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I'm surprised that Cynthia figures out she's in the past so fast. She goes from "is this a really traditonal place i may have missed?" to. "Between the scientific levels of the pokeballs and pokedex (pen and paper) i think i am in the past". How she pieces it together via a little mental history trivia hop scotch is interesting... And does so while skipping the standard freak outs along the way.
Also her "i think i'm working for them now?" Was pretty funny.
The whole hisui region is going to be a long roadtrip marked by deja vu for cynthia... But what happened to her present pokemon team?
Also as an aside, Lu' must be vibrating from the clamped down historical fan freak out.
Love how cynthia, most feared leader in the series is cringing from the horror of housekeeping. Wait till the have to use archaic cleaning methods. The fun reall ratchets up then.
I think ice cream shares are going to be the least of anyones issues. I mean ice cream historically wasnt made yet. And mon fearing as they are i doubt theres a miltank farm to hit up for milk and creme. Plus sugar... No idea what the trade agricultural angles are here... And ice. Granted a sneasel could solve that... Wait, hisius sneasels aren't ice type... Yeah, lets just say ice and refrigeration (and cooking, cleaning, hygene, supplies, transport, and mon access and skills) is its own issue and let it go at that.
Its starting to sink in for luc' i think. Neither are flat out saying things, but both are hinting (if not outright thinking) that they got a good grip on how crazy the world just got. And any comfort cynthias got up her sleeve has been absconed by jetlag but at least they're on the same page. Granted that page is titled "we are exhauseted and further analysis is tommorrow's problem" but still its a comparanle brain wave.
Hello! I've been following Way Out for at least a couple months now and have really enjoyed it so far! Once I'd finished my initial binge I did go read what'd been posted so far for In Too Deep at the time, but hadn't gotten around to actually reviewing. Now's as good a time as any to get started on a few, though, right? Just gonna review them in the order they're posted rather than chronologically for simplicity's sake. (Spoilered just to keep things tidy, hopefully!)
Luculia twirls in place as the black and white letters careen in circles around her, swooping alongside her Froslass, Scilla. Occasionally they pop into the air in front of her with a soft _tink_, and she indulges them with a hum or a note in the corresponding phonemes of their shapes. Sometimes they’ll gather in clusters of morphemes, or even brachysyllabic words, always seeming to delight in having their shapes echoed back at them. Their game had been an invaluable resource in practicing vocalisation in the Unown language, but it’s a little hard to cite the Unown Pokemon Collective in research papers.
This is such a fun way to describe interacting with the unown. It's so common just to focus on the fact that they have whatever incredible collective powers they have and never really consider that, hm, yes, they look like letters, so what is the creatures' actual relationship with language? How do they interact with it? Good to have a linguist who'd actually think to explore that with them, and the result both makes a lot of sense and is adorable.
Reading this makes me curious about how close Cynthia and Luculia actually are at this stage. It's interesting to see the way they're kind of dancing around being formal and being familiar. They don't seem to know a ton about each other, but there is still that little urge to tease playfully, and a genuine curiosity about one another. I liked that "as a formality" repetition; kinda emphasizes that they're very aware that they're making an effort to keep it professional rather than just a buddy outing. (And yet.)
I keep forgetting even as I read Way Out that Cynthia and Dawn have presumably gone through the events of Platinum, whatever form that took in this world, heh. A desire to gain an accurate understanding of Giratina's history/mythology makes sense!
... revealing the coining script that wraps around the walls in near incomprehensible strings. Yet as she approaches them they align serendipitously, unravelling word by word and phrase by phrase until reading becomes listening.
Love that description a lot. (Is that meant to be "coiling" script? Not sure I'm familiar with "coining" in this particular sense, although I also didn't know the word "agistment" before this so I could just be wrong lol.)
I like seeing the way that Cynthia's background as a historian comes together with Luculia's linguistics. They really do work so well together. And I love Luculia's reason for getting into linguistics. It's a fun reference to the regi-ruin puzzles that are in fact there for the player to solve, but as someone else who also likes to approach the tricky bits of their field like a puzzle, I can appreciate that sense of wonder and that pull to keep digging, y'know?
I know you mentioned this is more meant to be a summary of the roommate situation, but I do appreciate getting a look at Cynthia's thought process as she steps through what her situation actually means. Seeing the specific things a given character notices and gives weight to (the historical clothing/architecture she's familiar with, oh wait that person looks kinda like Cyrus oops, etc.) is always a great way to showcase more about who they are.
