Pokémon Tail of Time

[AbraPunk]

Spoiler: content warnings

slight blood

Palkia sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I kinda thought you'd say that. Here's the thing, though: I really need h--" The god paused and tilted his head. "Wait. You said… 'yeah'?"

"Um… yeah, I said I'll join."

"Oh! Uh, okay then. Guess I don't need to give you another lecture on how important this is…" He coughed and rubbed the side of his neck. "Okay, uh, cool. Very cool."

Landon rushed over to Chaplin and patted her on the head. "We're glad to have you!"

"Yeah. But anyway!" Palkia said as he clapped his hands together, "I was thinking: what better introduction to this world-protecting thing than sending you on your very first mission immediately? Whaddya think?"

Landon did a double-take at this. "What?"

Chaplin stared, dumbfounded, at Palkia.

…Seriously?

"Uh, 'kay."

"Great! I'll get you on your way soon, but first…" He looked over at Aster. "Aster! Get your ass over here! You're gonna be supervising, uh…" Palkia glanced down at Chaplin. "What was your name again, kid?"

"Chaplin."

"Right! Aster, you're gonna supervise Chaplin on her very first mission! Isn't that great?"

Chaplin could practically feel the hostility coming from Aster without even looking at him. She mumbled, "Y-Yeah… fun."

<...That's one way to put it.>

She flinched when she heard Aster's voice booming throughout her head. "Agh… um, can you stop? Please?" She said to Aster.

<No. I hate to admit it, but this is vital to communication. If you are going to be part of the 'team', then this will be necessary.>

"Mm… fine. But I'm not entirely happy about it."

<Shut up.>

Palkia looked between the two of them. "You good? I can switch it up if you want, kid."

"Oh, no. I'm fine with this."

<You're lying directly to a god?>

"Hey! You were the one being disrespectful earlier!" She raised her voice, glaring at Aster.

<And?>

"Ugh. Whatever." She turned to Palkia. "So, what exactly is this mission?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just a simple crime-stopper thing, y'know how it is. So, apparently there's this criminal that's been going around and starting shit just for, y'know, shits and giggles. I found out he's hiding near a town called Blackbay. Basically, the two of you are gonna go and find this guy, then kick his ass. Then you'll turn him in to me when that's done. Got it?"

Chaplin blinked in surprise. "Wh…? We can't just talk him into stopping his crimes?"

"Good question." Palkia paused for a few seconds. "Nah, probably not, 'less you wanna get your ass kicked."

"Well, that's…" She faltered, unable to find words that matched her feelings. "Alright. I guess we'll… mm, beat him up."

"A'ight. I'll send you on your way now."

"Wha- Wait! Don't we need a map or something? How are we supposed to know where--"

Landon interjected with a nervous laugh. "I'm sorry, Palkia, but that doesn't seem like a very good--"

"Good luck, guys! Don't die!" Palkia waved, and there was a blinding green flash of light.

When the light cleared, Chaplin was standing in a rather flat environment. There were small hills dotted around, but that was about all she could see. The grass under her paws was wet; she shuddered slightly at the unpleasant feeling of it.

Blegh.

She raised her head and spotted Aster close by. "Where are we?"

Aster snorted before telepathically responding, <We are near Blackbay. I've been there before. Now then, let's look for this criminal.>

He floated away without waiting for Chaplin.

She followed him.

Not like I have any other choice.

The two of them walked for quite some time, and Chaplin eventually fell into step beside Aster. Every now and again, she heard a distant thunderclap.

"Is it gonna rain soon?" She muttered to herself.

She must not have been quiet enough, for she soon heard Aster's telepathic response.

<I would expect so. Have you not seen the sky?>

At this, she looked up. Aster was right; the sky was a dark grey… which could only mean it would rain soon.

Her tail twitched at the thought of being out in the rain. This wet grass was bad enough, but being completely drenched?

She winced and shivered at the idea of it.

☆ ☆ ☆

The two of them eventually arrived at Blackbay. It was quite a rustic town, with houses made almost entirely out of stone. There was an odd sort of sameness to it all; each building a cube, equally spaced apart.

<Be on the lookout for anything suspicious.>

Chaplin nodded. "Alright." She watched as Aster floated away. That same ringing noise from earlier popped up again, but this time it faded out, and left Chaplin with only her own voice in her head.

Phew.

She looked around at all the buildings.

Hmm, where to start looking? ...There probably won't be many Pokémon awake; I mean, it is night, after all.

Then, she had an idea; if she couldn't see anybody, she could listen for someone!

Quickly, she backed herself up against a wall, and shut her eyes. Her hearing was often said to be better than some of the other Pokémon in Wrinvale, thanks to her… differences. Hopefully this trait wouldn't fail her now.

She didn't hear much over the next few minutes. Then, she heard a light whimpering from somewhere. Chaplin opened her eyes and glanced around. Nothing was immediately visible. Maybe if she followed the sound…

Eventually, she turned a corner and came across a trembling Salandit. They locked eyes with her, yelped, and tried to scramble away, only to be stopped by some kind of barrier: a pink barrier.

Against the darkness of the night, the glowing circle seemed to be far too bright.

"Woah. Hey, are you okay?" She asked softly.

The Salandit, after a long moment of hesitation, turned to face Chaplin. He shook his head. "N-No, miss. I was just walking around here, when-- when some… something crashed into me, and put me in this, um, thing." He glanced around at the spherical barrier that prevented him from really going anywhere.

Chaplin took in the scene, and connected the dots. Oh. "Alright, don't worry, okay? I know who did this to you, and I'm going to talk to him."

"Okay. Thank y--" The Salandit looked at something over Chaplin's shoulder and let out a short scream. "Th--There! That's--!"

Chaplin turned and saw Aster standing directly behind her.

"Chaplin. What are you doing here?" he said in his usual flat tone, though there was... something else there, too.

"Me? I was looking for the criminal, like we're supposed to be, not trapping innocent Pokémon!" She lashed her tail angrily.

"I see. And you think we haven't found this criminal yet?"

"You think we have?"

"Have you tried looking at the one I've captured?"

"Wh--WHAT?" She spluttered. "This guy? He's not…!"

"I wouldn't be so sure. Step aside."

"Why, so you can scare him even more than you already have? I--" Suddenly, she was violently thrown aside and sent tumbling.

She got up and shook the dirt off her pelt. "Hey!"

Aster ignored her, and casually walked through the barrier. The Salandit was not a fan of this, and tried desperately to run away from Aster.

She watched as Aster used his Psychic powers to grab the Salandit by the neck and lift it up to his own eye level.

"Speak. Now." He demanded of the quivering Pokémon.

The trapped Pokémon let out an incomprehensible string of syllables, thrashing wildly all the while.

Chaplin continued to watch, knowing that she couldn't do anything; that barrier wouldn't open until Aster did whatever it was he was planning to.

Aster was unfazed. "Hmm. If you will not voluntarily speak, perhaps I can… force the words out of you."

He conjured some kind of glowing thread, and briefly tapped the center of his forehead. One end of the thread stayed there. He then moved to attach the other end to the squirming Salandit.

The Salandit continued wriggling, even as Aster's finger touched his head.

The thread remained perfectly suspended between the two of them. Then, it erupted in a flash of pink light and became something more like a beam of energy.

Aster took a deep breath, while the Salandit went limp within the grasp of the Psychic hand.

Chaplin rushed over to the barrier. "Aster! What are you doing?!"

He was silent.

And he would remain silent for several minutes. Chaplin paced around the barrier, frustrated that she couldn't stop whatever was happening to this poor, innocent Pokémon.

Finally, Aster released his Psychic hold on the Salandit. The beam of energy dissipated, and so did the barrier.

The Pokémon remained on the ground, unmoving.

Chaplin rushed over to him. "Aster! Did-- Did you kill him?!"

Aster's ear twitched. "Of course not. He is unconscious, and will be for a few minutes. He'll be fine... eventually."

"What do you mean, 'eventually'? And what did you even do to him?"

Aster chose to leave the first question unanswered. "I went through his mind to see if he was the criminal. Or, if not, had assisted the criminal in some way." He crossed his arms and sneered. "Turns out, he was not the criminal we're looking for. However, he did assist them. The criminal, a Wartortle, told this Salandit a story of being a traveler, and asked where some town known as 'Acopolis' was. Our friend here was only too eager, and pointed this Wartortle in the direction of Acopolis."

Chaplin decided to not question the part about 'going through the mind', in case Aster did that same thing to her. "...Soooo, we might find the criminal there? Instead of here?"

"Correct. Now then, we must not waste time." Aster floated off the ground. He summoned that giant hand once more, and used it to pick up Chaplin. Then, he floated away as quickly as he could, the Psychic hand trailing behind.

☆ ☆ ☆

Chaplin barely registered the next several minutes. Everything was a dark blur. Finally, after some time, Aster stopped. The giant hand dissipated and left Chaplin to unceremoniously fall on the ground.

She got up and shook herself.

Ugh.

"We're here."

"Huh?"

<We're here, idiot.>

The ringing in her head made Chaplin flinch. "Ack! Please don't do that."

