and still isn’t common outside the big ports. She can eat dehydrated fruit, but then she won’t get water from it, which is a problem because trumbeak don’t drink water. Even juicy bugs are still a little dry for her taste. It’s best to keep her in stasis as much as possible right now. Sending her out just to talk is selfish and bad for her health.

But you’ll gladly send her out for longer to battle the totems, a traitorous part of your mind replies.

“I think you should,” Cuicatl says. You glance over and see her sitting down, legs crossed, while she runs a brush through her vulpix’s fur. It’s weird but after just a few days of total darkness you’d started to forget little details of what she looked like. What anything looks like. You don’t like that. Your memory is, well, you, and it can only hold people in it for a few days before things start to get a little dicey. Her eyes are brown somewhere beneath the fog. You aren’t sure if you’d forgotten that are not.

What color are the Gage Heiress’s eyes, anyway? Green, right? Or blue… she didn’t like making eye contact very much. Neither does Cuicatl. Part of why it’s so easy to forget.

“You know the way to never forget anything you see?” Cuicatl asks.

You startle. Right, she can read loud thoughts. Not that you know how to think quietly. “Uh, no? How do—” Never seeing anything in the first place. You groan before she can even answer. She just giggles.

She tilts her head but keeps her self-satisfied smirk. “What are you afraid of?”

Spiders. Thunder. Ghosts. Earthquakes. Hail. Ships.

Failing your ancestors.

“Do you think she hates me?” you ask.

She hums in consideration. You can never decide if it’s annoying or not when she does that. “No. I think she’s irritated, but I don’t think she hates you. And she’s a bird so she’d definitely say so if she was.”

“Past experience?” Because she sounds sure of that.

“My mom’s swanna,” she says. “He was her starter and, um, he sort of loved and hated her at the same time.” She starts to trail off before finishing with a whisper. “We never really got along, but he didn’t leave after mom’s death. I think he blamed himself.”

You don’t want to ask how her mom died. It’s not something she wanted to tell you until a few weeks ago and she’s clearly still torn up about it, even though she says it happened a while ago. Probably violent if her starter could’ve stopped it.

“Childbirth,” Cuicatl mutters. “I never actually met her. ‘Chovsky couldn’t have stopped it, but I don’t think he accepts that.” She sighs. “Doesn’t matter; the flood’s left for the ocean and the fields are dry.”

“What?”

“Expression. It means that ‘it’s too late to do anything about it.’” She makes a mischievous smile. “You’ve stalled long enough. Ready?”

“I guess…” You let out Hekeli and prepare for judgment.

She glances between the two of you and towards the glowing walls of the cave. You don’t need a translator for this. “I don’t know why it’s glowing, either. And I wanted to talk.”

She trills. “Finally,” Cuicatl says, clearly trying to capture the character of the words. “Took you long enough.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” You scratch at the back of your head as the trumbeak keeps staring at you. Probably wants a longer answer. “I was just.” Deep breath. You can do this. “Worried. I’m sorry.” More staring. Finally gets a chance to talk to you and she decides she doesn’t want to, after all. Might as well get the hard question out of the way, first. “Are you happy with me?”

There’s a long series of trills, coos, and a peck to the ground.

“Uh, one sec. That was a bit.” Cuicatl closes her eyes and nods, fingers drumming along on the cave floor beside her. “You help her win and she likes that.” Another trill and Cuicatl turns to glare at something three feet to the left of Hekeli. “And apparently I’m not as good of a trainer as you are.” Another peck to the ground and something that sounds like a snort. “And she isn’t sure how I’m still alive. Which isn’t a very nice thing to say about someone who sings for you.”

One minute in and Hekeli is arguing with the translator. Great. You don’t point out that you’ve had the same concerns about her, what with the tripping and the love of murder beasts. Sometimes it’s like she’s trying to get herself killed.

“Do you like your name?” you ask. Somehow that’s more comfortable ground. “I can call you something else if you want.”

There’s a brief back and forth as Cuicatl and a bird talk to each other. Cuicatl sounds like she always does to you. Does she sound like another trumbeak to Hekeli? “She wants to know what it means,” Cuicatl finally says.

“Thunderstorm. It’s because you hit like lightning.”

There are a few sharp cracks of Hekeli’s beak hitting the ground hard enough to shatter part of it. Should probably tell her not to do that. Might count as vandalism or something. “She doesn’t like lightning,” Cuicatl says. “It hurts.”

“Well, she’s good at making opponents hurt.”

Another crack to the ground.

“She doesn’t like lightning,” Cuicatl repeats.

“You guys alright?” Lyra calls from somewhere in the distance. Her voice echoes again and again and again and again.

“We’re not hurt,” Cuicatl answers. There’s something strange in her echoes: you can hear her unaccented voice when she talks, but her echoes are different. You’re pretty sure they aren’t even in Galarian. Cuicatl cringes as she realizes the same thing. Well, hopefully Lyra won’t notice. You doubt she’d have a problem with it, but it’s Cuicatl’s secret to reveal when she wants to.

Lyra doesn’t answer so you carry on.

“What was your name before I caught you?”

She makes a very particular warble without Cuicatl even translating. Odd. How much Galarian does she know. “Moonlight,” Cuicatl says.

The Alolan phrase for moonlight is a bit long. “Does ‘Mahina’ work? It means moon in the language of these islands.”

A short chirp after Cuicatl repeats your words.

“She says that’s fine.”

Cuicatl reaches out her hand. For a shake or to get something or what? Or does she want you to guide her somewhere. You hold out your hand and run a finger along her palm. She stretches a bit more to grab your wrist and give it a slight squeeze. Oh. A reassuring thing. She’s proud you did the thing you should’ve done months ago.

“Seriously, you guys alright?” Lyra’s voice echoes less. You can hear her footsteps, too, as she rounds the corner and meets you in the entrance chamber. “There was a lot of something going on back here.”

“My trumbeak was attacking the ground.”

She doesn’t really need context.

Lyra walks up and examines Hekeli’s indent. She scowls. “Do you know how long it takes cave ecosystems to regenerate? That could be literal centuries of damage. Pretty sure there are big fines for that sort of thing.”

“Why’d you bother to learn about fines?” you ask. You’re being defensive and you know it, but she flies in from gods-know-where with her rich daddy and wants to lecture you about your own damn caves. At least the Gage Heiress never pretended she knew what she was doing. “Can’t you just pay them?”

She locks eyes with you and purses her lips. Another difference: the Gage Heiress would look away and stammer instead of gearing up for a fight. “Because I care about preserving irreplaceable geology. Unlike you.”

“Wasn’t this place a trial site a few years ago?” Totem gumshoos if you remember correctly. Or was it raticate? Whichever it was you remember that the captain just oozed holier-than-thou rich kid energy. “I’m sure it’s taken worse hits than that.”

Lyra huffs. “Don’t get me started. This place never should have been a trial site. No cave should be. Forests, fine, those regrow eventually.” She breaks eye contact and starts pacing, throwing out her arms in dramatic poses with every point as she goes. “Seashores and sand dunes change shape all the time. You can’t burn down a mountain. Buildings can be repaired. But the one thing that can’t be replaced? That’s where they put a trial site?”

Great. Now she’s insulting the ability of Tapu Koko and his kahuna to pick a trial site. Before you can tell her off Cuicatl interjects: “Can we get going? We still have a few miles to the Center and I’d like to sleep in a real bed tonight.”

A bed would be nice, and they might have fruit for Hekeli—for Mahina.

“Sounds like a plan,” you mumble. You’ll fight Lyra the next time she gets on your nerves. The part of your brain telling you that her team could kick Mahina’s ass, and she might be able to kick yours is ignored.

Darkness smothers you again after you leave the cave. There’s no difference in looking forward with your eyes open and closed. So you close them. When your open eyes see total darkness, your brain freaks out a bit. It’s normal to see nothing with your eyes closed.

The cold air coils around you, pressing into all the exposed skin it can find. The temperature dipped below forty last night. Once you get to the eastern highlands of the island it’ll be even colder. If this keeps up you’ll need to get proper winter clothes, not just the half-assed getup you could find and afford in the time it took VStar to get a new mission sent out.

As you hike you can feel Lyra’s eyes on your back, somehow boring into you in total darkness.

[January 13]​

You will never again make fun of Cuicatl for tripping.

Your boot catches on the loose pebbles of Mauna Pāhili and sends you cascading back down a few body lengths. At least your pants prevented your legs from getting slashed up like your friend’s can get. And you didn’t go over a cliff face. You remember that happening to Cuicatl on a little one back on Ula’Ula. You’ve heard some people have gone over much, much taller ones in the dark. You’re glad that at least some of the pokémon in your party can still get around and you’re on easy routes. Otherwise, this could’ve gone much, much worse

“You okay?” Cuicatl calls down from above. You can’t tell if she’s mocking you. Doesn’t really matter If she is since you deserve it. Nah. You’re a lot more worried about the outsider below you. The image of Lyra holding a hand in front of her mouth as she stifles a laugh flashes into your mind. It’s definitely what she’s doing and you hate that you can’t lash out without proof of it. Not without Cuicatl giving you a talk about biting the hand that’s paying half your bills.

“Just give me a minute,” you yell back.

You reach out your hands and her beldum slips between them. You pull yourself up with a surprisingly powerful assist from the steel-type. You can feel the heat they radiate through the gloves, but it’s not bad enough to burn.

On the way up you make sure to take things slower. You still trip and almost fall.

“Never making fun of you again,” you repeat aloud, so that she actually knows if she wasn’t reading your mind.

“Maybe you could get a cane if this goes on long enough.” You shiver, both because it’s fucking cold and because that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. A perfectly healthy teenage boy needs a cane just to get around his home country. What a world.

“Or a walking stick,” Lyra adds. That is a more masculine option. But since she suggested it you can’t do it for a little while. This had better be fucking over soon. Damn ‘Queen’ sits on your country’s throne but can’t even keep the lights on. Least she could do is stop the winter that started on her watch, but she’s not even up to that. You can get hypothermia at sea level now. Maybe frostbite in a bit. And the meteorologists are already talking about what a hard frost would mean…

The winds on the mountain pick up the higher you get. It’s a distinctive feature of the peak. Mauna Pāhili is the northern guardian of Melemele. Like the larger Hokulani and Lanaklia there aren’t really plants on top. The fearskmlime winds and dry soils make it hard for large plants to hang on. Unlike Lanakila and Hokulani, the top of Pāhili is pretty much just a giant pile of loose gravel. It’s a difficult hike in the best of times. Now is not the best of times. But it was either scale this monster or go the long way around the coast and spend extra days out in the cold. Cuicatl didn’t want to spend more time in the cold than she needed to after her brush with hypothermia on Route 2. Because she’s a dumbass who won’t tell other people what’s wrong until she can’t hide it anymore. Anyway, she thought that if she could survive Hokulani then she could survive Pāhili. She was right. She’s doing fine.

You may have overestimated your own ability to hike in total darkness. Doing it on flat ground was one thing. Here, on a gravel pile that’s still a little slick from the rains, that’s another story.

Lyra pauses a short while later. She makes sure to tell you when she does. Another thing that you probably should have been doing. “Musei thinks we’ve reached the fork. One goes up to the peak, the other heads back down to the other side. Do you want—”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to the peak for the views,” you tell her.

“Could be fun,” Lyra says.

“You’re welcome to go alone and freeze your ass off.”

{Kekoa.}

You ignore Cuicatl’s mental warning. Thankfully Lyra lets things slide.

“Hike on,” she mumbles. Cuicatl apparently hears it over the wind. You hear her cane sweep over the ground a moment later.

The road down is no easier, but at least your falls bring you closer to your goal. Even if you knock over Cuicatl once. That time Lyra does laugh after making sure you’re both okay. Bitch. First clearing after the fall Cuicatl declares that you’re stopping for the night. She says that the wind doesn’t feel as harsh. Like there’s something blocking the wind. You really should go down farther, but you’re too embarrassed to argue with her at the moment. Especially since she more than anyone gets the risks of staying out on the road for too long.

You don’t really want to start a real fire in this weather. Too much risk of it getting out of control in the wind. Cuicatl at least cooks dinner on the stove. You huddle in front of it in hopes of getting any warmth from the small flame. She’s cooking pidove—lab pidove, but still—today and the smell is heavenly. Some wild pokémon apparently agree and her team is kept busy scaring off intruders. Hekeli is still learning to fly in the dark. No, that’s not right. She knows how to fly in the dark; landing is another story.

There’s plenty of starving prey and frozen meat left on the islands for Pixie and Coco. Even the real stuff is cheap these days. Not many people want to risk cooking blind. Nocit-whatever doesn’t seem to eat anything. Or maybe they feed on the awkwardness people feel when something tries to watch them pee. That would explain a lot. Worst thing is that you’re pretty sure they do it all the time now since you can’t catch them in the act.

Lyra’s never complained about finding food for her team. She can probably afford whatever they need, even with apocalyptic price-scalping.

Your eyes wander up to the sky. The spiderweb of light seems to be changing over time. Fewer branches now, but they’re all larger. No idea what that means. “You plan on getting more pokémon?” Lyra asks.

She has a point. You definitely should catch another pokémon. A solitary trumbeak won’t cut it against the third and fourth trials, especially if you can’t give her much training right now. Relying on temporary captures was fine early on, but now you need a plan if you want to dethrone the False Queen. But after losing Makani you haven’t had the heart to make new plans. You can plan on getting anything you want, but if it won’t listen to you then you’re no better off in the long run.

“Maybe. I should pick up something or other. Jynx, maybe?”

“They’re psychics, right?” Lyra asks.

“Yeah. Might want some help finding whatever I decide on. Pixie or Coco to sniff it out, maybe?”

“You’ve got it,” Cuicatl says.

“Thanks.”

She turns the meat over on the stove. Something gets hit by a take down at the edge of the clearing as the beldum defends your dinner. Almost makes you forgive them for everything else.

“If you get a jynx, you keeping it long term?” Lyra says, contempt in her voice. What’d jynx ever do to her?

Jynx are a twisted take on a human woman with the body to match. You might need one to deal with the water trial’s toxapex, but the idea of spending lots of time with a jynx makes your dysphoria growl under your skin. You don’t look like that. You know that. Sometimes.

“Probably not.”

“Good,” Lyra says. “Beldum apparently aren’t very good telepaths, but I’d hate to be around an actual psychic.”

Wait, what?

“What’s wrong with psychics?”

“They can get into your brain and change thoughts, feelings, memories: everything that makes you who you are.” She says it like that’s a perfectly normal thing to be afraid of. Why bother? Not the most dangerous part of training pokémon. Alakazam probably could twist your mind. It would also give you brain cancer, which is a much better reason not to train an alakazam. What else could even do that kind of shit? You vaguely remember some conspiracy theorist talking about the beheeyem rewriting memories or something, but that always struck you as tabloid nonsense.

{She really hates psychics,} you tell Cuicatl. Maybe she has ideas on how to proceed here. There’s a pop of oil or water and she hisses. “You alright?”

“I’m fine,” she says with her voice. {And I know,} she says with her mind. {Only found out after it would’ve been awkward to tell her off.}

{I can beat her up for you.}

{I’ll keep it in mind.}

You hope she’s serious about that. And that she doesn’t realize that it might be an empty threat until you get more pokémon to back you up.

“I’m pretty sure my current team can handle the next two trials,” Cuicatl says. It takes you a moment to realize that she’s picking up the subject you dropped because Lyra was racist. Do psychics count as a race? “I have a plan for the toxapex fight in Kala’e Bay. Might need to get another rock-type if the bug trial doesn’t go well. For the short term. Not permanently.

You’ve thought about catching a carbink to use for a little bit. They’re good against the bug trial and Hala. It just won’t hold up in the long term. Maybe you’d be the lucky bastard who figures out how to make it evolve into a diancie, but your luck’s never been that good. Not worth betting on. There’s always rockruff near Ten Carat Hill. A lot of strong Alolan trainers use one. And they’re dogs. Man’s best friend. You can’t screw that one up, right? Sure, it won’t pull its weight against Hala, but you have a bird for that. “Might get a rockruff. Don’t know.” Wait, what is Cuicatl going with? You’ve never actually heard her long-term plans now that you think about it. “What about your last three going to be?”

“I don’t plan on getting any more in the near term.”

{I have, but Pix starts panicking when I talk about it. Thinks she’s getting replaced.}

{Why?}

She turns the burner off and starts putting the food onto plates. It tastes as good as it smells. You’re really lucky that you got paired with her. Otherwise, you’d still be eating freeze-dried shit every night.

{Pokémon are a lot like humans.} Cuicatl finally answers. {But they don’t get us. Sometimes they get scared and angry because they think we mean something big when we do something small.}

You take another few bites. How many times have you pissed off a pokémon without meaning to? How does anyone avoid that? Magical bullshit. That’s how. And it makes you angry. You don’t know why, but it does. You shouldn’t be angry at her, though. She just made you food. You should talk about something else.