Cynthia moves to cross the room over to her, but wavers as the dreaded surge of jetlag hits.
funny to think of "jetlag" when you've gone back to a time before planes, lol. but yeah!
Also enjoy that little bit of quick banter between Cynthia and Luc about the ice cream. In general I think the banter between the two of them is one of the things I like most about the comic, and it works well toward the goal you set out for with this (yeah okay they gotta be roommates but it's not a big deal). The info gets across, but the attention's still very much on how the characters are inclined to interact with one another.
A relatively quick one for some quick downtime, but fun to read nonetheless!
@K_S
It is a pretty fast jump for these two to figure out what's going on so fast, but I figured it'd be allowable given their fields of study! A roadtrip marked by deja vu is exactly right, it's part of what makes the setting and story so fun to play with. There are lots of parallels between PLA and DPPt which I'm really excited to get into.
You're right about the housekeeping and lack of ice cream, too... taking away the luxuries of life from these characters is both a fun way to push them out of their comfort zones, but also see how they adapt to things. It's always in the back of my head that these two characters both probably prefer a quiet, rustic life to the fast paced pressures of the modern world, so not only is it easier for them to adapt but they might also have some hesitation in returning to the stressful life of the present day.
Thanks for the review!
@Phoenixsong
Aaaa I love hearing when people tell me they've enjoyed Way Out, it really means a lot to me! I'm glad people here have been willing to give these oneshots a chance despite not being so familiar with things, but it's also cool to get to hear your perspective with more knowledge from the rest of the story.
There are so many interesting theories about the Unown, from them being the eyes of Arceus to them being the coding of the games, but despite them being at the centre of one of the series' best movies (and more recently, one of the better Journeys' episodes), there's still not very much material about them. But that only makes the mystery more fun, in some ways! Cynthia and Dawn both have narrative claim on most of the relevant legendaries to the story, but the Unown are free real estate for Luculia haha.
Reading this makes me curious about how close Cynthia and Luculia actually are at this stage. It's interesting to see the way they're kind of dancing around being formal and being familiar. They don't seem to know a ton about each other, but there is still that little urge to tease playfully, and a genuine curiosity about one another. I liked that "as a formality" repetition; kinda emphasizes that they're very aware that they're making an effort to keep it professional rather than just a buddy outing. (And yet.)
I appreciate that this comes across!! You explained it well, I wanted them to start out being on good terms but not quite friends yet as an easy launchpad for the story. I think it sort of comes through though that there's part of them that wants to be friends, with their shared interests and shared passions, but it's mostly the pretence of only being work colleagues that keeps things formal. That barrier gets pretty much shattered with the start of the comic though, and so it goes from there!
(also oops, that is a typo! thanks for picking it up, sometimes autocorrect will fix a typo into the wrong word and I'll be less likely to notice it)
I think with all the feedback I recieved I might revisit Preposition, so I'll give you a hint that I'll be looking at touching up Luculia's story a bit too with more foreshadowing. (Snowpoint temple will be relevant again eventually!)
Your thoughts on Doublet are fun to read as well, part of the reason for this serious is the chance to jump into characters heads and that was really fun to do with Cynthia! Comics aren't a very introspective medium while writing is, so this quiet space where they're just settling in to their new rooms was a way to explore that a litte bit more for the first time. I'm glad you enjoy the banter too, writing dialogue between characters is one of my favourite things when it comes to storytelling.
Thank you so much for the review! I love hearing people's reactions to things and any excuse to get into the nitty gritty is a good one.
This one's intro is definitely very campfire story-esque, heh. Just the right mood! Loved Adaman lowkey shushing Arezu, definitely not at all just because he wants to be the one to tell the spooky ghost story. "We shouldn't be telling this story or Calaba will get mad!" /immediately launches into a theatrical voice
Love that turn of phrase. (Also whoops I forgot about Cynthia's eye, lol. Do the math generously enough and these ladies got approximately two good eyes between them right now. Finding Dawn's gonna go juuuuuust fine, ain't it.)
We get some really good looks into Cynthia's thought processes here. The way she can't help but think of these locations as their modern equivalents. Being so familiar with the sounds and behavior of not just her own pokémon, but also the other elites'. And her competence in battle—I think that comes across quite well overall, even with it being tricky to balance around a powered-up ursaluna. Lucky for her that Yurei seemed to know about Mind's Eye... more past experience from some of those spirits, perhaps?