It faded.

"You should have listened the first time," Aster huffed in irritation. "Look straight ahead."

She walked forward a few steps, and through the trees and cover of night, could see a grand city. The buildings here were large and full of flair, each vastly different.

"Woah." Chaplin said in awe.

"I'll admit it is rather impressive. But," Aster waved a hand dismissively. "We're not here to marvel. Let’s go find our target."

With that, he grabbed Chaplin by the scruff of her neck, and teleported into the city.

Aster dropped her on the ground and teleported away before she could say anything. Chaplin looked around and hoped she would see something.

Nothing.

Am I just that bad at looking? …Maybe I'd find something if I actually looked, ha.

She went off in a random direction. As she walked, she glanced around every now and then.

☆ ☆ ☆

Something cold and wet was under Chaplin's paw. She shuddered and lifted her paw up to sniff whatever this was.

Ew.

Whatever this substance was, it definitely didn't smell like anything natural.

It almost felt like water, but it was thicker and sort of gooey.

She put her paw back down and tried to scrape this stuff off. It sort of worked.

Chaplin noticed something ahead of her. More of the strange liquid.

Through the darkness, she could just barely make out a thin trail of the substance.

She followed the trail as it snaked through roads and around the buildings of Acopolis.

After some time, another smell hit her. This new scent was more metallic. It wasn't something she could recall smelling before.

She took a closer look at the trail she had been following. There was now small drops of something red, contrasting with the green substance.

Wait. Is this… blood?!

Chaplin stared at the red drops for a while. She knew it was blood, but… she didn't have a single memory of her having ever seen or smelled it.

Now more determined to find out what this was about, she lifted her head up and continued to follow the trail.

☆ ☆ ☆

There was more red than green now. Chaplin knew she must have been getting closer. Surely this criminal couldn't be far away--

There!

A motionless cream-colored mound lay in an alley, blood matting its fur. The green substance was coming from the mound's tail, pooling on the ground and combining with the blood to make a sickening brown puddle.

Chaplin gasped and rushed over to more closely inspect the mound.

Now that she was in such close proximity, it was clear that this was a beaten and bloodied Smeargle. There were numerous bruises and wounds along their body, and blood was freely flowing from some of the deeper cuts.

Chaplin quivered as she took the scene in.

Who did this?

She felt a presence behind her, and she turned, expecting to see Aster.

Instead, there was a Wartortle standing there, hands bloodied.

Chaplin yelped and took a step back, trembling slightly.

This must be the criminal! But how am I supposed to—

“Look, Shinx. I’m going to give your pitiful self one chance to run away, and not say a word of this to anyone, alright? Otherwise, we’re gonna have a problem.”

Chaplin tried her best to quell her fear and glare defiantly at the Wartortle. “N-No way! You’re a criminal, and you need to be stopped!”

The Wartortle shrugged as a dangerous grin grew on his face. “Alright, have it your way, then.”

He immediately launched himself at Chaplin, who had to scramble out of the way at the last second.

The Wartortle couldn't stop his momentum in time, and crashed into the beaten Smeargle.

Chaplin backed out of the alley and into the wider streets, never once taking her eyes off of the Wartortle.

There’s no way I can fight him! Do I just run? But what about—

Her thinking had unfortunately taken her focus away from the reality of the situation, which she was roughly snapped back to as the Wartortle pounced on her.

Chaplin was dazed at first, but only for a second, as she managed to kick the Wartortle away. She got back on her feet and drew upon the innate Electric energy that she— like all Shinx— had.

It was barely enough to conjure a tiny, zigzagging bolt of electricity that struck the Wartortle and only succeeded in making him flinch slightly.

He blinked and stared incredulously at Chaplin, then broke out into hysterical laughter. “Shit, girly, this your first fight?! My dead sis could’ve done better than that! Well, now I’ll almost feel bad for killing you!”

His laughter was cut short as a familiar clawed hand appeared and wrapped around him, lifting him up into the air.

“What in the—?!” He squirmed in its grasp. “Oy! The hell is this shit?!”

Aster slowly walked over so that he was just below the hand. “Well, we’ve found our criminal.” His ear twitched. “…Nicely done.”

The Wartortle spat. “So the little girl was just a decoy for you, eh? What, you some kind of p—”

Aster snarled and conjured a second, much smaller, hand to clamp over the Wartortle’s mouth. “Shut up before you make me do something I’ll regret.”

Chaplin glanced between Aster and the Wartortle. “So, we have him captured… do we just bring him back to Palkia now?”

Aster paused briefly. “…Not immediately, no. I need to do something first, to ensure he doesn’t try to escape.”

He exhaled deeply, and Chaplin watched as Psychic energy gathered around the Wartortle’s legs, and—

CRACK!!

Chaplin gasped in horror as the cracking of bones was audible, along with the Wartortle’s muffled screams of agony.

“Aster, no!” Chaplin yelled as she rushed over and tackled Aster so that he would stop inflicting pain on the criminal.

Aster stumbled slightly, and the hands disappeared, with the sound of the Wartortle hitting the ground audible a second later. It seemed the criminal was unconscious now, but—

Aster whirled around to snarl at Chaplin. “What the hell is wrong with you?! You really have that much of a problem with this? Then just quit now, why don’t you?! Go back and tell Palkia that you’re not cut out for this! It’ll save everyone a damn headache trying to get you used to this kind of shit!”

Chaplin bared her fangs at Aster, tail lashing in anger. “I’m not quitting! You’ve just gone too far! And I don’t know why you hate me so much, when we haven’t even known each other for more than, what, two hours?! So don’t ask what’s wrong with me, ask yourself what’s wrong with you!”

Aster clenched his fists, trembling with the force of his own rage. “Don’t you dare—” He took a step towards Chaplin. “—tell me that I’ve gone too far. You don’t know anything.”

Chaplin prepared to say something back, but— faster than she could react— Aster drew back an arm, and—

SMACK!

Chaplin stumbled from the force of the slap, and tears blurred her vision as they threatened to start falling. She tried her best to glare at Aster, but everything— the pain, the tears, the anger— was just too distracting.

Aster, though, was staring down at his own hand, as if he were seeing it for the first time. He looked back at Chaplin, and opened his mouth as though he were going to say something, but Chaplin stopped him before he could.

She shakily held a paw up. “Stop. Please. Whatever you’re going to say, I don’t care.” She gave a quick glance back to both the Wartortle and the Smeargle— who was only just visible in the alley. “Get out of here.”

Aster hesitated before responding. “Can’t. You’d be stuck here with no way to get back.”

Chaplin laughed bitterly, angrily. “Oh, now you care? Bet that would’ve been awesome way sooner, huh.” She glanced again at the Smeargle. “What about them? Do we need to bring them back too?”

“No. One of the city’s guards will come by eventually.”

She nodded. “Okay.” A short pause. “Take us back then, I guess. We’re done here.”

Aster silently obliged, and teleported the two of them— plus the unconscious Wartortle— back to the strange circular space.

☆ ☆ ☆

They arrived in silence, and Chaplin quickly moved away from Aster. She sat with her back turned to him, not knowing or caring what he did.

“…Uh. Alright, alright, the vibes are way off here. I see that you guys caught the, uh, the guy, which is great! But, uh, I’m guessing something not so great happened.”

Palkia’s informal way of speaking was almost a mood-lifter for Chaplin after that… whatever that even counted as.

Aster responded, “Yeah, you could say something happened.”

She’d almost forgotten Landon was even there, until he too spoke up: “Oh dear, were either of you hurt?”

Aster didn’t respond.

“Hey, uh, kid— what’s your name, Chap… something? Chappie? No, it was Chaplin, but can I call ya Chappie, kid? Yes, no, maybe so? Uh, wait, I got way off-track, woah, um… right! What’s the kid gotta say about all of this?”

Chaplin turned slightly. “I don’t really want to talk about any of it, sorry.” She paused to process whatever Palkia was rambling about earlier… giving her a nickname? Well, she supposed she wasn’t against the idea, but it might take some getting used to. “…But, um, yeah, you can call me Chappie, if you want to.”

“Oh, uh, cool, okay!” He awkwardly paused for a few seconds. “Well, um, I guess I’m just gonna call it here, then. You guys can all go home now, and, uh, yeah, I’ll see you guys, uh… next week? Yeah.”

Chaplin— no, Chappie now— shuffled her paws around. “…How am I supposed to go back home?”

Palkia blinked. “Oh. Uh, I just kinda send you back there. Like, wherever you got here from, y’know…”

“Oh, okay. So… can you send me back now, please?”

“Sure thing, kid! See ya!”

Chappie was gone in an instant.

☆ ☆ ☆

Palkia turned back to Landon and Aster. He knew something had happened, or else he wouldn’t have heard Aster mention him, and that didn’t happen for no reason.

He looked at Landon first. “Hey. I know you’re worried and all that, but… you can go on ahead, if that’s cool.”

Landon glanced at Palkia. “I… Well, yes, I am rather concerned, but I suppose if it’s a personal matter, then the most I can do is simply let it be dealt with.”

