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volostogekiss · 10 months

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an eternity spent (one-shot)

No warnings. GN!reader, time-traveling/immortal Volo. Established past relationship. This man is just in love with you a lottt okay. It gets pretty wholesome because I want a happy ending :)

(Based on the Pokémon Masters EX and PLA premise because I’m waiting for when Volo is released in PoMas plsss)

Summary: Life was just how it should’ve been between you and Volo in Hisui. A love tried through trials immeasurable would never be broken, but fate always had a way of taking the things you treasure the most from you when you least expect it. After what had happened on Mount Coronet, you’d hardly spent a few months together, until you’d disappeared without a trace one day.

But perhaps, fate could be merciful as well.

Volo had spent nearly two hundred years without you, waiting for the day to find you once more. He has his chance when he’s brought to Pasio, and it just so happens that he learns you’re the first Champion of the island.

He won’t let you go, this time.

I’m the one who is lucky to have you, my love.

How often had he thought of that, told you so as he’d embraced you?

He’d always trace his teardrop pendant he’d given you as it sat around your neck, his fingers drawing meaningless patterns on your chest and his lips caressing yours.

How often had Volo thought himself lucky to have you by his side, even when he felt undeserving of your love?

He was lucky that you had forgiven him for his misdeeds, his anger, his hatred. You’d forgiven him for breaking your heart, but your benevolence to allow him a second chance to love you…

Volo hadn’t ever experienced such happiness before, until you.

He was foolish to think that he was lucky enough to stay with you forever, however. It was too easy to lose himself in the bliss of your perfection, but how could he have avoided it? You were perfect.

Of course, his Pokémon were dearly important to him, but you were the one good thing he’d never thought he could ever really have. How right I had been.

He cursed Arceus for taking you from him.

The morning he had awoken with you gone… it haunted him every night. At first, he’d thought you had merely wanted an early start to the day, that you were trudging your way to Jubilife from your home far down in the Sandgem Flats. It had disappointed him that he hadn’t been able to kiss you awake, but as the day dragged on without you, that was trivial in comparison to your unexplained absence.

Volo could do nothing but wait for you. He trusted you. He knew you would return, wouldn’t you?

Creeping in before he had really wanted to acknowledge it, that doubt stole into his mind, worried him, and hounded at him incessantly. You weren’t there to stop it.

You weren’t there.

He hadn’t wanted to believe you had left him. Volo trusted you, as you had trusted him.

But three days after your disappearance, he went to Jubilife, hoping that someone else had seen you.

No one else had.

You had just vanished.

Part of him wished that you had left him, if it would spare him the pain of being separated from you in a world not even of his own. A world he had no connection to, no way to reach, a world that condemned him to agonize without you.

He knew it was so, for it could have only been another cruel act in the play of Arceus’ grand absurdity.

He had cursed his forsaken god more times than he could recall, so he couldn’t believe it had been the one generous enough to bestow him this opportunity to reunite with you on Pasio. He could put no faith in Arceus, for the deity had never accepted it, but presumed it fitting to both bless and damn him with immortality. Then, instead, Volo chose to lay his faith in the strength of your love—the only constant he would keep in his heart. Perhaps his fate had finally played out as it should have—with you, and only you—or maybe some other force besides Hoopa, as he’d learned, was at work, but Volo wouldn’t let you escape him.

Not when you were here, too.

His heart had almost shattered with a hysterical joy when he saw it was your picture flashing on the walls of the buildings all around the island. Maybe it’s once more that I’ve been lucky to find you. Of course, he wasn’t surprised that you were crowned as the strongest Trainer—the first PML Champion, as he’d heard. You’d defeated him and Giratina, after all. A lofty pride surged through his heart as he thought of your success here, and a burst of desperation compelled him to find you despite knowing nothing of Pasio. Its differences in landscape and culture compared to the Sinnoh he knew from only decades prior were inconsequential when you were here, waiting for him to seek you out. Ignoring how people had stared at him while he asked for you, whether for the uniqueness of his features, his noticeable accent, or some familiarity they said they saw in him, Volo thought only of you.

Their opinions were naught but useless blathering, for only yours meant the world to him. He needed to hear you. He needed to see you. He needed to feel you.

After what felt like an eon apart, Volo wouldn’t let anything take you away from him again.

Not when he knew how much he loved you, and how much he knew you loved him.

It didn’t even matter that you couldn’t remember anything of him.

Still, he hadn’t expected his heart to sink when you had first met at the Trainer Lodge, as people said you often were there in the morning. His heart should have soared upon seeing you, exactly as you were, exactly as he remembered you, but he supposed he was truly unprepared for the reality that you had forgotten him.

Smiling at him as you did to everyone else, you greeted him like a stranger after you gave him your name. “Oh, hello!”

The heat roiling inside him had almost caused him to lurch forward, pull you close, and call you his love. But Volo simply smiled at you, unable to keep the adoration from twinkling in his eye when he saw his pendant around your neck, even as you remained unmoved when he spoke his name.