The eclipse imagery during the fight is really on-point, wow. Incredibly striking and dramatic, I love it.
It's interesting that they seem to get saved by mystery ~~zoroark~~ Not-Luculia here! I wonder if Ursaluna recognizes her, and he ended up focusing on Luc because that's who he thought she was.
Awww, Calaba's just protecting Ursaluna. He's just a big sleeby good boy, really. This was a really clever way to integrate Bloodmoon Ursaluna back into the actual setting of PLA, making him representative of (and a bit of a victim of!) the animosity between the Diamond and Pearl clans. (There was a bit of pronoun confusion at the end, where Bloodmoon Ursaluna gets called both "it" and "he" back and forth by the narration even after Calaba says "Lord Ursaluna's brother".)
I can't remember if I'm missing something from the comic (and my bad if I am!), but I wonder what it is Dawn's worried about at the end there? Possession without consent ain't great, of course, but it seems like more than that, like she and Cynthia are concerned about different things and kind of talking past each other. Maybe there's something she's worried that Yurei might've seen in her head? Or it could be something like past trauma related to possession. Hm...
Gotta guard that paperwork!
Love the emphasis on their serious conference business and then just jumping straight to card games, haha. It's a cute, snappy little opening. There are lots of fun little touches throughout this scene, like Laventon having to hold his nose at the miscategorized wurmple card, and Sanqua having her priorities straight while everyone else is talking about Volo and Cynthia definitely being related. (Or should that be "having her priorities bi", insert rimshot here.) The dialogue is mostly very snappy (haha) and back-and-forth but still conveys plenty of character.
"Please," Sanqua gives an amused scoff and waves her empty hand. "They look far too fancy to be a couple of bandits or anything like that. They're not exactly conspicuous."
I think Sanqua might've meant "inconspicuous" there?
It's nice that Cyllene is sensible enough to encourage fun card games as a team-building activity. A frivolous little card game doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd think she'd be actively advocating for, let alone be interested in bothering with herself, but it's nicely humanizing and keeps her somewhat enigmatic at the same time. And, well, a woman's gotta have hobbies, right?
The overall focus here, though, seems to be on Laventon's impressions of the others' impressions of him. Still trying his best to figure out where he fits in, to the point where maybe the game itself is distracting him from that; perhaps a bit envious that the others can so easily tell what Cyllene seems to be thinking; phrasing Kamado's appraisal of the group such that, surely, it excludes Laventon himself from being one of those "shining stars". Poor guy! It's probably never going to be easy to fit in perfectly, but hopefully he'll be able to be more at ease during future snap games, at least.
A really neat little slice-of-life piece all in all, I think. Cozy and fun and yet ever-so-slightly nervous and sympathetic.
Volo really does have a knack for interrupting at just the right moment, doesn't he. Fun to see how and why he goes about that from his perspective. And to see how coolly Luc is able to match him, even if Cynthia's nervous about keeping their original home-time a secret, heh.
Now, here's where I have to admit that I haven't actually finished PLA yet myself, though I've certainly seen enough online to know what at least some of Volo's deal is and where he ends up; thankfully I'm not that bothered about spoilers for it, though I'm hoping I'll be able to get back to it eventually, haha. Cogita I definitely don't know much about at all, though, and I can't help but think about her a bit here. I wonder if Volo's thinking she might have something to do with the sudden appearance of this "cousin"? How much of his analysis of Cynthia at the end is him projecting about his great aunt, maybe, and how much is him projecting about himself and what he feels he's like, or should be like?
This one's pretty short and sweet and to its twisty little point here (unless I've failed to pick up on something else, which is always a strong possibility with me), but it does a great job of showing the audience how curious and calculating Volo is. I do think it comes across in the comic, to an extent, though maybe that's more of that dramatic irony talking—it is still good to actually have just that little bit of a look inside his head, though.
And we'll close this off for now with a jump back to the present, hm hm!
The league structure sounds like a fun combination of both how the league works in the games and how it did in the anime. And beyond that, even, with Aaron (and maybe the other elites?) eager to greet and train with the big crowd of trainers even before any official matches those trainers might work their way up to.
Interesting to see Aaron describe the end of season as Cynthia "reaping the rewards of her harvest"—what rewards, I wonder? Just a paycheck for her Champion position? The satisfaction of battling some really skilled, worthwhile opponents? Something else?