He left.

And that meant only Palkia and Aster were in the circle now.

Palkia sighed. He didn’t want to do this, not again, but…

“Aster. We need to talk.”

 

[AbraPunk]

review replies:

Spoiler: pano review

When the Sableye attacks Chaplin at sunrise, they don't interact, and Sableye goes for the attack straight away rather than try to retreat or talk it out. If this is the same Sableye,

It is the same Sableye! I’ve been meaning to rework chapter 1 a fair bit to have some more descriptions, so consider that on the shortlist! And the odd bit that a few people have pointed out about Seth just… not saying anything was an artifact of some outdated plans for his character (specifically that he was selectively mute and would only talk around the other members of his group.) That isn’t canon anymore, so now it’s kind of a weird bit in the story that I should take out!

Chaplin (who I'm assuming is the infamous Chappie?)

Yep!

Honestly, there's no issue for me with any of your story's flow. Things are moving along at a nice pace, nothing's lingering or overstaying its welcome. In fact, I'd actually have liked to see a bit more for each section! So I think you can spare some of that little bit extra you might have held back on b/c it felt like it was going on too long.

Wow, thanks! Honestly brevity seems to just be how I roll with things, though as I’ve progressed through writing different things, I’ve gotten a bit better at having larger wordcounts, so hopefully I can eventually come back and stretch these beginning chapters out a bit.

The part that confused me a bit was the green ribbon circling the sky. At first I thought it was simply a distant feature, but when Aster teleported them to another part of the circle, it felt very like Halo (like, the structure of a halo from the game). Either way, very cool descriptions.

It’s a bit difficult to explain, but I imagine The Circle (yes, that’s the place’s canon name) to be similar to an old cartoon background where people run by the same things over and over again. Take that logic and apply it to an entire dimension! Essentially, all of the circle can be seen from any point, but if you try to walk across, you’ll find that you simply can’t!

Palkia appears. (No explosions this time, thank the gods).

——

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I’ll have to go and review some of your stuff eventually!

Spoiler: murkrow review

Okay, so I don’t know if Tail of Time is a story that you’re still working on or not

the only way anyone can get me to stop working on Tail of Time (or anything in its connected universe) is to literally kill me

I admittedly am a little unsure as to where to start for recommending spot fixes, since this feels like something that likely needs a step back and to get eyes on it from a beta to give it a more thorough overhaul.

I actually don’t have beta readers! I just give my chapters a few double-checks before posting them. But thanks, I’ll see if I can find some to get some extra eyes.

Ash”, huh? Wonder if that’s a deliberate nod / knock at the PokeAni protag until the upcoming season.

going to be honest, when I wrote this chapter, I completely forgot that the anime even existed, and had a character with that name. It’s a bit annoying to get remarks like that all the time, but there’s nothing I can do about it, so.

that ‘first rule’ is, though I assume from the overall vibe and the fact that these two turned out to already be from within the hollow mountain o’ doom that it’s “no witnesses” or something along those lines.

The first rule is in fact “no witnesses”! I originally had this stated in the text, but I thought it would’ve been too much of a tell instead of a show, so I took it out.

especially if she’s meant to become plot important and show up for more than a scene

> talking about the literal protagonist

Wait, how are Pyre and Chaplin cognizant of this again? Like do run-ins with wilds/ferals/what-have-you in their setting commonly turn fatal?

Nope! Actually, run-ins with wild ‘mons happen very rarely, and usually only outside city/town boundaries.

Even if I’m not convinced that Pyre and Markus aren’t going to die horribly in like a chapter at most.

You have no idea what you’re in for.

strongly consider giving this chapter a stepthrough on your own reading aloud and then once with your beta readers to tighten things up for a couple parts where the logic felt a bit wobbly to me

again, I don’t have betas! But like I said, I’ll try finding some. Thanks again!

Oh, Chaplin is in a Mystery Dungeon, isn’t she?

Nope! Mystery dungeons don’t exist in this setting! And that does remind me that I need to remove the mention of exploration teams…

The underlined was never explicitly brought up at any point earlier on in the story

Well, because it wasn’t really relevant before then. It would be weird to just randomly drop folklore in the middle of, say, anything in chapter 1.

… Wait, is this one of M2’s clones from M01 or something?

Nope, just an Abra.

Noted, though that makes me wonder if the story will eventually get to “Mutants” if it resumes past this point,

Yes! No spoilers of course, but the fic absolurely will delve into these “Mutants” a fair bit.

Actually wait, what is Chaplin’s reaction to all of this? Like is she getting testy? Is she just standing there stunned and at a loss for words? It’s a little unclear to me.

It was mentioned in the text a few lines above what you quoted that Chaplin was, in fact, just absolutely standing there stunned.

Huh. Somehow, part of me wasn’t expecting these two to wind up getting explicitly named, though noted. Guess this means that we’ll be seeing more of these two in the future.

Much more!

since I didn’t get a vibe prior to this that Chaplin was strongly agitated at all.

Again, the text gives you this. She was literally described as being angry.

Oh, so there’s 12 Legendaries that are particularly important to Chaplin’s setting and Palkia is one of them, huh? Duly noted, though it makes me wonder what on earth they did such that they’re set apart from everything else

They didn’t exactly do anything (besides exist)! They’re an equivalent to the Greek Olympians; really just gods that are pretty universally believed in and prayed to.

It’s a premise with a lot of promise of rapid plot escalation from this point on in the future,

Well, I don’t know about rapid (definitely not anything to the absurd levels of POV, for example), but plot escalation is soon to come, yes!

——

Thanks again for agreeing to this review exchange! I’ll try to get my half of it done as soon as I can; I’ve been pretty busy with work and general life stuff for a while, so sorry it’s taken some time!

 

[AbraPunk]

Spoiler: content warnings

discussion of suicidal ideation and near-attempt. slight blood. implied abuse.

One year ago…

Palkia paced around the circle, biting his fingers, as he waited for Aster to show up.

He knew he needed to talk to the kid, but… shit, what could he even say? How would he—

There was a faint pop, and a flash of light. Aster appeared at the other side of the circle.

“…Hello, Palkia. You… said you wanted to speak to me?”

Palkia waited a few seconds before answering, “Yeah, I did.” He paused, then sighed. Shit, this was not going to be easy. “Okay, look, I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting weird lately, so… a few days ago, I decided to drop by the mortal world. I was going to talk to you then, but do you know what I saw?”

Aster blanched slightly. He folded his arms and looked away. “No, I don’t know.”

Palkia exhaled deeply. “Well, you do know. You know damn well that I saw you almost…” He trailed off for a brief moment, but quickly regained his composure, and continued, “You almost tried to kill yourself, Aster.”

Aster’s ears flattened slightly, and he frowned deeply, but he said nothing.

“Look, I don’t know if you know this, but… well, you shouldn’t do that.” Palkia mentally facepalmed; what the hell was he even saying?

Aster’s ear twitched. “And why shouldn’t I? I have every reason to, and you know as well as I do that nobody would even—”

“Hey! Stop that train of thought right there.” Palkia took a deep breath before continuing, “Alright, sorry for yelling, but I— I just… couldn’t let you finish that sentence.”

Aster snorted. “Right. You know that doesn’t accomplish anything.”

“Eh, well… you didn’t get to outright say what you were thinking, so… that’s a start, right?”

“…No?”

Palkia slumped dramatically. “Ugh, yeah, you’re probably right.” He quickly straightened himself so that he was back to his usual slightly-slouched posture. “But, hey, let me get serious, okay? Or, well, uh, as serious as I’m already being…”

He paused briefly to awkwardly cough into his hand. “I’m serious, Aster. You should never try that again, and you shouldn’t have tried in the first place. I know things in your life have been horrible, and I know you probably think there’s no way out, but trust me, there is a way out, and it’s called living. …Okay, I know that sounds kind of dumb right now, but… hear me out.”

Aster said nothing.

Palkia took the silence as an opportunity to continue talking. “There’s a difference between living to survive and living to actually be alive. You were stuck in the former for… how long, basically your whole life up until a year ago? Yeah. I might have helped get you away from everything that was wrong in your life, but you—” He pointed at Aster, to make sure he knew just how important this whole thing was. “—you’re the one who took those first steps to your own freedom, to being able to make a life for yourself. You did that. And you can keep doing that. All you have to do is live. And if you think you can’t go on anymore? I say bullshit. There’s always going to be something to live for, whether you realize it or not.”

He paused again, just in case Aster wanted to say something.

Nothing.

So he continued, “You can live for yourself, you can live for your friends, you can live just because you want to see the sunrise or sunset every day. It doesn’t have to be any of those, of course, I was just saying stuff off the top of my head—”

“Hmph. So what if I still decide to—”

Palkia recoiled, briefly at a loss for words, before he snarled. “No! No, damn it, you’re not doing that shit! Didn’t you hear anything I just said, you piece of shit?!”

Aster stared, wide-eyed, at Palkia.