“‘Volo’…” you repeated his name with a thoughtful hum, and by the stars, he trembled. It was almost as it had been back then, when you’d said his name in so many different ways, brightened by your happiness, shaded by the flushed tint of yearning love, and even coarse amid your grief. Ah, his name always sounded best upon your lips!

“It’s nice to meet you!”

He was glad you said nothing about his uncanny likeness to Cynthia; it was a difficult point to ignore as it was one of the most common things he’d been told upon his appearance in Pasio, but of course, you would be the one to look at him for who he was. And despite how much he’d heard of her, his descendant he should rightfully be interested in—shouldn’t he?—Volo found he couldn’t be as fascinated with her as he was enamored with you. You were always his priority, and he couldn’t change that.

He would make sure you would remember. If he could wait almost two centuries to see you once more, then the time spent to recapture your heart would be mere seconds in comparison. He would hold dear those seconds, treasure them like nostalgic days far gone in the past.

“Here,” you proposed generously, showing him your own decorated Poryphone, which he thought looked awfully akin to your old Arc Phone, “how about we stay in touch?”

Volo couldn’t help that his mischievous nature had revealed itself so readily in your presence. “I’d love to. You’ll have to teach me how we go about things on this island, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, I’d be glad to!” You’d accepted his Poryphone and flashed him another smile. “I think we’ll get along well—I just have a feeling.”

Volo grinned. “I happen to think so as well.”

And while he supposed he should have been acquainting himself with everything this artificial island had to offer, nothing could captivate him like you did. He often asked you more questions about yourself than Pasio, even after you’d taught him about battling with his Togekiss as a sync pair. He should’ve been focused on the second upcoming tournament. He should’ve been focused on battling harder, for your skills had only improved after your time apart.

Even more so, you’d graciously invited him to compete on your team, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed to know if you could remember him, if you knew anything of Hisui. You had even said it yourself that he was a man of many questions, but you never seemed to grow tired of them. Then and now, you had said you enjoyed hearing his voice, and Volo absolutely loved it. You hadn’t changed.

“Hm, so even as I and other Trainers were brought to Pasio with our memories intact,” Volo considered with an uncharacteristic sullenness marring his expression, “you haven’t been able to recall anything.”

The pair of you were seated upon a square balcony, framed by flowers at a seaside café. A shared breakfast plate rested between you two, just as Volo saw it on the little dining table you had built together in your home.

“I don’t know. I wish I did. A few of my Pokémon were brought with me, but I don’t remember anything still. I wish I remembered…”

One of your hands drifted to the silver pendant settled on your chest, the action so natural it was apparent you had often fiddled with the charm. Volo smiled at that. It was reassuring that you subconsciously thought of him, even if you couldn’t remember him.

It really was you.

You brought your hand down, rested it on the table beside your untouched cup of neatly sliced fruit and berries. “Sometimes, with how many things are happening on Pasio, and the fact that I’m the Champion, I tend to lose myself in how happy I’ve become.”

Volo then wondered if it was better for you to remain happy without your knowledge of everything that had hurt you in Hisui, even if that included himself. Only you knew what he’d done to you, since you’d told no one else about his betrayal. And with how Adaman and Irida had welcomed him as a friendly face on Pasio, he knew you really hadn’t said a thing. Should he let you feel that pain again? He shook away the alternative of leaving you ignorant of matters that were yours just as much as they were his. Your love was worth that suffering; you had told him so, and you always did when his doubts were too easily read on his face.

He often left it at that.

He could never give you up anyway, regardless of what you’d told him.

After all, months had passed, and Volo was sure that you were seeing him as more than a friend. Despite how common it was to exchange Poryphone numbers, he had been on Pasio long enough to understand that whether one continued communicating after that really spoke volumes of your relationship. You were popular, of course, as your prestigious station demanded, but you still wanted him by your side. So why else would you have wanted him on your team? Why else would you keep showing up to talk to him and present him little gifts whenever you saw him in the Trainer Lodge? He knew why. It was exactly how he’d been all those years ago in Hisui whenever he’d seen you. He’d curl into your palm tokens of his affection, the mementos small, but telling of his boundless love for you. His hooded gaze, warm touches, and reluctance to part from you were surely clear enough signs for you, weren’t they?

Privy to rumors as he’d always been, Volo knew that it was certainly obvious to anyone else who looked your way. With their knowledge of your relationship from the past, the two clan leaders could see it, but neither felt it right to interfere with history, instead allowing him to court you as he had before. So why should he still wait to proclaim his love to you? No one else could love you like he did. None had waited nearly two centuries to be reunited with you, and never had he faltered in his stride to find you again. Throughout the lonely years that had stretched over the melancholy patience in his heart, Volo never forgot you.

He could never forget you.

When he least expected it, the rush of emotions—relief, love, and sheer happiness—tended to overwhelm his heart. But then at the worst possible moment, when you faced one another in a training session, he often felt himself pulled back to that day on Mount Coronet, and it slowed his reactions, forced him into clumsy mistakes, and worried you.