Interpol had quickly discounted the multiversal fluctuations of Ultra Space as the culprit
Even knowing the context, it's hilarious to me that this is just something Interpol can factually and confidently state in this universe. (Or that it's something they technically have personal experience with!) Oh, Pokémon series. Never change.
Even though Way Out and ITD aren't exactly battle-focused stories, I continue to enjoy the way we get these glimpses of advanced battle strategy here and there. Digging and punishing the opponent by lacing the ground with the toxic spikes is clever, nice. And focusing on how to really keep opponents on their toes sounds like a wonderful distraction from the fact that there are no opponents at all.
This was a neat little glimpse into the lives and thoughts of the elites! Even the quick banter about Flint feels natural and fun. I'm looking forward to getting to the other stories about the Elite Four in the future, and seeing how things have progressed the next time we check in! Based on the summary of the Lucian story, the situation might end up getting pretty sticky...
(Also whoops I forgot about Cynthia's eye, lol. Do the math generously enough and these ladies got approximately two good eyes between them right now. Finding Dawn's gonna go juuuuuust fine, ain't it.)
I think about this all the time... they're really out here doing the best with the three eyes they have. I'm glad you think Cynthia's competence comes across well– it's one of those things I think is easier to pull off visually, whereas it's more of a challenge to show all the wheels turning in her head in a way that's convincing to the reader. It was a little tricky in that I wanted to have Yurei at the centre of this battle because she does have some experience with that Mind's Eye ability, even though she isn't necessarily the most strategic choice here.
It's interesting that they seem to get saved by mystery ~~zoroark~~ Not-Luculia here! I wonder if Ursaluna recognizes her, and he ended up focusing on Luc because that's who he thought she was.
I'm glad you picked up on that! I figure this Ursaluna doesn't get along with the creepy zoroark running around, and given its ability it might just dislike ghost-types in general haha. Having him really target Luculia while ignoring Cynthia's attempts to fight was also important mechanically in forcing her to retreat for a little while, because you can't have a horror story where the characters don't flee from the beast!
I'll keep that pronoun advice in mind, I think I was trying to do something clever at the time but it probably needed another once over. Also, the stuff with Dawn is more about sowing the seeds of some stuff that will become relevant later, so how successful I was in that regard is probably yet to be seen! But the idea is that with Dawn a little older than she was during the DPPt era and Cynthia having a bit more of a presence in this story, there's a bit of friction in who gets to be the hero, so to speak.
A fun fact for this story is that the roles of Luculia and Dawn were originally going to be swapped, with Luculia getting possessed instead, but this worked a lot better I think.
Pokemon Snap is one of the earlier ones I wrote, but I'm still pretty happy with it. It's the first time I really got to experiment in stepping back from Cynthia and Luculia's POVs, which is probably something I should do more often.
Writing all the dynamics between the Galaxy Team Captains was super fun, and it was pretty easy to create a feeling of being on the outside of a friend group.
It's interesting that despite being the adult figure the protagonist character in the games defers to the most, Laventon is really kind of low on the rungs, and it would be easy for Cynthia and Luculia to figure out that it's the Captains who have the most sway when it comes to the Commander. This oneshot is meant to show that Laventon is pretty self aware about it too, because how much power would he really have if push came to shove? Still, I think he's part of the group moreso than he thinks, too!
Volo has since gotten a little better in chilling out with the jumpscares in the comic, so it's fun to go back to this point in time where he is being a bit more calculating, with Luc just as standoffish. Now that I think about it, it might be time to revisit him again soon to show how his thought process is changing.
Now, here's where I have to admit that I haven't actually finished PLA yet myself, though I've certainly seen enough online to know what at least some of Volo's deal is and where he ends up;
Aha, that's interesting! The ending for Way Out is likely going to veer a little off track from canon anyway, but it's always a thought in the back of my mind just how accessible the story is to anyone going in blind, and whether or not it needs to be accessible for anyone going in blind (I can't imagine it'd be easy to follow the story if you didn't know anything about Pokemon at all, but I'm not about to explain the premise of the Pokemon franchise in my Pokemon fancomic, for example). For me what's most important is that in the comic we're only seeing what Cynthia and Luculia see of Volo, but I appreciate the chance to look behind the curtain somewhat here.