Palkia realized his massive mistake immediately, and took a step forward. “Wait, no, I’m sorry, I— I didn’t mean to—”

Aster laughed bitterly, angrily. “Now I know how you really feel. So you’re no different from anyone else that’s pretended to help me before, huh?”

“No! That’s not true at all! Look, that just came out, and I didn’t even think about what I was saying, and I— I just…” Palkia felt as though there were a burning lump forming in his throat, and it became slightly more difficult to breathe. “…I don’t want you to hurt yourself, or do anything like that. And I’ve already tried telling you that you shouldn’t, but… you don’t know how much good there is in life, man. Things go wrong, yeah, but things get better, too. They always get better, whether you want to believe it or not.”

“…You don’t know that.”

“I do! I do know that. If you let yourself get blinded by the bad, then… then you won’t be able to see any of the good that’s always there, even in the smallest of ways. It could be something as simple as a nice, sunny day, or it could be something big, like a friend being there to talk to you when you need it. Do you get what I’m saying?”

“Yes, but—”

“No arguments here! It’s only yes or no.” At this point, Palkia could barely even see anything— shit, was he… about to cry? No, surely not… right? “Even if there’s nothing good right now, there will be something in the future. You could make some amazing friends in the future, people that you would have never known if you’d given up. You can be free, free from all of the crap that’s been dragging you down for so long, and it’s freedom that you wouldn’t have known if you’d given up.”

Yeah, he was crying. Crap, this was so embarrassing.

Aster blinked several times. “…Palkia, are you…?”

Palkia nodded. “Yeah, yeah I am. I know, I know, gods shouldn’t cry, but, hey, I say screw that.” He sniffled. “Ugh, where was I… oh, yeah. Probably my last point.” He paused to hiccup, then continued as best he could, “The important thing is… you’re alive. Right now. You have to take things one day at a time, one after the other. Even if today is the worst day you’ve ever had… tomorrow might be worse. Or it could be better. The only way to find out is to be there. Every single day. And never stop being there. Never stop being alive.”

He barely finished his last sentence— which he wasn’t even sure was intelligible at that point with how much crying he was doing— before fully breaking down into loud, completely undignified sobs.

He wasn’t sure how long it was before he heard Aster ask, “How did you… know to say all this?”

Palkia, by that point, had thankfully gotten over the worst of his sobbing, but it still took him a few sniffles before he could respond, “I… I had a friend once, and… I’ve had time to think about this kind of stuff ever since…”

He looked away and shut his eyes tightly.

That day had been the worst day in his life. But he hadn’t given up. He could never give up now, not when he had something to fight for, and people to protect.

Palkia flinched slightly when he felt something on his leg. He opened his eyes to see Aster trying— and failing— to hug him.

Palkia quickly shifted into one of his various mortal forms— this time, a Dragonite— and he made sure to make himself tiny, so that he was roughly the same height as Aster.

Palkia hugged Aster tightly, and had to hold back another round of sobs when the Abra returned his embrace.

He didn’t know— or care— how long they stayed like that, in relative silence, and he would’ve been content staying like that for a while longer.

Eventually, Aster broke the silence with three words.

“…Thank you, Palkia.”

Palkia hugged him a little bit tighter after that.

☆ ☆ ☆

Present day…

Aster folded his arms as he stared at Palkia, waiting for some kind of explanation as to why he was being asked to stay behind.

I know I screwed up when I slapped the shit out of the new kid, but… that’s not the reason I’m here, is it?

Palkia eventually broke the awkward, somewhat tense silence. “So… do you, um, do you know why I asked you to stay here?”

Aster scoffed. “If I knew, I would’ve said something by now.”

Palkia nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” He rubbed the side of his neck. “Uh… I just gotta ask, is there something wrong? With the kid, I mean. You’ve been nothing but a massive asshole to her ever since she showed up, and, like, what the hell is that about?”

Aster frowned. Of course that was what Palkia wanted to talk about. Fine, he supposed if he had to…

“I’m not sure. I guess I was under the impression that things would have stayed the same for quite some time; that is to say, things would’ve just been between the three of us: myself, Landon, and you. A fourth member obviously doesn’t fit anywhere in that scenario. And…” He half-heartedly shrugged. “Do you expect me to be overly polite towards anyone I meet?”

Palkia blinked. “I mean, uh, you don’t have to be friendly to a creepy degree, but, like, don’t be throwing people around everywhere. That’s really not cool, and you gotta rein that in before it gets to be a bigger problem, alright?”

Aster’s ear twitched. “I can try to work on that, I guess.”

“…Good. Listen, man, I just don’t want you to be— uh, what’s the word?— r-regressing…? Yeah, I don’t want you to be getting worse all of a sudden just because some new kid hops on board, okay? I think you’ve been getting a lot better lately, and I don’t want that to be squandered or whatever. Hey, you never know, maybe the kid might be able to help you out eventually!”

Aster snorted. “I doubt that.”

Palkia wagged a finger. “Hey, hey, don’t be dunking on the kid like that! C’mon, man, you gotta have a little bit of faith in her! Personally, I think she’ll be a great addition to our little group, and I know Landon thinks the same way!”

…Well. If Landon believes that the Shinx can do good, then… I guess I’ll have to give her a second chance. The only question now is whether she’ll let me try to make things right.

“Fine. I’ll try not to be so… hostile towards her.”

Palkia grinned. “That’s the spirit!”

There was an awkward silence as Aster said nothing, and he suspected that Palkia didn’t exactly know what to say either.

Eventually, the god sighed. “Well, uh, since you said you’re gonna try and be better around the kid, I, uh, I guess you can go now, that was really all I wanted to talk to you about, heh.”

Aster nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you next week.”

“Yup, stay safe!”

Aster teleported out of the circle after that.

☆ ☆ ☆

As soon as he landed on solid, regular ground, he… felt angry.

He didn’t know why, but he just did.

No, I’m not going to get upset. I just… need to calm down. Calm down. Okay. I can do that.

He tilted his head up to look at the night sky, seeing all of the distant stars and planets.

Aster took in a deep breath, and let the chilly breeze flow over him.

It was supposed to be calming.

It wasn’t.

He found his thoughts drifting towards that stupid mistake, towards the last mistake he’d made, when he let himself get too angry, and… he’d lost everything.

He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

But he already had.

Anger flooded his mind as he tried desperately not to think too much about this, but the damage was already done.

It was all his fault.

…His? Himself, or… him?

Aster snarled, and he searched for something to let his rage out on.

A tree. Perfect.

He struck the tree as hard as he could. It didn’t even shake. Of course it didn’t, he wasn’t a hands-on fighter.

But it still made him mad.

He needed to be stronger.

Stronger meant more power, and more power meant… the ability to take back his life, to rid this world of the absolute scumbag that was him.

He struck the tree, again and again and again, not caring that it hurt him, not caring that he wasn’t even making a dent in the bark.

In his mind, the tree morphed into his sorry excuse of a father, bloodied and dead, oh so wonderfully dead.

He was dead. As he should be.

His blood was on his hands. Hopefully it would be reality soon.

He couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. Things can get better now.

He couldn’t hurt him—

“Aster!”

Aster snapped out of his bizarre trance-like state, and immediately had to resist the urge to shout out in pain.

His own hands were bruised and bloody, and it took only a cursory glance at the blood-stained bark to figure out what had happened.

He turned and saw Landon standing there, concerned as always.

Landon gasped in horror upon seeing Aster’s hands. “Oh! What happened—?” He glanced over at the bloody tree, and seemed to quickly put the pieces together. He quietly said, in a shaky voice, “Oh dear, why would you do this?”

Aster couldn’t bear to make eye contact— even if only through his Psychic senses— with Landon. “I… I don’t know. I was upset, and I tried to calm myself down, but then I…” He shook his head. “I can’t explain it right now.”

Landon closed his eyes for a brief moment while he nodded. “I understand. I only wish I could have arrived sooner, perhaps I could have stopped you from doing this to yourself.”

“…Maybe. But that’s not really something you should be thinking about.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Landon gestured to Aster’s bloody hands. “If you don’t mind, may I…?”

Aster nodded, and held his hands out.

Landon gently placed his hands— those bizarre petal-like things on his arms, which Aster had initially refused to refer to as “hands”— on top of Aster’s, and there was an immediate surge of bright green energy between them.

Aster watched as the blood evaporated, and the bruises faded. Naturally, the pain went away, too.

He put his hands back to his sides. “Thanks.”

Landon nodded again. He hesitated for a split second before softly asking, “If it’s alright, may I hug you?”

A small smile grew on Aster’s face. “Go ahead.”

Landon gently hugged Aster, who gladly returned the embrace.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before separating.

“Well, do you think we should be heading home now?”

Aster’s smile grew ever so slightly bigger. “Yeah, we should.”

 

[canisaries]

Hey! I read everything that's up so far for our exchange. Here are my thoughts.

That was true. Chaplin used to be curious about why Pyre was orange, like his Arcanine parents, but Markus was yellow. It had been only a few years ago when she was told that a differently colored pokemon was a "shiny", and was very rare.

Shiny! Cool.

casting shadows darker than the secretion of a Tentacool.