Like today, as the two of you fought against one another, in a secluded clearing at the northern forest’s edge of the island.

“The intensity of our battles sometimes brings me to such a state of nervousness that even I can’t quite comprehend it!” he lied, and he hated that he had done so again.

The last time he’d lied to you…

He didn’t want to think of it.

And yet, you never let him remain lost in his uncertainties. Your wit, your humor, your genuine concern… Volo could see how you looked at him with nothing but appreciation for who he was. So much more for someone who had been a stranger to you just short of half a year ago—

“Well, don’t think I’m not watching you,” came your playful retort as you stepped closer to him.

From behind you, Solgaleo pawed at the ground, its tail twitching. It almost looked amused.

Volo ignored your sync partner. He turned back to you with a smirk he hoped would distract you. “I’d prefer it if you watched me all the time, actually.”

“Volo—!”

He laughed, and he was relieved that it wasn’t long before you did too.

Oh, how he’d wanted to hear your laughter! He’d thought he’d never hear it again, but when he’d heard it so close just a day after meeting you again, he didn’t know how he’d lived without you. It hadn’t been over anything significant that caused you to snort, then laugh, but it had been because of an off-handed remark he’d made about the number of times people had felt the need to stare at him for his similarity to Cynthia.

“I think most of them are looking because you’re unfairly handsome!”

Volo had frozen. That was what you had told him when you’d first become friends. You’d admitted it with that same laugh, then gone on how the two of you should take a picture together.

And in this modern age, you’d done so more times than he could count, the album in his Poryphone full of photos of you and him.

It seemed you were thinking of something along those lines now, for you were almost touching him, that smile you saved just for him on your lips.

His heart fluttered.

He wanted to kiss you very badly then.

Volo often realized he was dangerously close to dipping down and pressing his lips to yours, but always, always, regrettably, he stopped himself before he did. He’d brush it off as some dirt on your face or a stray eyelash dropped upon your cheek—excuses to touch you as he had when you were lovers.

Oh, and if you could just see the way you looked at him now.

“You know, I’m really happy that you’re here, Volo,” you whispered quietly, leaning forward to gently take his hand.

He let you wind your fingers between his, felt his world tilt and rush away from him just to come careening to a halt as he thought of the first time you’d held hands. A breezy spring day. His enthusiasm for exploring the ruins he’d wanted to show you outmatched by his excitement to be alone with you. The wonderful, rugged and soft skin of your palm, the warmth blazing against his hand. The startled look on your face, then how you’d smiled at him so brilliantly. He looked up at you, saw the glimmer in your eyes, saw that same beautiful smile, and then the overlapping memories were almost too much for him.

It was almost the same, but this time, it was you who had reached for him first.

“The longer I’m around you, I think there’s something so pleasantly familiar about you that I just can’t understand.” Your lips twitched upward when he placed a hand tentatively upon your waist. “It’s like I know you, even though I hadn’t met you before you got here.”

You don’t know how well I know you, and how well you really know me, my love.

Volo tilted his head, drew you in so that your clothes brushed against one another’s. “I don’t think you realize that I’m beyond happy to hear you say such a thing.”

Not once had he ever stopped loving you.

Your eyes wavered when he cupped your cheek hesitantly, and you could barely manage to remain still in his arms. Thudding and twisting in your chest, your heart pounded in your ears, and you swore he could feel how unsteady you were. “Volo, I don’t know what it is, but when you look at me like that, I can’t help thinking that I—”

“I love you.”

Volo wasn’t even sure if he was the one who had said it, but he knew he was the one who had moved to kiss you.

He’d always dreamed of kissing you again—fantasies clouding his mind throughout his wistful mornings, or soaking deep into his skin as he lay alone at night. You’ve always been everything I’ve needed, he hoped to tell you with the craving press of his lips against yours, and somehow, I’d known it the moment I’d met you.

I love you.

He held you closer, turned to catch his breath, but couldn’t deny the desire to steal yours away again. How could he hold back any longer? He couldn’t. A wanton growl escaped him as he chased the warmth of your lips, but before he could kiss you again, you stiffened in his hold so suddenly that he had to let go.

“I knew you,” you gasped, a light in your eyes that shone clear in recognition of who he was to you. “I knew you, Volo. I—I loved you, and I know I still do.”

Immediately, with a cry of delight, Volo swept you up in his arms, twirled you in the air, and laughed to the heavens, the unprecedented reaction catching both you and him by surprise.

“My love, I’ve waited for you for so long—”

You were the one to lean in and kiss him this time.

“You’ll have to tell me everything later—“

He nuzzled against you, then set you back down on the ground, his lips brushing against yours.

“Of course,” Volo chuckled, “we’ll have all eternity, now that we’re together again.”