{You do know what you’re catching, then?}

Lyra chooses to interrupt your silent conversation. Rude. “This is very good,” she says. “Where’d you learn to cook?”

“Home,” Cuicatl says. Then she starts loudly running her spoon along her bowl to get Lyra to stop talking for a bit, because she’s definitely too busy eating to respond.

It doesn’t stop her.

“I think you’ll definitely need more pokémon soon if you want to win. Coco will be a monster once she evolves, but that will be at least a few months. Maybe a lot longer. And your other pokémon aren’t quite pulling their weight.”

Pixie yaps in protest.

“Noci is tough and Pixie has a lot of tricks,” Cuicatl says. “She can confuse, disable, and scare a totem. That’s a big deal.”

“Maybe,” Lyra concedes in a way that doesn’t sound like she’s conceding anyway. “If you did get more pokémon though, what would you get?”

Cuicatl sighs. She’s probably weighing if she tells Lyra what she told you. She decides not to. “I don’t want anything as big as Coco. She’s going to be expensive to feed. But if I’m already buying meat, it makes sense to get meat eaters. Already have a fox, dragon, and machine. Maybe a bear, amphibian, and bug? No more foxes, obviously.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works with meat,” Lyra says. “I think it’d just be expensive and the bulk discounts wouldn’t cover all of it.”

“I like predators,” Cuicatl says so quietly that you can barely hear it over the wind. “I’d find a way to pay for it.”

“You really don’t have a plan, huh? Like, something specific you plan on catching,” you ask before Lyra can question her money plans. Because you’re pretty sure she doesn’t have any and talking about it would stress her out. And the idea of Lyra chewing out Cuicatl on being financially irresponsible rubs you fifty different wrong ways.

“No. If I find a friend, I’ll ask the team if they can join. That’s all my plans.”

Something occurs to you and you drop your fork. “Wait, you want a bear? Weren’t we nearly mauled by some on Ula’Ula? Why—"

“There are fluffy bears that like hugs. I want one,” she sounds like she’s pouting. Like a little girl who wants a stuffed toy. Except she’s a teenager who wants a toy that toy could murder her.

“They like hugs like sandaconda like hugs,” Lyra says.

Cuicatl pauses as she scrapes the last of her meal off of her plate. “Are those here? I thought they were just in the New World.”

“I think there are some in Galar,” Lyra says. “Escaped pets and all. None here.”

“Oh.” Cuicatl sounds very disappointed. It’s hard to get the image of her as a pouting child out of your mind.

“Please tell me you’re joking.” You say it even though you know she isn’t. Why wouldn’t Cuicatl want things that will crush her ribcage. And it’s somehow your job to keep her alive.

You reconsider if the food is worth it.



Yeah.

It probably is.

*​

You’re woken up by the sound of something very, very big landing outside. Pixie starts yapping outside trying to scare off… whatever that is. Cuicatl comes to her senses faster than you. “Pix, stand down!” You can hear her rush out of her tent, fumbling with the zipper for a moment before getting out. You’re pretty sure that she didn’t stop to put shoes on. That’s got to be a pain on the gravel.

“Hello,” Cuicatl says. “I’m sorry if my friend attacked. Everyone’s nervous right now.”

The… bird gives a remarkably high-pitched shriek for something that large. You hurry to put your shoes on and head out of the tent. Might be a mandibuzz or honchkrow. That could be a problem for her.

“I know. Oh, I can… talk to birds. You can speak to me.”

Coco rushes by and starts making her own roar-chirp-rumble calls at the massive bird. The bird answers. You aren’t sure who it’s answering: Cuicatl or Coco.

“That’s Coco,” Cuicatl says. “I’m raising her with the male in our group.”

The bird clucks. Like a torchic. Definitely not what they sound like in movies.

“A tyrunt. She’s some mix of dragon and bird. Can’t fly.”

More clucks in a different pattern.

“Yes, she eats meat.”

Something smaller and angrier starts calling out. It sounds a little like the monster bird. A baby, perhaps? And if this is a giant bird that Cuicatl can talk to, it’s probably a braviary and rufflet.

The braviary gives a long series of trills, whistles, and clucks. Cuicatl listens, occasionally saying a polite word.

“I see. We can do that, yes.”

The parent and child talk to each other as your mind catches up. Metagross, tyrantrum, ninetales, and braviary, huh? It’s almost unfair.

With one final shriek the braviary launches itself into the air and soars away. The rufflet gets closer, nervously chirping. You can hear Cuicatl lower herself down, so you also crouch. “Hello, you brave boy. I’m Cuicatl Ichtaca. My friend is Kekoa Mahi’ai. He’ll be taking you down to other humans who can take care of you.”

Wait.

First of all, glad she didn’t list Lyra as a friend alongside you. You can hear her awkwardly standing around, kicking gravel away from her as she fidgets. Second, why is she giving it up?”

{Don’t you want a braviary? You said you wanted big predators and one just dive bombed you and dropped off its kid.}

{Can’t. I’d need a priest’s permission. Do you want him?}

Probably not? Braviary are powerful, sure, but rufflet take infamously long to evolve. You need to depose the False Queen soon. And. They like humans who look like mandibuzz. Long hair, jewelry, all that. You’re not doing that ever again.

{No.}

{Alright.} “Let me get some food out for you. You’re hungry, right?” The rufflet chirps and Cuicatl stumbles past you into the tent. “Alright. Just let me get some shoes on first.”

“How are you talking to him?” Lyra asks. She sounds dazed, probably because she’s just been woken up. Or maybe she’s catching on to Cuicatl’s secrets. Hopefully it’s just drowsiness.

“Coco talks halfway between a dragon and a bird of prey. Let me figure out a lot of that language,” Cuicatl seamlessly lies. You wonder if she’d come up with that up in advance. “And they’re starving. Sight-based hunters and all. Thought we might adopt their kid. I think they do that in the wild with other companies, but all the other companies are probably hungry as well.”

“Oh,” she says. “So did his mom just drop him off with the first travelers to walk by? That sounds risky.”

And lucky. Or unlucky. That could’ve gone badly.

“I think she sensed Coco. Thought we were already caring for a young… bird of our own, so she decided we’d do,” Cuicatl says as she gets back out of her tent. “Alright, let me see how much meat we have left…”

*​

It’s a little hard to get back to sleep. It’s not just you, either. The rufflet is wide awake outside wrestling against Coco. You can hear their squabbling, hisses, and chirps as they fight. Sometimes they crash into the side of the tent before rolling or jumping away. Cuicatl insists that they’re probably fine, no need to supervise. You’re pretty sure she just doesn’t want to get out of the tent again. Neither do you. She moved back into your tent for the night so the rufflet could see Coco with both of her ‘parents.’ This will help him, for some reason. Honestly, it’s too early in the morning to even bother trying to understand it. She’s the pokémon whisperer here.

“You still awake?” you whisper. Like it’s a sleepover and you’re both ten.

“Yes.”

“You recording human myths about pokémon for your thesis?”

“No. Too many of those.” She yawns. “You can tell me if you want. I want to stay up a bit longer to make sure things are okay out there.”

There’s a particularly violent wave of hissing outside. She doesn’t move, so you assume that’s also “okay” by whatever definition she’s using.

“The Tapu used to fight a lot. But they were too strong. Lots of stuff died whenever they fought. Eventually they made champions to fight on their behalf. That would later turn into training, but at first it was just the pokémon themselves. Tapu Koko, the spirit of war and storms, he picked braviary. Let them fly in the fiercest of winds and gave them the souls of true warriors.”

Cuicatl’s quiet for a long time. You wonder if she fell asleep despite herself.

“You need a priest for rufflet, huh?” you whisper, just to see if she’s still awake.

“Yes.” She shifts around. Maybe getting comfortable. Maybe uncomfortable if she really wants to stay awake. “Huītzilōpōchtli sends braviary as signs. Where to build cities. Where to fight battles. Who the next tlatoani should be. You can only use one in battle with his permission, and to get that you’d have to ask for it. The asking requires… sacrifice.”

The fuck.

“So you’d have to just, what, kill someone to get a bird?”

“Sort of? Mostly you’re making a sacrifice for an unrelated reason, and just ask for the braviary alongside it.” She says that like it isn’t batshit insane.

“You don’t actually believe this shit, do you?” Of course she doesn’t. She’s smart. She has to get how fucked up this is.

She shifts beside you. This time you really doubt it has to do with the gravel. “You respect your gods, I respect mine,” she whispers. There’s no confidence behind it. You can still pry away the bullshit excuses.

“Mine don’t ask me to rip hearts out.”

She takes a deep breath. “If Huītzilōpōchtli were to weaken, then the world would fall into endless night.”

It takes you a long moment to connect the nonsensical dots on that one. “Wait, you think Necrozma is here because you didn’t rip enough hearts out?”

“There’s a dark time approaching, one where evil is unleashed and the sun could burn out,” she says with unnerving certainty.

There’s a terrifying moment where it actually sort of clicks. You can feel the logic deep down. If the tapu asked for it, well, you’d say no, obviously. Any god who asks for that kind of shit isn’t a god you want to worship. But if you’d been told from birth that Tapu Koko could keep the night away if you did it, and then you didn’t and this happened… it’s still wrong. She’s still wrong. There are things you shouldn’t do.

“It won’t be our blood we shed,” she says. “We’ll start a war. Invade one of the southern neighbors. Provoke a rebellion and crush it. Whatever we need to do.”

That’s chilling. A war on the other side of the world because one trainer couldn’t do her job. As if this nightmare needed to be worse, somehow. And her use of ‘we’ when talking about mass murder is just as terrifying.

Coco lets out a small rumble of victory before rushing the tent entrance and demanding to be let back in. Cuicatl leans over you and undoes the zipper. The two baby birds tumble in. Coco leaps up onto Cuicatl’s lap while the rufflet hops over to the corner of the tent.

You feel a pang of sympathy. Poor kid. Just got abandoned by his mother with strange humans, and they’re just going to drop him off downhill later because of gods and queens he knows nothing about. You stare into the darkness above you for a long time before you finally have to speak.

“Hey, um, rufflet. You can sleep near me if you want.”

The bird clucks. Cuicatl repeats your offer in a whisper, probably so Lyra can’t eavesdrop.

You can hear the rufflet settle down in place, the offer ignored.

It’s cold on that side of the tent. The hard, cold rock below isn’t helping. You’re sleeping in the middle so you can at least get some of Cuicatl’s warmth. You want to bring him over, but you don’t want to get pecked. And it’s a little cruel to bond with something you’re just going to drop off at the Center.

Cuicatl starts softly snoring beside you. Not something she usually does. You shouldn’t wake her up to translate, but… maybe you don’t have to?

A long time passes before you get up the nerve to say what you want to say.

“You still awake, rufflet?” You hear him shift in place. Good enough. “Look, I don’t know if you can even understand me.” No answer. “You can come with me if you want. But I won’t be a very good trainer. I have short hair. Always will. I’ll still feed you and fight with you or whatever you want.” The rufflet screeches.

“What’s going on?” Cuicatl murmurs beside you.

“Just talking to the rufflet.”

“Want me to translate?”

She sounds exhausted. You shouldn’t make her.

“Yeah.”

“Cool.” She slowly pulls herself upright. What you want to say… you aren’t sure if you want her hearing it. But you plow on anyway, because you probably should.

“Uh. My parents couldn’t care for me anymore, so they gave me to my brother. And he gave me to strangers because he didn’t want to raise me. I kind of get what you’re going through is what I mean. And you can stay with me if you want. I’m not going to wear my hair long or—”

“Slow down.” Talking through a translator isn’t nearly as fast as you were hoping for. You’d somehow forgotten that already after just two days.

She eventually catches up. Or gets close enough to caught up. She asks you to continue. “I’m not going to wear my hair long or dress like you want, but I can still give you food and battling advice or whatever.”

Cuicatl repeats everything in a whisper you can’t actually make out. Just tell that she is talking. The rufflet hears and answers, anyway.

“He wants to know if you’re his new father.”

What. Uh. Is that what you were going for?

“Sure,” you say, still unsure if you mean it.

The bird squabbles back.

“He doesn’t want a weak father. He wants you to fight him to prove yourself.

Well. He’s tiny. How hard can that be?

*​

You hiss as you rub an alcohol wipe over one of your many, many peck and bite wounds. Sure, you won because you can still kick harder than a baby bird can peck. Doesn’t feel like a victory.

“You did win, though,” Cuicatl tries to reassure you. “He’ll respect you now. Stay with you for a while if you can keep him happy.”

“And you’ll help with that?”

She huffs. “Duh.”

“Please tell me I don’t need to chew his food.”

“His mother said he was too old for that.”

Thank the gods.

“And you could always use a mortar and pestle.”

Wait what.

“Why didn’t you do that?”

“Important to build bonds. Not too much risk of disease.”

That. Kind of makes sense? In her weird way. You sigh. Not the only way her life is weird.

{This is the kind of shit you meant by stumbling into things, isn’t it?}

{Yup.}

{And this just happens to you?}

{Pretty much. Same for my mom.}

{How?}

{Helps when you can bargain with pokémon rather than just taking them away from home and hoping they go along with it.}

That feels like a dig against you. Kanoa would tell you it isn’t, but the captain hasn’t actually taught you shit yet. Just dangled the promise in front of you.

“I’m proud of you,” she says, like you’re four or something.

“Okay.”

She yawns deeply and settles into her bed.

“Not proud enough to stay up longer. If he acts up you’re on your own.”

“I think I can handle it,” you say, deeply unsure if you actually can.

“Good night. For real this time.”

What time even is it? You reach for your phone before deciding it doesn’t even matter. There’s no dusk and dawn anymore. You’ll eat when you’re hungry and hike when you’re ready. Doesn’t matter if Lyra objects.

You finally disinfect and bandage your last cut. You’re going to need to refill the first aid kit at the meadow center. “Good night,” you say just before lying down to try and find rest yourself. Just before you drift off you feel the rufflet lean against your leg.
 
Last edited:

Pen

the cat is mightier than the pen
Staff
Partners
  1. dratini
  2. dratini-pen
  3. dratini-pen2
Back with Kekoa for a chapter that's a bit quieter, but no less dark. It's nice to see our boy's been doing some thinking and trying out empathy on for size. His bug leaving definitely seems to have hit him hard. The encounter with Lyra seems to have finally made his accept that it wwas his problem, and not Cuicatl being nefarious. I guess hearing Lyra spout all that stuff made his half-formed suspicions seem kind of silly.

I appreciated the empathy Kekoa feels for the rufflet and the similarity of their situations. The whole scenario did feel a bit contrived, though. Big bird shows up and just drops the little guy into their laps. From the one-sided convo, it doesn't sound like the braviary knew Cuicatl could communicate with it until she spoke, so why did it approach them initially? I guess it's giving up the baby because there's not enough food, and you laid the ground for that well, but it feels a little odd to me that 'give baby to the humans' is the back-up plan. I guess Pix's mom pulled a similar move, but I got more of a sense there that the ninetales and humans have a preexisting relationship, whereas this mountain seems more remote. This is Kekoa's second bird--coincidence or mono-type endgame? 👀

Interesting to see Cuicatl questioning some of her beliefs. So far, Genesis and Kekoa have really been forced to confront the beliefs that have shaped them--Genesis in returning home, and Kekoa with Makani's abandonment. But Cuicatl really hasn't been put in any situations like that. If anything, the big sacred dragon she talked to validated her. I wonder what trials she has ahead there.

You will never again make fun of Cuicatl for tripping.
Some empathy, a long time coming.

Your boot catches on the loose pebbles of Bittern Peak and sends you cascading back down a few body lengths.
"Catches" makes me think the movement triggered is going to be a fall forward. I feel like for slipping back it would be pebbles shifting under the foot, or sliding, or something.

Doesn’t really matter If she is since you deserve it.
no betas we die liek men

You pull yourself up with a surprisingly powerful assist from the steel-type.
Noci's secret technique: REVERSE RAMMING!

This had better be fucking over soon.
Ugh, I was going to say 2020 mood, but rip it's 2021 mood now. Happy New Year.

It’s a distinctive part of the mountain.
Feature, maybe?

The road down is no easier, but at least your falls bring you closer to your goal. Even if you knock over Cuicatl once.
Nice understated humor here.

She knows how to fly in the dark; landing is another story.
Oof.

She can eat dehydrated fruit, but then she won’t get water from it, which is a problem because trumbeak don’t drink water. Even juicy bugs are still a little dry for her taste. It’s best to keep her in stasis as much as possible right now.
That's pretty scary as caretaker.