I like this line.

She pondered whether it would really be a good idea to do so. Every reasonable cell in her body screamed that she should stay indoors, and keep living out her… relatively peaceful life. And yet… the thought of adventure! Of straying away from routine, and exploring the world! The thought terrified her.

The "and yet" makes it seem like the thought that's to come is something motivating Chappie to go instead of stay, but then it's said that the thought terrified her. I was expecting it to entice her, if anything.

similar to the stories of those Mutated Raichu that stood on their own tails to get around.

Alolan is mutated? Filing that detail away for later.

The Lurantis gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry, how very inconsiderate of me! I'm Landon."

The Abra's ear twitched. "Aster."

Landon the Lurantis and Aster the Abra. I like the alliteration.

"No. There was no other way." His voice wavered slightly as he spoke.


Chaplin just watched them argue.

Extra newline here.

Palkia looked around the circle slowly. "Hmm. Yeah, looks like a fight." He sighed deeply. "C'mon, guys, I can't leave for ten minutes without hell breaking loose?" It was only then he noticed Chaplin there. "Oh. Hey, 'sup. I, uh, I'll get to you right now. Lemme just…" He glared at Aster. "I thought you were better than that, dude. Say sorry."

I like Palkia. What a bro.

"Woah. Hey, are you okay?" She asked softly.

Remove capital from "she".

She knew it was blood, but… she didn't have a single memory of her having ever seen or smelled it.

Really? Not even a nosebleed? I mean, I guess Pokemon could be more resilient and bleed less easily.

He put his hands back to his sides. “Thanks.”

Landon nodded again. He hesitated for a split second before softly asking, “If it’s alright, may I hug you?”

A small smile grew on Aster’s face. “Go ahead.”

Landon gently hugged Aster, who gladly returned the embrace.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before separating.

“Well, do you think we should be heading home now?”

Aster’s smile grew ever so slightly bigger. “Yeah, we should.”

Aw, this was a nice moment. It's nice to see that Aster really cares for Landon.

---

General Comments

Since the chapters are short and I don't have in-depth comments for all of them, I'll go over the rest of my thoughts in a bullet point list.

• I would have liked to have a better idea of how old Chappie is. I'm assuming she's a kid since she's a Shinx, but she uses some language later on that's hard to imagine coming from a young kid. Is she a teenager?
• The dream sequence of Chapter 2 is very cool! I'm a big fan of dream sequences with memorable imagery, and I feel like they help build a story some identity. The chapter also ends on a nice hook.
• I like the environment of this Palkia-team-meeting-place. Pretty stars.
• I wonder what makes these three special to Palkia, especially given that two out of them are only the first stage of a three-stage line. Aster seems pretty powerful, though, so I could see him being a prodigy or something. Chappie I'm the most curious about, but I suppose we'll see later what made Palkia choose her.
• Aster is a pretty chilling character. It brings extra tension to have to do these missions with someone with a penchant for going overboard with violence.
• I feel like the side episode's conversation is pretty raw and true to life. However, it is a little strange to see Palkia so emotional over Aster when he's a god and has presumably seen thousands upon thousands of people suffer already, but it could be that he's isolated and detached from most mortals and only feels strongly about those close to him.

I think that does it for my thoughts! If you have any questions or something specific you'd like my opinion on, you're free to ask me on here or on Discord. I didn't get as much written here as I would have liked, so the door is definitely open.

 

[AbraPunk]

Spoiler: content warning

Very slight blood (and I do mean very.)
Literally one mention of it.

Chappie was back on normal ground in an instant, exactly where she’d left; it was as if she’d blinked and everything was gone… almost like a dream.

But of course she knew it wasn’t a dream, none of that was.

But why did any of that have to happen?! Things were going well— weird, but well— until…

She angrily sighed.

She didn’t need— or want— to think about all that.

What she did want was to just go to sleep and not have to think about it for a while.

And yet, as she thought about it more, she realized that sleeping it off probably wouldn’t really help much. It certainly wouldn’t help her feel any better right now.

Chappie also belatedly realized that she was still standing in the forest, where she’d be easy pickings for any predators— wild or otherwise— so she quickly set off back towards Wrinvale, taking the same path she’d gone through to get here in the first place.

As she traveled through the forest, she realized what exactly might be able to help her feel better: her friends!

Oh, I’m so dumb! I can just go hang out with the people I actually like and hopefully they’ll help me feel better!

To her relief, the familiar buildings and roads of Wrinvale soon came into view.

Chappie rushed towards her home, the ever-present wooden smell bringing a slight smile to her face.

She pushed her way through the flapping door that was embedded within the regular door, and quietly padded down the singular hallway.

Oh, mom’s not gonna like this…

She stopped and sighed.

Well, I guess I can just hope she doesn’t hear me walking around.

Chappie glanced around, struggling to see anything in the darkness. If only she could get one of the lights on… no, too risky.

She quickly sniffed the air for confirmation— yes, she was in the right place.

Good, so I’m not gonna walk into mom’s room on accident.

Chappie turned and pushed her way through another flapping door, ensuring it was as quiet as possible.

She barely had time to turn around before—

“…Chaplin? What are you doing in here?”

Chappie stifled a yelp, but still jumped in shock.

A Sneasel was sitting with his back against the wall, next to a curled-up Eevee. He tilted his head, and carefully stood, so that he didn’t disturb his slumbering friend.

Chappie forced a nervous smile. “O-Oh! Royce, I was just, um— wait, why are you awake?”

Royce frowned and averted his gaze. “I don’t appreciate you shifting the subject matter… and I should be asking you the same thing. But,” he said with a heavy sigh, “I… simply couldn’t sleep.” He blinked a few times. “…Couldn’t sleep, that’s all.”

Chappie frowned, too, once her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could see the bags under Royce’s eyes. “Oh… um, sorry, then.” She awkwardly shuffled her paws around. “Well, uh, actually, I came in here because I was gonna ask you if you wanted to hang out with me! B-But if you’re too tired—”

Royce’s eyes widened slightly as he pressed himself against the wall, as if he was trying to sink into it. “You… You wanted to hang out… with me.”

Chappie nodded. “Yep! Well, not just you. Uh, I was thinking… maybe you, Pierre, and Markus? The four of us could just go… I dunno, hang out somewhere for a little bit?”

Royce’s eyes seemed to bore into Chappie’s soul as he remained silent for several seconds. Finally, with a weary exhale, he slowly blinked in acceptance. “…Alright, then. If you wouldn’t mind leaving our room, I do need to awaken Pierre…”

“Okay! I’ll be outside.” Chappie left, and waited in the hallway.

It was a short while before the Eevee came barreling out of the flapping door, and tripped over their own paws, making them fall and bump their head on the wall.

They quickly got up and shook themself off, quietly giggling.

Royce slipped through the door not long after.

He glanced at Chappie. “As you can see, Pierre is awake… yes, he’s very awake.”

Pierre, the hyperactive Eevee, whirled around and playfully pounced at Chappie. “Gotcha, Chap! Heheh, I know only Markus calls you that, but I figured you’d be cool if I called you that too, because we’re friends and all, and I think friends should be allowed to share nicknames because friends share everything—”

Chappie blinked, taken aback by just how hyper Pierre was today. Despite that, she couldn’t help but smile, as his lisping, non-stop speech could light up even the darkest of days.

Royce gently put a hand on Pierre’s head. “My dear friend… I do think you should save your energy… yes, you should.”

Pierre paused and giggled again, before he scampered away from Chappie. “Okay! I’ll do that!” He stood still for all of two seconds before jumping and chasing his own tail. “I can’t do that! Let’s go, I wanna hang out right now!”

Chappie sighed lightly. “Well, you shouldn’t tire yourself out, or else you won’t be able to hang out! Did you think about that?”

Pierre stopped and gasped dramatically. “No, I didn’t think about that! You’re so smart, Chap! Okay, I’m going outside!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he bolted past Chappie and Royce.

Royce blinked slowly, before sighing wearily. “How does he never tire of his own antics…?” He shrugged, before glancing at Chappie. “Well, I suppose that’s our cue to head outside as well…”

He left, and Chappie followed him outside.

Once all three of them were out, Chappie paused and looked around.

“Hey, uh, Royce? Would you mind going to go wake Markus up? I’d do it myself, but if I do, Pyre’s probably gonna wanna come with us too…”

And I don’t really want to hang out with Pyre.

Royce tilted his head slightly. “I assume you would… rather not deal with Pyre, then? …Yes, you’d rather not…”

Chappie nodded. “Y-Yeah, I don’t… really wanna talk to him right now.”

Not after what happened earlier, anyways.

Pierre pouted. “Hey, isn’t that kinda mean? You can’t leave Pyre out, he’s one of our friends too, right? I mean, I’d feel pretty sad if you guys all went somewhere and you left me out, but actually, I know you wouldn’t really do that, because we’re all friends, and none of us would ever leave anyone out—”

“Pierre, please… a bit of silence.” Royce glanced down the road. “…I should go now… yes, now would be the best time. I’ll be back.”