#volo x reader #not me thinking about when Volo gets dropped on Pasio #dreamy sigh #you will hear me talking about that immediately the day it happens #so i ended up combining some ideas but i thought they worked well together :')#i never thought they would add hisuian characters to pomas but adaman and irida being there give me so much hope for volo #i hope they have a nice voice actor for him because bro you can BET I'll be replaying his like 5 voice lines over and over #anyway i am very normal about volo #give him a kiss <3 #how many times am i gonna do this. write cute happy wholesome volo stuff. idk but i sure hope i dont stop lol.

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pennumbra · 2 years

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“Oh, this? An unfortunate run-in with a Luxray when I was a boy! It makes me look quite rugged, don’t you think? Of course, a pretty face is good for business!”

#so Ik that if you really angle the camera #you CAN see that Volo’s model has 2 eyes #but b/c we never intentionally see the covered eye in-game or in his concept art I lowkey HC it's missing #(or otherwise visually significant? magicla/corrupted/possessed could be cool)#given his comments abt pain and heartbreak I also think it’s a safe assumption that he has some scars #I hope the lil flavor text sounds okay/adds context too!!#I almost left it out/always feel iffy abt my char voice but I think it needs it #and maybe this is too woobish lmao but I also like the idea that scars are more common in Hisui?#alt you could read it as a ploy for sympathy/manipulation #(man I'm used to being cringe in the t/ts fandom but I feel so 🧍🤡 posting pkmn art LMFAO)#(I'm a simple fan ok I have simple needs)#volo #pokemon volo #pokemon legends arceus #pla #my art #pokemon #cw injury #cw scars

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randomwriteronline · 11 months

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In another life, Volo smiles in a way that gives his eyes a strange shape and says: “Don’t worry about tomorrow.”

Ingo looks up at him, piercing him with his blank gaze: “I’m afraid that mentioning something I should not worry about whilst not specifying what exactly that will be is bound to have the opposite effect on my peace of mind.”

Volo laughs softly, face turning genuine: “Something frightening will happen.”

“Ah. It is simply another part of the plan, I assume?”

“Very much so.”

“Thank you for warning me in advance.”

The merchant shakes a hand back and forth as if to say it’s nothing, index and middle finger raised. It looks like he’s giving him a holy blessing of sorts.

“If all goes well, you’ll even be home early!”

When the sky turns green and red, Ingo breathes evenly, and waits.

In another life, Ingo’s breath hitches in the night.

His hands are red and cold and he keeps repeating to himself, like a mantra, the instructions for covering one’s tracks in the snow while hunting or retreating as he follows them to the letter, just like the clan taught him, and thinking of the kind people makes his guilt jut a spike right through his chest, and he bites his lip and tries to ignore it.

The Lord sleeps with a quiet rumble that turns into a howling whistle as he exhales, the ice in his breath freezing Ingo all the way down to the marrow in his trembling bones. At least, it means he won’t wake up anytime soon.

He searches the enormous body feverishly, its every crack and nook. He peers into the dark maws as they open slightly: nothing. Until...

Overcome by such relief that he almost cries, he reaches out, at once careful and deliriously frantic, until his almost frostbitten grasp clenches around the stone. Maybe it’s his diminished sense of touch, but something about it feels completely alien in a manner he can’t understand, at once both above and below nature itself.

The Lord does not stir; Ingo rushes away, plate tight against his chest, masking his passage to pretend nothing happened tonight, absolutely nothing, while shame shrieks in his head unheard in the cold air about the assassination of trust he’s just tainted his hands with.

The Pearl Clan already has a home, whether a piece of the Original One is held in their possession or not.

He just wants to have a home again, too.

Ingo hopes they’ll understand.

In another life, the Survey Corps kid returns to Jubilife confused.

Pompous words echo in their mind: “If you’re talking about that pesky thing, it’s been dealt with. And it didn’t even leave a feather for all the trouble it caused!”

“Excuse me,” a voice that is outside their head snaps them back to reality.

Ingo, who barely talks to them outside of battles, greets them with a polite nod and his usual frown that reminds them in a way of Captain Cyllene’s.

“I hadn’t heard you had planned a detour to Mount Coronet tonight,” he starts off. “I suppose you too had been told of the commotion around Moonview Arena - I left for the Highlands just this morning to deal with it myself. I would have gladly spared you the trip.”

He produces a dark slab from one of his pockets and simply hands it to them.

They stare at it.

Neither makes a move for the next few seconds.

“I imagine this might be something of interest for you,” he says halfway between a question, an affirmation, and an encouragement.

The kid snaps out of their momentary stupor; they take it from his kind grip without much fanfare, mumbling their thanks as a quiet blush dusts their cheeks. They didn’t mean to just stand around like that - they feel terribly silly. He doesn’t seem to mind, thankfully.

Just as he turns to make his way back to the dojo with a quick tilt of his cap to bid his goodbyes, their voice rises again to catch his attention: “Did Sneasler give you one, too? A plate, I mean? Like this one?”

He follows their finger as it points to the object.

“The other Nobles gave me one,” they clarify sheepishly, ashamed of their forwardness: “Except Electrode and Avalugg. So I thought, maybe...”

