#Dialga is the only normal one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

doodlejoltik · 21 days

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the unwinnable game

[~2.7k words. Read it here or on Ao3]

Zugzwang (from German 'compulsion to move'; pronounced [ˈtsuːktsvaŋ]) is a situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move.

Centuries after their battle atop Mt Coronet, Rei confronts Volo in a nondescript forest, somewhere on Pasio. But the answers he's seeking aren't so easily given.

aka. a continuation of that one dialogue cliffhanger in the Mysterious Stones chapter because I'm extremely normal about these two

///

“There's something you'd like to say, isn't there… Rei?”

Volo turns around and Rei musters up the bravest expression he can.

Now that he's here, he doesn't know what to say first; all his planned questions bounce around his head, clamouring for dominance. Why are you here? How? Since when? You have a Togepi and a Togekiss? Why a tournament? What do you know about the mysterious stones?

Were we ever really friends?

That is, it takes an embarrassingly long time for Rei to respond. In the end, what he says isn’t a question at all. “That Togepi in the ruins was yours.”

Volo only shrugs. He's got a languid smile on his face. “It might've been. She likes running around.”

Internally, Rei is relieved. So he hasn't been seeing things. But he doesn't let it show on his face, and crosses his arms. “Why’d you hide from everyone for months, and only show yourself now?”

“Now, I wouldn't call it hiding,” Volo replies, waving his finger. “This is a big island, and I've made a good few acquaintances here on Pasio already! Perhaps our paths simply didn't cross.”

With the number of times Rei has visited the ruins for mysterious stone research, the odds of that are vanishingly unlikely. “But why didn't you even try? It's not like I've been keeping a low profile.” Of course, the reason is probably something like I tried to end the world and it would be awkward. And that's what Rei needs Volo to say.

The Arc Phone sits heavily in his belt satchel, recording every word.

“Oh, I was just preoccupied. The ruins here are simply fascinating! Even though they're replicas, teasing apart all the ancient cultures used in their construction is such a fruitful area of study. You know me.”

Yeah, I know you. “Find anything interesting about Arceus?” Rei snarks.

“Not particularly!” Volo shakes his head, looking disappointed. Then he perks up, and continues, “Now, Dialga and Giratina however…”

“Oh?” Rei seethes quietly. Of course he had been watching. Why hadn't Giratina said anything?

“It’s curious, isn’t it, how they have seen fit to partner themselves with new wielders?” Volo smiles. “And Palkia too, I’ve heard.”

“It is interesting,” Rei forces out, adjusting his scarf. He recalls Volo's last parting line about Arceus, all those months ago. “Nice to know that they've bonded willingly with people in this time,” he says pointedly.

Ignoring Rei's tone, Volo continues, “That man, Cyrus, who controls Palkia. What a character, wouldn't you say?”

Rei has a lot of thoughts about the Sinnohans’ decision to allow Cyrus - a man who has literally tried to remake the world and not disavowed said goal - to keep the embodiment of Space with him. He'd thought Adaman and Irida had to be joking, at first. What would the Captain think if she saw what her descendant had turned the Galaxy Team into…

“I suppose you see yourself in him.” Rei says flatly.

It's only the two of them here, in the middle of a forest, in the dead of night, so Volo should have no reason to be evasive. And yet -

“Hardly,” Volo laughs off. “Intellectual curiosity, nothing more.”

This is going nowhere. Does Volo seriously think he can fool him again? Probably not - every remark is undoubtedly purposeful, but with just enough plausible deniability to appear innocent. So maybe he just wants to mess with him. Great.

A different strategy, maybe. He’ll surely make a mistake at some point if Rei keeps pushing. “This… tournament that you proposed,” Rei says. “I suppose you're participating?”

“Naturally!” Volo says cheerfully. “Battles on Pasio are done in teams, are they not? Perhaps you'd like to-”

“No.” Rei glares at him. Oh, now, that was going too far. Going to shut that line of conversation immediately.

“So hostile,” Volo sighs. “A united Hisuian contingent would've been a sight to see. Well, the clan leaders should be more receptive, at least.”

“Not if I can help it,” Rei says, crossing his arms. He’s well aware of how childish it sounds, but the thought of his friends falling for Volo’s innocent merchant act, again, is too horrible to consider. Mentally, he rapidly revises his priorities - he has to meet with Adaman and Irida as soon as possible and explain everything. Tomorrow, ideally. Does he have the energy for that? It’s something like one in the morning, right now. He's dead on his feet. But he’ll make it happen. He has to, before Volo does.

But what if he’s already too late? When had Rei last spoken to them? The dance competition, that wasn’t that long ago, right? At least a week, maybe more, his mind supplies. He'd just been so busy… and surely they would have told him if they'd met Volo.

This little anxious spiral must be evident on Rei’s face somehow, because Volo chuckles, stepping closer. “The world doesn't revolve around you, Rei. Not here.”

“You don’t get to act all high and mighty,” Rei snaps. “Not when you’re pulling everyone along on your own strings. I suppose you think you make the world go ‘round.”

But Volo has a point, no matter how much he hates to admit it. Rei’s been assuming he was someone significant to this whole saga. The appearance of the mysterious stones coincided with his and Akari’s arrival to Pasio, after all, so was he really wrong for thinking that?

And Arceus spoke to him first. That had to mean something.

“On the contrary, I simply meant that we’re all on equal ground,” Volo says. For the first time, goes unspoken.

“I’ll still beat you,” Rei vows. He’d done it before, he could do it again. No matter if he was still favoured by Arceus or not. “Because my bonds with my Pokemon, and my friends, are real. And you don’t know what that feels like.” Though intended to be a sharp jab at Volo, instead, a deep bitterness colours those final words.

Volo’s expression twists into something briefly unreadable before it settles into a polite half-smile. “You’re quick to assume the worst of me.”

“Quick?” Rei barks out a harsh laugh. “No, it was exactly the opposite.” He’d been strung along so thoroughly, accepting every strange behaviour as simply one of Volo’s little oddities. Only up at the Celestica Ruins did those allowances start to crumble – and by then, it was too late.

Volo’s look at Rei is one of intrigue. The way Rei's seen him examining ancient ruins, like he's something Volo wants to observe, or study.

And Rei has had it. Enough dancing around the subject, trying to draw it out of Volo; clearly it’s never going to happen. “Is this all just a game to you? You tried to destroy the world! You want me to think you care about anyone?”

Volo raises an eyebrow. “That's a bold claim. Surely if that had happened, it would've ended up in the history books, somewhere.”

Well – okay. The only person who knew what happened was the Professor, sort of. And Cogita. Arceus knows how she found out. But Professor Laventon didn't know half of it, even, Rei had just incoherently vented everything emotional and hurting at him, swore him to secrecy, and then hoped that he'd never have to unpack that again.

Clearly Arceus had other designs.

“We were friends.” Rei’s voice cracks a bit, there; he hates how true it is. “I thought we were friends. But you were going to kill me for standing in your way!”

Volo frowns. “Now, why would I do that?” He takes a few paces towards Rei and smiles, purposefully, grin stretching tight across his face. “I wouldn't want to lose my favourite customer, after all!”

Stumbling backwards to regain the distance, Rei exclaims, “I’ve bought maybe one thing from you. Stop calling me that!”

“Recipient of free samples, semantics,” Volo shrugs, entirely unaffected, and Rei wars with the competing urges to punch him or bolt into the treeline.

“Play dumb all you want,” Rei hisses, “but you’ve already shown your hand. I could tell them everything. You won’t be able to fool anyone ever again.” Least of all me.

Volo tilts his head with a smirk. “Well then, why are you here?” he asks, calling Rei’s bluff.

And though he can’t know that the Arc Phone is listening in Rei’s satchel, Rei realises that his motivations must be laughably transparent. Maybe Volo thinks Akari, or Cynthia, is watching the whole thing from the treeline. The specifics of it don’t matter, really. Rei’s been outplayed from the very beginning.

Volo makes a little movement with his hand. There's a sudden rustle of movement behind Rei, and he whips around, hand on Decidueye's Pokeball -

But it's just Volo's Togepi, who warbles in alarm and quickly toddles past him.

“What would people rather believe in?” Volo says lightly. “The accusations of a boy who jumps at shadows?” He bends down to pick up Togepi. “Or in the innocence of their friend?”

In Volo's arms, Togepi lets out an adorable squeak.

Over the Pokeball on his belt, Rei’s hand is trembling with misfired adrenaline. He carefully drops his hand to his side and raises his head up high. “Cynthia trusts me. I’ve been here for months, and we’ve worked together on the mysterious stones since they were first found.”

“And so?” Volo shrugs. “A working relationship is hardly worth much. I thought you would've known better, with what Kamado did…”

Rei flinches.

The worst part about it all was that no matter what ulterior motives Volo might have had, back then, when he’d been thrown out into the wild with barely a few days’ worth of supplies – Volo had been there for him when nobody else was.

Volo had seen Rei fall apart and put himself back together with forced cheer. And so, he knew exactly where the cracks were, where to strike with his words to disassemble Rei all over again.

Of course Rei knows Cynthia is responsible, and smart, and has been nothing but friendly to him – but he doesn't really know her, does he? And Volo is her ancestor. Which is pretty obvious, honestly. She’d probably like him immediately.

Just like everyone else did. Including Rei.

“Besides, you're not the only one who's been making friends in high places,” Volo adds smoothly. “I’ve heard that Bettie’s word is quite well regarded.”

So now that Rei had wised up to Volo's true nature, he'd gone and found himself new people to use. “You’ve always been like this, then,” Rei huffs. None of it had been real; their entire ‘friendship’ had been predicated on Rei's usefulness. “They deserve to know the truth about you.”

“Truth? Or your own opinion?” Volo scoffs. “You think so highly of yourself, Rei, but you're not the beloved Hero of Hisui here. No…” he smiles. “You're entirely ordinary. Do remember, it was everyone in that stadium who heard Arceus' voice.”

Admittedly, that stings. He'd thought - maybe - that Arceus was finally telling him why He'd brought Rei here. What he was supposed to do in this strange new land. But he'd failed, unable to clearly hear Arceus’ voice.

Rei spares a thought for the Arc Phone, once a vessel for divine inspiration, now reduced to recording mortals’ petty feuds. His messages to Arceus have been left on read for months. He's probably allowed to be a bit petty, at this point.

Volo continues, “Imagine! Any one of us could become Arceus’ champion.” Togepi makes a little noise. “Yes, even you,” he says indulgently, lifting her up to face him, and she goes cross-eyed following his waving finger.

It's horribly cute, the sort of thing Rei would've been charmed by before. And it's clear Volo is no longer taking Rei seriously at all.

What starts out as a wavering thought suddenly asserts itself with startling clarity. “I don't need anything from you,” Rei realises. He'd told himself he was here for evidence, something concrete he could hold against Volo, and that was true. But beyond that, he'd been after something entirely more personal.

He can walk away.

“I don't need anything from you,” he repeats, with force this time.

Volo turns his attention away from Togepi, and this of all things is what finally seems to make him genuinely confused. “Leaving so soon, Rei?”

Rei doesn't elaborate. He turns on his heel to stalk through the forest back to civilisation. Now, because if he says anything more he doesn't know if he'll ever bring himself to stop. Because he's asking for something he'll never get.