Cogita is definitely an enigma, but I can't wait to explore all the different dynamics that arise when we get to meet her. You raise a lot of good questions about how much Volo is projecting when it comes to that, because when the time comes she's definitely going to be comparing the two as well. I think you've picked up on pretty much everything I was putting down here! I generally wanted to leave the ending ambiguous as to whether or not Volo is leaning towards Cynthia being a Skyfaller or not, but either way he knows they're connected in some fateful way.
Thinking about how the League would function a little more practically is fun for me, in terms of worldbuilding, so I was glad for the excuse to show it off here haha. When Aaron talks about Cynthia "reaping the rewards of her harvest", I think my intention there was to show that even he isn't immune to mythologising her in a way, seeing her as this kind of inevitable force more than anything.
Ultra Space is crazy, honestly, but I figure they'd probably have a good idea when a wormhole is involved because surely there'd be some metric for the phsyics of the universe going haywire, right? Part of my logic here is also that Arceus' fingerprints are probably all over the world, so when Arceus yoinks you out of reality it's hard for anyone to notice.
Focusing on Aaron here was a nice little tiptoe into writing Pokemon battling without having to write an actual battle, haha. My other story Lucid Paradoxy (currently only on AO3) sort of continues the thread of what's going on in the present with the investigation into Cynthia's disappearance, but it's also a pretty self-contained story so it's fine if it's not your thing. I only mention because the Sinnoh Elites do pop up in that story for a brief moment following this, and the latest story with Lucian was sort of a spur of the moment idea for how I could pick up on a sequel to LP haha. That oneshot can still be read on its own without all the other context, though!
As always, thank you for the reviews! It's really been a treat getting to comb through them.
So this was an update. This is honestly more of a fun experimental thing and I debated on not putting it in this series because I don't know how... canon? it'll end up being? I mostly just wanted to toy with the idea of telling a story between the lines of a 'chatfic' in a way I hope is enjoyable, and that meant a fun and over the top twist. Will I ever do anything with said twist? who knows
Those Meddling Kids
1:16PM
Lucas?
yeah?
want to come break into the interpol building with me?
no
Barry you’re not serious right?
theyre hiding something
of course they are they’re interpol
that’s their whole thing
remember when Looker said they couldn’t find any link between Dawn and Cynthia’s disappearance?
he’s lying
how do you know that
because everybody knows that they both got stuck in the distortion world or something, and they’re trying to cover it up for some reason
and Dad thinks theyre hiding something too. He said they’re closing the case now???
how would your dad know that
Don’t doubt his connections alright
anyway are you coming or not
I know we both want to find Dawn but you SHOULD NOT break into Interpol
oh fuck they’re probably monitoring our messages right now
we should not be talking about this
it’s encrypted, you bidoof. We’re fine
don’t underestimate them
I’ve met Looker, I don’t think we need to be worried
Barry Looker is not the only agent in the international police force.
fine, we should probably plan this in person anyway
No!!!
4:03PM
LUCAS
TURN YOUR PHONE ON SILENT
It’s a Rotom Phone I can’t tell him what to do!!
TELL HIM TO SHUT UP
stop texting me!
4:19PM
Where did you go?
Barry
Where did you go
uh
I’m in a blue room
that tells me nothing
Which warp tile did you take?
..the left one?
i think
you were supposed to go right then take the stairs
oops lol
BARRY
we are so fucking dead
4:32PM
did you pull the fire alarm???
I had to do something!
fuck yeah boyyyy
I knew you had it in you
>:(
4:42PM
are you still going okay?
yeah, there was an alakazam on patrol but Munchy put him to sleep
Excuse me
WITH YWAN
Oh okay
Hey I think I found something
hold on
shit that’s it!!
I’m going to take some photos, you should make your way out
why not just take them
I’m not going to STEAL CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMNETS BARRY
I've had this sitting half-finished in my drafts for a while, but finally found the motivation to finish it. I don't have too much time for dwelling on these things in the comic, but I know Dawn's first team would have been very important to her so I wanted to do an extended oneshot that went into a little more detail about it.
Her team is Triton (Empoleon), Whimsy (Lopunny), Honey (Heracross), Pixie (Clefable), Vesper (Espeon), and Aquila (Altaria). I actually did a run of Platinum with this team, and they all really pulled their weight at different points. Even Clefable still being a normal type didn't hold it back! Finding what worked for this team really helped me get into Dawn's head.