He left quietly, and slipped away into the darkness.

Chappie shuffled her paws around while she waited, and Pierre just couldn’t sit still, so he settled for fidgeting constantly, wagging his tail and swaying from side to side.

“Hey, Chap, can I ask you something? How come you wanna hang out with all of us? I mean, you don’t usually, y’know, do that, and I was just wondering if something happened, or if you got bored and you just wanted some company?”

Chappie paused for a moment as she considered how to answer Pierre.

Well, I can’t just outright tell him what happened earlier. He’d go crazy with all his conspiracy theories and stuff…

She stared at the ground for a few seconds, before a sheepish grin grew on her face, and she answered, “What, I can’t want to hang out with my friends? Heh, I know I’m not the outgoing type, but… hey, first time for everything, right?”

Please don’t see right through my lie, please…

Pierre blinked, before he giggled. “Okay! Well, that’s still cool, you know, I really only ever get to hang out with Royce, and obviously he’s like my best friend ever, he’s the coolest, but sometimes it gets a little boring, and I want to hang out with someone different, so it’s nice that I actually get to—”

Chappie’s ears perked up as she heard footsteps nearby. She looked down the road, and saw Royce approaching, with Markus following right behind him.

Markus stumbled slightly, and Chappie heard him mutter to himself, but she couldn’t quite make out the words.

Chappie waited for the two to get closer before awkwardly saying, “Well, uh, everyone’s here. Okay, I think we can get going now… I think Markus might have an idea of where I’m taking us.”

Markus, evidently trying to fight off his drowsiness, blinked a few times before a spark of recognition shone in his eyes. “Oh, yup, I’ve got an inkling… well, lead the way, Chap.”

Chappie nodded and turned, starting to walk towards one of her favorite hang-out spots…

Pierre bounded forward, trying to stay at the front of the group. “Ooh, where are we going? Is it somewhere cool? You know, the other day, I—”

Royce sighed lightly. “Pierre. I’ve already advised you to save your energy… please do so.”

Pierre’s ears drooped, but they quickly sprang back up as he grinned. “Okay! I’m gonna be quiet, starting… right now!”

It clearly took a great effort for Pierre to not be constantly talking, but he managed.

Chappie allowed herself a slight smile as she relished in the fact that she was getting to see, and talk to, her friends. Her steps got lighter, her head held higher, as she led her friends to the destination.

It took a few minutes, but Chappie and her friends finally arrived at their hang-out spot: A place, not too far from Wrinvale, where a grassy slope gave way to a small, flat plain, and then to the never-ending ocean.

Chappie remembered when she had seen it for the first time, and she thought that maybe one of the gods had messed up when they made the world, and forgot to put sand here, as she’d always thought this place would serve better as a tiny, hidden beach.

Her mom hadn’t exactly shot the idea down, but she had guessed that perhaps it was just nature being a bit strange, as it tended to be.

Either way, whether it was made by the gods, or simply the world being strange, Chappie loved it. It was a little corner of the world that almost felt as though it belonged to her, as she’d never seen anyone else here before—

Chappie was derailed from her meandering train of thought by Markus leaning into her line of sight.

“Hellooo, Chap? Ya there?” He said with a slight hint of humor in his voice. “Heheh, I was getting a little worried there, thinking you might’ve fallen asleep standing up!”

Chappie felt herself blush, her fur standing on end as she realized— she had been lost in her thoughts, when she was supposed to be talking to her friends!

She tried to nervously laugh it off. “O-Oh, heh, sorry, Markus. I, uh, got kinda wrapped up in my thoughts…”

Markus chuckled. “Eh, don’t worry ‘bout it. Happens to the best of us, yeah?” He stifled a yawn, even as his tail started wagging. “Oops, sorry… Royce went and woke me up, got me feelin’ like I didn’t sleep at all.”

Chappie shuffled her paws around. “Oh. S-Sorry, then… I mean, for making you wake up and all that.”

“Hey, I already said don’t worry about it, okay? It’s alright, Chap, really. Now, c’mon, you gonna hang out with us, or what?” He went over to where the grassy plain disappeared into the ocean, and sat right there, the waves just barely out of reach of his paws.

Chappie looked and saw that Royce and Pierre were already sitting down nearby, too, although Pierre wasn’t sitting down so much as he was just crouched on his haunches, as though he was about to take a grand leap into the ocean.

She went and sat next to Markus, and watched the ocean waves for a few seconds.

“So, Chap, what made you call us all here, huh?”

Chappie glanced at Markus, then at Royce, then Pierre.

Okay, tell them the truth… but not all of it.

Her tail curled around her hind paws before she answered, “Well, it’s like I said! I just wanted to hang out with you all. We don’t really get to do stuff all together super often, so… I just thought it would be nice to do something like this, without having to worry about my mom— our mom—” she quickly corrected herself, remembering that her mother also took care of Pierre and Royce, “—having to watch over us.”

Markus snorted. “Heh, so you’re the sneaky sort now, huh? Never woulda took you for it, but hey… I like it. What’s life without a bit of breaking the rules, I say. And— no offense to any of you, but yeah, Miss Amelia’s a bit of a buzzkill ‘bout stuff she thinks is dangerous.”

Royce closed his eyes briefly, before he rubbed an arm. “…There is some appeal in taking risks, yes. I wouldn’t make this a regular occurrence, though… I certainly wouldn’t.” He coughed, before quietly adding, “I… I do appreciate this opportunity, though… thank you for this, Chaplin.”

Pierre kneaded his paws in the grass, his tail wagging profusely. “Hey, we all gotta be a bit of a trouble-maker sometimes! Take it from me, heheh, I give mom the most trouble, but she still loves me a whole lot! But yeah, thanks!”

Chappie smiled genuinely, a weight lifting off her spirit as she listened to each of her friends.

“Yeah… you’re welcome, guys.” She blinked as she remembered something she had wanted to tell all of them. “Oh! Wait, I just remembered! I, uh, actually wanted to tell you all something…” She nervously stared at the grass for a few seconds, before she cleared her throat and said, “I-I… um, I’m not sure if you all are going to be okay with this, but… I thought of a new name for myself— well, actually, it’s more like a nickname— y-you know, of my real name, but still— um, I want my ‘name’ to be… Chappie. Yeah, my name’s Chappie now.”

Silence.

Chappie heard only the ocean waves, and the frantic beating of her heart. Everyone else was staring at her.

…I just messed up, didn’t I?

Markus was the first to respond. He tilted his head, as his wagging tail slowed slightly. “Why wouldn’t we be alright with that? D’you think we’d see you any differently or anything? Heck nah, you’re still our friend, no matter who, or what, you are!” He chuckled slightly. “I’m still just gonna call you Chap, though.”

Pierre was next, as he bounded over to Chappie. “Yeah, Markus is right! You’re our friend, and friends don’t care what other friends change about themselves, we’re all still here for each other, no matter what!”

Royce was the last to respond, as he simply stared at Chappie. “…I was expecting a much more dramatic announcement. Much more dramatic. But this… well, it’s just a small matter. I hope you realize you have nothing to worry about, Chapli— no, Chappie. As stated by both Pierre and Markus, we will support you, however you choose to identify yourself… yes, however you choose.”

Chappie was stunned into her own silence for a few seconds. She blinked away tears before she managed to whisper out, “I… I’m so glad none of you are mad at me, o-or weirded out, or anything like that… thank you, all of you.”

Markus smiled softly as he nuzzled up against Chappie’s side. “Nah, we’d be crazy if we got upset at you for this. We’re all friends here, so you don’t got a dang thing to worry about when you’re with any of us.”

Chappie said nothing, and leaned into Markus’ touch.

He’s right. I shouldn’t be worried about this… or about anything, really. I’ll be fine.

☆ ☆ ☆

The moon was beginning to set over the ocean, casting rays of its light over the swaying waves.

Chappie and her friends had been sitting on the grassy plain for hours, talking about whatever else had interested them— Pierre had spent several minutes trying to tell the group of an investigation he did recently that he insisted wasn’t a dream, and did in fact happen.

Eventually, though, they all realized they’d need to return to their homes before sunrise, so that they wouldn’t be caught.

Royce and Pierre were the first to leave, as Pierre had wound up tiring himself out, and had fallen asleep right there on the plain. After a quick farewell, Royce had scooped the Eevee up in his arms and carried him away.

So that left just Chappie and Markus, the two of them sitting in comfortable silence.

Chappie shuffled her paws around as she stared out at the ocean. The vast waves, the endless depths…

Imagine what it would be like to get lost out there… gah, I'm freaking myself out.

“Hey, Chap? Something on your mind?”

Chappie blinked and looked over at Markus.

“Huh? Oh, uh, no.”

Should I tell him? …Probably not.

He snorted lightly. “Ya sure? You’re lookin’ out at the water like you wanna go get lost.” A small chuckle escaped him. “Hey, maybe if I drink all that water up, it’ll make you feel a little better.”

Chappie giggled lightly. “Don’t do that, you’ll just make yourself sick. But hey—” She leaned against him, feeling the comforting warmth of his fur. “—even just sitting here with you… it’s making me feel better, that’s for sure.”