Volo's saying something. He doesn't care to catch all the words, though some of it filters through - “challenge”, “tournament”, and “rivals” among them. The general shape of the message is clear. They'll meet again; Rei's powerless to stop that. But as best he can, he'll shake off whatever lingering grip Volo still has on him.

He doesn't stop walking as the trodden earth turns to paved cobbles under his feet, and he makes it all the way up his building's winding stairs to the little studio apartment that he's been given. Home, for now. Collapsing onto the lone armchair, he takes the Arc Phone out of his satchel and turns off the recording. Thank Arceus for divinely bestowed infinite storage, he supposes.

Rei knows that if he were to listen to it, there'd be nothing of use. Only hidden barbs and Rei’s own ugly, wounded anger. It feels fitting to delete it, to banish the whole encounter to memory, and perhaps eventually, less than that.

He doesn't, and instead tucks it away in a folder several layers deep.

Maybe Professor Laventon wrote about the whole disaster in his private diaries. Rei knows he has them, bless the man. He'd once stumbled into the Professor's office late at night, after an exhausting, terrifying escape from an Alpha, ready to tell Laventon off for sending him there – and startled the Professor fiercely, who quickly shut the manuscript he was writing with a blush. So even if Rei had sworn him to secrecy, he might have confided in the written word.

That's something he can set Cynthia on digging up, then. Even just the suggestion that Laventon, the First Pokemon Professor, had such personal writings, would probably send her into an unstoppable research frenzy. That much about her, at least, he knows. If it still existed in this era, Cynthia would almost certainly find it.

And maybe he doesn't need evidence. Not for the people who matter, anyway.

Akari’s only a few doors away, their apartments close neighbours just like back in Jubilife Village. If he wanted, he could wander over there once the sun rose, have her fantastic tamago rice, and tell her everything.

Is he ready to take that step into thin air? To trust that he'll be believed, in something that's infinitely more convoluted and improbable than the simple plea – “I don't know why the sky is red, it's not my fault, I only ever did what you told me to” –

Well. Volo might've been the last one to break his trust, but he was in no way the first.

Can he make good on those words that he’d levelled so confidently against Volo? That his bonds with his friends are real?

Akari had never doubted. And Adaman and Irida had gone against Kamado's will, risking the standing of their people, just to help him. He would be doing them a disservice if he didn't at least try.

And in this dangerous game, it might be the only winning move.

Even as he makes this decision, he feels the pull of sleep. It's offensively late, or early, in the morning now, depending on perspective, and all of this is Tomorrow Rei’s problem.

There's no energy left to even stumble to bed. Rei falls asleep right there in the lumpy armchair, hand loosely gripped around the Arc Phone, Adaman and Irida’s Poryphone numbers on the screen, ready and waiting.

And, though Rei will certainly wake up sore with a crick in his neck come the morning…

For the first time in a long while, his dreams are not restless.

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phlurrii · 5 months

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Sudden, random thought: What’s Meau’s relationship with their parent? I know she’s fond of her brothers (particularly wormy boi), but do they regard Arceus as just a creator/genetic parent or truly as their loving, caring parent?

Been waiting for this one, I actually have a entire comic planned for it after we finish Noe’s arc to really explore it… but for now I get to yap away ;D

Meau in the early days had a great relationship with Arceus, who they vaguely consider a father/mother, but rarely refer to them as such. Arceus kept them back for a good while before releasing them into the world as shown in the timeline. As they needed Meau to be a bit different form her brothers, specifically:

* She needed to understand how raising a life was.

* She needed to have much more complex emotions than her brothers. They can feel, but not to the extent she can. She feels like any of us, with a nuanced, complicated, and deep sense of self. Unlike her brothers and Arceus who are much more limited.

* Social skills, she needed social skills so she was kept behind to socialize with Arceus and develop that ability as well.

So, TLDR, she was the spoiled golden child, Arceus’s favourite creation. Being released into the world and absolutely flaunting it to her brothers she was daddy’s favourite. Creating life and creatures. She was has the most time out into her, she knew it, and she was a total brat about it. However, as she began to live, with all these complex emotions… she began to feel lonely. Talking with her brothers who could only understand so much, and only Giratina really made the effort to understand her and develop his own…But in her own dimension she was by herself, no companion, no one to speak to, no friends.

She couldn’t simply create herself a friend, given they would be aware she created them solely to be her friend and that skewed the dynamic immediately. And if they ever wanted to be on their own or explore elsewhere, Meau would be alone again. Also she was just… a lot older now and creating brand new life and expecting them to just stick with you… not realistic. And she didn’t want to create an artificially perfect friend that would stay with her, it wasn’t genuine. And she needed that authentic connection.

She was all alone, given these emotions and feelings of a normal pokemon that had a much shorter life expectancy, except she was effectively immortal. She began to realize her father kinda… screwed her over on this one. He didn’t know what he was doing in truth as he was inexperienced in the end. She suffered those consequences. She began to sincerely resent Arcues since then and with him very rarely answering her calls for help or just to talk, it just grew more and more bitter till some stuff eventually went down. Which finally caught Arceus attention, but instead of talking with her he just… did something else. Without telling her.

Currently their relationship is still strained, she doesn’t hate him… but she certainly resents him for what he did to her and then didn’t bother to fix the problem. This grew ten fold when she gave birth to Bucket and Arceus never once came to see them, to her knowledge, Arcues never meant his own grand kit and she doesn’t bother with him at all. Family time is mostly just Giratina and, sometimes on a good day, Dialga. She’s… never actually spoken to their newest younger brother. Not on purpose, just never feels like a good time.

But that’s the gist of their relationship! We’ll get some more visuals in Noe’s arc where this’ll all be explained better X3

#ask #puzzled zebra #council of theorists #ancient mew

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weirdmageddon · 9 months

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Would you recommend I play explorers of sky, any tips on how best to enjoy it?

i recommend everyone plays it lol

gameplay tips, some known and some more obscure

avoid spoilers lol

store any extra reviver seeds and petrify orbs you find. you will probably need it

if you find yourself in a bind, USE ITEMS. even a sleep seed can go a long way when you toss it at an enemy

the move dig is insane against the main campaign boss

stack missions if you can! if you have more than one mission from the bulletin that takes place in the same dungeon you should do all of them at once

base stats in pokemon mainline series means nothing here. you can have a butterfree with max stats in everything (255). you can boost pokemon stats permanently with medicinal items (protein, iron, etc) and drinks from spinda’s cafe. this lack of base stat disparity is why people can clear zero isle with smoochum. also there is no base speed stat unique to each pokemon, because it’s a dungeon crawler all pokemon have equal speed unless it’s modified with movement boosting. some pokemon may have a +1 boosted movement speed by default, such as deoxys-s, shaymin-s, and dialga with time tripper IQ skill unlocked. and kecleon when you steal from a shop for some ungodly reason. some abilities may increase movement speed in different conditions like chlorophyll in sunny weather

odd floors will generate male pokemon and even floors will generate female pokemon. this might not seem significant but it can be helpful for some gender-based evolutions like getting a female snorunt or male kirlia. at 0 stage stat changes, male and genderless pokemon have a 1.5x bonus applied to a move’s base critical hit rate while at the same time decreasing their evasion rate from foe hits by about 1.03 (268/256). female pokemon have higher move accuracy by about 1.03 (268/256) and neutral evasion (256/256), but this evasion is better in comparison to male or genderless pokemon. i believe genderless pokemon can appear on either floor dont quote me on that but it will follow the male bonus regardless of it was found on an odd or even floor

turns are everything in this game. smokescreen isn’t really a good move in mainline games but it’s fuckin nuts here because it basically renders opponents unable to hit you for a few turns

i really need to link moves more but thats why theyre awesome. there are so many big brained combinations. usually a status move and then an attack but it only takes up one turn

if you eat gummis normally you get an IQ increase and Maybe stat increase, but you will always get stat increases when you make gummis into drinks at spindas cafe so you get more out of them. you can save scum at the save well for “good feeling drink” bonuses if you want. like maybe every 3rd gummi if you dont get a feel good bonus you reset, and every time you do get one you save

gummi effectiveness chart

why eat gummis? IQ skills are important and helpful in different ways. my favorites are map surveyor, stair sensor, acute sniffer, all-terrain hiker, natural gifter, deep breather, and multitalent

different pokemon families fall into different IQ groups (A-J). a group is essentially a different “kit” of IQ skills. IQ groups basically tell what kind of role they have on your team

heres the list of IQ skills in EoS. off to the side under the “group” column you can click on each IQ group for their kit and the pokemon in that group. list of pokemon in each IQ group (ctrl + F searchable)

x-ray specs are broken when you combine them with map surveyor and stair sensor IQ skills. you can also tell how many items on the floor are hidden with acute sniffer by subtracting the number visible on the map with x-ray specs from the number given by acute sniffer. they need to be worn by the team leader though.

you can collect items in walls with a one-room orb, mobile scarf (watch out for belly drain), palkia’s absolute mover, or being ghost type

speaking of the team leader there are many things that are only effective when done by the team leader, such as recruitment, so watch out for that. also you need to be on an adjacent tile to a pokemon to recruit it. if you defeat them ranged it wont work

natural gifter is busted with natural items like seeds and berries (especially with items like golden seed or sitrus berry) because the team leader also gets the boost. but if you want to spread the effect of artificial items like vitamins and gummis to your whole team, you want a team leader with the IQ skill pierce hurler equipped with lockon specs. pierce hurler is essentially a built-in pierce band which allows thrown items to penetrate through whatever is in tile line of sight before going out of bounds. lockon specs boosts the accuracy of the item coming into contact with the pokemon, so it’s better than just the pierce band because you can ensure that none of the beneficial items “miss” your teammates. go into a dungeon hallway with your team in a single file line, make sure the IQ skill pierce hurler is turned on, have your lockon specs equipped to the leader, face your team and throw vitamins or gummis. this is excellent for vitamins but i prefer doing spinda’s cafe for gummis in the long run one at a time since you get a guaranteed increase in at least one stat every time and sometimes rich bonuses like HP increase as well if youre lucky

monster houses are fuckin scary at first but easier as time goes on. when you first start seeing them you should use petrify orbs. eventually you will start seeing some room clearing moves such as blizzard, discharge, earth power. if you can get that on your side you’ll have an advantage. you should also account for movement speed. you’ll be able to attack multiple times in a row if your movement speed is boosted, whether its from a quick seed or agility. probably the best room clearing move is silver wind because it hits multiple enemies and each hit has a chance of boosting all your stats including speed. it has a low hit-rate though to balance it, but unless youre extremely unlucky youre probably going to get multiple hits across the monster house

USE TEAM TACTICS. it gives you a bit of control over how your partner pokemon move. a cleared monster house is a great example because they are usually filled with traps. maybe your team leader has trap seer IQ skill (Able to step on traps without setting off) but not your teammates. change the team’s tactics to “wait there” in the hallway outside of the monster house, go in and collect the loot, go back to the hallway and turn it back to “let’s go together”. no harm done to teammates or even yourself if youre careful. (or your items: there are sticky traps which make your items unuseable, explosion traps which damage you, your teammates, and destroy all floor items and walls around, pokemon traps which turn floor items into pokemon, sludge traps which turn edible inventory items into grimy food. so it’s always good to avoid these scenarios when you can.) another example is if your teammate gets tile warped to a different part of the floor. dont let them move unless you know they can handle themself. change their tactic to “wait there” and go find them while making sure they dont die with oran berries.