It would have been really cool to acknowledge the event where Cynthia gives Dawn a Togepi egg, but unfortunately I felt it was better to leave that plot point behind because listen. I can't have three Togekiss running around
Days Past
1.
In her first week of travelling the Obsidian Fieldlands— rolling plains of lush green that remind her of the first week of her journey, years ago— Dawn realises she needs to catch some Pokémon. The catch-and-release method the Survey Corps employs for studying different species doesn’t really count; she needs to build herself a team if she wants to go far (and she does— she has a feeling she’ll be seeing the peak of Mount Coronet eventually).
There are plenty of Pokémon that catch her eye, but very few that feel right. That is, until she stumbles upon a buneary hiding in a patch of daffodils. It bounds away the moment Dawn crouches down to pass a pecha to it, so she leaves it in the grass for it to approach later, if it’s smart enough not to let an opportunistic starry get to it first. This Pokémon isn’t right for her, but she knows by the pang of her chest why she was drawn to it anyway.
Her first Pokémon was Triton, given to her by Professor Rowan when he was only a little piplup, but her first catch was a buneary.
Whimsy hadn’t been so shy. She’d been almost aggressive, even, with nothing but impatience for the humans who travelled through Eterna Forest, trudging all over the fresh clovers. She had been won over pretty quickly with an offering of fresh pecha berries, though, and found she had a preference for dry poffins. It took a long time and a lot of training before she evolved into the powerhouse of a Lopunny she is— was— will be?— but that time seems so insignificant now. Dawn knows her journey had lasted several months longer than most trainers’, managing to win seven badges on her first go, but it had also been a whirlwind. Her memories are a flurry of victories and losses, the highs of battling her friends and the lows of fighting Team Galactic.
Yet Dawn remembers each evolution vividly. Whimsy’s had been in Veilstone; far longer into her journey than she’d been comfortable with, against an opponent she wasn’t comfortable with. Maylene’s Lucario had been too formidable an opponent for even Triton, and Whimsy had taken his place on the field before she could even reach for another pokéball. She had decided to place her trust in the little buneary, and the battle had ended with a proud Lopunny standing over a fainted Lucario.
Dawn watches as the buneary hops towards the waylaid pecha, and takes a small nibble.
No, she doesn’t think she’s ready to train one again.
2.
Late in the afternoon, just as the changing winds chase away the midday heat with a cool breeze, Dawn and Rei make camp in the shade of a ring of trees. One of the trees has dull yellow leaves, contrasting against the vibrant colours of the Fieldlands in Spring, and the bright green foliage that surrounds it. It’s an Evergold, or as most trainers in Sinnoh know them, a honey tree.
“Hey Rei, do you have any honey in your satchel?” Dawn asks, scouring her own for a spoon.
“Yeah, I have about half a jar left. Do you want some?” he asks, tilting the jar in question until the liquid inside begins to move. Dawn takes it with a quick thank you, then walks over to the honey tree to slather a spoonful onto the crackling bark.
“Hey! What are you doing? I didn’t give you my honey just so you could waste it!” Rei shouts, and Dawn doesn’t fight him as he snatches the jar back from her— she’s sure she’s used enough.
“It’s not going to waste. Just trust me, give it ’til morning,” she says, and flashes Rei a wide grin. He returns it with a shrewd glare and caps the lid on his honey jar with a pop. He’s learning to take her word for it, because as cynical as he had been when she had arrived, her way with Pokémon speaks for itself. Even in her own time, while she wouldn’t call herself a prodigy, other people had.
The next morning, Dawn shakes Rei’s shoulder to rouse him awake.
“Rei, get up! Come look at this,” she hisses, careful not to raise her voice. She has to all but drag him out of the tent, but she’s glad she managed to; the honey tree is swarming with flitting combee, and climbing upon its trunk to lick up the last of the sweet nectar is a large Heracross with a gleaming blue carapace.
“Wow! It’s like the whole tree is buzzing,” Rei wonders aloud, watching the hefty branches shudder as starly hop to and fro to peck at the combee.
“Looks like a male Heracross, judging by the spade on its horn,” Dawn points out, for Rei to take note of in his pokédex journal.
“Are you going to try to catch it?” Rei asks, deferring to her given that the honey had been her idea.
“No, I already know enough about this species to fill out its entry.”
“Really?”
Dawn’s smile falters.
“Yeah.”