Or maybe they feed on the awkwardness people feel when something tries to watch them pee. That would explain a lot. Worst thing is that you’re pretty sure they do it all the time now since you can’t catch them in the act.
Oh my, this cracked me up.

“Shouldn’t be a problem anymore.” A simple message from Plumeria. Good. You don’t trust the cops for shit. Plumeria, at least, can keep The Heiress’s crazy friend at bay.
Ah, makes sense that he'd turn to her, though I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Lyra.

“Maybe. I at least need to find a smoochum for the water trial. I’ve got no chance otherwise.”
I'm probably not up to date on my Alola trials, but why does he need an ice/psychic type for a water trial?

“I don’t plan on getting any more.”

{I do, but Pix starts panicking when I talk about it. Thinks she’s getting replaced.}
I CALLED IT! BETRAYAL IS IMMINENT!!!

You’re really lucky that you got paired with her. Otherwise, you’d still be eating freeze-dried shit every night.
Yeah, and you'd probably be stuck at a pokemon center.

Sometimes they get scared and angry because they think we mean something big when we do something small.}
That's not a bad description of how humans react to humans . . .

But if I’m already buying meat, it makes sense to get meat eaters.
Uh, does it? More meat-eaters i more expensive meat to buy. Even if you're bulk buying, probably still more expensive than getting some cheaper eaters. You don't need to pretend, Cuicatl, we all know you just love murderous carnivorous babies.

{They like hugs like sandaconda like hugs, Cuicatl.}

She pauses as she scrapes the last of her meal off of her plate. {Are those here? I thought they were in Africa.}

{Please tell me you’re joking.} You know she isn’t. Of course Cuicatl wants things that will crush her ribcage. Of. Course.
Amazing.

They like humans who look like mandibuzz. Long hair, jewelry, all that. You’re not doing that ever again.
Okay, I'm imagining This Is Spinal Tap style rockers, and then Kekoa as a rocker, and wow, what a mental image.

The Tapu used to fight a lot. But they were too strong. Lots of stuff died whenever they fought. They made champions to fight on their behalf. That would later turn into training, but at first it was just the pokémon themselves.
Training as a substitute for destructive god wars is an interesting origin story!

I always went with flygon and absol. He’s the agriculture spirit. His blessing lets his champions bring life to the harshest of places.
Flygon and Absol both seem like odd picks to me for an agricultural spirit?

{Not ninetales?}

{No. They have their own myths.}

{Carry the dead?}

{Yeah.} You vaguely remember telling her that. It’s good that she still remembers.

“And you need a priest for rufflet, huh?”

“Yes.”
I lost track of who was saying what dialogue here. I think {Yeah} and “And you need a priest for rufflet, huh?” should both be on the same line? They're both Kekoa.

The asking requires… sacrifice.”

The fuck.

“So you’d have to just, what, kill someone to get a bird?”

“Not… quite. Captives are sacrificed for other reasons. You can also ask for a braviary with a sacrifice.”
I'm not sure I get the distinction here. Sacrificing someone is killing someone. Is the idea that they would be killed anyway and you can just sort of add in your braviary request as a bonus?

“And this has nothing to do with the government not killing enough of its own people.”
I didn't follow this line.

“We won’t be killing our own people,” she says. “They’ll start a war to get captives. Invade one of the southern neighbors. Provoke a rebellion and crush it. Whatever they need to do.”
Wow, chilling that people killed in a rebellion the government provoked are still not "our own people."

That’s chilling. A war on the other side of the world because one trainer couldn’t do her job. As if this nightmare needed to be worse, somehow.
I'm not following this. The Necrozma issue isn't limited to Alola, right? The other countries are dark too? And is it really one trainer not doing her job? Presumably everyone capable has tried at this point, so it's a collective failure?

“Uh. My parents couldn’t care for me anymore, so they gave me to my brother. And he gave me to strangers because he didn’t want to raise me. I kind of get what you’re going through is what I mean. And you can stay with me if you want. I’m not going to wear my hair long or—”
Aw, Kekoa.

“He doesn’t want a weak father. He wants you to fight him to prove yourself.

Well. He’s tiny. How hard can that be?
Famous last words.
 

WildBoots

Don’t underestimate seeds.
Location
between a hope and a prayer
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. moka-mark
  2. solrock
Kekoa is here feeling his feels. Makani gave him a lot to think about! I appreciate how we get to see your characters puzzle through things. There isn't really one glorious AHA moment, just a long string of one foot in front of the other. You also do a lot to make sure it feels like the rest of the world continues to exist and move when we're not looking at it. Sometimes it's disorienting, though. There are a couple things I know you've thought about, but I don't have quite enough clues in the text to make it easy for me to follow. I'd really like to know more about what's going on with Plumeria and Team Skull eventually. More pressingly, I don't fully get why mama bird dropped off her baby. I also wanted some clarity on the thing about braviary liking girlish figures. I'm sure it's in A Dex, but I haven't gotten to that one yet (I am slow, sorry!) Like, mandibuzz is kind of baldy, isn't it? I did appreciate Kekoa trying to offer baby bird warmth and kindness ... because it's clear he's offering it what he needs and wants in the moment.

Flying 3.10: Summit
I like this juxtaposition.

Doesn’t really matter If she is since you deserve it.
Oof, the self-loathing is dialed up to at least a 9.

“Maybe you could get a cane if this goes on long enough.” You shiver, both because it’s fucking cold and because that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. A perfectly healthy teenage boy needs a white cane just to get around his home country. What a world.
Or, like, a walking stick? Trekking poles?

Throughout this passage, I felt like I was getting the after-effects of the dark without getting to experience the dark itself. I wanted a little more from Kekoa's POV on that front.

Least she could do is stop the winter that started on her watch, but she’s not even up to that.
Feeling mighty generous today, huh?

The road down is no easier, but at least your falls bring you closer to your goal.
There ya go, champ. That's looking on the bright side.

You don’t want to start a real fire in this weather. Too much risk of it getting out of control.
This tripped me up at first. Wasn't sure if weather meant the dark or the dry.

Hekeli is still learning to fly in the dark. No, that’s not right. She knows how to fly in the dark; landing is another story.
🙃

You also can’t justify keeping her out anymore. Trumbeak eat a lot of berries, but very few are growing in the darkness. Most of the bushes you’ve passed have long been picked clean. Supposedly there are still berries to be found in the hard-to-reach places, but you don’t want to wander off trail in the dark. Fresh fruit doesn’t last long and still isn’t common outside the big ports. She can eat dehydrated fruit, but then she won’t get water from it, which is a problem because trumbeak don’t drink water. Even juicy bugs are still a little dry for her taste. It’s best to keep her in stasis as much as possible right now.
Oof. The worst kind of logistics. Would be nice to get an emotional note here. I'm assuming she doesn't love that and that he feels bad?

Nocit-whatever
Oof. Once again, wanting respect without being able to give it himself.

Or maybe they feed on the awkwardness people feel when something tries to watch them pee.
LOLLLL

“Shouldn’t be a problem anymore.” A simple message from Plumeria. Good. You don’t trust the cops for shit. Plumeria, at least, can keep The Heiress’s crazy friend at bay.
Oh shit. Plumeria's going to bat for him a little. Wish I knew more about what was happening on her end.

But after losing Makani you haven’t had the heart to make new plans. You can plan on getting anything you want, but if it won’t listen to you then you’re no better off in the long run.
Aww, baby. This makes sense, but man oh man. He's been really knocked off balance.

“Maybe. I at least need to find a smoochum for the water trial. I’ve got no chance otherwise.”

“They’re psychics, right?”
??? Does the water captain have a water/poison-type or a water/fighting-type?

Something takes a take down at the edge of the clearing as the beldum defends your dinner.
Double takes is weird.

“I don’t plan on getting any more.”

{I do, but Pix starts panicking when I talk about it. Thinks she’s getting replaced.}
LOL I do continue to enjoy how she uses telepathy to talk over Pix's head.

She turns the burner off and starts putting the food onto plates. It tastes as good as it smells. You’re really lucky that you got paired with her. Otherwise, you’d still be eating freeze-dried shit every night.
Well, he's come a long way re: Cuicatl, at least!

{Pokémon are a lot like humans.} Cuicatl finally answers. {But they don’t get us. Sometimes they get scared and angry because they think we mean something big when we do something small.}
💔 ❤ I think humans can be this way, too!

No dark-types.
Except for one hydreigon.

{They like hugs like sandaconda like hugs, Cuicatl.}
Great zinger.

{Are those here? I thought they were in Africa.}
Sad Galar sounds.

Braviary are powerful, sure, but rufflet take infamously long to evolve. You need to depose the False Queen soon.
LOL take back the throne right now or not at all, huh?

{Not ninetales?}

{No. They have their own myths.}

{Carry the dead?}

{Yeah.} You vaguely remember telling her that. It’s good that she still remembers.
It was a little hard to tell who was speaking when here.

She takes a deep breath. “If Huītzilōpōchtli were to weaken, then the world would fall into endless night.”

“The necrozma didn’t come because—"
I wanted an emotional reaction from him in between.

“He doesn’t want a weak father. He wants you to fight him to prove yourself.

Well. He’s tiny. How hard can that be?
Hahaha, nice way to explain the [pokemon] wants to fight! thing.
 
Fighting 3.11

Persephone

Infinite Screms
Pronouns
her/hers
Partners
  1. mawile
  2. vulpix-alola
Fighting 3.11: The Wasteland
Kekoa

January 17, 2020

You pick at your breakfast in the darkness, slowly bringing bites to your mouth. You’ve mostly gotten the hang of putting the spoon into your mouth. Putting it into the bowl still gets you sometimes. And it’s awkward every time you slam your spoon into the table on accident.

Cuicatl isn’t bothered. For her it must be like nothing’s changed at all.

“Hey, Kekoa,” Cuicatl says.

“Yeah?”

“You seen Noci today? She isn’t answering me.”

That does explain why she’s using her cane. Thought that maybe she was just doing it for the novelty.

“Cuicatl, I haven’t seen shit today.”

You wish this Center had inkay like the one in Hau’oli did. Lyra disagrees because of her hate on for psychic-types but that’s on her. She can trip all over herself if she likes. You’ll take the light.

“She isn’t answering me and I can’t sense her.”

You scoff. “Just have the nurse check her tracker.”

“Doesn’t have one. Can’t put it in her skin and she kept taking off her collar. Said she didn’t want people to spy on her.”

Oh. What. The fuck? You start laughing hysterically. It’s not funny to her, but, seriously? Can’t she see it? “They don’t want people spying on them. But when they do it, that’s fine.” What a hypocrite.

(Your laugh is deeper and it makes you feel warm despite the cold.)

You hear footsteps approach the table. You still can’t tell them apart like Cuicatl can. She apparently knows how heavy you step, the type of shoe you wear, and how fast you usually go. All stuff that’s worthless to know unless you’re blind or an alien snuffs out the light.

“What’s so funny?” Lyra asks.

Great. Her. You’re tolerating each other because Cuicatl wants you to. Wouldn’t say you’re friends. Or anywhere close to friends.

“Her beldum doesn’t like being spied on.”

Cuicatl sets her spoon down gently against the edge of her bowl. There’s something almost… pathetic in the sound. You can’t place your finger on why. “I can’t find Noci.”

“Oh, no.” Lyra sounds so pitying. She walks closer and accidentally hits the table, causing the bowls on it to ring out as they settle back down and stop vibrating. “I’m sorry. But I’m sure she’s fine. Made of metal. Probably just got distracted by something.”

They’re a rock. They’re obviously fine. But Cuicatl is using the voice she does when she curls up and acts like she isn’t sure if she wants to be comforted or not. And she usually wants comforted. Except for when she pushes you away.

“We can look for them while we’re out in the field today.”

“Right. Um. You still sure we want to split up?” Lyra asks. “I know there are two capture missions, but we could just do them on different days.”

“No. I’ll be fine,” Cuicatl says. And you do have to split up. She can’t use her psychic bullshit around Lyra without things blowing up.

“I’ll be on the marked path. And the meadow is full of grass, flying, and bug-types. I have an ice-type with me with a rock-type in reserve. I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I am. We can meet back here at noon and make our next plans.

*​

Every step you take along the boardwalk echoes out into the meadow.

Nothing answers.

Lyra walks along in front of you, absol at her side. If anything did bother you, she’s in the best position to take care of it right now. You have two pokémon again, but one’s a baby and the other shouldn’t be out of her ball outside. You aren’t helpless. You could fight if you had to. Just… best to let her take the front.

Lyra’s absol stops and growls. Your hand flies down to your pokéballs. You imagine Lyra’s doing the same in front of you.

“Relax, children. I am merely a traveler,” a woman calls out from the distance. She has a soft voice, barely audible, but its full of confidence.

“How’d you know we were children?” Lyra asks. Huh. Good catch. Not that you’ll tell her that.

“Your steps. They do not suggest weight, but there is an energy there.” Footsteps have always just been footsteps to you. But she sounds a bit like Cuicatl. Is she also blind? Would it be rude to ask? She continues before you can decide. “What are you doing in this place? There is nothing here to see and it is far too dangerous for a stroll.”

“Looking for a pokémon,” you answer. “And you?”

“What sort of pokémon? I may be able to help you.”

There’s something off with her voice, but you can’t quite place it. Probably not just the trace of an accent. Kalosian, maybe? No, it’s something familiar but just out of reach.

“Floette,” Lyra says. “My friend heard there was a rare one near here.”

Friend is certainly a word. Just not one that applies.

“A white floette, I presume?” Her voice sounds a little bit like distorted music. Sort of like Cuicatl’s singing in the cave. Is that what’s off? Or just a sign of something bigger?

You’re paying too much attention to this.

You’re paying too much attention to this.

“Yup,” you say.

“And someone is paying you for it, I assume? Either the government or the poachers.” She sounds uncannily like Cuicatl does when she knows she’s right and is setting up to win the argument. Something compels you to keep talking anyway.

“They aren’t poachers.”

“Because poaching is illegal, and they’ve made enough well-placed donations that they aren’t illegal,” Lyra says. Great. Now you’re arguing with two people. Or you could just let it slide.

That would be dishonorable. And you care very much for your honor, do you not?

But that would be cowardly.

“We don’t all have rich parents paying the bills,” you snap at Lyra.

“Is that not the mentality of the poacher?” the woman asks. “Society gives them a way out of destitution, if only they sell out the world in which they live. An ingenious trap. When all the exploited have is their heritage, persuade some to betray it. Then use that as an excuse to steal it under the guise of conservation.” She sighs. “If only your kind would use that cleverness to better ends.”

“Your kind?”

Unimportant.

She makes a disturbing amount of sense. But… the cause needs money. And anything you do now will be more than offset when your people retake the throne.

“An excuse I have heard the world over.”

Wait.

“I didn’t say that question aloud.” You’re pretty sure, anyway.

You did, actually.

Lyra’s absol begins to growl. Sort of. There’s a whimper mixed in. Her trainer snaps in frustration. “Snarl, damn it!”

“Easy, child,” the woman whispers, “her kind sense disasters. She knows full well what would happen if she made me cross.”

“I’m not scared of you.” She says it with as much confidence as she can with her teeth chattering. And not just because of the cold in the meadow.

The entire area lights up in a flash of blinding white light. For a moment you get a glimpse of someone tall and pale with a big face before the light fades again. Lyra starts to whimper alongside her absol.

“I am not human, child: I will not hurt you for the sake of inflicting pain.”

“W-what are you?” Lyra stammers out.

The lights come back, far less harsh this time. Now you can see the gorgeous white flower in front of you, easily seven feet tall. “I am a florges. Be still now. You have nothing to fear.”

Florges. A white florges. They’re banned in half the world for assassinating warmongers and polluters. Some Middle Eastern nation lost its shit and started firing on people when white petals showed up in a crowd. They’re the ultimate revolutionaries, and one is standing right in front of you.

And she has judged you and found you wanting.

She glances in your direction at the thought and then turns back to Lyra. “Can you not tell the difference between those who can harm you and those who will? Do you believe you must be invulnerable to be safe?”

“Fuck you,” she growls. It somehow sounds like a plea for help. Damn it, you don’t want to have sympathy for her.

“You will never be invulnerable child, not so long as gods walk the earth.” She finally turns her full body in your direction. “Oh, but you know that full well.” The white light is suddenly filled with waves of blue and red. You grind your teeth together. Does she just like messing with people?

“In truth I do not. But sometimes humans, like plants, must be pruned to properly grow.” The light evens back out to a neutral white. Her voice lowers even further to something soothing and maternal. “I am sorry for what you have gone through, Kekoa Mahi’ai. It seems no matter how long I live the humans will never learn not to trifle with beings so far beyond them…” A shudder wracks her body and she closes her eyes. “…it’s enough to make me wonder why I still walk amongst your kind.”