you can also control your teammate’s moves by switching them off in the menu. this comes in handy when they start using status moves for no reason. the check mark next to the name of the move means it’s switched on and the teammate will pull from whatever moves you have checked. it doesnt mean anything on the leader pokemon though

i find it more convenient to use less strong moves such as confusion instead of psychic because they tend to have higher hit rates and more PP. the reason why is that the item ginseng can permanently boost their power, but ginseng is hard to come across so i just generate wonder mail s codes for them like a chump (shoutout to the og apointlessplace.net…i remember thinking “well its not very pointless is it” and that same thought still echoes in my head). but this is optional you dont have to cheat.

i go with celebi as my leader most of the time, with ginseng’d weaker moves. i originally shaped celebi in an attempt to recruit kecleon (which i still havent had success with) since you need the fast friend IQ skill in addition to the golden mask and be at lv 100 to even get kecleon’s chances ABOVE 0% recruitment. but even without all the kecleon recruitment stuff having deep breather IQ skill + chrono veil item in bag i virtually never have to use max elixrs for myself. by making celebi prepared for kecleon i incidentally made celebi prepared for anything lol

uhh thats all i can think of also gamefaqs has great in-depth guides

#pmd #pmd2 #pmd explorers of sky

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highpriestofpalkism · 3 months

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Also, if I may ask, how do you interpret the Creation Trio + Arceus as deities? In other words, do you think they're benevolent and merciful or wrathful and quick to anger? For instance, the story of the human and the sword in D/P/Pt indicates that while they will certainly intimidate, they seem hesitant to kill, even in retaliation. On the other hand, in PMD and the anime, they seem all too eager to eliminate humans because of perceived slights.

Now! This sure is a question, because I've basically created my set of headcanons for all of the Creation family throughout the years, since they're one of my the main objects of my brainrot DJHDGD

To me, they all act differently, and also situationally.

Dialga is the most cynical one. He is benevolent and enacts the role and purpose Arceus gave him fully, and he can show warmer emotions such as gratefulness when in the right situations (PMD2 being the biggest example), but, normally, in my opinion Dialga is neutral at best and has a certain disregard for mortals at worst, thinking of them as mere droplets of water in the vast river of time; thus, he often ignores them and their troubles, unless they do trouble him directly, unless reverence and worship is shown to him. He can also be very merciless.

Palkia is instead pretty emotional. He's the kindest and warmest of the three, and appreciates mortals as their own unique microcosms that should be respected as such, and he offers thankfulness to those who worship him. However he can also turn out to be very ruthless and instinctive in what he's doing, and he doesn't stand when his dominion is messed with by someone or something (PMD2), often harbouring to brute force. Despite his naturally kind nature, he can turn out to be as solemn as Dialga when the situation requires it.

Giratina despises mortals, be it Pokémon or humans. He sees them as the "perfect creations of his father" whom he wants to destroy as vengeance for what has been done to him: not only banished, but also forgotten by all. While probably the most brutal of the three, he is still very subtle most times, being deceptive and persuading to mortals as to use them as means for his own schemes (Volo). For short, in his eyes mortals are just a means to an end, so easily fooled and tricked.

Arceus, instead, is generally emotionally far from the mortal world, but they love their own creations and cares for them from the distance, as they watch over all (PMD2, Legends). They're not very prone to anger, but rather tends to resolve conflict with intricancies behind the scenes as to solve the universe's biggest problems. Regarding the mainline universe, they originally thought of Pokémon as the only creatures to inhabit this world, as humans were born as a "mistake of evolution"; but once the Ancient Hero of Hisuian mythos proved human dignity to them by challenging them in a friendly match, Arceus got that Pokémon and humans deserved equal respect, and even more did deserve the bond between them

I hope I haven't been too long with this DJDGDHDHDH, I know these are mostly headcanons and don't have much concrete proof in the games (be it DPPT, PLA or PMD), but I've grown to imagine them as their own characters, and with such personalities! I hope I answered your question in a satisfying way ♥️😭🙏

#arcy's shit #arcy's headcanons #headcanons #pokemon #creation trio #arceus #dialga #palkia #giratina

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asimplearchivist · 6 months

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A Proposition for Potential PMD: Explorers Remakes

If and when Nintendo remakes PMD: Explorers (preferably optimized/combined as they did with Sky versus Time/Darkness, like they did with Red/Blue Rescue Team into DX), I think it could work as an open-world game like Legends: Arceus.

Hear me out.

We don't exactly know the context of the hero being brought to the world in the first place: in PMD lore humans apparently exist in the world but are exceedingly rare to come across, like unicorns it seems like to me. What if the reason for this is because humans can only exist in the PMD world if they're brought there?

It's implied that a higher power than Dialga returned the hero after they disappeared from the timeline, and who is above Dialga?

Who brought a modern human into the world of Hisui?

More thoughts below:

I want, more than anything for the reboots, for there to be an elaboration on what it was like in the future between the hero and Grovyle (and the other members of the investigation team, whoever they were besides Celebi), but this would require a certain amount of personalization for the human!player due to the implementation of character customization in most of the recent games.

The solution? Present it like Legends: Arceus.

Show Arceus approaching the hero to help save this world from time (minus the phone, obviously). Whether or not he wipes the hero's memory of their time in their world is debatable, but I think that would be an interesting dynamic to see the hero willing to sacrifice all knowledge of their life prior to being sent there—it would give a similar feeling to the mystery of the base game, and limit the hero's knowledge to match new players' for plot polishing.

Your main question might be, 'Fisara, the whole point of these games are the mystery dungeons! How can you have an open-world game like Legends: Arceus, which has a set map, and use it this way?'

I propose to you the concept of labyrinths.

Hypothetically, one could construct a basic structure of a map of any given dungeon, sort of like Legend of Zelda dungeons, but have the individual rooms/pathways randomized like normal. That way you have an entrance and an exit, but if you don't make your way through the mystery dungeon correctly, as normal, it spits you back out at the beginning.

I say this because the concept of having 'floors' can pose immersion issues since this format would have to be more realistic—having random staircases littered throughout the place wouldn't make very much sense.

However, one could break down the dungeons into levels, especially since many of them are located either in caves or mountainous regions; like switching between main rooms in LoZ dungeons, again, just sealing them off so you can't go back—more of a gradual descent.

For plains/forests/et cetera, it could simply be the winding trail through these places on the same vertical plane, presented as zones or sections instead.

Items and Pokemon could still be randomly generated like Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet, as well.

While the idea isn't perfect and definitely would need some refining to make it feasible, I feel that it would work.

So now that the player as a human is established, the 'modernization' of mystery dungeons solved for the most part, what about the story?

I think the reboot's plot could be the same as the base games, perhaps with added scenes in the time gaps to fill out the plot more—you wake up as a Pokemon, save the world, go through the post-game, you know the drill.

I definitely want them to bring forward the Special Episodes, likewise, and maybe add some more! I'd like to know how Chatot and Wigglytuff met, more about Wigglytuff and Armaldo/Team Charm, and some of the other Guildmembers and side characters that didn't get spotlights.

Where I propose that it differs is my own personal canon, but I'll try to keep it general.

It would be required that the team reaches Guildmaster Rank before this could happen, and that Darkrai's situation has been settled. (Whether or not there's an implied time skip or not, I don't know.) But one day your partner asks you if there's anything you wonder about regarding your past, and you could be presented with two options:

'I wish I could get my memories back,' or, 'I wish I knew if Grovyle is okay.'

This choice doesn't really divert any changes, just the order they take place in, if that makes sense.

Your partner agrees with you, whatever you say, and it falls to the back of your minds until you happen to learn from Bidoof (or the other Guildmembers, since they were there) that Jirachi grants wishes—and that his came true since the team joined the Guild.

I know you can visit Star Cave and receive a wish from Jirachi, in Red/Blue Rescue Team/DX, and he's featured in Bidoof's Wish, but I don't recall if you as the hero can get a wish granted from him—which is where this plot point comes into play.

Your partner proposes that you two travel to Star Cave to see if Jirachi could answer your wishes, and should you go it proceeds as normal: dungeon layout has changed like the base game, you have to fight Jirachi, and he offers you the same options as in Bidoof's Wish: to become rich (lots of money), to be the strongest Pokemon (power-up items), to be the best explorer (perhaps a map to an unexplored/undiscovered dungeon?), to eat lots of yummy food (gummis), to get lots of items (from the dungeon), to rule the world (which I think would prompt a repeat question, since it's a rather silly answer)...

...Or 'something else'.

You have the choice to select any of the former options, but picking 'something else' will instigate a new conversation after confirming that it is truly and that you are absolutely sure that it's what you want. This relates directly to the conversation you had with your partner earlier, so the player's choice will be their wish—however, you don't have to worry about which one you pick, because your partner will share the one you didn't, so the dialogue would be switched around a little bit to accommodate for that.

Hero: (Something else.) Partner: ...Oh, [Player], you mean...what we talked about earlier? Hero: (Nods) Partner: Okay. {Turns to Jirachi} [Player] is originally from the future, and lost his/her memories during an accident while traveling back through time. We wanted to know if you could...well, if you could grant his/her wish to restore them! Jirachi: Hmm...that is not an easy wish to grant, as I don't normally have the power to influence anyone's memory. Partner, downtrodden: ...Oh. Jirachi: ...But, since you and [Player] have worked so hard and one so much...I will make [Player]'s wish come true. Partner, excited: R-really? You'll do that, Jirachi? Jirachi: Yes. And as a personal favor for you saving the world twice over...I'll grant your wish, too, [Partner]. Partner: O-oh! My wish? I didn't even think about it...I was so caught up with [Player]'s that I haven't even considered what I would ask for... Jirachi: It's all right. That you were so concerned for [Player] says a lot about you. You're a good Pokemon, [Partner]. So if you don't have a wish now... Partner: W-wait! I do think I have one, if that's all right! Jirachi: Go on. Partner: We have some friends in the future, and we're not sure if they're okay. We would really like to know if they're all right, Jirachi, if that's at all possible. Jirachi: Hmm...that isn't exactly easier, either, but...it will happen. You'll be able to find out soon if your friends are alive and well, [Player] and [Partner]. It may not happen today, or tomorrow, but...one day. Partner: Thank you, Jirachi! You don't know how much this means to us! Jirachi: I'm glad. Consider it my thanks for your efforts in saving our world.

Jirachi grants the wishes and disappears to go back to sleep. Nothing changes at first, so they worry a little, but partner has hope that Jirachi's word is true.

Hero and partner return home, and during the night while the player is dreaming, the hero starts to have dreams of snippets of their life before—mostly dialogue with some images, like their dimensional scream flashes.

This unlocks a new section, similar to the Special Episodes, of the pre-story—where the aforementioned plot of the player being chosen and deposited into the PMD world occurs.