The man hums as he considers their reasoning: “I wasn’t aware of such a thing before I was told. Perhaps she does still have it, unless she has shared it with someone else. I can inquire for Electrode as well once I return to the Highlands, though Avalugg is out of my jurisdiction, so - I’m afraid I cannot help with that. Gaeric always striked me as a helpful fellow, though; perhaps he’ll be able to lend you a hand.”

They smile brightly at him: “Thank you.”

They bow slightly before setting off for the next plate, and miss the unspoken lies the warden carefully tiptoes around telling them.

In another life, Volo’s eyes glimmer as they settle on the teen.

“You’ve been called here,” he proceeds, bout of loquaciousness still not extinguished, “You’ve been chosen, that’s plain to see. A grateful, merciful god doesn’t abandon its chosens - is it wrong to assume you’ll be granted a return from whence you came once your duty is done?”

His head tilts slightly to the side.

The kid can almost see his other eye behind golden hair.

“It must be an act of plain cruelty,” he says: “To be left in a time and place you don’t belong to, with no certainty you’ll go back.”

He smiles a little wider.

“Wouldn’t you agree?”

In another life, Volo finds the way that lost fool believes so blindly in his every word so pathetically amusing that he has to hold himself back from laughing in his face each time he crosses that look of wholehearted trust.

In another life, Volo slots a hopeless man’s only hope onto his back, together with the end of Cogita’s heartbroken grieving and his tremendous desire to do good, pure good, and his knees tremble a bit more under the expectations.

In another life, Ingo spends days in a cell torturing the wrist now forcibly freed of the warden bracelet to give himself some peace of mind, pacing back and forth, thinking furiously, to ignore the slight chill seeping into his undershirt from beneath his coat.

For an hour, he despairs about his predicament, about being betrayed, left like that; for another he berates himself for having believed so readily, for having given up community in exchange for myths and fairytales and empty promises; for another, he hates himself as much as the clan despises him, for the same reasons as them; for another, he hates the man in whose hands he so stupidly agreed to put his life.

After some time he stops thinking and only cries, cries, cries.

In another life, the kid gawks dumbly at the five missing plates as Volo carefully hides them back with a slight of hand that makes them disappear in mid-air, not expecting to have been beaten to them, not knowing two were stolen, two were given, and one was caught.

He smiles at them with an indecipherable expression. His free fingers extend, demandingly.

“Hand them over,” he orders, his voice like an airy laugh and his teeth as white as marble, as bleached and polished bone: “There’s a score I have been waiting far too long to settle with Arceus.”

“No!” they manage to blurt out amidst their state of shock, and though they gasp for breath no other words come out of their lips.

Volo smiles a little wider, looking past them.

“Please,” a voice that really does sound like it’s begging them rises from behind their back; Ingo stands, slouched but tense, and looks at them in the eyes. “I would advise complying with Volo’s request.”

The sentence stumbles out of their mouth: “What are you doing here?”

“I must catch a coincidence,” the man replies, unblinking, still as a statue: “My train departs from here, as soon as you kindly provide us with the plates.”

Confusion makes their brain swim as though they’d gotten a concussion.

They look back at the merchant. No explanation: his eyes have gotten narrower, more sinister as the setting sun dies into a halo behind blonde hair and casts a long, terrible shadow on the familiar face, turning it dark, grey, supernatural.

They look back at the warden. No explanation: his throat constricts as he gulps down a dry breath, his frame sways ever so slightly in an antsy worried uncertainty, his teeth catch a portion of his lip to bite and easy his anxiety.

Their gaze divided between the two, vocal chords fail them. Their head shakes, movement growing harsher as their footing turns steadier.

Ingo fetches a Pokéball out of his coat.

He waits for them to get one of their own to defend themselves with after fumbling a little for the surprise and fear, and swallows another breath.

His tone cracks under the terrible burden of plain, candid honesty: “I apologize,” he says, and his chest recoils into his shoulders like it really, really does hurt to force their hand like this, “It’s the only way I can go home.”

The apricorn ball leaves his hand: the Alpha Probopass once blessed to guard the Stone Plate roars above Spear Pillar.

In another life, Ingo listens carefully to the professor as he recounts the fight just a stairwell away from the sky (where he was supposed to be, had Kamado not requested he remain in the Village the whole day) as the kid beloved by Arceus told it.

“Ah,” he says once the other man finishes, pale beyond belief, looking almost sick: “Thank goodness he was stopped.”

He spends half of the night biting into his arm to muffle his cries of despair. He leaves the village during the other half, uncaring of any Pokémon or people who might encounter him, heading to the Cobalt Coastlands: his hands bleed and the soles of his shoes crack as he scales the seaside cliffs until he’s finally reached the top of the tower of rock overgrown with moss, shivering as his muscles scream, and he enters the cave the uncatious scientist revealed to him as the hiding place of the terrible creature who might be his last chance at returning from where he came.

In another life, Volo breathes slowly as the dark coat falls further and further down the side of the mountain, following the itinerary of a smaller body.