Markus’ eyes widened slightly, and he smiled fondly. “O-Oh, heheh, well, that’s good to know, then.”

Chappie said nothing, but closed her eyes and let herself relax.

If only things could be this nice all the time.

She dozed off eventually, and was awoken by Markus nudging her away.

“Hey, uh, hope you enjoyed your little nap, heh. Time to get up, though.”

Chappie stumbled slightly as she tried to mentally catch up. “Wha…? Did I…?”

“Yeah, you did.” Markus got up and shook stray bits of grass off his pelt, before he languidly stretched. “Agh… time passes by so quick, doesn’t it? Heck, I think I mighta snuck in a bit of shut-eye, too.”

Chappie smiled even as she felt herself blushing again. “I, uh, didn’t mean to fall asleep on you… literally. S-Sorry.”

Markus chuckled nervously. “Heheh, don’t even worry about it.” He averted his gaze as he mumbled under his breath, “Didn’t mind it one bit.”

Chappie didn’t hear that last part, though, so she remained oblivious. “Alright, well, um… yeah, we should probably go back home now. I don’t want anybody catching us outside like this…”

Markus nodded. “Yeah, they’ll think somethin’s up, heh. Welp! It was nice getting to hang out with you like this, Chap.” Mischief twinkled in his eyes as he continued, “Hopefully we can start doin’ this more often. Just, uh, not so late, so we don’t have to worry about sneaking around and all.”

Chappie chuckled lightly. “Heh, maybe we could hang out more, yeah! But you’re right about the whole ‘sneaking around’ thing… sorry!” She gave Markus a friendly nudge. “Well, see you later!”

She turned and walked back towards Wrinvale, ready to get some proper sleep.

☆ ☆ ☆

I’m dreaming again.

That was the only explanation she could think of as to how she wound up back… here.

Trees that seemed to stretch into the heavens, melting into the darkness that consumed everything else. Grass that felt too real underneath her pawpads, that damn patch of bare earth. A moon that didn’t belong in the void, lighting up the ground, and nothing else. Complete and utter silence.

Chappie turned around slowly, taking in every minute detail about her surroundings.

Why? Why am I back here? Is there something I have to do? Something I didn’t do last time?

The fur on her back stood on end, and she instinctively tensed.

Something was watching her.

Chappie whirled around, facing the bare patch of earth.

A black mass slowly formed in and around it, spreading slowly, as if seeking to consume it.

Silvery wisps of light rose up from the edges of the black mass, floating and swaying in the air like the stray, drifting embers of a dying flame.

Chappie instinctively took several steps back as the wisps died out, and… something was rising out of the black pool on the ground.

The exact same way Chappie herself had risen to the circle when she’d touched the patch after her dream.

Whatever this thing was, though, it didn’t seem panicked. No, as it finished coming up out of the ground, it was… calm. Collected.

Chappie stared at it, and though she had no idea what it even was…

If this spooky void had a physical form… yeah, that looks like it would be this.

A single blue eye stared down at her, piercing through her very soul, as if judging her for her past actions… or for things she hadn’t even done yet.

Despite herself, Chappie took a small step forward.

“Um… hello? What, or… who, are you?”

The shadowy figure folded its arms behind its back. “Hello. There is no need to be nervous. I shall not harm you.” It folded one arm in front of itself, as if politely bowing… the same way one might bow to royalty. “To answer your question, I am Darkrai, the deity— or god, if you so prefer— of sleep and dreams. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Chappie tilted her head as her tail lashed in confusion. “Wait, there’s… two gods of sleep? I-I thought Cresselia was—”

Darkrai’s eye sharpened with rage, and it seemed to glow a bit brighter. “The usurper? Do not believe her lies, child. She is but a false idol, one who sought to claim my throne the very moment she helped seal me away.” He crossed his arms. “No, child, Cresselia is not truly a deity of sleep. Instead, her true calling is as the deity of lust… but I suppose her goal was to have that aspect of herself be unknown, in favor of the more… accessible title that belongs to me.”

Chappie frowned. She… didn’t really know what Darkrai was talking about. “Okay, wait, sorry if I sound dumb right now, but… what’s lust? I’m guessing it’s like… something bad?”

Darkrai’s eye widened, before he averted his gaze, as a silvery blush appeared on his face. “…Er, it’s not anything you should be particularly aware of at your age. Perhaps you’ll be more informed at a later time… a much later time.”

Chappie nodded nervously.

Well, okay, it’s probably something bad, then.

“Welp, uh, sorry for asking, then. And— h-hey, wait, why’s your face all grey?”

Darkrai put a shadowy hand to his head. “Apologies for that. I… I’m simply a bit flustered at the moment, is all.” He paused and took his hand away from his head, as confusion shone in his eye. “…Unless you mean to imply that you are unaware of the hierarchy of deities?”

Chappie nodded. “I mean, I know there’s like… Arceus, he made the world. Uh, and then Mew, he made, like, all of nature and stuff…? And then everyone else, right?”

Amusement glimmered in Darkrai’s eye as he leaned forward slightly. “Well, there’s quite a bit more to it than that… but yes, for the sake of brevity, you are mostly correct.” He straightened up, and floated closer to Chappie. “For future reference, child, I am what is known as a ‘second-generation deity’… though, if I am not mistaken, your kind would refer to me as a ‘lesser god’, correct?”

Chappie nodded again. “Yeah, that’s right! Okay, I remember now… uh, I think you guys— the lesser gods— you’re like… not really as strong as, like, the Twelve or anything, but you’re still way stronger than regular Pokémon, right?”

“Correct. My kind was created by Mew himself, in an attempt to relieve himself of his boredom. Since we were created from Mew— who, in turn, was created by Arceus— we are considered lesser, both in strength and status. Thus…” Darkrai extended an arm, holding his palm out to the void, and quickly used his free hand to make a small cut in his palm. He put his arm down, but kept his hand out, and extended it to Chappie, enabling her to see the silver drops of blood gathering at the cut. “As you can see, my kind’s blood runs silver, as a permanent reminder of our existence as lesser beings.”

Chappie couldn’t help but stare, wide-eyed, at the silver blood. It was… a little disturbing that Darkrai had so readily injured himself just to show her something, but at least he didn’t actually seem all that hurt by it… “O-Oh, cool… um, wait, I just realized I changed the subject to this. Sorry, heh.”

Darkrai took his hand back, and flicked the droplets of blood onto the ground, where they were promptly absorbed by the grass. “Not to worry, child. I appreciated the distraction. Now, where were we… ah, yes. I was about to ask you something. Did you, or did you not, receive a vision involving this location?”

Chappie nodded quickly. “Y-Yeah! I had a weird dream, and I didn’t know what it meant, but I got super curious about it, so I…” She trailed off as she put the pieces together, and her suspicions were confirmed as she noticed the encouraging look in Darkrai’s eye. “Wait a minute! You’re the real god of sleep and dreams, and I had a dream, and… and the dream came true! Well, sort of. But! Does that mean you… sent me that dream?”

Darkrai nodded, his floating form bobbing slightly as he did so. “Correct again, child. I did indeed grant you the vision that led you to Palkia’s realm, and thus into his service.”

Chappie’s jaw dropped slightly. Did that mean… “Wait, wait, can you… see the future or anything? How does that work? Like, you just know what’s going to happen to everyone?”

Darkrai blinked once, twice. “I’m afraid I can not see the future…. not directly, at least. Sometimes, it just so happens that your dreams may predict future events, but… not quite in ways that you might expect.”

Chappie tilted her head. “Huh… okay! Cool!” She paused for a moment. “But… does that mean you wanted me to go there and end up meeting Palkia? Why?”

“Yes. The reason being… Palkia is the only god amongst the Twelve that opposes Dialga, and is both strong— and sane— enough to have the adequate amount of power needed to stop him. But, well, as I’m sure you know by now, Palkia is… Palkia, so I figured he would need all the help he could get.”

Chappie’s mind had raced at a million miles an hour, but she didn’t want to be rude and interrupt the god. Now, though— “Wait! Woah, woah, hold on! Are you saying… Dialga, one of the Twelve, is… a bad guy? Like, he’s evil? Are you serious?”

Darkrai folded his arms. “I would not joke about such matters, child. So, yes, I regret to inform you that Dialga is, in fact, ‘a bad guy’, as you so eloquently put it.” He put a finger to his head, as if he were thinking. “I’m afraid I do not have the ability to truly and adequately explain absolutely everything to you… perhaps you should ask Palkia whenever it is you next see him. Oh, and do tell him I said hello.”

Chappie was about to say something else, but then stopped as Darkrai stiffened, and a flash of panic shone in his eye.

“I must leave now, child. I can not be seen communicating to mortals… they must not know.” Darkrai quickly floated right up to Chappie, and put a hand on her head. “I only wish that we could part among less… stressful circumstances, but for now, this will suffice. Sleep well, child. We shall speak again when the time is right.”