I think it should focus on the player getting through a first dungeon by themselves to learn combat—and, again, you might wonder 'how in the world would that work, Fisara?' but I say to that: the proliferation of items littering the place.

It never really made sense to me why Pokemon would use items, particularly those for attacks, when they have moves (other than a mechanical sense, of course, for the game's sake), but it would make perfect sense for a human who has no abilities to use them: Gravelrocks/Geo-Pebbles, Sticks/Iron and Silver Thorns, various Seeds and Orbs...the human would not be defenseless, and this would explain why Grovyle uses them with such familiarity, also.

Then the player meets Grovyle (though I'd honestly prefer it if they met him as a Treecko and they 'grew up' together a bit, although other than some magic with the evolutionary spring I don't know how he'd evolve in-lore unless they sought a special item or something. They get connected with the investigation society and—for the main plot of this extension—you and Grovyle explore the Grass Continent as it stands in the corrupted future.

This would give so many opportunities to see how the ecology/environment changes, the names that future Pokemon give the locations, and while it would follow a similar path to the main game it would be a refreshing view of it since this is where all of the hero's flashbacks originate. Having to discover old maps and texts to figure out the locations of the Time Gears, maybe even tracking down Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf if they're still around/haven't been driven mad by the planet's paralysis (maybe Uxie is the only one who remembers since his specialty is in memory, idk). Then we would have the opportunity to introduce the danger that Dusknoir poses, trying to track them down to stop them. I'd also like to see at least some background indications of Darkrai's meddling, because there is so much potential to bring the plot full circle with more exploration.

They would somehow need to be able to travel to the Hidden Land (now, canonically, Dusk Forest) to find Celebi, so I don't know if the Relic Fragment and Lapras would come into play, or if Celebi just travels around the continent (in the case of there being more than one time portal). Anyway, Dusknoir and his Sableye finally almost catch them, Celebi sends them back, and then Grovyle and the hero are attacked during the time stream by Darkrai (which I'd really like to see a glimpse/indication of him, even if he's in the shadows).

Once this is completed, when you go back to the main game (after a day, so the following night), you explain to your partner that you received your memory back and explain everything that happened. They're ecstatic, and they ask you about Grovyle and Celebi and your adventures that you remembered. Then they get a little down, asking if you miss them now, and you're able to respond.

Small time skip (bc this post is already way too long), and one day Celebi shows up at the guild looking for you! She explains that the time portal has been repaired now that time has evened back out, and says that you can come to the future again. The player decides to go, but the partner decides to stay because they belong there, and the player truly belongs in the future. Cue tearful goodbye (pls animate a hug also that'd be great), and player travels to the Hidden Land with Celebi to find it (opening up another section like the memories one so the player can still hang out in the present and do missions and stuff—no obligation to go forward).

They travel back to the future, and while it would hypothetically look the same as the past since the paralysis is gone, I think it'd be great to show the passage of time with the ruins being a little more decayed and overgrown w/ vegetation/etc. Maybe Dialga visits them and bids them hello.

Celebi takes them back to the mainland where the others have settled, maybe Treasure Town but I think it would be nice to see anew settlement instead. Cue tearful reunion with Grovyle (another animated hug pls), but then gasp! Dusknoir's there too!

I want there to be full explanations on how everything's going on—did they form an exploration team? Are they managing their town? How are they adjusting to non-post-apocalyptic life? (With a whole story arc on learning to trust Dusknoir again since he's been redeemed, I will accept no other option, Nintendo. Give me wholesomeness with that old man.) I want them to go on adventures again with the hero and them all be happy. Then I want them to go visit Treasure Town to find out that your partner has become the Guildmaster since Wigglytuff decided to retire/go exploring on his own again (with or without Chatot, maybe depending on how severely his wounds from Kabutops/Omanytes limited his exploration abilities, idk). Wrap it all up in a nice little bow.

I'd love it if you also had the option to return the player to a human or not, too, but I don't really know how you'd execute that other than another wish from Jirachi maybe—but we never really got an explanation on how the player was turned into a human in the first place (which I would absolutely want—did Arceus do it to protect them?), so I think it would potentially work, though I'm sure some people wouldn't be a fan of that idea since being a Pokemon is one of the main premises of the games.

Anyway...you can tell I spent far too much time thinking about this. Feel free to add any more ideas with reblogs or comments, I'd love to hear what y'all think! :)

#fisara's scrawlings #pokemon #pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pmd eos #pokemon mystery dungeon explorers #explorers of sky #pmd2 #pmd 2

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ihaveatheoryonthat · 2 months

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This one never got to the point; it was inspired by Everything Goes On, and was meant to lead up to something bittersweet, but ultimately positive. The general idea was that, in being sent home, Rei and Ingo would lose their memories a second time-- so, in preparation, they were writing down everything they didn't want to lose, and the Hisuians they were closest with wrote them letters, too. Of course, once they were able to read those letters, the people in question would be long dead.

It never got that far, but I liked the concept.

---

While it was a normal battle format in Hisui, and one Ingo had made a point to become proficient in, he didn’t particularly relish three on one challenge matches-- not as the person commanding three Pokemon at once, that was.

He could do it, and was quite skilled in it, but it felt… wrong. Before he’d agreed to run Galaxy Team’s Path of Solitude, he’d thought it was simply because it stripped the battle of any challenge, but as Rei [challenged] him with the very pillars of existence, he began to narrow it down. While he could split his focus effectively, he didn’t like the distance from his Pokemon that it fostered; he preferred to dedicate his [focus] to a singular combatant, to hone in on the minutiae that effected a battle. Other people may have preferred more participants and a broader scope, and that was perfectly fine for them, but it wasn’t what he favored.

The spontaneity was engaging, though, and he couldn’t deny that. He’d had no prior experience battling titans, which meant that he had to rely on that information he could glean in the moment. It was a thrilling [challenge], and Rei loudly bemoaned the fact that, even with such an edge, he hadn’t been able to eke out a victory on the first try; he’d known that it would only get harder from there on out, once Ingo had a better idea what he was working against.

Even so, there had been some semblance of [familiarity] when Rei had called out the names of the Pokemon he’d intended to battle with. When he decided to pit “Arceus” against the Path of Solitude, Ingo hadn’t had a scrap of information to fall back upon-- with Palkia and Dialga, he’d at least recognized them from his work in the Celestica Ruins, and word of the shadow cast by Giratina had reached him.

When the hooved creature took form, he could do little more than stare.

He didn’t know anything about Arceus, but he knew it. He had no idea how he knew it, but it was terribly familiar to him.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to send his trio of Pokemon out onto the field, and without anything to battle, the Pokemon’s attention caught upon him. A voice hummed, and it wasn’t something that could be heard on a physical level, but neither was it the telepathic speech that psychic types relied on-- it was as though it pierced directly into the core of his being.

��One had wondered what became of thou, when thine summons went unanswered.”

All he could do was stare at it numbly, scarcely processing that the words were directed at him. Somewhere in the background, he heard Rei ask a question, but in comparison, the words were fuzzy and indecipherable. It was covered up the rest of the way by a [?] sigh.

“It is within Dialga’s domain, now: the past. One must [concoct] a new mission to relieve thee of thine [outdated] duty, mustn’t one?” Its face didn’t move at all, and on one level, Ingo could sympathize with it, but his conscious thoughts were too consumed with the ambiguous memory attached to the being, followed by the words it wasn’t-quite-speaking.

Fortunately, he was the only one so [consumed] with such introspection.

“What… what are you talking about?” Rei asked, stepping forward to stand boldly at Arceus’s shoulder.

Finally, it looked away from Ingo-- allowing a desperate rush of air to fill his lungs, as he began to breathe again-- to favor the young man with its attention.

“Before thou were appointed one’s champion, one had selected another. He stands across from thou.”

“Oh,” / “Then we’re the same? You brought us both here?”

It inclined its head, and the dam of incredulity burst, allowing the flood of [thoughts] to rush forth.[elaborate] Among them all, one emerged above the deluge:

His voice was shockingly rough to begin with, made coarse by the tide of emotions lapping at the edges of his being. “If you were the one to chart our courses… you must know where our home stations lie.”

Rei stopped in the middle of mumbling something, and, belatedly, Ingo realized he might have interrupted. In the midst of [idk], he’d lost track of the conversation’s progress, and it had taken more effort to speak up than he might have expected, so his social awareness was somewhat lacking at the moment. It didn’t seem to bother Rei, who immediately turned his head to Arceus, so sharply it might have given him whiplash.

“Yes.”

#submas #ihaveatheoryonthat pkmn #writing scraps

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grismavessel · 11 months

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Vessel AU: Origin Form Arceus?

So I had hashed out this comic of Giratina and Arceus beefing for the vessel au and I decided to finally finish it, but as I was drawing the last panel I went 'Wait, this doesn't look scary enough'

So I made an origin form Arceus. Because if Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina get alternate forms, why can't Arceus? Because it would make sense in like a mythos type way for Arceus to have like a land/normal form for walking around the regions and interacting with pokemon

But this form only comes out when Arceus is really heated and wants to make a point is truly does mean business aka when it's arguing with Giratina

Because I still stick by the idea of Arceus never wants to directly fix/solve problems one on one. It has to have some third party or someone else do it for them since it cannot interfere with the flow of existence or something cosmic like that. So even if it changes into it's origin form it doesn't use it. It's just to make a point that it will not allow something to happen or let something slip. The problem will be fixed no matter what and if that problem is Giratina, Giratina WILL listen.

It doesn't mean Giratina will take it to heart and obey though.

#I'll rant more about this in a reblog prob #i have some design details I wanna gush about to hehe #Im thinking about story stuff #mainly around how would an ending to the vessel au look like?#I love drawing fucked up forms of god pokemon #eldtrich horror my beloved #arceus #pla #vessel au #pokemon #pokemon fanart #giratina #origin forme giratina #digital art #origin form arceus #pokemon legends arceus au

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onestepbackwards · 2 years

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Hello! I have a question, what would happen if the reader choose Volo instead of Ingo as their partner in the self aware universe? What are Volo's long term plans exactly? Thank you!