At the edge of your vision you see Lyra start to take a few steps backwards. The florges ignores her.

“There are still some people on the right side.”

She tilts her head and the petals at the edge of her face flutter. Lyra slowly starts to turn around, tension building in her legs. She is once more ignored.

“The right side… most humans believe themselves to be on the right side. Few are. Some fight for justice, others…” Her eyes fix on you with a newfound intensity. As if she’s staring past your mind and body into your soul. “You fight for justice, yes?”

It feels like you’re walking back into a trap. But the pressure reappears on your mind to speak rather than remain silent. “…yeah…” You can only imagine what she’s going to do with that.

“You want the liberation of your people. I sympathize. Colonialism is a blight upon the world that cannot recede quickly enough.” For a moment you have hope. They she makes eye contact again and it falls away. “Will you fight with such passion for others seeking justice? For a refugee seeking shelter in your homeland? Or for a child lost in darkness, trying desperately to avoid being taken by a strange man and sent away from his only home?”

It takes you longer than you’d like to admit to realize she’s talking about the floette.

She takes a small step forward and it takes everything you have to avoid stepping back. In the light you can see just how much bigger she is than you. How much stronger. She could snap your neck and grow plants over your corpse so you would never be found.

“If I wished to kill you,” she murmurs, “you would have never anticipated it. One moment you would be awake, and the next you would be dead.” A vine extends from her stem and rests on your shoulder. “I do not kill poachers. The buyers, yes, but not the hunters. The world is complicated, and some people are victimized and victimizer all at once. I would rather judge them too leniently than take a life I should not have. But I must stop you. I hope you can accept this.”

You nod. Whether that’s for your own safety or because you feel bad for a child in the dark… you’ll figure that out later.

“If I cannot appeal to your sense of justice, perhaps you can be swayed by your own interest. A bargain.”

There aren’t many fairies on Akala. The shiinotic and comfey up north. The ribombee in what’s left of the meadow. A few wigglytuff around Paniola. Even if you weren’t likely to encounter one, your mother still gave you the quiet warnings every Alolan mother has told for centuries: be courteous to the fairies. Be kind to the fairies. Do not antagonize any of the fairies. But the smartest ones?

Do not bargain with or harm them, even on accident.

Said in the same solemn tone as ‘don’t hug the bewear.’

Ribombee, wigglytuff, shiinotic, they may have the blood of fairies but none of the alien intelligence. Florges do. And she wants to bargain with you.

She won’t say what her offer is, but it’s not like you really have a choice here. Even if you wanted to continue there’s no way in hell you’d live to get the money. You doubt anyone could with a florges watching over them. Whatever her bargain is, at least you would get something out of it that you would not otherwise.

The flower gently shakes her head once again. “I do not mean you harm, child. I have better things to do than becoming your master.”

You bristle at the word. Like you’re a slave. “Or a pokémon,” the florges says. “Quite a few humans use the word in reference to their team. And others say ‘trainer’ but mean something else. Trainer implies that a coaching service is being provided. Yet few humans would allow their coach to lock them up outside of training and matches. Even then, so many humans fail to understand why their captives dislike them…” She turns her head and stares out into the darkness. “Will you accept my offer?”

“Yes.” Because what else is there to do? A choice made with a vine on your shoulder isn’t much choice at all.

“So close to getting it,” the fairy muses, “yet so very far.”

You don’t know what she’s talking about: you ‘got that’ a long time ago. Run away and risk juvie or stay in foster care. Do what the system wants or be punished.

The florges sighs. Sort of. It’s not quite right, probably because she doesn’t have actual lungs. “What is it you wish of me? If I can perform it within a quarter day I shall do it.”

That’s broad. Terrifyingly broad. It means she’s confident that whatever you ask for can be countered. Like if you asked for the floette. Even if you gave it to her she could just turn around and kill you before releasing the floette.

“You would be breaking the terms of our bargain,” she says. “But I could do something similar for other requests, yes.”

You shiver. Yup. Definitely out. You could ask for help with the butterfree but you figure Cuciatl’s got that handled. If you were dumb enough to ask her to be your pokémon she’d either kill you outright or leave after six hours.

Or brainwash you. A human puppet could be useful.

“I already told you I meant no harm. Yet your mind is so quick to thoughts of violence.”

At least Cuicatl isn’t always judging your thoughts.

A wave of amusement washes against your mind. “I shall graciously allow you some quiet reflection.”

You sigh and try to focus. Can’t be too distracted when bargaining with a florges. You think back to an old conversation with Cuicatl. When Makani left you weren’t really thinking about trying again, but the pieces all fit together. Cuicatl could also help you with it, but this doesn’t feel like something the florges would mind with her talk about masters and slaves.

“I want your help finding a grubbin. And if they want to leave me after evolution, I’ll let them go.”

The florges tilts her head. An invitation to keep going?

“I had one but he left. When I caught him, I didn’t ask him if he wanted to go.” Like Lyra and her noibat. And you never even took him back home. Wait, do grubbin even have social lives? Friends? Family to miss them?

“You took one without knowing those answers,” she murmurs. “Because you could. Because it was easy. Because you wanted to.”

You can’t really disagree with her. You did. You didn’t know better. Now… now you do.

“Perhaps I could obtain those answers for you. And if the grubbin wants power more than their home, then it could be a mutually beneficial arrangement. Provided that you treat them with the respect they deserve.”

The respect they deserve? You’ve been keeping them healthy. Why would that change now?

The florges takes her vine off your shoulder and begins to walk along the boardwalk in a continuous shimmying movement. “If a pokémon abducted you and promised to help you free your country, would you still work for them if they merely kept you fed and patched your body back together after they broke you? Would you go back to your cage every night, nay, every hour, content and satisfied?”

You would sacrifice a lot but. That. You slouch a bit more. To cover more of your body with your jacket. “How do you, uh, ‘give them the respect they deserve,’ then?”

The lights around her glimmer and roll. Like a one-flower rave. Or her rolling her eyes. “You could, perhaps, ask them? You are allied with one of the Harbor Queen’s spawn, are you not?”

“Spawn?” You’re pretty sure that’s an insult. Not that you remember much from Shakespeare. Haole pricks trying to teach you about the genius of their skeletons.

She curls a vine like she’s shrugging one shoulder. “An old joke with an ancestor of hers. A way to take him down a peg. You humans place so much emphasis on your blood because it is an honor that requires none of your own effort to earn. He was slow to learn that lesson. You all are. And I never met Shakespeare. I had meant to, but there were always more pressing matters in the west. Conquerors and slavers to kill, cultures to study, plague victims to treat. By the time I next arrived in Europe even his children were long buried.”

You have not yet engaged with my actual point.

Right. Asking them. You. You should do that. For Hekeli—Mahina—at least. Rufflet value honor above all else and asking might lose you face. That could make everything else go worse.

“Or, perhaps, a lost child being raised by an unfamiliar species would appreciate being asked what he wants.” She says it slowly in a high monotone.

Like a mother lecturing a toddler.

The florges hums. It hits you in the brain way more than Cuicatl’s. Flashes of light and feeling vibrating on the surface of your mind. “I was already old when primates first sailed to these rocks. Even your elders are still sprouts to me.”

You find your mind wandering back to the early days in foster care. How many of your foster ‘parents’ didn’t ask you anything so that they could look dominant. You would have respected them more if they did. Yet. Ihe isn’t human. Does that make it different? In which direction? Could you just have Cuicatl do it.

The florges stops and looks back at you with an almost painfully stoic look. Like she doesn’t even see you there.

“I’ll… talk to Ihe about what he wants.”

Because what else are you supposed to say when she looks through you like that?

She nods and turns back around.

The boardwalk sprawls on in the darkness. In the distance there’s a small patch with multiple guards and a fence around it. Some fire-types and castform are keeping it lit up. “If part of the meadow survives, then the whole thing can regrow,” the nurse said. Maybe. Over years. Decades. You wonder how the grass-type pokémon trapped on the other side of the fence feel, doomed to starve just a few yards away from warmth and light.

One of Skull’s less-illegal branches runs a blog online. A few days back they posted pictures of some rich assholes crowded together under castform light having a normal day on their private beach. If the heiress hadn’t kept her castform, would that be what it was used for? Maybe it’s a scam: literally freeze your people out of the market, then buy all the land and stay hunkered down in their bubbles. Keep it all when the sun comes back. Maybe Selene’s even in on it.

“Perhaps the paranoid attract one another...”

You remember her lecturing Lyra about paranoia and you scowl.

“We’re not the same.”

“Correct. You lack the capacity to harm the object of your paranoia.”

Harsh. Accurate, but harsh. Someday, though, you’ll have the power you need to defeat The False Queen.

“Will you, now?”

“Y-yeah.” You try to project as much confidence as you can. She already… hates is wrong, you think. But she doesn’t like you. And florges are badass assassins and warriors that can bring down corporations, empires, and armies with a few snapped necks.

“Hate is the wrong word, yes,” she murmurs. “I hate no one.”

“Even the people you kill?”

“Yes, even them. I grieve every death. Not always for the man they were, but for who they could have been. It takes talent to be truly horrific. I do not understand why they would put such talent towards ignoble ends.”

You walk the rest of the way in silence. Sometimes a bug will cry out or one of the remaining oricorio will warble. Other than that, it’s just your footsteps. And whatever the florges is doing. Her actual steps are impossibly soft. Most of the noise is in a steady shimmying movement as her petals gently flap in the wind. She’s a flower. Not built for speed.

The florges abruptly stops and holds a petal out. “Ah. I believe I’ve found one. Give me a moment.”

She sinks a vine into the earth and rummages it around. Her whole body freezes up for a moment before she reels out the vine, a grubbin biting on at the end.

“Hello, cherished friend,” the florges says in her hauntingly melodic way. “I wished to mediate a bargain with you.”

The grubbin hesitates before letting go. He hisses something out in a chittering, oscillating mess of voices that drill into your head. “What?”

It takes you a moment to shake it out of your head. If that’s what translation is like, maybe you’re lucky Cuicatl never gave you a link to your pokémon. How is she not always in pain?

“I am merely here to facilitate,” the florges turns towards you. “He wished to speak.”

Right. You take a deep breath and begin. “If you want to grow into your final form, if you want to fly, I can give that to you. I just want you to help me for a few moons afterwards. There are enemies I need to defeat.”

Another burst of terrible, vibrating noise. “We can’t do that here.”

“I can. I have a rock that will let you.”

“Don’t believe you. Let me go.”

“I don’t think he’s lying.”

The grubbin chitters away and the florges doesn’t translate. It sounds like they’re having a conversation but you aren’t let in. Probably for the best. There’s already a headache coming in.

“She believes you now,” the florges finally says.

She. Right. You’d just kind of assumed they were—she was—like Makani.

“Good. So, uh, you willing to come along?”

This time it starts slow and soft before rising in pace and pitch. “Yes. What are you fighting? Birds?”

“Lots of things.” There’s not a flying trial now but one of the Elite Four uses birds. You think she’s a Gage. Genesis never mentioned her, though. Are they not close? Was she just hiding it? “Including birds.”

“Do you have food?” she asks.

“Yes. I can get you food.” Might be a bit tricky now. Later, though, once things go back to kind of normal. “Or take you to lots of good food,” you add, just to be safe.

The grubbin is silent.

“Is there anyone you want to talk to first?”

Her reply is short. A single clack of the mandibles. “No.”

Oh. Good. At least you didn’t get that wrong last time.

“Cool. And. Is there anything you want me to call you? A name?”

She has another one-sided conversation with the florges.

“She does not have a preference,” the flower finally answers.

Well, you already had a name picked out if Makani was female. “How about Leilani?” you ask. “It means child of the skies.”

Three clacks.

“She likes it.”

The wind picks up and blows straight through your layers. You realize that you haven’t really been feeling the cold as much in your fingers in the last few minutes. Probably bad. You reach to your belt and pull out a great ball you’d bought for catching the floette. Guess it’ll have to do here.

“We can talk more where it’s warmer.” And with a translator you trust a little more. One who won’t keep hitting you in the head with her mind. “For now, touch the front if you accept the deal.”

You kneel down and set it down by the bug-type. She stares at it for several long seconds before wriggling forward and hitting the capture button. The ball shakes once and then goes still before the red light fades. She’s been captured. You have a second pokémon again. You stand back up and face the florges.

“Thank you for your help.”

She tilts her head. “We had a bargain, did we not?”

“And I’m glad you came through.”

Her eyes turn hard and your breath stops. Shit. Did you say something wrong?

“Do not thank the fairies unless you mean to create a debt. NEVER imply they would break their bargains. Others will not be as forgiving as I.”

There’s a ferocity in her voice that there hasn’t been before. For a moment you see death in her eyes and can almost feel the power in her coiled vines. The light she emits feels less like a comfort and more of a threat. Then she turns and beckons you to follow.

You do. What else are you going to do? You have no idea where you are in the meadow. Better to trust that she would have just killed you instantly if she meant you harm. You huddle into yourself as the wind lashes your exposed face. You grew up in Alola. Things were never supposed to be this cold. Even at the base of Lanakila it wasn’t like this. It’s not as immediately bad as things were in Hoenn, but…

There’s a comparison. You hate that there’s a comparison. Hate that no one learned. That no one ever learns.

“Welcome to my life,” the florges whispers. It’s so faint that for a moment you just mistake it for the sound of the wind. “I’ve had that feeling every day for three thousand years. You never do learn. Not as a species. But sometimes I get a single idea into one of your heads.”

For the entire morning she’s sounded amused. Like she was fully in control and enjoying everything. now she sounds bitter and defeated. Like she needs a hug. Like she’s needed a hug for three thousand years. You glance at her vines. They could still definitely snap your neck.

Is it sexual harassment if you give an unwanted hug to a flower demigoddess?

“I’m fine, child. Only weary.”

Okay. Then you’ll give her space.

You go on walking for a while. Long enough to think. About what she said about blood. You get that. Maybe it’s the best thing she’s said. Haole feeling good at themselves because of the skin color they were born with.

“I think you might be misinterpreting me,” the florges says. First time she’s spoken in… a while. Wherever she’s taking you, you’re probably almost there.

“How am I? That part made sense.”

“It’s more than just them.”

What. But. Is she insulting you? Your people?

“They came here, killed most of us, stole our land, and make us serve them,” you hiss. “How are we the bad guys?”

“They did, and it was and is wrong,” the florges concedes. Now she doesn’t sound playful or haunting or bitter. Just tired. “But who was on the island before your ancestors arrived?”

A few fallers, maybe, but you don’t think they made the legends. So. “No one?”

She shakes her head. “There were birds and bugs and flowers here first. And I know you have personally tried to abduct all three.”

That’s.

That was.

Your ancestors were far kinder to the pokémon than the haole.

“Perhaps. Yet you did not know if the grubbin you abducted had a family or not. And in many months you never cared to ask.” She stops abruptly and turns around. Her eyes bore through yours once again. “You are all born in bloody soil. How could you not become bloodstained?”

The florges extends a single vine towards the path behind her. “Your friend is that way. I have no more patience for this conversation.” The lights seem to dim and warp around her until you can see the next few steps of the path but not her. That’s… fine. You can make it back from here.

You walk towards the center with a writhing feeling in your stomach that you’ve done something terribly wrong.

*​

The light fades and the darkness swallows you whole before you can get to the Pokémon Center. You send Mahina out to guard you or… something. It’s that or be entirely alone in the dark with no idea what’s around you. The best you can do is slowly scoot your feet forward so you don’t walk straight off the boardwalk.

It’s slow. It’s tedious. It’s maybe a little scary. Like drowning in freezing darkness with no idea which way is up.

Big things keep flying by. They move with slow, steady wingbeats that stir up the cold the air around you. They aren’t attacking you, whatever they are. Best be quiet. Avoid catching their attention.

Trumbeak aren’t at the top of the food chain. Neither are you.

Hard, inhuman steps begin approaching on the boardwalk. Surprisingly fast for something in the dark.

“Mahina,” you call out. “Get ready.” Maybe it’ll catch the attention of the birds, but there’s something coming now you need to be ready for.

It lets out a series of blood-curdling moans and violent, thrashing hisses that sound like they don’t belong on this planet.

Oh.

It’s just Coco.

“Hey, girl.”

She slows down and walks over to nuzzle your leg. “Cuicatl send you out?”

The dinosaur makes a mangled bellow that you’re pretty sure means ‘yes.’

Rapidly outgrowing her ‘cute’ phase. Still not into her ‘fucking badass’ one.

You can relate to that.

“Can you take me to her?”

There seem to be more and more of the birds flying by as Coco takes you closer to Cuicatl. To the Center, hopefully. Your phone was dead last you checked but it’s probably noon. Not that you had signal out here anyway. The darkness doesn’t let up even after you step off the boardwalk and onto soft grass. You’re just left to trust that Coco knows what they’re doing.