Chappie wanted to protest, to ask the dozens of questions that were racing through her mind, but as Darkrai’s hand emitted a shadowy aura that seemed to envelop her, she found herself getting more and more sluggish, as if she were succumbing to a deep slumber.

She fought to keep her eyes open, but they slipped closed, and she felt her legs give out underneath her…

The world faded away.

Chappie awoke the next day, her head spinning as though she’d just learned of everything that had ever existed in the universe.

It took her a few moments to get her thoughts straight, and when she did, she knew what had to be done.

I have to go talk to Palkia. I have to know if all of that is true.

 

[canisaries]

Here for chapter 5!

But of course she knew it wasn’t a dream, none of that was.

Since it's past of the past, you'd want "hadn't been a dream, none of that had been".

Pierre, the hyperactive Eevee, whirled around and playfully pounced at Chappie.

Introducing him as hyperactive is kind of telling rather than showing, and since you do show it well later that he is hyperactive, this addendum could be omitted.

It was a short while before the Eevee came barreling out of the flapping door, and tripped over their own paws, making them fall and bump their head on the wall.

They quickly got up and shook themself off, quietly giggling.

I think it's unnecessary to refer to Pierre with they-pronouns in the beginning since it's someone the POV character knows. My first thought reading this was that he was nonbinary.

He shrugged, before glancing at Chappie.

No comma before "before".

Royce tilted his head slightly. “I assume you would… rather not deal with Pyre, then? …Yes, you’d rather not…”

I like that Royce has a recognizable way of speaking. Immediately makes him memorable.

She looked down the road, and saw Royce approaching,

She went and sat next to Markus, and watched the ocean waves for a few seconds.

This practice of unnecessary commas before "and"s keeps cropping up, so I think you could keep an eye out for it. A comma is not needed when the agent of the two clauses is the same ("she", referring to Chappie).

I just thought it would be nice to do something like this, without having to worry about my mom— our mom—” she quickly corrected herself, remembering that her mother also took care of Pierre and Royce, “—having to watch over us.”

Oh, okay. I was wondering why they were in her home.

Darkrai’s eye sharpened with rage, and it seemed to glow a bit brighter. “The usurper? Do not believe her lies, child. She is but a false idol, one who sought to claim my throne the very moment she helped seal me away.” He crossed his arms. “No, child, Cresselia is not truly a deity of sleep. Instead, her true calling is as the deity of lust… but I suppose her goal was to have that aspect of herself be unknown, in favor of the more… accessible title that belongs to me.”

Cresselia as the god of horni? That's interesting. I've bumped into Darkrai being a good guy in a couple of stories, but I haven't seen Cresselia be bad before. Points of originality.

---

It's nice to see Chappie have a good time with her friends. I didn't really get why her changing her name was such a big deal, though it read kind of trans-coded? Am I reading into it right? Ah, well, we'll see.

I'm happy we got to see the dream imagery again, too, as I was a fan of that. This usurped Darkrai plotline has me interested... assuming that Darkrai is telling the truth, of course.

See you with the next chapter!

 

[Ambyssin]

This is technically six parts. But, uh, as promised, I guess...

1
-Hmm. Yeah, got some issues right out of the gate here. You've probably heard it before. First off, I personally find capitalizing pokémon types weird. It's treating them like they're proper nouns when I think it's more accurate to treat them like adjectives. That aside, this long, chunky paragraph doesn't need to be here at all IMO. The actual scene that follows could instead be used to establish the mysterious hidden door and its nature, rather than making a big exposition dump that sucks a lot of the mystery (heh) out of it.
-Ah, yes, the two types of growlithe: the softie and the edgelord. I do wish you found a more organic way to bring up one being shiny, though. As it is, feels rather stiff.
-I can't see Chaplin and not think of Charlie Chaplin.
-Very strange that she just gets casually mugged. And apparently can't tell what a sableye is? I'm assuming it's the sableye, at least.

2
-Oh, that was a dream at the start, there? Yeah, uh, you might want to put in something that delineates it. A scene break. Putting the dream in italics. Anything. As it is, it's somewhat difficult to parse just from those few sentences stating as such.
-If her dream's narration (and her thoughts after waking) is that going to the forest is a bad idea, then why is she? Should that "The thought terrified her." instead be a "The thought excited her"? Otherwise, there's no real reason for her to go into the forest. Actually makes her look rather foolish.
-This reads like trekking through a tutorial dungeon. Which is perfectly fine. Though I wish you had given more limelight to finding the area from her dream versus needing to cross a small body of water. It would have synced up well with the dream from the start of the chapter IMO. You could have had her reflect more on the similarities. Isn't she concerned why it's the same? What it means for her that it is the same? Because that suggests the dream is more like a premonition. And those tend to happen for very specific reasons.
-Also lol she got abducted by aliens. Nice knowing her. Bring in the next protagonist.

3
-Well, yeah, Chaplin, the harshness of space is cold. Glad you appreciate it.
-Dang, calling pancake raichu mutants? That's not very poggers of you, Chaplin. Though interesting description of teleport. I don't think I've seen fics generally stretch it out to be anything more than instantaneous.
-"Hmph. I wish." Oh. Uh. Interesting way to make an introduction of a character trait. I'm always iffy about those sorts of jokes, personally.
-I do feel compelled to point out you're not quite formatting your dialogue tags correctly. They shouldn't be capitalized, even if they're following a question mark or explanation point. So, something like ["How did...?" she questioned], not ["How did...?" She questioned] like you have. This also goes for tags following commas at the end of dialogue.
-It also looks like you're actively going out of your way to avoid using common dialogue tags like "said" and "asked." I did the same thing when I started writing, thinking I needed to vary it up. But it turns out it can be more awkward to use fancy synonyms for them instead. Like "questioned" is not a dialogue tag that flows naturally in my opinion. If you're reaching for that thesaurus, you're better off just having the character show some body language instead. Head tilts, chin scratches, and all that jazz.
-No, I'm with Landon and Chaplin. Aster kind of blew up out of nowhere. Feels like tension for the sake of tension?
-Oh, hai, pingashead. So she really IS in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE space. Also, lol at Chaplin knowing what Palkia is but seemingly not having a clue about sableye.
-Oh no Palkia's a dudebro. I guess I can talk about sportsball with him, at least.
-I think some of the formatting got messed up in Palkia's ramble there. And, uh, I kind of think you could've broken up the ramble with some reactions from Chaplin? It's hard to imagine her not interrupting earlier. At least at the "complete chaos" part.
-Likewise, I think the ending needed to have Chaplin think on this a bit more. Her opinion on the matter is mostly skewed negative because of Aster and that's before she just says "Well, he'll probably kill me if I say no." This would've been a spot to harken back to that desire for adventure last chapter that I think you wanted to allude to.

4
-Forced into a first mission with no background or training? Yeah, it's safe to assume Palkia has no idea what he's doing. Also, if I had a nickel for every PMD-esque fic with a Palkia that has limited people skills, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice.
-Language, Palkia. Chaplin is a child.
-Ah, going directly to the tutorial outlaw mission. I'm sure everything will go fine. :)
-Aster really going the excessive force route and doing everything in his power to come across as, uh, not very likable. Which I hope was the intent? Even still, might be pouring it on a bit thick here. Psychics appear to be rather strong in this universe. Or, at least, Aster is a strange case. I wonder if Chaplin's POV should be addressing this at all? Or is she just too inexperienced with psychics to know?
-On the one hand, I appreciate how panicked and all over the place Chaplin's thoughts are. On the other, she's seeing what's either a dead or badly beaten body and her reaction is to try and stand up to Wartortle? Given how sheltered she seemed at the beginning here, I have a hard time believing she'd find that heroic resolve when confronted with the reality of the situation. Especially since she does have a suitably horrified reaction to Aster snapping his legs. Like, jeez. I wrote a partner duo who not work well together and they were not at each other's throats this fast and this viciously until they'd reached their lowest points.

Not really sure what to make of the special chapter. It's mostly dialogue focused until the end offers us glimpses of Aster's tragic upbringing to explain his present actions and mindset. I wish you'd leaned more into that as opposed to just dropping major parts of his backstory as a casual conversation with Palkia. Who, well, for a god, is not really showing the emotional intelligence and nuance to really help Aster out with his rough spot. Landon seems a bit better in that regard...

5
-Cooldown chapter. Establishing an entirely different group Chappie's already acquainted with. Pierre probably stands out the most due to all his energy. Which I guess bounces off of Royce's... lack of energy?
-I do appreciate her dilemma as to whether or not to loop her friends into this society thing. If I had to predict anything, it would be that they'll find out about it soon enough. Either from Chappie telling them or because they get wrapped up in something the Illuminati has to deal with.
-Oh, never mind. Not breather chapter. Suddenly Darkrai! And so the dream was a premonition of his doing after all. Guess that answers that.
-Evil Dialga. Never heard that one before. Guess I know why this fic has its title now. I'm not really sure why Chappie needs to get that explanation from Darkrai instead of Palkia saying it. If she had actually asked some questions in chapter 3 she'd have probably gotten the answer. It looks like she will anyway. This just feels like it could've been handled more succinctly.