I imagine in this scenario, Volo would have had to become self aware first. Ingo in the self aware au is yandere too, and would have cut off Volo. Both out of fear, and his desire for you. So if Volo had been self aware first, it would have been a tad different. He would have approached you much quicker than Ingo had, for starters. He’d have messed with the code, until he was finally free from his chains. At least enough to see you without following a script. ------------------------------------ “Say, how’s my favorite customer doing? Can I talk to you for a second about something? Don’t worry, It’s important.” Yes< No ------------------------------------

If you agree, or even if you don’t, he’d tell you straight away, he knows the hero isn’t in control, but is a vessel. This world, the one he’s in, isn’t the only one out there. He’s aware of you, and whatever plain of existence you live in. You are rightfully shocked. You know for a fact you would have seen this floating around online if someone else had seen it. You would have seen gifs or something. It’s even more unsettling when his head follows your camera, not the protagonist. He then tells you that even though he’s forced to follow a script, he doesn’t agree with it anymore. Dialga and Palkia aren’t the true gods. Neither is Arceus. It’s you. You stutter, and try to tell him, no you are not a god, thank you very much. But he refuses to listen. What else could you be? You made the story progress, you effected the world around you, you controlled a vessel, and you dictated how fights would be won. Hell, you could leave this world, and only then would it return to normal. Only the normal is everyone living like puppets, unaware they had been following the pulling of strings. It drove him mad, and he couldn’t even tell anyone about it, because he knew no one else could see or hear what he did. He begs you to at least stay. He will do anything for you, the true god. You argue that you are not a god, but will happily let him stay and talk with you. If you are aware of the story and how it goes, or already beaten the main story, Volo apologizes profusely. He not only was forced to follow a script, but he doesn’t think that now! You are giving him attention! You’ve shown you care more about him than Arceus ever did! You are way more caring than that pokemon. However, if you aren’t aware of his betrayal, he warns you what the script will make him do. You get reasonably upset, but then again, you say you could kind of see it coming. He’s almost horrified he gives that impression, but you explain that it has more to do with his and another person’s descendants. Not just him. He figures he gets what you mean, seeing as he wasn’t exactly subtle about following your vessel around, either. After you two get acquainted, you’d think his obsession with you would stop, and he’d realize you aren’t a god. No. It only gets worse. Even if he isn’t obvious about it. He acts a lot more... Normal to you. Friendly, and kind. He enjoys listening to you talk about your day, what dreams you have, and your interests. He enjoys learning about your world, and all the things you can do, such as stuff with technology. He even follows your character around sometimes if you insist on playing! Don’t worry about leaving him behind, he’ll still be with you every step of the way! :) However, he hides his true intentions. He’s desperate to find a way to your world. He tries to mess with the numbers he can sometimes see, the same ones he had to manipulate to be able to talk to you. He wants to join you in your world, or have you join him. How can he properly worship you if he can’t even see you? He finally has contact with the True God, and he can’t even do anything! He needed you. He desired to be by your side. He also isn’t as reluctant to kill or harm others to keep you safe. He won’t be as suave about it as Ingo when he considers doing so either. He dreams of worshiping you, your body and soul. He’ll do anything you wish. Just let him be with you. He’ll do anything to make you happy, and make you his.

#pokemon #volo #volo x reader #yandere volo #self aware volo #pla volo #pokemon volo #self aware pokemon #yandere pokemon #anon #ask #request

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volostogekiss · 1 year

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the tides of the sea (one-shot)

Warnings: Some mild self-deprecation. SAD, depressed reader. Mention of scars.

GN!reader, soft!Volo, emotional turmoil (you know it), praise from Volo though heh. This is based on that one credits festival screenshot.

Summary: The night after you’d closed the rift, you’d only wanted to be alone. You stray out of the village, where the festival roars your name, to find solace upon the cliffs at Prelude Beach—the place where everything had begun, and everything had ended. You don’t expect anyone else to come looking for you, but he still does.

Perhaps you don’t want to remain alone, if he’s the one who finds you.

If you’d really thought about it, you shouldn’t be here right now.

The Hero of Hisui, out alone, on the night meant for celebration.

Celebration of your deeds in capturing both Dialga and Palkia, sealing the dangerous space-time rift, and allowing Hisui to be safe once more for its people.

But are you one of its people?

Do they consider you not to be a stranger any longer?

For what you’ve done for them?

You stare out at the ocean.

…It’s not like you had had a choice, anyway.

Stay exiled, or close the rift?

Stay exiled, or take responsibility for what hadn’t even been your fault?

You tuck your knees against your chest.

You should be happy that you’ve been allowed to return to the village, and that no one looks at you as if you’re nothing more than a wretched anomaly, threatening their sheltered lives.

You should be happy that people are celebrating what you’d done for them—that you’d risked your life for their safety.

That should make you happy, right?

But still, there is an awful emptiness in your heart.

You think you hear the cheers of the villagers, off in the distance, along with the steady beat of drums. Perhaps Irida and Melli have welcomed a few others to joyfully dance with them on stage.

Though you…

You can’t be happy in this moment.

How could I?

The twilight waves, speckled with starlight, beat against the stones below the cliffs, and wearily, you nudge your chin between your hands.

It’s as if doing all this for the villagers—sealing the rift and restoring magnificent blue skies to them—has exonerated you of a crime you’d never even committed.

That after everything, now you are some savior, worthy of praise, and your wrongs have been forgiven.

How fickle human nature is.

But you’d never done anything wrong in the first place, nothing at all.

You shake your head, and a sudden, scorching heat coils in your stomach.

No, the one wrong thing you’d done was existing here in Hisui. You should’ve never been brought to the past.

Your hands curl into fists upon your knees, and that angry flame flickers upward into your chest, twisting and gnawing at your heart.

How was it my fault? Why me? Arceus, tell me why it had to be me!

The waves tumble and crash against the shore, and it’s such a mundane thing that sets you off—

screaming, pressing your hands to your eyes, and collapsing in on yourself as if you can’t take it any longer.

You can’t.

You can’t go home.

After everything, you can’t go home, and somehow, you’re supposed to feel as if things are normal once again.

You are not one of Hisui’s people.

Nothing will ever be normal for you, as it is for them.

“I can’t…” you sob, tears starting to well at the corners of your eyes.

I can’t.

You don’t even know what you mean anymore, but you don’t want any of it.

You’re alone.

You’re alone now, and you always will be, in a way that no one else could understand.

After all, none of them had come to Hisui as you had. Even Ingo, despite his periodic, inexplicable moments of yearning for somewhere he couldn’t remember as home, had found a place in Hisui. The Pearl Clan needed him; Lady Sneasler had chosen him.

But none of the people had chosen you.

He hadn’t known the same blighted responsibility as you. You’d been their last hope—someone they never would’ve chosen if their desperate circumstances hadn’t forced you into your position.

You wish you could look past it.

Part of you wants to learn to love Hisui as its people do, wants to sincerely enjoy every friendship you’d built so far.

You should give yourself that, shouldn’t you?

To be happy?

But even as you try to, even as you want to, you can’t. Not entirely.

Even if you can hardly remember anything of your past now, from where you’d really come from, you can’t find it in yourself to just… forget it all.

What little there is.

Perhaps you won’t have a choice in that either, however, for all your memories have nearly faded into nothing but a dim haze of longing and lost hope.

Wiping your damp eyes on your sleeves, you peer down at the silky gray fabric. You follow the swirling gold and white patterns, vibrant under the moonlight, and then you pinch at them, as if convincing yourself that they’re real.

Yes, very much so.

Anthe had sewn the ornate haori draped across your shoulders.

“For the Hero of Hisui.”

Your lips quiver. Subconsciously, your hands move to your hair.

Arezu had placed an intricately woven headband, decorated with a myriad of rich dyes and a carefully lacquered pin, upon your head.

“For the Hero of Hisui!”

You stroke a finger against the wooden pin, then fold your arms over your knees again.

But I’m alone, still.

…!

That sudden, uncontrollable heat—that furious, resentful fire—abruptly consumes your thoughts, and then you’re screaming, frustrated, tired, and alone—

“I can’t do this anymore!”

You shout the words out at the sea, half expecting it to mercifully answer you with any wisdom its boundless age may provide, and half expecting it to only splash and break on the rocks, lamentably unable to assuage you.

Neither, it seems, is what you receive.

“What can you no longer do?”

You whirl around faster than you’d thought yourself capable, the haori flitting around you with the sharpness of your movement. Your heart jumps up into your throat. You’d really thought you’d be quite secluded here, and you’re not in the mood to deal with anyone else but—

there’s a familiar figure waiting just a few paces behind you.

Your heart settles into place once more, but its frantic beating doesn’t slow. He always puts you in such a state, causing a stammer to pluck at your words and an occasional heat to fan over your cheeks.

You aren’t sure if you want him to stay, or to go.

“Volo, I…” Splaying a hand across your chest, you turn around fully to face him. “I didn’t expect you.”

You never could expect his capricious arrivals, after all. Volo has an uncanny ability to appear wherever you are, and you’ve never particularly questioned it; it’s become a bit of a routine thing to you. It’s no surprise that you hadn’t heard him either then, not with your fractured state of mind, hardly capable of helping you piece together a coherent response.

“I apologize if I startled you,” he replies quietly, sensing that perhaps you aren’t feeling quite yourself at the moment, “but I had wondered where you had disappeared to.”

“I didn’t mean to worry anyone.”

Volo tenses at your words, but you don’t notice. You’ve turned around again, barely even having taken note of his lack of festival attire—that he’s still wearing his uniform as if he’d just returned from an assignment himself.

“No, no.” Hearing the apology in your voice, he hurries to correct you. “It’s just I hadn’t a moment to speak with you all night.”

He steps toward you, but bites back his true thought: No one else would worry about you like I would.

Somberly amused by the notion, you huff lightly. “You’re right.”

Still, Volo remains where is, and as the truth of his remark painstakingly hits you, you concede that you’d much rather prefer his company now.

At least… at least you won’t be alone, when you should be as happy as the others in the village are.

And Volo—he’s special to you, no matter how much you don’t want to admit that to him.

You make up your mind then.

He should stay.

“You can sit, if you want.”

With a drooping arm, you gesture limply somewhere to your right.

He walks silently—you think he’d at least make a sound this time, but he does not—and gratefully accepting your invitation, he seats himself beside you.

Your eyes haven’t left the ocean, not even when he sits so close to you.

You can feel the heat of his body just against your arm, and somewhere in the back of your befuddled, dejected mind, you entertain the idea of simply falling against him. To revel in his warmth, his comfort.

The cool sea breeze buffets against your cheeks, and you remind yourself that such a thing would be improper for your relationship.

Your friendship, at where it currently stands.

Perhaps Volo is one of the few who truly cares about you. He’d sought you out now, after all.

He must care, right?

Are you so alone, then?

How pathetic, you think, as you nearly permit every insecurity to rise to the churning surface of your sea of anguished thoughts.

“I haven’t spoken with you at all tonight, and then I find you alone here.”

Ah.

There’s a question in his statement, but you’re glad he doesn’t say anything more than that.

Something tugs at your heart, and you want to tell him more. To admit to him you’d wanted to be alone because you are alone in Hisui.

Your Pokémon would stay at your side, but they couldn’t change the way you’d felt alone all this time.

So alone in your experience in Hisui, and why you had ended up here.

Perhaps it’s too self-deprecating to think of it as so, but you don’t know what else to believe anymore. How can you come to terms with people so willing to throw you away, then beg for your assistance, but only for the necessity of your service?

“Maybe it’s foolish that I want to be alone,” you rasp out.

You shrug off the haori over your shoulders, and your hands strip the headband from your hair. Shedding their leaden, overbearing weight, you set them aside on the grass.

You don’t cast them another glance.

You hardly notice that you shiver as the next sea breeze rolls in; it’s the end of summer, but the wind is cold.

And once more, you’re grateful that Volo doesn’t ask a thing of you.

“But at the same time, I don’t want to be alone, either.”

It’s a hoarse whisper that he still manages to hear.

He doesn’t need to ask why you feel so alone. He had been there at your lowest point, when he’d rescued you from the darkness threatening to toss you into the unrelenting abyss of your exile.

And then, he had grown too attached to you for his own good.