His palms sweat. He dries them on the marble.

Casualties weren’t planned.

Grabbing the Sky Flute for himself, mind numbed by the sight of two people careening down the mountain at his hands, some part of him soothes him.

He’ll fix that too, along with everything else, in just a moment.

In another life, the man looks at him like he’s out of his mind.

Volo laughs gently: “I don’t blame your disbelief.”

“It’s not-” the other tries to excuse himself, “I just - you - how can you be so certain that it was-?”

“-The work of Arceus?” he finishes. “I doubt it could be anybody else’s. Few beings could harness a power to cause your situation, and it’s not like Its children of Space and Time to cause such misfortunes in Its stead - no, they’ve had an example of what punishment could be for them far too long ago, with their sibling’s banishment.”

“Their sibling’s?”

Volo’s finger wags in the air as his tone turns paradoxically excited in the span of a second, clashing with the tense atmosphere: “Yes, a third god of reality directly descended from the Original One! Most information about it has been lost to time, but it was a truly sad creature, doomed from its birth. Could you believe it, that it was purposefully made to oppose its Parent, and as soon as it followed the very nature instilled into it the Creator banished it into a world opposite ours? Would you consider such behaviour befitting of a kind God?”

The man shakes his head, dismayed.

“Is it hard to believe it would allow such a terrible thing to happen to you, then?”

“How - how did you know, about... That god?”

Ah. A fair question, all things considered - though it is awfully rude to ignore the one asked first.

The merchant tilts his head in a playfully conspiratorial manner: “I’m a bit of a scholar, though I may not look it,” he reveals: “Old myths, ancient buildings, half-buried artifacts, nearly lost religions - with how much I travel the region I was bound to get curious about its history, no? And snooping around enough, I’ve collected quite a bit of knowledge. That’s why I made my proposal to you.”

He pulls back away from the poor lost fellow: “You didn’t believe me to be a charlatan, I hope!” he exclaims suddenly, visible eye theatrically wide.

The sheepish look he gets back is expected, and tears a chuckle out of him.

“I did not mean to offend,” the man apologizes.

“Be not afraid! You’ve done no harm. I’m used to being considered peculiar among my peers, not sure if you’re familiar.”

“Ah - yes, I would be.”

A slightly more relaxed feeling oozes through the air between them. His pitch continues, flowing smoother out of his lips: “You needn’t worry either way,” he grins kindly, “I wouldn’t make an offer like that without being able to properly back up my claim.”

He explains it all, or at least as much as is necessary to convince him, skirting around finer details that might scare him into thinking Volo utterly insane and send him running back with his tail between his legs to the clan he barely knows but already seems ready to latch onto with the ferocity of a Shinx ambushing a Wurmple and refusing to let its bite go even while the Bug wriggles disgustingly in its mouth. He speaks of his studies, his ambition, of how despite being so unfathomable a God can still be battled and rendered submissive - how that is the only way to get anything out of one; he speaks of how he hates the helplessness of humanity against the terrible things that are simply allowed to befall the world, and how he wants to stop that.

He can see a particular light in the white eyes, a glimmer of interest and hope nudging the lost soul closer to Volo; but the dark clad arms are still held tight to his chest, and there’s uncertainty in the clouds his breaths make.

“Is it truly the only way?” he asks.

Ah - a pacifist. Didn’t strike him as one, used to battling as he is, but he has seen things change enough with the centuries for this to make sense.

“Believe it or not, it’s the least tedious one,” Volo answers. His finger rests in the air, only a few inches away from the pale straight nose, as if chiding his naivety: “Otherwise you’d need his children, the gods of Space and Time; but you’ll be hard pressed to find a member of each clan even simply keen on recognizing the other’s Sinnoh as equal to their own.”

He can see how he understands immediately. It’s common knowledge, after all.

Volo smiles; his grey eye squints a little.

His voice is sweet as honey as he speaks: “Besides, I’ve done most of the work already. All that’s left to do is collecting the plates.”

Before he can be questioned about them he produces a dusty purplish slab seemingly from nowhere. Its mere presence is enough to make the air itself feel different, caught in invisible wisps of ghastly tendrils, tasting on the tongue like dried blood, gaining the unreal scent of an abandoned abode being unsealed for the first time after ages of disuse.

He can feel it though his fingertips, the droning, dormant power held within. He can feel Giratina’s long body wrap around his arm to nibble at the piece of its Parent, seeiking revenge, seeking redemption, seeking affection.

The gaze staring confusedly at it is nonetheless equally mesmerized.

“Pieces of the Original One,” he mutters, “Carved by Its legendary hero, no less. One for each type, scattered across the entirety of Hisui. Once all are gathered, one may reach Its realm and challenge It.”

The man eyes it quietly for a little, before asking: “Where have you found this?”

“In a place of worship long forgotten,” he replies with a smile. “Though I’m certain the old hero hid some in easier places to find, maybe even with his trusted Pokémon, who passed them down through the generations. Those should be much less of a hassle to get, don’t you think?”