Is this what Cuicatl goes through every day? Why does she ever go outside? You wouldn’t.

“Hello, Kekoa,” she calls out from the forward-left. Thank the gods. You’re not alone anymore.

“Hey. Uh. We by the Center or what?”

You can imagine her rolling her eyes. Yes, it’s a dumb question. No, you don’t know the answer.

“We’re at the Pokémon Center. You missed the return deadline, by the way.”

“Yeah, yeah. Little busy with a death flower.”

She pauses. Coco takes the chance to bolt away from you back to her ‘mother.’ Traitor. You have to stop moving just to make sure you don’t hit anything.

“You aren’t hurt, are you?”

“She wouldn’t have hurt me. Just killed me. And she didn’t. Still alive.”

Pretty sure you’d know if you weren’t.

“I got a new grubbin. And, uh, does translation hurt you? Because that fucking sucks if it does.”

“No…?” She sounds confused at the idea that it could. “Except for the Ultra Beasts on Ula’Ula. Those hurt.”

Then the florges either wasn’t as strong as her or just wanted you to suffer for fun. She was just casually reading and fucking with your thoughts so you’re guessing it’s the latter. What a troll. Can’t even be mad.

“Can you help me talk to her later? Didn’t want to say more than I had to out in the cold.”

“Sure. Busy with butterfree now, but I can in a bit.”

The wings? Those. “Those things are butterfree? Why are they all coming here?”

“Found a gossip. She told all her friends the humans would take them some place warm. I’m just and catching them as they come.”

You were terrified of goddamn butterfree. You want to die of embarrassment.

If Cuicatl picked up on that she’s nice enough to ignore it. “Lyra’s shaken up pretty bad. Might want to go tell her you’re fine.”

“Cool. Can you tell me where the door is?” Because you could spend a long time searching and never find it.

“Coco? Can you help your dad out.”

The dinosaur rushes over and gently bumps your leg with her head. You really wish Cuicatl would stop telling her that you’re the thing’s father. You aren’t. You’re human and you wouldn’t know the first thing about raising a kid. You weren’t even good with the younger kids at the orphanage and they were at least human.

Wait.

“The florges knew about you,” you tell Cuicatl. “And your ancestry.”

She lets out an annoyed huff. “Great. Did you get a name from her?”

A name? Oh. Oh shit. You never asked.

“No.”

“Didn’t think you would. Fairies are weird about that. Why I don’t like them. They play too many weird games.”

“And beat up your precious dragons?”

“They think they can beat up dragons. Just because you can absorb dragon fire doesn’t mean your skull can’t be bashed in.”

…probably best to end this conversation. Just in case the florges is still around. Don’t want her saying something she’d regret.

“I’ll be back when I’m done with Lyra.”

“No. Stay inside. You’ve been out too long.”

Long enough that you can only sort of feel your fingers. She might have a point.

Inside is warmer but not brighter. No wind. Just dead air, you, and a baby dinosaur. She stops and slaps her tail against the ground a ways down the hall. Probably Lyra and Cuicatl’s room. You reach out until your fingers find the door. Or what feels like a door. Then you knock.

“Who is it?” Yeah, that’s Lyra alright.

“Kekoa. Cuicatl asked me to check on you.” Or something like that. More like her checking in on you.

The door swings open a few seconds later. She’s on the other side. Probably. You can’t actually see her even if you could probably reach out and touch her. “Come in.”

It’s a little awkward sliding past someone you can’t see. Or finding somewhere to sit. So you just stand in the middle (?) of the room while Lyra goes back to her bed. You can hear the click-clack of her absol’s hooves on the ground as he walks.

“Did she do anything to you that you know of?” Lyra asks. She sounds more serious than you’ve ever heard of.

“No. We just talked. And she helped me catch a grubbin.”

“Wait. Why? What did she get out of that.”

“We, uh, we had an agreement.” You know you weren’t supposed to do that. You had a vine on your shoulder. Wasn’t like you could just refuse to bargain.

“And what did she get out of it? Exact terms, please.” She sounds like a goddamn cop. Whatever. You can humor her.

“I didn’t try to catch the floette.”

“No, no. That doesn’t make sense.” She gets up and you can hear her faint footsteps as she paces in a tight circle. Or oval. Again, can’t see. “She already could have stopped you. There must have been something else. Again, exact terms. Please.”

“I… don’t really remember.” You’d been more concerned with not dying. And what you were asking for.

“Bad. Very bad. Probably some sort of delayed suggestion. Or a memory edit? She’d only give you something like that if it helped her cause. If she gave you a pokémon it’s because she expected you to use it to advance some goal she couldn’t herself.”

She was pretty clear about not wanting to do any of that. And you’re pretty sure the fairies don’t lie or something. “She said you were paranoid. And that she wasn’t going to do that stuff.”

“It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you,” she mutters. “Then it’s just caution. And please tell me specifically what she said she wouldn’t do. Exact words are really important when dealing with fairies.”

“I don’t remember. Only thought she might hurt me once and was more focused on other stuff.”

She smacks her hands against something. Maybe each other? It’s loud and sharp. “Damn it, Kekoa, this shit is important.” She sighs and falls back down on her mattress. “What did you do that she threatened you?”

“Apologized and thanked her for doing what she said she would.”

She doesn’t immediately lay into you. That’s surprising. Maybe she would have made that mistake, too.

“Okay so you have no idea what you’re doing with some of the ficklest pokémon in the world. Got it. Guess I’m going to have to give you lessons.”

“Excuse me?” You don’t need lessons from her. She’s some rich brat doing this for fun. You’re better than—



Well. You’re maybe in a lot of trouble. And she at least thinks she knows what she’s talking about.

“I’ll think about it.”

You can hear the mattress shift as Lyra gets back up. “I’m going out to relieve Cuicatl before she gets frostbite again. We’ll talk more when I get back.”

Hopefully you’ll have an answer by then.
 
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surskitty

Bug Catcher
Pronouns
They
Pixie's not wrong. She's always right, but she's extra right here.
 

WildBoots

Don’t underestimate seeds.
Location
between a hope and a prayer
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. moka-mark
  2. solrock
I appreciated the ADex reroute!

You can faintly hear the echo. It almost makes you growl, remembering what she was talking about last time she talked to him in their heads.
Uh oh. It's like when you use code words to talk over the dog's head, and the dog learns that dubbleyuayelkay also = walk.

They isn’t. Yes, very good.
Excellent work, Pix.

{She’s not human. I thought we talked about this?}
I wasn't sure which one of them Cuicatl was addressing here?

They were a rock and rocks are not good friends.
!
Blasphemy.

Somewhere an eevee is probably telling a human how much prettier they are than vulpix and it can’t be proven wrong.
The horror.

This is terrible. You roar at the Light Eater again so that it goes away. It doesn’t work. You’ll keep trying.

The humans stop moving. “What are we dealing with?” Bloodrage whispers.

“I think… she’s just mad at Necrozma.”

You bark ‘yes.’

“Yeah. That’s all.”
Good job, Pix. Silly humans.

Ungrateful. What has he been doing about the Light Eater?
Truly.

Sometimes you wonder if human feelings are too different from real ones to understand.
Mood. Really speaks to the theme of mutual misunderstanding 5ever.

The cold lunges closer and you prepare your strongest attack—not quickly enough. A loud slap echoes throughout the cave and Skysong lurches back. The jynx pulls away and you can see your aurora beam barely miss.

“I’m hurt,” Skysong says. She sounds more angry than hurt. “Can’t dance. But he can.”
So, to be clear: it slapped Cuicatl for not dancing?

I don't have as much to say this time ... except don't think I forgot that good baby beldum first showed up with an Objective. Something tells me it's been busy.
 

Pen

the cat is mightier than the pen
Staff
Partners
  1. dratini
  2. dratini-pen
  3. dratini-pen2
hi it's me, living on the edge

This chapter felt a bit transitional--Noci's gone missing, but we don't know why; Kekoa's gets a jynx for the next trial--but since it's Pix narrating obviously it's all excellent. She seems to be getting a little more introspective and, mm, not quite empathetic, but it's interesting that she asked Cuicatl about her own myths and she considered what her departure from the mountain might have looked like from her siblings' perspective. I really enjoyed her talk with Cuicatl about sending people off mountains/sacrifice. I think it goes to the question of to what extent sacrifice is voluntary. Self-sacrifice is valorized, but how much choice did the person have? Thinking about Iphigenia burning for her father's war. Cuicatl is a very self-sacrificing sort, and Pix is so very much not, which makes them great foils on this topic. It seems like Cuicatl has been doing a lot of thinking about home and her home's values in these last two chapters. We'll see if she continues to cling to them.

Meanwhile, the actual plot . . . well, Noci has been up to something from the start, so I guess they're reporting back?

It almost makes you growl, remembering what she was talking about last time she talked to him in their heads.

New team members.

Replacing you.
Oh wait, so Pixie can eavesdrop on Cuicatl and Kekoa's mental conversations. Last chapter I got the sense that Cuicatl was dropping into telepathy talk so Pixie wouldn't overhear--she's not aware Pix can hear?

It’s very rude to just leave prey sitting there in front of you.
Astoundingly rude.

But outside of the city, Skysong and Bloodrage have had rooms to themselves.
I think you mean Pix had a room to herself.

You are very smart, so if you don’t know it may not be able to be known.
Loved this line.

If it can’t be known that she’s a girl, then she isn’t. They isn’t. Yes, very good.
Lol, can't argue with this first-class logic.

They grow and regrow at rates that scared you when you first saw it.
I was a little confused here. The grammar makes it sounds like Pix saw the plants regrowing and was scared by that? Is this tapping in a game mechanic I'm forgetting about? Normally plant growth isn't visible.

It was filled with horrible yellow flowers that made your nose itch. Your nose is fine now; the whole field smells like dying plants.
Rip

They were a rock and rocks are not good friends.
Wow, fighting words.

You’d just been upset that no one could appreciate you before, but you hadn’t thought about how much this helps the not-vulpix of the world. Somewhere an eevee is probably telling a human how much prettier they are than vulpix and it can’t be proven wrong.
Pix has finally found the worst consequence of the darkness.

Yes! Even if the order makes no sense – don’t save her from the Light Eater – you still obeyed it. That’s how good and irreplaceable you are.
This bit cracked me up. Imagining Pix holding still and valiantly not saving Cuicalt from the Light Eater even though she totally could.

“Have a random jynx walk up to you because you’re psychic and agree to help?”

“No.” Skysong pauses. “And the braviary didn’t know that.
Hah, lampshading much?

And then. You don’t know. Sometimes you wonder if human feelings are too different from real ones to understand.
Mm. This line hit hard.

It sounds almost human, but the noises are just wrong. More burbling, less hard sounds. If you weren’t paying too much attention it would sound like a human language you don’t know.
Would Pix really be able to differentiate to that degree?

One of the old gods has to sacrifice their life to become the sun and start the world again. The one who was supposed to, he didn’t want to. Couldn’t sacrifice himself for other people he didn’t even know. Another leapt at it. Tossed himself into the flames so that humans could live
I lost track of the story a bit with the pronouns. For "leapt at it" is it the sun?

If it’s true, then he probably didn’t do it for humans. It was for vulpix and ninetales.
Correct

You wonder if that’s how your living siblings think about you. Let go for their comfort. Do they think you happily left the mountain to them?

“Fools.”

“What?”

“They aren’t happy about it. Just stuff other people make up to feel less bad.”
Pix thinking about what other people are thinking? Wow.

{Yes. It’s just how you justify sending people off your mountains.}
Oh boy

You knead a paw against her. Your mother used to when she was checking for ticks or wounds. It felt nice. Maybe she’ll like it. At first she jolts a little but then you can feel her muscles relaxing. And you can’t feel any wounds. Or ticks. But since she doesn’t have fur—maybe you should try her head? You get off her chest and walk behind her to try.
She knead!!

{Mine,} she growls.

Fine. But she doesn’t know how to groom Skysong. You’re still her favorite.

You’re so sure of it that you can’t even bring yourself to ask her.
💔
 
Fighting 3.12

Persephone

Infinite Screms
Pronouns
her/hers
Partners
  1. mawile
  2. vulpix-alola
Fighting 3.12: Echoes
Pixie

January 17, 2020​

You lead Skysong back through the field of death. She plods on behind you much slower than normal. You hurry up and the little bell she put on your collar rings loudly. Good. She can move faster and stop dragging her stupid stick behind her. And if she’s annoyed and out of breath then she will not be in the mood to make friends and you will not have to deal with smelly bugs.

You reach the edge of the meadow after passing the scents of five butterfree.

“Haven’t found anything yet?”

“No.” No butterfree. But there’s a sound of howling wind and the scent of ice users nearby. You want to investigate. “There are ice-types nearby. Can I hunt them?”

“Pix,” she groans.

“There may be butterfree in the cave.”

“There aren’t. I know what it is. Come on. Please.”

You walk into the cave with Skysong behind you. Once her footsteps are answered from all sides she stops. “No. Out of the cave.”

“Okay.”

You keep walking forward. Skysong stops and stands strong. “Out. Now.”

A hiss leaves your lips before you can stop it. This is strange for her. Is she finally showing who she really is? Or is she that upset over her stupid rock. You walk forward and the cave rings with the sounds of your bell. “Fine. We’ll come back later. That good? I just want to be back soon in case Noci returns.”

“No. Play!”

You haven’t smelled this many ice users in ages. Not… not since the mountain. You want to explore.

“The Pokémon Center sells frozen blood sticks. I can get you one if you find me more than one butterfree. And then I’ll take you back here tomorrow for as long as you want.”

What. She could have bought you frozen blood at any time? And she didn’t? Why? Do all of the places she stays sell frozen blood? Because now you want one whenever you have to sleep inside. At least one per night. Maybe three.

“Three.”

“One a day for three days? I want you to leave room for real food.”

“One a day always.”

“Pix… I’m sorry, but I don’t have the money.” You can hear her legs crunch up and her voice gets lower to the ground. “When my sister and I got kicked off our mountain, our father sent us to different places. I need money to find her. I’m already spending too much as it is and…” She takes a deep breath. “One a day until we get back on the trail. Final offer.”

Humans keep six. This means that Skysong was in a full litter of nine. One got sick and died. Skysong says it’s her fault. You still don’t understand why. Two were kicked off. Eight out of nine lived. She must have had a very good father.

Still. This is a problem. She wants her stupid rock when it’s gone. She wants her sister back, even if it means making you mad—and you are definitely better than her sister. Skysong won’t settle for what she has. She wants to give love to everyone, like Ho’oilo. It’s a problem that you’ll have to tell her about later.

The wind picks up and you can faintly smell rain on it. You really need to hurry up now.

“Deal.”

It doesn’t take too long to find a smelly bug. They always come out when it rains, and they can sense it coming almost as well as you do. “Found one.”

{Thanks.}

“Hey,” Skysong calls out. “Butterfree. With the big wings and antennae. I can catch you if you want. Take you some place warm with enough food.”

The bug immediately starts flying closer. Weird. Pokémon usually don’t trust humans that much. You certainly didn’t when you first saw one. With good reason, too. They can take you far, far away from home and never let you go back.

“Oh, and I can hear you if you say something. We can talk if you want.”

“Freeeee!” The bug trills.

{I’ll try to let you listen…}

Good. You deserve it. And it makes you trust her a little bit.

“Warm! Where is it warm!” It’s a little garbled and it doesn’t sound much like the stupid bug.

“We have big… caves that are still warm. And nectar we got before the sun went away. I can take you to one.”

“Is there light?”

“There will be, yes. In a few days. We’ll have to move you some place with light first.”

“I remember when there was light everywhere! It wasn’t there when I grew wings. I thought that winged ones just couldn’t see until an older winged one told me what happened.”

Skysong pauses. “I’m not sure what to say to that.”

The butterfree trills in an obnoxiously high pitch. “That’s because you live for ages.”

“I guess. I’m only—actually that probably is a long time for you.”

“Ooooh! How old?”

You snort. You never needed to worry about these things taking your place. There’s no way that Skysong could ever want one of these stupid, smelly bugs.

“Fifteen years. That’s fifteen dry seasons and fifteen wet seasons.”

You can hear the bug’s wingbeats slow as she lands on the ground. “Many generations ago… I’ve never even heard of anyone that old.” She beats her wings again. “Are you sure they let winged ones in to this place? There’s a patch of light nearby but they keep us away. Say it’s for other bugs. I think all of the winged ones should storm it at once: they can’t stop us all if we fly really fast and low to the ground. But the others say that the humans have fire pokémon and they’d still win.”

Maybe. You could easily defeat eighty-one butterfree yourself, even if they did attack all at once. Your ice is stronger than it’s ever been and you can cast it out wide. You flick the nub of your eighth tail. Soon it will become a full tail and then you will grow a ninth and then you will be unstoppable.