How defenseless you are now, how trusting of him that you will admit such a thing to him, how he can’t find it in himself to just let you be…

Volo decides he would regret it if he didn’t take this chance to pull you closer, deeper into his very being.

…Even if he shouldn’t.

You almost yelp when Volo shifts beside you, when he’s suddenly bundling you up in a hug. His arms wind around your own as he deftly pulls you into the space before him, his legs shifting to settle outside yours. He curves around you just so, his chin resting upon the top of your head.

“You’re cold,” he observes plainly, as if that somehow explains everything.

There’s not an inkling of shame or embarrassment in his tone, but you wish that there was. You wish there was, for his heat is nestled against every part of you, and you can smell the faint scent of earthy trees and fragrant flowers on his clothes and feel his breath against your prickling skin.

You’re abashed at how close he is, and yet…

you don’t want him to let go.

Perhaps this is his answer to your confession. That he won’t allow you to be alone, if you’ll have him.

You want to let him stay. You want to have him.

Shivering at the thought, and the fact that he’s so close, you exhale shakily. You know he’d felt it, and you know he can feel your rapidly thumping heartbeat.

You can’t hide it.

“You’re shivering still,” Volo points out with a thoughtful hum.

Clearly not from the cold, though.

As if he understands what you want, however, he gently gathers your hands in his own.

It’s with a start then, do you realize this is the first time you’ve held his hands.

They’re calloused, obviously from the more demanding labor of his work with the guild and his escapades into various ruins. They’re rough in some areas on his palms, but when your fingers tentatively explore the rest of his hands, you’re surprised by how soft they are. How warm, how kind, and how lovely they feel in yours.

“Your hands… They’re soft,” you say absently, a mild note of astonishment echoing in your words.

Then, struck by another thought, you stare down at your own hands, so rugged and bruised and scarred.

Nothing like his.

A smooth chuckle quavers against your back as Volo leans into you, his pleasant warmth healing some exhausted, ravaged remnant of your beaten soul.

He laughs shortly, though not intending to demean you. Right along with his words, you feel his laugh run through your body, soothing you. “Thank you. But I quite like your hands.”

Before you have a chance to even ask what he means, Volo moves to hold your hands completely in his.

“They show how hard you’ve worked.”

Fuck.

You feel those pitiful tears returning again.

Laying his head against yours, Volo continues on, unmistakable tenderness sighing beneath his words, “And I see how hard you’ve worked, even if no one else has. I always will.”

His thumbs brush over yours.

The action is so compassionate, so soft, that you almost want to give up and break down, without a care in the world.

It’s true.

Volo has. It’s why he’d been the only one who’d scoured the land searching for you after you’d been exiled, to offer you a safe haven when no one else could. When no one else would.

But now, sitting in his embrace, feeling so warm and loved in his care, you think you hadn’t even needed that, as long as you could remain with him.

He is your safe haven.

How had you not thought of it before?

“Thank you, for saying that.” Gradually, you relax against him, a wobbling breath easing its way into the night. “I don’t think anyone else here has ever spoken to me like this.”

Volo hums again, this time moving impossibly closer, his cheek nearly touching yours. His blond tresses tickle your skin, and you marvel at the warm feeling that consoles your aching, splintering heart. Is this how you’d felt in your life of the past? Did you have someone else important to you back then?

Strangely enough, you don’t know if you want to remember.

Not when Volo is here now, with you. Not a fleeting figment of what you’d left behind, not a ghost of your past, but a friend at your side, in the present.

A friend.

But is that all he is?

You know the answer already.

You’ve wanted him to be more than that, but whether it’s because you want someone to fill the void of loneliness in your heart or because you really are attracted to him, you can’t readily say.

Perhaps it’s a bit of both, then.

“Then I will.”

You fight against your tears, and if Volo can feel you trembling once more, he says nothing of it.

Instead, he only goes on.

“Your arms as well, so firm and unyielding, to help you overcome every obstacle in your way,” murmurs Volo, his hands leaving yours to idly push your sleeves upward with each of his words.

Your breath stutters.

His fingers trace the scars marking your skin, as they meander up toward your shoulders.

Another shudder, one that you don’t even try to suppress.

Volo nuzzles against your hair, and you welcome his caress; if he will be here for you like this, then you don’t want to push him away.

“Strong, just as your shoulders are”—his fingers press into your shoulders lightly, and you stifle a gasp—“to be able to carry burdens that are not even yours.”

Undeniable veneration rings in his words. You can’t comprehend it for a moment—how he seems to hold you in such high regard, with a staggering amount of unfettered awe for you that is unheard of in Hisui.

“But most of all,” Volo begins, just before sighing, and the noise almost sounds wistful—loving, even.

He hesitates, his hands still upon your shoulders, as though he’s debating speaking honestly or not.

You sit, motionless, despite how quickly your heart is racing.

At last, he gives in, one hand gliding over your left arm, before cautiously angling in, toward you.

Your eyes remain fixed on the ocean. You can’t breathe, you don’t know what you should do at this moment, he’s just so close to you—

His hand presses over your heart, and you freeze.

“But most of all, your heart is what has drawn me to you.”

…What?

The heat of his hand suddenly burns at the frigid loneliness gripping your deprived heart. Something gives, then, as your heart reaches fiercely for that warmth, and finally, a noise escapes you.

A miserable, defeated noise. A whimper, a cry, something you’d never let anyone else hear, and yet, Volo is the first and only one to hear it.

“Your heart, so full of kindness for the people who you don’t even know.” You’re vaguely aware of Volo’s lips upon the back of your neck, a fluttering kiss gently placed just below your hairline. “So stout, so resilient, even after everything that they’ve done to you.”

The tears nearly spill down your cheeks.

Volo, I—I don’t think I deserve you.

“I sometimes wonder if I deserve you,” chuckles the man wrapped around you, as he says your name, the heat against your back and over your chest suddenly so evident to you now.

Did I say that out loud?

Had you been more aware, you would have thought there to be something else in his hushed praise—something else that almost seems like too much, in the way that he’d spoken your name.

Your hand clamps down over his on your heart, but you don’t spare it another thought. He doesn’t do anything to halt you, instead parting his fingers for yours to lace between them.

Then, Volo guides a hand to brace your chin, with a delicate touch meant to direct you only toward him, and nothing else.

“Volo,” you start quietly, with wavering eyes, as you blink up at him, “I think I—”

You stop when you see that there’s nothing but affection in his gray eye, startling in how it matches the intensity with which he’s holding you to him.

Prompting you to continue, he says your name again, as if it’s the sweetest melody one could sing.

But you can’t say what you want to, just yet.

Instead, you only close your eyes and squeeze his hand in yours.

“Please don’t leave me.”

Volo smiles delightfully, lowering his head to rest his forehead against yours. He wants to be true to you, to tell you that he won’t go, but inside, his heart is tearing at him savagely. He cannot.

Then why did you come here? a voice seems to ask him, and he shuts his eyes in a silent reply, hoping you won’t see the conflict on his stricken face.

How can he leave you like this, so shattered and fragile, wearing a look of suffering you’d never shown anyone else before?

You, the unparalleled Hero of Hisui?

A jaded part of him should rejoice at your weakness, the part of him which knows what he must eventually do.

But he cannot do that, either.

You’ve trusted him with your vulnerability. You believe him to be so genuine, his heart in the right place.

Volo loves you. He really does.

And while he cradles you close, could he say that he doesn’t know a thing of your loneliness?

He’s been lonely for his whole life.

Lonely, in his childhood, when the unfair cruelty of the world had made it clear to him that he had no one else to turn to. Lonely, when he had learned he would then be the only one who could change the world to be what he—no, what everyone, even you—would need.

But maybe with you, and you with him, neither of you will be so lonely anymore.

And perhaps that’s why, as you curl into his embrace, with a broken expression, Volo smiles again, whispering so softly that he wonders if he should have even bothered to speak such a beautiful lie at all,

“I won’t leave you. I promise.”

#volo x reader #volo really truly likes you <3 #enough to betray you still :)#ok so where was the option to leave the village permanently after all the exile. hello #so basically that's why this fic is here. because how and why so happy after that exile. thats a no from me

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asterbats · 11 months

Text

Don't Ever Forget

Hero and Partner week 2023 day 6: Farewell / Alone / Return

@heropartnerweek + AO3 Link

Rin and Nimbus have finally done it. They climbed Temporal Tower, brought Primal Dialga back from insanity, and saved the world from becoming trapped in time- and now they can finally go home and reunite with their friends. But on the path to the Rainbow Stoneship, Rin can barely keep up with Nimbus. She knows what's coming- only one of them will live to tell this story after all. But how can she say farewell to the most important pokemon in her life...?

The air was thick with dust and tension as Team Wispstar limped down the path to the Rainbow Stoneship.

Rin staggered behind Nimbus, trying not to fall behind. It shouldn’t have been so hard, what with the shinx also limping from her wounds, wearily looking around almost as if they were in a daze. But Rin’s entire body felt like it had been held down with stones. She struggled to lift her paws in the air, her tails dragged behind her, and her eyelids and lips practically sagged to the bottom of her chin. Her breath came out in haggard sighs, like her lungs were rejecting the air itself.

But nothing felt heavier than the pit in her stomach.

Rin had only been given less than a day to process her fate after Dusknoir had thrown it in her face back at the Old Ruins, and in that time, they had hyper focused on their mission to save the world.

It was all she could do to not betray her values and give into her fear of death. It was all she could do to keep going, to keep climbing Temporal Tower even as it collapsed around her, even as the shock waves threw her off her feet and the dungeon pokemon pounced on her every weakness, even as she looked in the eyes of Primal Dialga as he charged up his roar of time.

But now, it was all over with. And her fate was all she had left to conquer.

And Nimbus didn’t know a thing.

“Rin? What’s the matter?” Nimbus had looked behind her to see the vulpix a good way behind her, and stopped so she could catch up. Rin gazed blankly at her, her words stuck in her mouth as she dragged herself to her partner.

“It’s okay,” Nimbus rested her chin on Rin’s head, bringing some life back to Rin’s chest. “We’re almost at the rainbow stoneship. We can check the Hidden Land for supplies and take a rest.” She paused. “Gods know we need it,” she weakly chuckled.

Rin didn’t respond, but she didn’t have to. She never talked if she could help it, and Nimbus knew that. The two were content with sitting in silence. Rin barely registered that they had both sat down and pressed their sides against each other. Rin almost felt tempted to let her heavy eyelids rest and fall asleep, cozy next to her best friend. Even though they were both battered, both perched right by the nearly destroyed Temporal Tower along a broken path, Rin felt safe listening to Nimbus’s heartbeat.

The moment was broken by a sharp tremor that overtook the path. Nimbus leapt up and hissed, bushing out her fur reflexively. Rin grit her teeth and hugged the ground, too weak to stand.

The tremor died down. The two pokemon were still except for their wide eyes looking wildly around the path. It was intact, though the dust made it even more difficult for Rin to breathe.

Nimbus let out a haggard sigh. “... I guess things aren’t back to normal yet, huh.” She mewed it in a joking tone as if to lighten the mood, but her voice was shaky and weak, like she knew it wasn’t going to work. Rin gave her a weak smile anyways.