Heracross are a Bug and Fighting-type Pokémon, which can still take down Barry’s Staraptor if you’re sure to teach them Rock Tomb. Their Megahorn attack is a little hard to aim, but when they hit their mark they hit hard. They’re also very rare in the wild, unless you happen to be in Floaroma town in the middle of a honey judging competition.
Her one had a heart-shaped spade, and she’d named her Honey.
3.
The night sky is crisp and black, freckled with glinting stars and cloudy nebulas. Despite all the differences between Sinnoh— her Sinnoh— and Hisui, Dawn can still pick out all the constellations she’d learned to identify on the cloudless nights of her journey. There’s the Leaping Pyroar with its seven-pronged mane, and the snaking stars of Serperior just to the right of it. Two of the brightest stars in the sky make for the Sword of Ruin, pointing to the Tablet of Ruin. For a moment, she can almost imagine Eterna City is right on the other side of the forest, but there’s no use fooling herself.
She’s used to travelling alone. Barry had always taken off ahead of her, while Lucas dawdled behind, and they were happier taking things at their own pace. But at least they could catch up to each other every now and then. Here, Dawn can’t help but remember just how alone she is, hundreds of years out of place.
Above her, the moon hangs like a smile. It’s said that there’s a colony of clefairy living up there, and the reason why families of cleffa, clefairy and Clefable all dance beneath the light of the full moon is because that’s how they communicate with their friends, stranded so far away. Dawn had the chance to witness it, once, on one of Mount Coronet’s plateaus. Each Pokémon twirled and bounced and sang around the lunar maypole, always keeping one finger pointed to the sky. And if their messages can travel through space… why not time, too?
But it isn’t a full moon tonight, and Dawn isn’t sure she could do the dance properly even if she tried, and she’ll be lucky if nobody sees her. It would be hard to explain.
Still, there’s at least one Clefable out there who might hear her call.
Pixie had been part of that group of clefairy she’d found, and she had been just as curious about Dawn as Dawn was about her. She’d been holding onto a moonstone, but evidently hadn’t felt ready to use it— so she joined the team, until one day she was ready. Dawn had half expected her to return to her colony after she evolved in time to fight Candice’s gym with her TM-trained Flamethrower, but she’d decided to stay. Not that they knew at the time, but they’d be visiting Mount Coronet again very soon anyway.
Dawn closes her eyes, and the moon and stars leave imprints on her eyelids. She hopes that somewhere in the future, Pixie is looking at the moon, and can hear her message somehow.
I’m coming home soon, too. I promise.
4.
The rain has been pouring down in thick sheets for hours all day, but now there is finally a small reprieve before the next wave. High up on the mountain plateau, the Diamond Clan’s village is safe from the flash flooding brought by summer rain, but wild Pokémon have been venturing closer than normal in their search for high ground. Now sound of mind again, Lord Ursaluna can help guide them to safety— but frenzied as she is, Lady Lilligant isn’t able to help in keeping the peace between the highland and lowland Pokémon. Adaman has enough on his hands with helping everyone keep dry and warm and fed and safe, which is why Dawn volunteered to help ward away any particularly aggressive Pokémon that might wander too close to the far cises.
Together, she and Dante fight off a few Carnivine and Rhydon, and break up a fight between the local Roserade and Honchkrow families. Thankfully no frenzied alphas pop up to give them a hard time, even as it starts to rain again. Dawn knows she should turn in soon and trade her shelter of trees and rocky crags for a nice warm fire, but a golden glow in the distance catches her eye.
It isn’t one of those mysterious poems Cynthia and Luculia have been finding; rather, it’s a cluster of rings that give away the lithe form of an Umbreon. A fully realised Umbreon is a rare sight out in the wild, but it isn’t unheard of for an eevee to meet the requirements of a bond evolution on their own terms. This one doesn’t make any aggressive overtures, even as it strides towards them. It holds its head high, cool and elegant, yet still bristling with energy beneath that black fur coat. It wants to battle; it reminds Dawn of somebody she knows.
“You ready for one last fight, Dante?” Dawn whispers, and her quilava chirps in agreement.
Once, in another time, Dawn had raised an eevee herself. He was a prideful little thing, and had refused all the evolution stones she had offered him. At first she’d worried he didn’t like her at all, but then every night he preferred to sleep against her side rather than in his ball. And one morning, she had woken up with an Espeon by her side. To this day she still wonders if he had intentionally chosen to evolve at dawn.