“You would have to live in a human-built cave. Just making sure you get that, right?”

Fool. Trying to talk her prey out of being preyed upon. This is why she needs you.

“But it has light and food?”

“Yes.”

“Good!”

Skysong hums, faintly. “Do you know where the big building where people stay is?”

“I think so! It’s near the big water?”

“It is.”

The bug trills again. “I can smell big water! And you make lots of noise.”

“Good. Do you think some of the other winged ones would like to go with me as well?”

“Yes! We all need warm. And food. Many have already…” The bug’s mental voice falters and the physical cries stop. “They needed warm and food.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” The bug doesn’t answer. “I’ve also lost family. I want to help you.” She sounds sincere. You remember a pokémon one of your earlier humans told you about. It has big eyes and a fluffy tail. It cries and prey comes closer. Then the tail whips around and it’s actually a giant mouth and it eats whatever wanted to help it. Skysong is like that now, pretending to be something she isn’t so that her prey comes to her.

“I’ll…” Water starts trickling down from the sky. The bug’s scent shifts. “I’ll find others. Bring them to the big water.”

“Thank you.”

On the way back Skysong hums a strange melody. It’s hard to tell with the water falling from the sky washing scents away, but you think she’s leaking salt from her eyes.

*​

You’ve just finished your delicious treat when the first bug arrives. Skysong asked you to bark when it happened, and you do it because you’re the best and you deserve at least two of these snacks a day. The door opens and she steps out. “You here to be caught?”

A shrill cry, harsher than the last butterfree’s, answers.

“Alright. Come to my voice. I’ll catch you once I can feel you.”

It takes a lot of restraint to let the bug get that close to your human, but you hold back. Catching these means more money means more treats. And maybe not another ‘sister.’ Maybe. If you just keep eating enough frozen blood than she won’t have money for that and you win.

The bug disappears in a big red flash. Skysong stands still before sighing and turning around with one of her spinning things. “How many more do you think are coming?”

You can hear at least one.

*​

The bloodsicle is delicious. Perfectly cold with the iron aftertaste of a good meal. None of the heat of fresh blood, though. You can’t tell if you like that or not. It feels wrong and you don’t get your stomach warmed from the inside. But cold is great. When there’s barely any left you tip over the bowl and roll around in it like it’s the snow you’d make on a hot day. You can clean your fur out later. Vulpix spit is great at getting blood out of fur. Otherwise, you would be pink all the time, which is a terrible color. The color of being dirty. Of being seen. Of being killed or starving.

So much better than food rocks, or even the birds Skysong sometimes burns up on her hot slab. How did you ever live without these?

*​

Liar and Skysong are sharing a room. Liar claimed the top beds, but there are still two down low. Eggbreath claimed one entirely for herself because she’s greedy. You let her. This way Skysong is all yours.

“What was the song about?” you ask. Maybe it can be explained. Maybe it can’t. If she is studying your stories, you can at least try to study hers at the same time. If only to see how much worse they are.

“Two things,” she says. Which isn’t an answer. “The world is reborn after it ends. One of the old gods has to sacrifice their life to become the sun and start the world again. The one who was supposed to, he didn’t want to. Couldn’t sacrifice himself for other people he didn’t even know. Another leapt at the chance. Lit himself on fire so that humans could live.”

If it’s true, then he probably didn’t do it for humans. It was for vulpix and ninetales. But it’s not actually how the world started, so it doesn’t matter.

“That’s the first half of the song. The second is about a mother who dies giving birth. Her hopes for her children and…” She sighs and flops down on the bed. You take the opportunity to move from being curled up in her lap to being sprawled across her torso. “And other stuff. Neither of them are sad, the woman or the god. They’d do it again. It’s. I like it.”

You wonder if that’s how your living siblings think about you. Let go for their comfort. Do they think you happily left the mountain to them?

“Fools.”

“What?”

“They aren’t happy about it. Just stuff other people make up to feel less bad.”

She idly scratches your ear. “I… guess.”

Skysong takes a very long time to silently think about your genius. Long enough that you start to wonder if she disagrees.

“It’s just how you justify sending people off your mountains.”

“Off your…” Her paw locks up before coming to rest on her chest. “I guess that’s one way to think about sacrifice.”

Her scent is off. Something is bothering her, but she doesn’t want to talk about it. Humans are like that, sometimes. They won’t shut up until it’s actually important. You knead a paw against her. Your mother used to when she was checking for parasites or wounds. It felt nice. Maybe she’ll like it. At first she jolts a little but then you can feel her muscles relaxing. And you can’t feel any wounds. Or ticks. But since she doesn’t have fur—maybe you should try her head? You get off her chest and walk behind her to try.

She laughs. A good sign? You keep going.

Something lurches and—Eggbreath took your spot. What. Was she awake the whole time?

“Mine,” she growls.

Fine. But she doesn’t know how to groom Skysong. You’re still her favorite.

You’re so sure of it that you can’t even bring yourself to ask her.

However good the moment is it can never last. Skysong’s stomach roars and she shifts awkwardly beneath you. “Guess we should be going out again,” she says. “Still butterfree to catch.”

You’ll allow it. She’s just hunting them. They won’t stick around. This is fine.

You walk Skysong over to the big room with the flickering rat and then out into the wonderful cold. Eggbreath immediately screeches and Claws answers. They run towards each other and start their ‘can I bite harder than you can scratch’ game. You would play and easily win just by breathing cold breath, but then they’d attack you together and you might get their blood on your fur and that’s terrible.

“How many have you caught?” Skysong asks.

“Seventeen butterfree for fifty-nine total,” Liar answers. “Plus, five metapod.” Why is she here with Bloodrage’s stupid bird? And that is far, far too many bugs. Almost seven full sets of tails.

“Metapod?” Skysong asks. “How?”

“Butterfree carried them here. I don’t know if VStar wants them, but maybe the DNR will.”

It takes Skysong a while to answer that one. You take the opportunity to wander off a little bit into the cold. Sure enough there are some patches that need marked over. “Why would the DNR want them?”

“This feels like something they would do, like…” Liar sighs. “All it took was showing one butterfree that we had food and light, and then they all wanted here, right? Why couldn’t the DNR do that? Then they could’ve gone to some conservation facility on the mainland and not just random collectors or whatever.”

“Better collectors than dead.”

“I know that. I just… hate that the pokémon dealers have a point for once.” Liar huffs. “Still think you should quit though.”

Skysong just hums in response. You hear her humming get lower to the ground before she softly settles into the grass near Liar. Since her lap is on the ground you run over to sit in it and get scritches. “Do we need to buy more balls?” she asks. “I don’t think we had that many.”

“I bought them. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks.” Her scratches are a little half-hearted. You gently nip her finger so she knows to do better. And she does. After pulling her finger away and flicking your ear. Weakling.

“You know you could’ve traded off with Kekoa a while ago, right?”

“I know. He offered. I just needed to be alone for a bit. And you seemed, um, a little down.”

“Oh.” Her face scratches turn into long, slow strokes down the back. Also fine, but not quite as good. You’ll let her keep doing it for a while. “I’m just worried about Noci. That’s all.”

Liar shifts closer to Skysong, pushing you aside while she embraces your trainer. Rude. “She’s a steel-type. I’m sure she’s fine. Probably just exploring something interesting.”

“Yeah…” Skysong gently leans away and Liar takes the hint to stop crowding you. And you didn’t have to growl at either of them. “And you’re still thinking about the florges.

“Yes.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Skysong slowly gets up, gently pushing you off her lap as a butterfree approaches. She catches it quickly enough and sits back down, letting you retake your throne. “She just reminded me of something bad that happened a long time ago. That’s all.” The scent of salt fills the air as she says it. Must have been really bad. Kicked-off-a-mountain bad.

This time Skysong scoots closer to Liar. You almost fall off! You don’t whine because you’re a beautiful, irreplaceable fox, but you grumble on the inside. The two stay locked together, irritatingly close, until another butterfree comes.

*​

There are metal beams leading into the cave. Otherwise, the humans probably would have spent ages running their hand over a rock to find it. Once you step inside its. It’s wonderful! So, so cold! Like the air coming out of one of their cold storage things, but everywhere! You remember the time that you got into Hummy’s and slept there overnight. This is like that. But maybe better, because it feels so big. And there’s wind. Cold wind. Like the mountain. Wait. How come none of your other humans took you here? You’ve been in the area before. Now you feel cheated.

Skysong’s hold on the leash relaxes and it drops to the ground. She groans and starts lowering herself down beside you. “I think I’ll sit here for a bit. Don’t wander too far.”

You won’t. Probably. She’d be helpless if something attacked her. And maybe she’ll make good bait for something you could eat. For now you sniff around the rocks. No. It isn’t exactly like the mountain. There’s the gargling sound of water that keeps echoing off the walls. You don’t like that. Water messes up your fur. And it smells too much like bats. It’s fine to eat bats, but you wouldn’t want to live around them. They stink. And sometimes they try to bite you. You kill them instantly, of course, but it’s annoying that they try.

You lose track of time wandering around the cave. Nothing ever dares approach you. A few birds fly around nearby but even they back off after you fire a blast of glowing cold at them. You’ve been getting better at it. Soon you will be able to send off pulses of ice or even control the blizzards like a nine-tails can.

You hear strange choking noises coming from Skysong’s direction. Oh no. You rush over and can only hear her heartbeat. “What’s attacking?” you ask. Wait. No. If she’s choking she can’t say it. Except maybe with her mind?

“N-nothing Pix,” she says. “Just worried.”

“About Eyerock?”

“Yeah.” The wind picks up and you can hear her pull the falsefur closer around her. “I’ve lost too many people already. I don’t want to lose another one.”

Oh. That again. You nuzzle her and think of how to introduce this.

“I know a story that might help. Do you want to hear it?”

“Sure,” she says in little more than a breath. “Why not?”

*​

Ninetales do not believe that love comes from the heart. Any fox who can hear knows that vulpix hearts start beating well before they are born. The mother does not have to give them blood after that. She does have to breathe for them, give them air. Love comes from the lungs. Sometimes children are born and the mother does not want to let go, wrapping her tether around the neck so they can never breathe on their own. They are choked with their mother’s love.

You are supposed to accept death. Supposed to let go.

There’s a video story that the humans watched on The Sun’s Peak before The Long Night fell. It was about a grass-type human whose heart was too small, so he stole things from children to make up for it. The ninetales have no such story. Instead, they speak of Ho’oilo, a fox who had too much breath to give.

Ho’oilo delivered eight kits. One was choked by her mother’s breath and seven kits remained. Ho’oilo was devastated and vowed that she would never lose another. For three long years she and her mate watched over them at every moment of every day and night. No more fell and the kits began to grow their third tail.

Others on the mountain became aware of this and began to fear she would keep them all and break the ancient laws. They went to the eldest of elders, Voice of the Moon, and pled their case. The eldest calmed them and descended to the territory of Ho’oilo to see the mother for himself. He approached the ninetales and her seven kits and calmed the storms around them.

“Ho’oilo,” he said, “your children have begun to grow their third tail. Have you picked which two you will keep?”

“My lord, voice of the moon, I will keep all of my children.”

The eldest snarled. “The mountain never grows. More ninetales means less food for all. No, you will keep two and only two.”

Her mate bowed his head and lowered his tails to the ground. “Please, oh eldest one, let us keep them within our own territories. The balance need not be upset.”

The eldest pondered this. “Very well,” she said. “When all but two have starved everything will be resolved.”

The parents did not believe her. They had protected seven kits thus far and they could continue to protect and feed their seven.

Word spread quickly of the eldest’s judgment. Others began to obsess over their children’s protection. Soon nearly every pair had many kits. Even older couples joined their territories once more so that they might have another litter.

The ice crabs were the first to go. Then the bats. Then the red birds. Soon almost nothing remained to eat. Some ninetales went down to hunt in the burning heat. Others began to turn on each other, first for hunting territory and then for fresh meat. The whole mountain fell into bloody war as the ninetales hunted each other. Many families found their litters dwindling to one kit or even none at all.

The eldest finally roared with the full power of the moon. All the ninetales that remained went to the peak to speak with him. Some were proud of recent victories and carried their heads high. One was still pink from a recent kill. He dragged his tails behind him while the mother of his victim held back a vicious snarl.

“We must return to the old ways so that we all might live,” the eldest proclaimed. “Only two kits for every pair.” All agreed, for none can argue with the eldest of elders when he speaks on the ancient laws. “All will return to their old territories, but the lands of Ho’olio shall remain forever vacant.”

“Then where shall I go, my lady?” the cursed mother asked. “Where will my children live?”

The elder fanned his tails. She took no pride in what she must do, but this was hers to bare for her part in the bloody war. “Send your children forward to me.”

The kits were nearly grown now. Some had seven, even eight tails. One, the most beloved child of Ho’olio, had grown her ninth but not yet ascended. The eldest stepped forth and took the smallest kit in his jaws like a loving mother reprimanding her child. He dug in his teeth and shook until the corpse stopped moving. The older ones whimpered as they each met the same fate one by one. None dared resist, for none can argue with the eldest of elders when they enforce the ancient laws.

Ho’olio and her mate were spared the elder’s wrath. Ho’olio returned to her territory with the bodies of her children and buried them under the snow. Then she leapt into the deepest crevasse in her lands, which is still known today as The Mother’s Grave. Her mate took the excess vulpix of other parents with him when he left the mountain. No one knows what happened to them next.

All kits are taught the story of Ho’olio, the ninetales who almost choked the whole mountain with a mother’s love.

*​

“And you believe that?”

“It’s true.”

“Humans don’t work like that. We can have—”

“You should stop caring about rocks and sisters and—”

“—anyone that isn’t you?”

“Yes.”

She hisses. “Pixie, I like you. Not enough to give up on everyone else. Just—”

“It’s a dumb rock. Ugly. Keeps spying on you.”

“You didn’t hurt her, did you? Or run her off?”

“Maybe I did.” You’re very pretty. And strong. You might have scared her away.

She gets up to her full height, shoving you off of her as she does. “I’m going back to the entrance with Coco. Stay here as long as you want. Stay long enough and I’ll leave. You can follow on your own.”

Fine.

You will.

You sit down on your haunches and bask in the lovely cold air. This is all you need. This is all you ever needed.

“She will never understand that story,” a deep and majestic voice calls out from the dark. From the cave behind you. Where the wind is blowing to, not from. You whirl around and growl as the darkness is pushed back by light. Standing before you is a very old nine-tails. His fur has become shaggy and not quite as white as it should be and there are nicks on his ears. He still holds himself tall.

“Are you why this cave is cold?” you ask. It makes sense. If all the nine-tails can make a cold mountain, one could make a cold cave.

“Yes,” he says. “I am. Although I wander the world more than I stay here.”

“What’s your name?” you ask. All nine-tails are name. You should address him as such.

“Windcaller.” He tilts his head. “Yours?”

You consider calling him the one the humans do. No. That’s embarrassing. Not a real vulpix name. “Sixthborn of Avalanche.”

He continues to regard you with his gorgeous blue eyes. “And you were born on the mountain?”

Oh. He would know what it means that you left. You can’t let him make the wrong guess.

“My mother made a mistake.”

He continues to stare at you unmoving. Almost unblinking. “They all say that.” Then he cranes his neck down and starts grooming the hair at the base of his left front leg. Between licks he continues. “Always the same. Everything is always the same.”

You don’t like being dismissed but. He’s beautiful. You won’t tell him no. Instead, you’ll ask the question he gave you.

“Why won’t she understand?”

He stops licking and looks back towards you. “Because humans live in a world without limits. They see it as good to expand forever because the world can—has—supported it. We only have one mountain. Less than one mountain now that the humans have built at the top. We have limits. Lines we cannot cross. They will never understand why we do the things we do.”

“Why can’t we make more of the land cold? You did it here.” It’s something you’d never thought of before but, now that he says it, why can’t the mountain grow? Its only as cold as it is because of the nine-tails. And now that everything is cold everywhere you can take over everything.

He stares at you for a few breaths before turning away to face the wall of the cave. “They don’t teach their kits anymore, do they?”

“Don’t teach them what?”

“The truth.”

“About what?”

He turns back to you with a maddeningly empty stare. What aren’t you told? Why wouldn’t Avalanche tell you? You were—did she tell the others? Was she planning to leave you the whole time?

“About what?” you ask again.

“I guess it was too hard for them to accept it, so they deny it instead.” He snorts. “How typical.” Something seems to snap him out of his musings and he turns back to you. “It’s too cold for humans. You should go help yours get back home.”

But. “We were fighting.”

He flicks a tail. Annoyance. “At least you can talk to your caretaker. That’s more than most of the rejects get.”