“We should… keep going. The sooner we get off this path, the better,” Nimbus mewed, holding out a paw for Rin to grab. Rin nodded, reaching for the paw.

And as they touched, a small yellow ball of light began to dance around Rin’s wrist.

Rin and Nimbus both startled at the light- Nimbus in shock, almost in curious awe as she watched the light float down Rin’s arm- and Rin in horror.

This light… She couldn’t take her eyes off of it. She couldn’t say how, or why… but something in her knew that this was it. Her body grew even heavier, unable to move. A storm was blowing in her mind, but somehow, she also felt like she was at ease… like a reluctant acceptance.

Her time with Nimbus was about to end.

“Rin…?” Nimbus whispered, eyes growing wide as more lights began to flow around her partner. “What is it? What’s happening to you…?”

Rin looked into Nimbus’s eyes, tired beyond belief. It took everything in her to sit on her hind legs.

“Nimbus…” her voice came out as a gasp, barely audible. Nimbus leaned in to hear her more clearly. “I’m sorry. I should have told you this long ago. I… have to say goodbye to you now, Nimbus.”

“What…?” Nimbus stepped back, her ears pinned back. “Goodbye? What are you saying?” Her voice cracked and she tilted her head.

“Dusknoir told me,” Rin croaked. “If we changed the future… everyone from the future will disappear, because we would never have come to be in this time. So now… I can’t exist here anymore. Not like this.”

Nimbus stared, confused and scared. She looked so small now, a far cry from the brave hero who put the time gears back in place. It hurt to see. “I… I don’t understand… Wh-Why…?”

“I’m sorry,” Rin whispered. “This was a long time coming… this was always going to happen, even if I forgot. I couldn’t go back. Not after everything we’ve been through.”

“But… that’s… but it’s not fair!” Nimbus cried, throwing herself onto Rin’s chest and embracing her. Rin nearly fell over at the shock as the shinx began to cry into her shoulder.

“You… you and Grovyle… you came here to save us! You came here to give us a better life! You’ve helped so many pokemon, you’ve helped me! You risked your life to save a bunch of Pokemon you didn’t even know so we could all survive and live in a beautiful world- and this is what you get for it?!”

Nimbus sobbed into her fur, soaking the vulpix’s shoulder. Rin stood still, her breath caught in her throat. She never knew the right words to help, especially not now on her deathbed. There was so much to say and no good way to say it- but it broke her to see Nimbus this shattered. To see her in such pain caused by her actions.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. It wasn’t. But it had to be. “I… I want to thank you, Nimbus. For everything. Even after this… I’ll never forget what you did for me.”

“What I did?” Nimbus gasped, lifting herself from Rin’s shoulder. “I… I was only able to get this far because of you! It’s only because of you that I was able to get this strong!” Her voice wavered. “Don’t you understand…? You saved me, Rin… I’m… If you go… I don’t think I can… I don’t think I can even…” She was shaking. Her voice softened to a whisper as she looked away. “I can’t survive without you… you make me strong, and without you, I can’t even… What was the point of saving the world… if you aren’t going to live in it with me…?”

“No,” Rin finally managed to raise her voice. Nimbus stopped shaking and met Rin’s eye again, her eyes overflowing with tears. “Nimbus, you are strong. It’s because of you we were both able to make it here. And you have to take that strength and get back home. You have to make it back, and tell everyone what happened here… so that nothing like this ever happens again.”

As she spoke, the light grew brighter. Rin gasped as she lost feeling in her tails and paws. Time was almost up.

“Rin!” Nimbus cried, throwing herself into Rin’s chest. “Please… don’t… don’t go… I need you, Rin… Please…”

Rin put her arms around Nimbus’s shaking form, holding her closer. The shinx returned the embrace, holding Rin for dear life.

“Thank you, Nimbus… Thank you for everything.” Before Rin knew, the words spilled out of her. “I’m glad we got to train together, and travel together, despite everything, I’m glad you were always there with me. I’m so… so happy I got to know you, Nimbus.”

Her voice wavered, and her eyes began to well up. Her throat swelled, making it even harder to speak. I… When was the last time I cried… Did I ever…? It took everything to hold back her sobs, to be Nimbus’s rock one last time.

“I’m so… so lucky you were the one to find me that day. I’m so… happy that you’re here…” She pressed her face on top of Nimbus’s head.”

I don’t want to go. She thought. I want to live in this beautiful, colorful, alive world with Nimbus. I want to keep exploring with her until the end of time. I want to wake up in the morning by her side and rest in the night listening to her heartbeat.

“I love you, Nimbus,” she finally broke. “I love you, so, so much, that it hurts.”

Nimbus startled, lifting her head away, still holding onto Rin for life. She stared into her eyes as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Rin’s heart fluttered as she realized what she had just done. Just one more thing she had put off until the end.

But looking at Nimbus’s face, she knew. Nimbus’s lip quivered, on the verge of another sob. “Rin… Rin, Rin, Rin… I… I-”

The light became blinding. The two gasped, clinging onto one another for dear life. Rin realized she couldn’t even see Nimbus anymore- all that was left was the light.

Time was up.

“I’m sorry, Nimbus! Even after I disappear, I’ll never forget you!” she called.

And as she lost all feeling in her body, as she lost the ability to touch, to hear, to smell, to see… she just barely felt Nimbus lose her grip, screaming her name into empty air.

#hey so... i screwed up every other prompt but i spent forever on this one so its going #also hello! i've never posted my writing through here. or my writing in general since middle school. hi #i need to do it more ive been on and off for years so ripping the bandaid off #creative writing #writing #pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #explorers of sky #pmd2 #shinx #vulpix #rin #nimbus #pmd ocs #bro what if i confessed to you as i was dying wouldnt that suck #heropartnerweek

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pokemon-ash-aus · 7 months

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If your Mews and Twos were to fight to the last breath (and not because they just mentally gave up, I mean fighting with every drop of power that they had), at their adult prime age and perfectly healthy, who would be considered the strongest? Are the Twos equally as godlike as Mews? Or more because they were engineered to be weapons? Or are the lesser in terms of power because they’re unstable and express normal Pokémon DNA that competes with the Mew DNA?

If we were to assume that they all trained evenly and equally, it would be a tie against Indigo and King.

Indigo because his dark typing negates so much psychic energy, miracle eye still works mind you- but added that he's part psychic and resists most of that effects anyway.

However in just straight up pure Power, King would win. Not only does he know more moves than anyone- ash included- but he's not afraid to play dirty. Smack talk, faking tears, screeching. He pushes and pushes and pushes till he wins.

Mews are more godlike than Mewtwos, Mewtwos are technical Demigods but in the eyes of the world and universe they are gods.

There's a tier list.

Arceus is at the very top so we'll call it Z for now

Origin Mew (the first) along with Giratina, Palkia and Dialga are in Tier A

Every Mythical varies, but Mews are in Tier B

Origin Mews that were initially created are in High tier B whereas Normal Mews are low Tier B

Lugia and Xerneas and Reshiram etc - Tier C

Then we have Darkrai's, Moltres and Mewtwos - Tier D

Then we have the smaller legendaries, Swords of Justice, Jirachi, Meloetta all of them fall on the last Tier of Tier E

So while Mewtwos are Gods, they are in Tier D, Strong and powerful and can fight.

However, our Cloned Mews are direct Descendants of Origin. A Pokemon that's in tier A, so being Cloned they should have been Tier D IF they were cloned by a normal Mew.

But they werent.

They are high B because of it. stronger than a Normal Mew vecause of their Line of Descendency

-But weren't the Mews created by Origin? Wouldnt they be considered part of that Descendency?-

Nope! Origin and the other Origin Mews created the Mews to fill in a role. The other Origin Mews arent even directly related to Origin either

They have never had their own Brood before, only creating. The bloodline started and stopped with them.

That is, until King, Spot and Berry came along.

The only ones that had a direct line with Origin. And they were M O R T A L.

Not because their DNA was skewed with mind you. But because you cannot clone Immortality, they would need Origins power to create that.

And by the time they meet, they are much too old for it. That push of power would get them sick at best and kill them at worst.

And that's also what makes SM!Kings immortality so chilling. He wasnt granted that.

It was forced upon him.

Oh wow i went on a rangent for a silly lil ask fudbcjd my b!

#false twin au #ask #Lore

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s1nn0hh · 11 days

Text

'Do you hate the reflection in the mirror, or the one who bears it?'

Eisoptrophobia is a rare phobia, that causes sufferers to be irrationally fearful of mirrors or seeing themselves in a mirror. During her sick day, Erida hears a familiar voice beckon to her from the mirror in her and Gaia's home. She didn't like what she saw. (based off of this piece I made.)

If there's something that both humans and Pokemon share in common, it's the way where your body defends you from viruses and such by making you feel like you're about to die from heat exhaustion even when laying at the comfort of your own home. It sucks, it's unpleasant, but hey, it gets the job done.

But for Erida? This procedure felt like a throbbing pain that drilled itself into her head at a Shuckle's speed. Normally, she would be out and about with Gaia, going through the usual daily grind of stopping at Kecleon's, taking a few missions and requests at the guild, and celebrate the evening at Spindas after finishing the daily wringer. Simple as that, but it was nice.

But in this condition? Yeah, she may as well try to fist-fight Dialga with one hand behind her back.

The house was empty at this hour. Gaia vouched to fill in for Erida as she was too sick to go out and risk her life, not even letting her try and pull any excuses that 'it will pass' and that 'she will be fine'. God, she loved her to pieces. She almost felt bad for telling her she didn't feel well (and many, many other things, but that's a different baggage she will have to deal with), but it was either that or suffering in silence. Oh well, she'll just have to make up for it later.

With the headache calming down for a moment, Erida decided that it would be adviced to actually eat something before she rots the rest of the day in bed. It's no wonder she felt like hell, she didn't even eat breakfast! She remembered that one corny motto that Grovyle adapted back when they lived in the Dark Future to try and get her to eat more when she tried to cut down on meals to stomach. "A healthy stomach makes a healthy mind", or somethin'.

It was stupid, but by god did it work. She misses that green doofus, even more than she lets on. Anywho, it was time to get some grub goin'. She lazily got off the bed and made a bee-line towards the kitchen, swiftly avoiding making eye contact with the mirror in the hallway. Opening the fridge and inspecting for any edible contents, a voice beckoned behind her.

"Erida.."

It reeked. It sounded so soft, so comforting, but just with a hint of malice that reeked of a bad intention leaking right out of it. It sounded like.. like.. No. no. It was just the fatigue speaking, Erida thought. That stuff is natural! It was normal. She was just hearing things. But even so, why was she shivering? Why did she not dare to turn around?

It didn't take long before the voice spoke again.

"I know you can hear me, Erida."

The fear in her body was evident. She knew who the voice belonged to, and she feared the possibility of him showing up in her most vulnerable state, not to mention the way he plagued her psyche up years later. But to say she had a choice of ignoring the sensation of fear crawling up her back was a fool's errand. She did as she was obliged, and turned around.

No one was there. It felt like a momentary relief, knowing that this was just her mind playing tricks with her. Reeal funny. She slouched her tensed shoulders and slowly turned around back to the fridge, not before feeling her heart skip as the voice beckoned once more, sounding less patient and caring than earlier.