The other hums thoughtfully.

He fiddles with his hands, trying to decide. What is there to mull over, Volo wonders? He’s made himself plenty clear: he understands how awful the situation must be for him; he sympathizes with his desire to return where he belongs; he wants to help him achieve just that; he has the knowledge and means to do so.

He’s his best chance.

His only chance.

A breath shivers into dead pale lips.

“Are you certain?” the man insists: “That I would not be a bother to you?”

Volo’s laugh is airy, kind: “You’re a victim of cosmic injustice,” he replies: “I cannot stand to see your suffering. It would be my honor to lend you a hand.”

A bout of silence; then the clear eyes turn bright, the slouched stance straightens slightly, the tone of his words becomes emphatic: “Allow me to repay you by helping, then - since you’ve done so much already. I don’t know how effective I will be, but if I can shorten the time for your plan to come into fruition even by a minute I’ll be gladly to assist you any way I can. As a token of my gratitude, for your kindness.”

Another chuckle breaks the cold air between them into fine shards. Blonde hair sways in the cold: “Who am I to deny such a passionate request?”

They shake hands, their pact sealed.

#pokémon #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon volo #submas ingo #random writing #au where ingo is in cahoots with volo :)#feat a bunch of different ways this can go #its a fun au bc depending on how you want to characterize volo and ingo it can go in all sorts of directions #does volo honestly want to help or does he want someone he can use more directly to achieve his goal?#is ingo holding onto some sense of morality or so despearate that he discards it all?#the possibilities are endless! and if u wanna write em go ahead #but also if u do pls tell me bc im curious of how it goes in yalls version #anyways HAVE AT THEE (hurls this at your face)

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franstastic-ideas · 1 year

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The more people get mad at me for saying that Volo has redeeming qualities, the more I feel the urge to babygirlify him.

#volo #pokemon legends: arceus #we can either have a nice polite nuanced discussion about the most misunderstood character in the series #OR we can throw that thought away and I'll insist that Volo never did anything wrong ever in his entire life - it was all Giratina's fault #that last bit is referencing a Certain Post of mine that some people love to read wrong and throw tantrums over

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kelpiemomma · 2 years

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mistake unlocked: hurting the scary warden’s daughter!

aka Akari’s initial return to Jubilife did not go as hoped

#warden ingo #akari #zoroark akari #zoroakari #zoroakari au #someone caught her illusion slipping and didn't so much as 'sound the alarm' as 'take matters into their own hand'#the sky being fucked and volo's warning of the zoroark and then death had everyone on high alert #fear makes people do stupid things #zisu managed to stop the attack (akari hadn't fought back at all) while ingo went immediately to grab the zoroark-girl #were she not in need of medical attention there would have been Drama #akari does not return to jubilife again for a hot minute. instead she gets visited in the highlands by her friends #cyllene can't really leave the office (esp w kamado out of commission for a bit) but she writes akari letters #it encourages akari to keep practicing her transformation so she can write back #laventon is upset by her death and resurrection but deals with it by bringing her her favorite foods #and asking her about her new instincts and behavior #rei takes her out to do survey work and just hang out because she deserves some chillaxing time

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endawn · 1 month

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the pc letting volo do ‘surgery’ on their eye would ALSO have to occur during one of pax’s death naps because other wise he’d use volo as a chew toy like

#❪ ⋅ ✹ ⋆ —┊ ❛ ooc. ❜ ❫#large image //#( keeping the ‘vampirism is a curse and it does corrupt one's emotions and values #twisting them to be monstrous parodies inversions or extremes of the original quality #to at least some degree )#( in mind )#( the one desire that warped was his desire to protect people )#( it’s still fairly intact but it can lead him to self destruction rather quickly )#( but throwing in him not having a hugely positive opinion of volo in the first place ? )#( he would’ve ripped volo’s head off )#( quite literally )#( as soon as he heard any pained distress from tav/durge )#( it upsets him SO much to see others in pain. drives him up the wall when he can’t do anything about it )#( hm wonder if volo being an anchor or whatever made the stars align for this to happen during pax’s death sleepies )

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salsa-di-pomodoro · 1 year

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I am in intrusive thought overstimulation hell help

#i cant stop thinking of bad scenarios for my blorbos girl help #I HAVE BEEN OVER THIS. LAST FUCKING MONTH EXACTLY #WHY #I CANT FUCKING WAIT UNTIL IM AN ADULT SO I CAN GET SOME IIND OF HORMONE INTEGRATOR AND STOP FEELING LIKE ABSOLUTE SHIT FOR A WEEK PER MONTH #also if you follow me you might notice i will talk about ontrusive thoughts now.#that is because i realized that a normal person doesnt get any kind of intrusive thought and therefore i am mentally ill. hurray!#uh yean anyway if anyone sees this could you send fluff. of any fandom i know (sonic submas steven universe rainworld. you get it)#(also volo but thats about as likely as me not being overwhelmed by light the second i go eat dinner)