Dawn tosses a carved apricorn pokéball, and catches an Umbreon at dusk. She has a name already picked out, and a spot on her team for a strong Dark-type. She hitches Cynthia’s ball to her obi, and wonders if she would get along with Vesper.
5.
By the time the sun sets, the worst of the storm has cleared and Lady Lilligant’s frenzy has been quelled. Finally, Dawn lets herself relax. The last rays of sunlight peek through the fleeing clouds, and the grain fields across the Mirelands are awash in gold. Up on the hill, overlooking it all, Dawn lays her head against the damp grass. Looking up at the sky, she spots one cluster of clouds drifting faster than all the rest, with the occasional blink of blue.
It’s a flock of swablu, she realises, led by an Altaria at the front of the formation. It’s unusual to see them so far from the Coronet mountain range, but it seems as though they’re only passing through. Come autumn, they’ll fly south— down past Johto to settle in the warmer region of Hoenn through the winter, and return again in spring.
Dawn’s journey took place in the summer, as most trainers’ journeys do, and so the swablu had still been in Sinnoh then, too. She’d even stumbled upon one in the perpetual fog on the path to Celestic town; the little bird had been cast out of his flock, and wasn’t likely to make the migration on his own. Aquila had been the last to join her team, as her sixth and final catch. They’d needed a lot of long training sessions to get him up to speed, but he took to battling as easy as flying.
When he eventually evolved into an Altaria, they’d returned to the mountain path where they met, and sought out the Dragon Master who lived up on the cliffs. They were going to need a few tricks up their sleeves if they were going to have a shot at ever beating Cynthia, and where better to learn than the place she called home?
In the distance, the flock of swablu disappear into the clouds. The sun’s light fades as twilight arrives, and Dawn pushes herself back up. It’s hard to believe that she and Cynthia are both here, on this mysterious quest for a purpose only Arceus knows. It’s not that she believes in destiny, but… she thinks Cynthia would agree with her if she said every encounter between humans and Pokémon alike is for a reason.
She’ll defeat her one day, she knows. But she’d like to have Aquila by her side when she does.
6.
The blue painted apricorn ball twitches only slightly, stuck in the mud as it is, before it exhales a plume of smoke.
“Good job, Triton,” Dawn grins, and he puffs up his chest with a jolly trill. She wades through the muddy puddle between them to pick the pokéball up, and hitches it to her obi. That makes two hippopotas, now; one with ochre brown skin and the other with light clay, male and female, just as Anthe had requested. Triton waddles as close as he can towards her without getting his legs too dirty, and cocks his head with an inquisitive honk.
“No, they’re not joining our team— I don’t think, anyhow. After we show them to Anthe, Professor Laventon will probably want to study their dimorphism, and I’m sure they’d rather stay together in the pastures,” Dawn explains.
She’s never been swayed by one particular type, preferring to keep a diverse team, but even for those who are drawn to a specific element it’s unusual for anyone to keep more than one of the same Pokémon species if they plan on going competitive. And so, she still has two empty slots where she’d normally have a full team.
It’s frustrating. Her new team is filled with potential, but she knows they’re still at a disadvantage against wild Pokémon she hasn’t had to worry about for years. She doesn’t have Honey to Brick-Break through defensive screens, or Whimsy to deliver a mean Dizzy Punch to foes who underestimate her. Now, Dawn has to start from scratch, learning what her new Pokémon’s strengths are instead of relying on her old tricks. She’s lucky in that she still has Triton, but he can’t do it all himself.
Dante has gotten a lot stronger since he’d evolved, but it’s been a little difficult to train him with the myriad of ground and rock types in the Mirelands. And she’s lucky that when that great, swirling purple dome appeared, with a flurry of alpha Pokémon, angry Pokémon, there was at least one little porygon on her side. Maybe it’s from the future too, thrown into Hisui by the strange space-time distortions, which is why it had felt a camaraderie with her. She’d decided to name it Glitch.
Glitch, Cynthia, and Dante’s apricorn pokéballs feel wrong in her hands— their shells are rough, lacking the cool touch of metal. They’re part of her team now, though, and she’s glad to have them by her side. Her love for Pokémon and her passion for training them isn’t going anywhere.
Triton coos quietly as she wades back through the mud, and nudges her shoulder with his beak. Dawn reaches up and scratches his neck.
“I know, Triton. I’m sure we’ll find the right Pokémon to join our team soon. And with their help, we’ll see our friends again.”