His eyes are stern. He won’t accept your arguments. And you wouldn’t want to argue with him now anyway. He’s a ninetales. Gorgeous, powerful, smart. Perfect.

You turn around and walk towards your idiot trainer. Even if you want to turn back and learn more from the mysterious ninetales who lives free away from the mountain.
 
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surskitty

Bug Catcher
Pronouns
They
What a good oricorio. I like that Kekoa tried just using his words. See, Kekoa? Pokémon know things.

Try not to die, Cuicatl!
 

WildBoots

Don’t underestimate seeds.
Location
between a hope and a prayer
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. moka-mark
  2. solrock
Jumping in with some line-by-lines and then some meatier thoughts.

Even her hair is badly tangled and she always cares for that before coming down into public places.
Maybe cares for it or takes care of that? Something about the middle path her sounds awry.

Tough shit, Pixie.
D: Excuse you.

It’s an empty offer. Reception is spotty in the area and you both know it. You aren’t sure how far her telepathy can go; she’s never messaged you from far away before.

“I will,” she says. You don’t know if she means it.
This final sentence felt a little out of place since it sounds like she can't mean it even if she wanted to and they both know that.

“If part of the meadow survives, then the whole thing can regrow,” the nurse said. Maybe. Over years. Decades. You wonder how the grass-type pokémon trapped on the other side of the fence feel, doomed to starve just a few yards away from warmth and light.
I didn't catch the connection here at first, that the lights were for the plants. (Is that really enough for plants to photosynthesize from? I guess so, elemental bullshit and all.) Painting the scene in a little more detail would've helped make that clearer from the get-go instead of giving me pause, I think. You tend to keep things real terse. In some places, it really puts me in the characters' heads. In other places, it makes me feel like I'm trying to solve a puzzle. There's definitely a through-line and internal consistency--characters are still doing things even when they're offscreen--but I don'r always feel like I can access it.

Not what you expecte.
*D

Even if you would really rather not be forced into a dance so feminine. This is why you can’t keep her for long. You’re not much of a hip shaker.
Oh, I missed that jynx in this setting make humans dance like them. I thought it just prompted them to do a dance. A Dex x BT crossover with footnotes when.

The shrill cry goes up and down in volume like a fire alarm (maybe it is a mimic of a fire alarm)
Aww, good baby. I learned recently that blackbirds are apparently talented mimics.

Money’s tight, but it feels wrong to beat the shit out of the thing and then take its treasure without bothering to heal it.
Good thought, Kekoa.

You didn’t think ahead to this part.
This felt a little repetitive given that we just got "Okay, so you hadn’t thought this all the way through."

I'm glad to see that Kekoa is still grappling with the tension between not being a dick and trying to seize the title of champion away from Selene by any means necessary. He's going through some real changes of perspective and some growing pains.

I feel like I've fallen off the track of the broader story, and I'm having trouble putting my finger on what feels off track. Some of it might be reading in a serialized way instead of all in one sitting like I did in early 2020. I might feel differently about this Necrozma-ate-the-sun arc if I read it all in one go and could see the beginning, middle, and end of it. Right now, I'm having trouble seeing where it's going. But! Maybe the answer to where's Noci will be part of the answer to the Necrozma thing. I'm also not quite sure about Lyra. I really enjoyed her first cameo and the dark twisteroo about literal mindfuckery and her fear of having her memories manipulated, but her behavior since then has strained my disbelief. She's another one of the chess pieces I'm having trouble mapping.

I badly want to know more about what Plumeria and Skull are up to! We keep getting them dangled in front of us but we don't quite know what they're doing or what they want. (Except maybe reclaiming and decolonizing Alola?)

Cuicatl seems near a breaking point. And we haven't seen Gen in a while! With all this Lyra stuff happening, it's gonna be weird and chaotic when Gen is back in the mix. 🙃
 
Fighting 3.13

Persephone

Infinite Screms
Pronouns
her/hers
Partners
  1. mawile
  2. vulpix-alola
Fighting 3.13: The Long Game
Cuicatl

January 23, 2020

The winds in the meadow are calmer than the ones on the mountain. You can still feel them on the bottom half of your face where your hat can’t stretch down, but they don’t chill you all the way through the thickest clothing you could afford.

You should have some more money to spend when you get back to Hau’oli. You hate that you’re just going to spend it all on warmer clothes the instant it gets into your hands, but what else are you supposed to do? You’ll get a chance to start saving sooner or later. Then you’ll be able to buy Alice when she’s sold. It’s fine. You can play the long game.

Footsteps approach and Pixie starts growling.

“Eevee.”

{Which kind?}

“Stupid fluffy hot eevee. Pretends it is a firetails. It is not a firetails.”

{Oh no, that’s terrible.} You can feel the faint heat on your face as it approaches. {Please stop growling. You’ll get a chance to beat up its friend in a minute. That’ll show it how tough you are.}

Pixie yaps in protest but reluctantly quiets down. Good. After… everything, you were worried she’d disobey. You’ve thought about it and you don’t think she actually scared Noci off. Or that she even could. She just talked herself straight into trouble with you. Doesn’t mean you’ve apologized for making her sleep with Kekoa.

“You Qwhycattle?” He butchers your name, but you smile.

“Yes. Are you Cor-ay?”

“It’s Cory, actually.”

“I’m sure it is.”

He’s just a trial captain. There’s very little reason not to be petty. And being petty keeps you from panicking that a third of your team is missing.

{Nocitlālin, where are you?} You get no response. Predictable. She hasn’t answered either of her names the last two dozen times. {Unit1_374, are you there?}

A voice comes back, filled with static and pitching up and down like two signals are interfering with each other.

{Unit001_101110110 Has Been Taken Offline.}

Cold panic sinks in. What? She was made of metal? How did she get killed? {How?}

{Unit100_110010 Deemed Unit001_101110110 Insufficient For Current Assignment;
Unit100_110010 Recalled Unit001_101110110 For Upgrade;
Unit100_110010 Recalled Unit 001_1001111100 For Upgrade and Reassignment;
Unit010_100000111 Brought Online;
Hardware Check Complete;
Alarm Lvl 101: Heat Vent Malfunctioning;
Error Dismissed By Unit100_110010;
Software Checks Complete;
Integration Within Acceptable Parameters;
Reassignment: Retain Directives of TerminatedUnit001_101110110}

“Hey, you good?”

You blink. The captain was still here. That feels… irrelevant now.

“Yeah. Just. Need a minute?”

“Okaaaaaaaay. You can pull up your hat if you want. There’s light here.”

“I’m blind.”

“Yeah, but, there’s light.”

You pull up your hat and open your eyes wide. You don’t have time for this right now.

{You… evolved? You’re a metang now?}

{Affirmative.}

Great. You. You don’t really know what that means? {Do you still want to travel with me?}

{Affirmative.}

With every message the static and interference seems to get a little less obvious.

{Can you come here now? It’s important.}

{Initiate Ramming}

She’s coming back. Sort of. Not really. How does metang evolution even work? Aren’t you supposed to know about it? Or at least order it? Shit. You need to get an everstone welded onto her soon if she can just run off and evolve.

It sounds like Cory’s stumbling over his words over the blindness thing. Like you care.

“I was just talking to one of my pokémon. Psychic-type. She might come in mid-match. Is that okay—”

“She can’t interfere if you have another ‘mon out, but if she just comes in that’s fine.”

{I’m about to battle something. Don’t attack unless I tell you to.}

{Alarm Lvl ???: UnitDesignate_Cuicatl_Ichtaca Under Attack;
Query:ThreatLvl}

{It’s pretty important. Don’t actually ram me, okay? I’m fragile.}

There’s a much longer pause than you’re used to from Noci’s machine mind.

{Acknowledged.}

“Thank you.”

“So, uh, you can talk to your pokémon from far away, huh? That’s cool”

“She’s a metang.”

“Metang?” Pixie asks. “I thought Eyerock—”

“She just evolved.”

Pixie grunts. “Still ugly and stupid.”

You aren’t sure how to respond to that without making someone mad.

“Oh, sweet.” The captain doesn’t seem terrified or in awe. Weird pokémon are probably just normal for him. “Saw Tsuwabuki’s metagross once in Hoenn. Scary things, you know? …not that metang are like that.”

There was a friend of—of your brother’s that the captain reminds you of. He was one of the best candidates for calmecac the town had seen in ages and he knew it. Sort of. It didn’t mean that he bullied everyone else, but he just talked to everyone like they weren’t important to him. Just some distraction for the moment before he drifted on to someone or somewhere better.

You always hated him a little. Alice liked him, and that rubbed you the wrong way. Ellas was yours and that kid already had everything else handed to him. Alice thought you were being silly; you were her sister and he was just an amusing mammal. Then she lifted you off the ground and pulled you against her belly as her head draped over yours. Ellas was warm and even if her breath smelled like decaying meat it was Alice’s and that you were safe. Sometimes it felt like Alice’s hugs were the closest you’d ever get to hugging a mother. Even your mom’s memories were a little short on physical affection.

It had taken you a long time to realize that when Alice had lifted you off the ground, ellas had lifted you far off the ground. You’re pretty sure that you were whisked away to another province. Not that you were complaining. Father was annoyed when you got back days later, but even he wouldn’t argue with a hydreigon.

“Uh, cool. Don’t think we can wait too long, though. My ride is coming right after this trial and I won’t be back for a few days”

“No. She should be here soon enough.” And if she isn’t you can always try again. Maybe. It’s almost been a month since your last trial. That means your time allowed in the Centers is almost over. You don’t think they would kick you out into the darkness and cold, but Americans are always shockingly cruel to each other. Even the propaganda hadn’t really done that justice.

“Alright, then. Follow—uh, do you need my hand or what?”

You pull a little tighter on Pixie’s leash. “I can manage.”

“Cool. Right this way.”

1995​

It feels like spring has finally come to Undella Town. There’s a warm sea breeze in the air and the roof of the gym is down. It feels even bigger than it did last time. The bleachers stretch upwards. Waterfalls and rivers weave between them, all cascading down into a pair of giant pools. A single narrow beam divides the arena into salt and freshwater halves. The beam is barely wide enough for your team to stand on and it’s all the land you have. The gym leader doesn’t play fair. Being a near-invincible hardass is his whole brand and he’s not afraid to enforce it.

You pick up a few slurs from the crowd as you walk out. That’s the other part of his brand: he doesn’t hold back at all against anyone without the “look” of a trainer. You’re facing an uphill battle here, but you just can’t wait to kick his ass. Last time you weren’t prepared for a battle in the water; this time you’ll come out victorious, whatever shit he pulls.

“Ladies and gentlemen!”

The crowd roars like a furious beast.

“Today’s match pits Danielle Lee of Nimbasa,” you do your best to tune out the wave of boos, “against an all-American hero: the one, the only, give it up for Captain Wilford!”

The captain smirks as he walks towards his half of the platform. It’s magnified by the giant screens in the corner of your eye. “Thought I sent you packing already. Guess I’ll have to send a clearer message this time around: go home and watch the tournament on the couch, where trainers like you belong.”

The crowd begins a chant of “go home, girlie.” You ignore this, too.

“I’m going nowhere.” You enlarge Alice’s pokéball in your palm and start analyzing the battlefield, every ripple and eddy suddenly becoming far more interesting than whatever thousands of people are saying. “Draw your first and begin.”

“Hmph. Awfully arrogant for your station, girlie. Fine. We can do this the hard way. “Douglas, let’s go.”

A jellicent materializes in front of him. Same lead as last time. You unleash your zwelious and prepare to give him hell.

*​

However cold the air is outside, it’s even worse in the cave. You can feel the frozen metal of the handrail through your gloves. Should’ve brought handwarmers, but they aren’t free and you’re saving them for when it gets colder. You’re not sure how cold it will get—the darkness stopped expanding well before it reached Asia, Australia or Anahuac. You’d think that would mean it wouldn’t get any colder within the darkness. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong. How cold does it have to get before they send everyone home? And then… and then what? What’s your back up plan?

You shake your head and feel hair fall into your face. A good reminder that you need to get it cut. And you need to focus. None of this helps anyone right now.

Breathe. Noci will be here soon. Everything will be fine.

The sounds of waterfalls and currents and echoes is soon replaced by that of rolling waves. The end is near. {How long until you get here?}

{Approximately 1986 seconds.}

That’s… over a half hour. You can stall that long. It might’ve taken that long even if you weren’t trying to drag things out. This is fine. You can make it work.

You withdraw Pix and take out your cane when the path evens out and the temperature warms. You’ll need to lead with Coco. It’s not that far off from your ideal plan. Just a little more drawn out.

Something begins moving in the water. Something big. You can hear it slowly hauling itself closer and closer to shore before it stops and lets out a nasty gurgling sound. About the noise you expected from a toxapex, but it’s a lot louder than you’d imagined. Maybe a half hour was way too much to hope for.

You can’t hear any other pokémon. Good. The totem shouldn’t have help on a fourth trial, but sometimes things don’t go like they should. You click the release on Coco’s ball and start the show. “Stealth Rock.” {Move and keep moving.} Coco lets out a little roar before she starts running to the side. Her clawed feet aren’t the quietest on the bare rock, which. {Can you see?}

“The fluffy is making light!”

Flareon, then. Damn it. This match would’ve actually been easier in the dark: at least the totem couldn’t see you back. Makes it easier to stall for time. Heh. Stalling out a toxapex. Maybe not your best plan, but it could still work…

You can hear a wave break over the rocks. A wave of heat hit your ankles afterwards. The water itself was probably stopped by a barrier of some sort. Good to know that you aren’t at risk, even if it does feel a little unfair that only your pokémon can get hurt. “You hurt?”

“I’m tough,” she says. “Can I bite yet?”

{Not quite.}

The stealth rocks are important. They keep the totem pinned and mostly don’t affect you. Coco can just move the rocks to the side with elemental bullshit, Pixie won’t get close, and Noci hopefully won’t care. Still not sure how being a metang will change things. Or if she’s still Noci. Or if. No.

“Keep going at it from different angles! Pin him so he can’t move.”

Does the totem know your plan now? Yup. Do you care? Not really. Any totem has battled a lot. Probably already figured things out. And you really need to keep people from thinking that you’re a psychic. You’re on thin ice after the news you caught all the butterfree broke.

Another three scalding waves crash on to the shore while Coco sets up. Every time she grunts or hisses or roars, but never gives up. The point of the waves isn’t to knock her out, it’s to make her increasingly uncomfortable with her burns over time. Eventually the toxapex will outlast her just by being hard to kill. Then it will use recover to shrug off any damage it takes, leaving the totem fully healthy and you down a pokémon. The third move varies. Toxic, toxic spikes, or baneful bunker. Something to add venom to the burns. Coco hasn’t told you about a toxic slush or spikes. Probably baneful bunker, then. Makes direct hits do basically nothing as they hit a wall of venomous spines. Annoying. The fourth could be haze or venoshock. Maybe liquidation, but probably not that and scald in the same match. Haze over venoshock. Baneful bunker isn’t a reliable way to poison a target and make venom drench really hurt.

Enough stalling. You can hear Coco’s hisses growing louder and louder. Time to attack.

“Alright, roar! Make him move!”

A tyrunt’s roar is nothing like the movies. Not even much like Alice’s. It’s a mangled, deep mess that sounds a little like a woodchipper. Disturbing and loud enough that the totem stumbles and slips, falling completely into the water. You can imagine the sharp stones Coco laid digging into its flesh. Good. You did damage and got an opening.

“What we practiced.” You haven’t had the energy to practice anything the last few days. {Thunder fang.}

Coco screeches and rushes into the shallow water. Hopefully it’s shallow enough for her to run, but she says she can swim so there’s that. The real question is if she reach the totem before eh can pick himself up and use baneful bunker. The splashing noises seem to get closer to each other. The totem’s get louder as he tries to right himself and—static. The smell of ozone fills the air.

The toxapex groans in pain for a few wonderful seconds. And then Coco growls in frustration. Baneful bunker. “Move back!” Doesn’t matter. You can feel the heat and power of the scalding water as it crashes into Coco, knocking her all the way back to the barrier by your feet. You kneel down closer to her. “Can you still get up?”

She lets out a mangled yell. That’s a yes. {Is the enemy getting better?}

“Yes.”

{Only one thing left to do.} “Roar.”

There’s more pain in this one. That only makes it more disturbing. You hear the totem crash into the water, recover interrupted. It’s time to make your move. One hand slots Normalium-Z into your bracelet while the other reaches for your pokéballs.

“I forfeit the round.” You press the recall button on Coco’s ball. “Pixie, what we planned!”

Okay, so you did plan one thing. Its’ the fourth trial, the last before reinforcements start showing up. The totem won’t hold back. You can’t do enough damage to knock the thing out in one hit. The only way you win is by taking its recovery away. Disable won’t last too long after Pix leaves, and she can’t do much of anything to harm the totem herself. But a Z-Disable… that gives you enough time to work with. Hopefully. The internet didn’t have good numbers and you hate practicing Z-moves.