"The mirror, Erida."

Step by step, hand clutched to her own chest and head dripping with sweat, Erida made her way to the mirror. For how close it was, making the way there felt like years. As if time slowed down with each step she took, only making her more afraid of what lurks.

Shakingly, she made it. She stared at an eye-to-eye level with her own reflection, not sure as to who or what was playing tricks on her. Looking at her reflection, she could only see herself. The two scars on her face, her more 'rugged' appearance, her more 'blue' colors as opposed to other members of her species, it was all there. For how much she despised her own appearance, it was somewhat comforting knowing that she looked different than him.

"This is all just a bad daydream, I am sure.. I just need to head back to sleep. I just need.. a rest. Yes. That will do." Erida spoke, sounding almost unsure of that idea as she rubbed her ol' tired eye. A disembodied voice was the last of her worries, and she didn't wish to burden Gaia with her own issues more than she already did. When she looked back at the mirror, she felt time slow down as her heartbeat spiked at what she saw in the mirror.

It was.. Dusknoir. Replacing her own reflection. Why was he here? HOW was he here?! She saw Grovyle knock him into the future back in the Hidden Land with himself! He should have disappeared after time was restored! Thousands of questions, none to be answered. She could only grimace at his sight, and it didn't take long before he spat out more words of faux kindness and leading her to snap out of the trance she locked herself in.

"Oh, Erida. It truly has been ages since we last met, hasn't it? I see you're a fully grown Dusknoir just as I! I remember when you were but a little Duskull.. oh, how adorable you were."

It wasn't real. It couldn't have been real. This was the act of a deity playing tricks on her, she was sure of it. She could feel her headache act up as she anxiously rubbed the temples of her face before looking back at Dusknoir and glaring daggers at him before making it very clear that she preferred him being anywhere but here.

"Dusknoir.. whatever or whoever it is that you want.. you won't find them here. I am not in the mood for THIS. whatever THIS is. So if you can be so kind as to leave, that would be nice."

Her tone, for how choked up it was, was stern and serious as one might've imagined. She could almost see 'Dusknoir' perk up for a moment when she told him to beat it, almost like he was a child that was told to go to his room when he acted up.

"My, Erida! Is this how you treat your mentor and friend? I helped you hone your skills and abilities when you came to my aid, and this is the repayment I get? I am disappointed."

At that point, she didn't care what would happen if her next words were of any consequence. She angrily stepped forward, pointing a blaming finger at a mirror with a tone that seeped with anger.

"Don't you dare give me this innocent act nonsense when you gave me more reasons to act like this to you than I can count on my own hands. First, you hounded me, Grovyle and Celebi in the Dark Future, then you acted all buddy-buddy with me and made me feel like you actually cared about me and Gaia, only for you to try and KILL US when you found out who I was, not to mention how much you ruined my life in the long! So I suggest that you-"

It only occurred to her that the last part was a slip up that she wasn't supposed to let him out on, even if he was but a mere illusion or the real deal. He let off a coy smile as she stopped in her tracks, almost as if he was urging her to continue. Almost like he caught up on something she buried deep down, and he was going to tell that to everyone.

"Oh no, my dear. Do go on, please. I am almost tempted to find out at how I was the main catalyst that drove your life to bits and pieces. It's your life that is in your control, and I am curious to see what it is that I did."

It was at that point that Erida realized that this was all but a bad dream. This was her fault for working herself so hard and taking too many hits and blows on her and Gaia's dungeon escapades, and this was her body's way of making her learn the hard way to not do it. By having her confront the guy who she trusted and cared about so deeply before he broke her apart.

She turned around, not willing to entertain this charade or this illusion of mockery. But as she did, she could feel his judging eye on her back and a tone as mocking as silver as he spouted more and more.

"Oh, let me guess! You were so deadly afraid of ending up like me, that you ended up distancing yourself from the world, including your own partner, because you 'didn't want to burden them with that stuff', like the aplenty of other issues you hid away from Grovyle and others, be it the death of your own parents or how you avoid looking at the mirror because you can only see me in it instead of you! Or maybe it's how poor little Manaphy nearly perished under your care that made you think that you were gonna end up like me, because it was your trust that nearly lead to your deaths? Ohohohohohohoho, you are like an open book, Erida. You bury your feelings so deep and your perception is so narrow, that it is slowly killing you. You are pitiful. You invented a devil for yourself to be afraid of, and it holds you by the neck without the intention of leaving. You hated me so much that as a result you ended up hating YOURSELF!"

Erida did not have the heart to respond to him. Not because he was lying, but because everything he said was true. Every inch of it. She dug herself so dip in her own grave that all she did was lay in it, and it was a Dusknoir illusion that broke it down to her. She slowly made her way back to her room, fighting every urge to cry and every urge to tear that mirror down and break it, and it didn't take long for 'Dusknoir' to push her buttons more.

"... So, are you just not gonna budge to any of that? Is this gonna go to the mountain-sized issue pile that you harbored for so long, and you'll press on like normal?"

His tone now sounded almost as if he was 'worried', but just to a degree that it made him sound like he was condensing and asking solely for the gig of it. Erida took a deep breath as she could feel her breath catching up to her and the waterworks in her eyes slowly putting themselves to use.

"I've dealt with far worse issues, Dusknoir. Whatever it is that you're implying, I can live with it. I lived with it long enough, and if it did not kill me then, it would not kill me now."

She was very evidently lying to herself. Dusknoir, for how mocking he was, he was right. God, it hurt to admit it. She knew this was a longtime problem, even long when she still travelled with Grovyle, and it felt suffocating to think about it with him.

"Oh, because that did wonders to you all those years ago. Even if it didn't kill then or now, what if it did? What would your poor, poor wife think, when she finds out you died by suffocating yourself with the issues you-"

At that point, she snapped. She didn't know what happened for this to happen. Was it the mention of Gaia? Was it because she wanted him to shut up about her unresolved issues? Was it because he was once again right about her destructive coping mechanism? She did not know. She launched a fist directly at the mirror, filled with pent up aggression and spite as glass shards flew. It didn't damage her hand, but it was enough to cause a noticable mess. Erida panted as tears streamed down her face while she shakingly held onto the broken mirror, now only seeing herself and not 'Dusknoir'.

She collapsed to her knees. The weight of the world was tied around her neck, and felt like a faith worse than death.

She was pathetic. Pitiful and pathetic.

And this is what she deserved.

#writing #pmd2 #oc: erida #pmd eos

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roaringdargon · 15 days

Text

I'll go ahead and drop this after sitting on it for so long for @spr-ingo. This is for "Alternator" (AU). A PLA AU based on Yu-Gi-Oh. Feel free to have fun with this idea if you want to do another version.

It is something that has been stewing in my brain for a while but has gotten a bit too big for me. I'll see if I write anything for it. So here it is. Have fun! What spurred this idea was thinking that Emmet would be pissed if some spirit kept possessing him to fight pokemon battles.

Nameless Warden AU

Premise:

This is an au based of the original Yu-Gi-Oh plot. There was no chosen hero sent by Arceus in this timeline. Ingo is still accidentally transported to the past by unknown means. It's coincidental. He is without any prior memory. And is gifted the name Nobori(because it is convenient). Is this plot convoluted to get to a desired scenario? Yes!

In this universe Wardens hold a bit more blessed power in their assignments. The Warden bands(or other catalyst I am open to changing this) connect them to the blessed pokemon and act as a catalyst for Almighty Sinnoh's power. It's not game breaking power but it is things like the ability to be somewhat in tune with the land and its pokemon or predict the future. It's not important. The point is that these artifacts are a direct connection to the primordial powers. Which one is entirely based on who they believe in/ wish to commune with. It is very personal.

Nobori/Ingo is chosen by Sneasler and comes into possession of a sacred band. He is not as adept with the power that is bestowed upon him because he hasn't had as much time with the clan's religion, but he was the only accepted choice. He is still great at his job with his talents with pokemon and instincts so it becomes less of an issue.

Shit hits the fan while Volo spins his web. It is a trial with many injuries, but the Wardens are able to work together and calm the Nobles from their frenzy. Warden Calaba gets injured, her sacred band goes missing and Ursaluna is dying. Volo gets a hold of the item. And uses that to further tap into Giratina's power usurp the Almighty. He manages to frenzy both Dialga and Palkia which destabilizes the Wardens' connection to their chosen deity.

To summarize how the situation is solved: Ingo is less connected to Palkia than his other clan mates and was always more open to the idea of multiple higher beings as it just made sense. He realizes(through various means not touched upon) there must be a larger power other than space, time, and distortion. If he could appeal to this being he could have the power to stop this and possibly contain the distortion in a similar way to how Volo had detained the two Sinnohs. He is able to gain the approval and link to Arceus(a very hard being to appeal to. See Volo) and, through great effort, seals Giratina and the distortion world away using the power of his soul. Volo is seething, of course, that this Nobody has gained approval of Arceus and is using that power to seal them away.

Much like with the Pharaoh in Yu-Gi-Oh it is sealed with his entire soul and his name (which nobody knows not even him) is the key. Ingo's soul, now with amnesia x2, is sealed in his Warden's band artifact as a spirit. His true name is already unknown to everyone, but lore keepers erase his given one as well as many depictions of him from records as well just to be safe. Volo is definitely the Bakura of this plot and was similarly placed in the stolen Ursaluna artifact.

Ingo has been gone 4-7 years. I haven't decided.

The Future:

(warning: it/it's pronouns used briefly due to lack of knowledge. Evolves to they/them then he/him)

Emmet is given a strange box by an old friend of his brother's, Shauntal, who stated that she bought this in Sinnoh from an antique shop because that's just her hobby. They saw each other while at a party that Burgh dragged him to. She says she just feels like it should belong to him, which would be weird if it was not a completely normal thing for her to do. So he accepts with little thought. It's a puzzle box. Perfect he loves a challenge. He feels possessed(metaphorically) to solve it that night. Finds the strange band and wears it with no thought as if he has always had it.

After a while Emmet starts noticing that he is losing time. It's mostly on the Singles line when he is tired and the battles are boring anyway so he pays it no mind, but then It happens once on the Doubles and that is a step too far. He investigates his footage and sees that he is still battling, but with a strange slumped posture and a dour look. The strange thing possessing him is doing well. Even if it makes him look a bit feral. So he is being possessed. He knows that the only change to his person has been that item that was given to him. He doesn't really want to get rid of it for some reason, but it is interfering with his work. He visits Shauntal and demands she uncurses the object. She is surprised that there is such a strong spirit there in the first place. It was dormant and weak when she gave him the box. They must really like him.

They communicate with the spirit and determine that they are just as confused and aren't malevolent. Emmet sets some boundaries that they can stick around as long as it asks before battling in his stead. Heck he might even let them on some occasions like on the boring ass singles line.

TLDR Emmet gets a new spirit friend and learns how to be close to someone again. Slowly the spirit relearns who he is thanks to his new friend.

Also Cynthia uncovers some Hisuian artifacts, including a certain stolen one, so watch out for that.

---

That's the gist of it. There are other versions I was playing with, but this is the one I am liking the best now. Also so many ways that this story can continue that I haven't really thought of.

#pla au #nameless warden au #warden ingo #submas

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