You bring your hands and body through the motions, forming a big ‘Z.’ Then Pixie uses disable and energy courses through your entire body. Your arms burn as it rushes through the makeshift letter. You can feel all of your stamina rush out of you and into Pix.

Reality skips a beat from you standing up to being on the ground with no memory of getting there.

Arms grab you from behind. “You okay?”

“Fine. Let’s keep going.”

The captain sounds shocked. “You, uh, sure about that?”

“I’d like to get on the road. Places to be.” Money to make. Sisters to save. And you’re only a little woozy, anyway. “Nasty plot, Pix!” {Growl a little and look focused.} Because she doesn’t know nasty plot. That doesn’t matter. At all. You’re just stalling for time until Noci gets here, and if the totem thinks you’re boosting then it’ll use haze to counter. And do nothing.

“If you’re, uh, sure.” The captain finally starts to back away.

You can feel the air grow a little bit colder a few seconds later as the fog starts to roll in. Good. You guessed the last move right. Let’s see how long you can keep this going. Not like Pix can do much to the totem in the first place. Toxapex resists all of her attacks and she’s not that strong in the first place. Not without you boosting her with Z-Power or—or being surrounded by a cloud of cold, thick air.

“A.” {Blow the mist towards the totem.}

Pixie snarls and the wind picks up. You don’t know exactly what’s happening, but you hear the captain say “nice one” under his breath. Probably going okay, then?

Heat crashes through. A lot of heat. Right. It can just burn away the ice with scald. “Confuse ray, keep moving.” That way the totem has to keep shifting as well, hopefully cutting itself on the stealth rocks every time. The splashing gets a little louder. You can hear and feel more scalds crashing onto the shore. Pixie hisses when one lands, but it sounds like fewer and fewer are as time goes on. Your legs are shaking. You need to sit down. No rule against that, right?

[Arrival In 64 Seconds;
Initiate Ramming?]

Relief floods through your body. She’s back. Sort of. And the trial is going… as well as can be expected.

{No. Stand by.} “B. Time to finish things up.”

You can feel a surge of cold as Pix fires off her aurora beam. Won’t do too much damage, but any little bit helps. She keeps it going for several seconds without the totem fighting back. Then you can hear and feal a pulse of boiling water strike the barrier beside you. Switching from the waves to a hydro pump style attack. Bad. Even if you have to hold out for less than a minute.

Thank the gods you can use more than four moves in these fights. “Roar!” Pixie’s roar is more of a shriek with small rises and falls. It sounds like a woman screaming with a smoke alarm mixed in. Enough to cause the toxapex to crash down into the water. More cut damage. Good. “Another B.”

You can hear Pixie’s breaths now. Poor thing is exhausted. Something lower energy? “Or A. Whichever you want.” The winds change. A, then.

[Standing by.]

A smile reaches your lips. “I forfeit the round. Good job, Pixie.”

“Metang’s arrived then?”

“Yes. Come down, Nocitlālin.” You can’t hear her descend. Still stealthy. Glad that at least one thing hasn’t changed. {You still are Noci, right?}

There’s a brief pause. {Affirmative.}

Two things, then.

“You know what to do.”

You can hear air whistling past her as she moves. The impact when she hits the toxapex. Splashing. A stream of water falling back into the sea. Noci charges, the totem braces, the counterattack (usually) falls back into the water. Need to worry about your pokémon’s temperature, though. The first message she sent made it sound like her heat vents still didn’t work.

{Let me know if you get too hot. We can try again later.}

{Internal Heat Levels Acceptable.}

{Good.}

Not a whole lot to do but wait. The most the totem can do is try to fire scalds into the air, which is a little hard when its head is tucked underneath layers of armor. Not that you’ve seen what it looks like or anything. Baneful bunker doesn’t mean a lot to a metal alien that laughs off most poisons. Still. Maybe you could do something?

{Get any new moves with evolution?}

{Affirmative: Unit010_100000111 Possesses The Following Combat Options:
-Metallic Energy-Infused Claw
-Projectile Metallic Energy
-Telekinesis
-Ramming;
Query: Continue Ramming?}

It’s so hard to find any emotion in her messages, but you think she wants to keep ramming. Strange. Would’ve thought she’d want to try out her new tricks. The steel moves—metal claw and flash cannon?—won’t do much. {No telepathy?}

{Unit010_100000111 Possesses Increased Telepathic Abilities Over Composite Units;
Telepathic Abilities Insufficient For Combat;
Query: Continue Ramming?}

{Sure.}

And then you go back to waiting.

Eventually there’s a giant slurping sound and the totem crashes into the water. You feel your entire body relax. The trial’s done. Noci is back. None of your pokémon were hurt too badly. Everything’s fine. Or as close to ‘fine’ as it gets for you.

“You need help getting up, miss?”

Right. Still on the ground. You slowly rise up, feeling your legs tremble as you do. “I’m good if I can lean on the rail?” Really, you’ve come a long way from vomiting and going unconscious when you used a Z-move. This is only like going a day or so without food.

Actually, did you eat yesterday? The last few days have blurred together. You should eat some fruit or something when you get to the Center. Start small, see if you still need to eat anything more.

“Okay… just hold out your hand.” The crystal. Right. His hand is really warm. Or are you cold? Both? You slip it into your case and take your cane out. “Meet me at the Center, Noci?”

{Initiate Ramming.}

*​

There’s someone waiting for you in the lobby.

“Cuicatl Ichtaca?” The voice is unfamiliar.

“Yes?”

“Hi. Elizabeth White, Channel 3 News. Can I have a minute of your time?”

Lunch is only open for a little while. You don’t know how long this interview will take. Maybe you could miss your chance to eat something? And now you’re thinking about eating. Never good. You could just leave that to the gods. See if you deserve to today.

“Sure.”

You make sure to smile in the direction you think the camera is in. It starts off like you expected, talking about the butterfree capture. Miss Bell walked you through your lines for this when she called. Said she’d give you more money if you could give her a good news day. Officially you brought a butterfree to the Center, showed it the heat and light, let it go to find more friends. Most communication was through gestures with some help from Pix. It seemed the most plausible and the Center staff probably aren’t going to say otherwise to the media.

That’s how it goes for a while. You smile, laugh, ignore your stomach (now woken up and furious since you’re so near food), and do your best to keep eye contact. Anything to make a better show, because that could get you paid more. It drifts to VStar—you like them a lot and you’re pretty sure it has no harm on the environment. You haven’t heard about any trainers who died. It’s nice to still have some money to make and be able to help the pokémon move indoors.

Then, for some reason, they insist on talking about your blindness. Your smile falters for a moment. You need food and you desperately want to talk to Noci, and you’re held up over something that doesn’t matter and isn’t even related to the person paying you?

You get through the questions without telling the reporter off. Blind since birth. You learn to deal with things. A lot of products and buildings aren’t made with you in mind. (It’s always great to witness in real time as someone realizes the normal thing they do won’t work for you. They’ll apologize, but you notice that not a lot ever gets done about it. This isn’t what she wants to hear. This isn’t what you tell her.) She gets told that you trip a lot and maybe one or two of the “funniest” stories there. It’s funny since you’re laughing. It would otherwise be a thing to be pitied over.

The moment she leaves the room you go from a straight spine and bright smile to hunched over and sulking into the dim light. Definitely missed lunch there. That’s… fine. You’ve lived through worse.

“Kept some food warm for you,” the receptionist says. “It’s in the dining room if you want it.”

You blink. “But lunch is over?”

“Five people staying here, miss. It’s not hurting anyone.”

Why would she do that? You were late. Broke the rule. You’re not supposed to have food.

Your stomach roars.

It would be rude to decline, right?

Fine. You can eat. Then it’s time to talk to your metang.

*​

A warm, smooth plate of metal brushes against your outstretched hand. “Less hot than you used to be…”

{Unit010_100000111 Is a Composite Being. Errors of decommissioned units remain. Errors mitigated by properly functioning elements of other decommissioned units.}

A composite, huh? A little bit like Alice then… “You’re also another beldum, then? You’re both?”

{Negation. Self is Unit010_100000111.}

“Then you aren’t Nocitlālin, either?”

{Unit010_100000111 retains localized designation: Nocitlālin}

Another, darker question makes its way to the forefront of your mind. “You mentioned a ‘100 unit’ decommissioning you. If a 001 is a beldum, and a 010 is a metang, then that means it was a metagross, right? You’re taking orders from one?”

And isn’t that terrifying. The galaxy’s top predator has taken an interest in you. Terrifying and a little bit thrilling. …Maybe Kekoa’s right and there is something wrong with you on a deep level. Add it to the list of things you can deal with when you have enough money to buy your family back and can spend a little bit extra on therapy.

{Negation.}

“You mentioned one, though?”

{Negation.}

“I definitely remember that.”

{Negation. Terrans possess flawed memory drives.}

“Not that flawed.”

{Negation.}

You sit down and lean back. She wants to do this the hard way, huh?

“Then why’d you evolve?”

{Insufficient for current assignment.}

“And who gave you that assignment?”

{UD_Cuicatl_Ichtaca.}

Trap sprung. “Who was giving orders to the other beldum?” No one owned that one, right? Does this count as theft? Does her old ball even work? You gently tap the ball’s release button and nothing happens. Great Time to buy a new ball.

{Query: Status Update?}

“Don’t change the subject, Noci.”

{Query: Status Update?}

“Annoyed that you won’t answer the question.”

{Error Resolved;
Query: Status Update?}

You can’t tell if this is a lie, a distraction, or a glitch anymore. “The error won’t be resolved until you tell me about the metagross.”

Warm metal presses against your chest. She’s trying to cuddle her way out of an interrogation. You wrap an arm around her and huff. She really is the perfect temperature for machine cuddles. Especially outside in the cold air. Can she still fit inside? You’ll have to figure that out later. Before you can ask another question everything breaks inside. You lean into Noci all the way and press your head down on top of her.

Maybe you don’t need to finish your questions today. If the metagross wanted you dead then it would’ve just killed you. If Noci spies on you for a while, oh well. You aren’t important enough to know secrets worth stealing. Maybe you’ll catch her with her guard down again in the future.

“Don’t run off again, okay?”

{Command acknowledged.}

“Okay?”

{Affirmative.}

“Good.”

A friend returned and a crystal earned. You even got to eat. It’s far from the worst today could’ve gone.

[-???]​

“This seat taken?”

You glance up to see a man a few years older than you standing there. You tense up for a moment before remembering that you’re in public. Even if your team is still healing you’re far from helpless.

“No, it isn’t.”

He pulls a chair out and sits down. The more you look at him the more there is to like. He has a nice tan and a really good face. Strong jawline, eyes full of life… You shouldn’t stare, but he just smiles when he notices. “Saw your match today. Really gave the old bastard hell.”

A fan. Haven’t really had those before. “It was a good fight. My pokémon trained hard and won.” And you got to make a racist, sexist piece of shit hand you a badge in front of a crowd of other racist, sexist pieces of shit.

“Not just your Pokémon. Some of your tactics were brilliant. Sticking a conkeldurr’s pillar into the side of the pool to stay near the surface? Never would have thought of that.”

It was smart, yes. Now that the match is over you’re a little worried you’re going to get the bill for that stunt. If only so no one else tries it going forward.

“Thank you. I never caught your name?”

“Tlapoca Ichtaca.” He keeps an easy smile and extends a hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Danielle Lee.” His shake is firm without being crushing. Good form. “You already knew that.” He laughs even though it wasn’t really a joke. “Are you a trainer or…”

“No. I study finance at Towers. My cousin’s uncle owns a restaurant in Undella so I sometimes come over to take shifts. He pays well enough.”

A college man. Mom would be furious if she knew who you were flirting with. He’s not that much older, though, and he seems nice.

“Can I buy you another drink?”

“Yes. Hot chocolate, please.”

It’s getting warmer every day but you still want one. It’s nostalgic and doesn’t keep you up at night.

“You know Anahuac practically invented that, right? Great ones over at the family restaurant if you want to visit.”

“I’ll take you up on that.”

Mom would be furious, but she’s not here now. Journeys are all about independence, right? And you’ll just sit outside in public view. It’s just a quick date while you’re in town.

Really, what’s the worst that could happen?
 
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WildBoots

Don’t underestimate seeds.
Location
between a hope and a prayer
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. moka-mark
  2. solrock
Instead, you’re trying to figure out where Matriarch’s eevee is.
Priorities, of course.

Mainland breeders want more genetic diversity and the DNR dropped all capture limits since they’re invasive and…”
Oh yeah, that makes sense. ✅

You lead Skysong back through the field of death.
Lol, wait, why is it the field of death? I don't know where we are right now.

You sit down and flick your seven-and-two-ninths tails
👀 Oh, does that mean she's close to evolving? Does BT canon yeet stone off the mountain?

but the light only shows how much you missed by.
Ha, nice.

An A (icy wind Skysong calls it, because it is a wind that is icy)
I thought Cuicatl was calling it A & B.

“The Pokémon Center sells bloodcicles. I can get you one if you find me more than one butterfree.”

What. She could have bought you frozen blood at any time?
I wanted something about this to be expanded a little, some sensory detail from Pixie, since we're in her POV and this is appealing to her in a way it wouldn't be for aaaaanybody else haha. Part of what I think I'm missing is the hiccup over what a bloodcicle is. I can imagine that being a treat for her, but I can also imagine her not knowing that word for it.

She must have had a very good father.
🙃 Nice use of POV here.

{I’ll try to let you listen…}

Good. You deserve it. And it makes you trust her a little bit.
I hadn't realized at first that Cuicatl was talking to the butterfree here and not to Pixie.

they can’t stop us all if we fly reallh fast and low to the ground. But the others say that the humans have fire pokémon and they’d still win.”
OMG did you just make a Naruto run joke? 🤣 (Also, typo!)

“I’ll..” Water starts trickling down from the sky.
Missing a period.

The bug’s mental voice falters and the physical cries stop.
This tripped me up, first because "physical" feels like the wrong word and second because we hadn't had any prior indication of the butterfree verbalizing.

Suggestion: The voice you hear in your mind falters, and then the sounds the butterfree makes out loud stop, too.

You’ve just finished your delicious treat when the first bug arrives.
I wanted more physical cues of her snacking! Canines are so goofy when they eat something they're really excited about, and I wanted some of that brought to life here, the lip-smacking, lip-licking, cronching of it all.

Skysong stands still before sighing and turning around with one of her spinning things.
Her spinning things?

Catching these means more money means more treats. And maybe not another ‘sister.’
This was a little off too, the "maybe not another sister." I get the idea, but the wording isn't quite working for me yet.

you didn’t have to wear the harness much when they was around.
LOL omg, I forgot Pix's genius very good pronoun application.

“Alright. Come to my voice. I’ll catch you once I can feel you.”
I kinda wanted Pix's help visualizing this moment with Cuicatl.

“If this is about Lyra—”
Oh, so she knows? Kinda odd that she's not acting--waiting for another near-murder?

There’s a sharp inhale on the other side. “What’s the cover on that? You can’t just say that without drawing attention to yourself.”

“Pix translated. If anyone asks.”

Maybe. I think your beldum would be more plausible.”
I didn't fully feel this because we haven't even gotten the effect of people noticing yet, except for the clerk at the pokecenter. Like, is it too dark to see? Are other trainers at the center reacting in some way? Then it seems like the press is Rachel's doing, which seems silly if she's not satisfied by Cuicatl's explanation. (I'm also wondering why an explanation can't just be that she put together some really fancy bait, secret recipe. Like, why invoke talking to them at all?)

“’course she did,”
C should still be capitalized even though it's an abreviation.

She dug in her teeth and shook until the corpse stopped moving. The older ones whimpered as they each met the same fate one by one.
Seems like a cruel, slow way to get it done, considering all the power a ninetales has.
You were 100% right. As always.
I'd write out one hundred percent.

I thought the "ancestor story" was much better integrated into the story this time. Voice of the Moon is a great icetales name! Something about the suffocating with love didn't quite mesh for me, though. This is just an explanation for stillbirths, right? It's hard for me to parse that as "excess of love" when the mothers seem upset by it. Either way, wow, what great advice from Pixie. So actionable for Cuicatl! Words to live by!

Looks like Pix is getting close to evolving! I wonder how the dynamic between them--all of them!--will change when that happens. Smol baby with a bad attitude? Annoying but cute. Giant, powerful wolf with access to psychic powers + bad attitude = someone could get super hurt. I wonder if evolving will change her personality at all.

I appreciate how, on the one hand, Pix is not here for Cuicatl's pity party ... but she goes right ahead and makes it worse. : )
 
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