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volostan · 2 years

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I know Volo is like a Big Evil Villain and all, but... Seeing so many violent/dark content around him just makes me miserable sometimes

Can't we just forgive him once and for all and get only wholesome content please thank you /hj

#I don't condemn this kind of HC/AU #I even find them interesting most if the time #it's just that we have enough dark material irl #I'd like to get some wholesome blorbo content as well #that's why my pfp is a cute catboy #free vent #volo #ウォロ #percupio #pokémon legends arceus #midnight thoughts #you can ignore this

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lorebird · 1 year

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hi lore hi hi hi you said hisui headcanon lore???? 👀👀👀 hisui hc lore please 👀 ty

HIIIII I was gonna draw some stuff for this but. Alas it is 6 am and god has seen fit to punish me for my hubris (cramps) so I’m just gonna distract myself writing this while I wait for the ibuprofen to kick in

So this is like. Completely out there bc it’s just me cherry-picking the series’ worldbuilding that I enjoy (and also completely changing it) for the sake of self indulgence <3

The Celestica people lived in ancient Hisui and were part of a trade network with the other regions. 3000 years ago, there was a war between Galar and Kalos that resulted in the darkest day and the ultimate weapon, and the news spread all over. A few centuries later, a traveller from Hisui came across the decimated weapon and its story. Idk who this character’s gonna be, probably a new OC bc I can't think of a canon character to throw this backstory onto

A bit of hc lore regarding how the ultimate weapon works: it's powered by infinity energy, the life force of pokemon, which is canon. I elaborate on that by having all infinity energy sourced from Arceus. Every pokemon is tied to it through the infinity energy necessary to live and exist (oh my god I just thought of the implications of this for manmade pokemon holy shit that's so cool I gotta think about this more), but some have more power than others. Legendaries (and maybe some mythicals?? I can't remember them all rn), which have power over nature/reality, have some of Arceus' own creation power tied into their infinity energy. All those mons are some of Arceus' thousand arms. This power can be harnessed by the ultimate weapon, which is how Lysandre intends to make the player immortal by powering it with Xerneas (so if someone powered an ultimate weapon with Kyogre, it could manipulate the oceans; if someone powered it with necrozma, it could manipulate light; etc etc)

So anyways -- the Hisuian came back and began building a new weapon, this time with the intent to create an entirely new world, just like Cyrus and Volo. Instead of a singular body like in Kalos, the three "petals" were placed around the region, equidistant from the temple of Sinnoh in the center. Each third was powered by one of the creation trio's orbs.

But tracking down those orbs was tough work -- the weapon-builder, who I'm just gonna call ZA for ease, reached out to historians and merchants to try and locate them (no one knew what they were up to at this point and what the orbs were intended for). Once all 3 had been found, the finders were told to bring them to a certain location at a specific time. At this point, ZA was at the temple of Sinnoh in the center of a region-wide weapon, and they fired.

Each third of the weapon created a crater, the three lakes. I made this shitty little representation like 3 weeks ago DHFJDKFK it's based off my vague memories of the nationwide transmutation circle from watching fma like 6 years ago

The weapon tore open a massive rift that kinda threw everything to shit, like having a spacetime distortion covering all of Hisui. This is the threat that the ancient hero mentioned in-game solved (I like the theory that the hero is Alder <3 so he was dragged in by the distortion like Ingo was, just. A couple thousand years earlier)

As for the people who delivered the orbs and were caught up in the blast -- idk who the lustrous globe holder was tbh, maybe I'll make them another oc if I don't find a character to chuck that lore onto. The one who had the griseous core was Volo; Cogita had the adamant crystal. Like AZ, they gained immortality from proximity to the weapon, but also inherited other elements of their respective pokemon's infinity energy. Cogita can see the past and future; Volo can access the distortion world. The theoretical third character could warp space or teleport.

The weapon firing and ensuing chaos killed off a lot of the Celestica people, and the remaining few had no stability in Hisui and so left for other regions. A few centuries before pla, the diamond and pearl clans' ancestors arrived, taking up the title of Celestica and upkeep of the temple of Sinnoh. I'd like to think that Cogita had passed on some of the ancient stories to them, which is how they know about the rift and hero from the past, as well as Dialga and Palkia (even though things got. A little misconstrued there)

#THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK IVE BEEN WRITING FOR UM. 2 HOURS #rambles #this stupidly convoluted lore is what made volo one of my fav pokemon characters ever #because he lost Everything to someone trying to create a new reality. he was cursed to wander a world where everyone he loved was killed #and everyone he came to love would die before him too #cogita knew what he'd become and wouldn't give him the time of day: she thought her visions of the future were absolute #so he became. very bitter and very good with people #using others to get what he wanted where his own strength failed (although he had plenty of time to become a very formidable trainer)#and not letting himself get attached to them #(he does still get attached to his pokemon though. he's lost a lot throughout the centuries)#eventually he becomes the thing he hates and starts seeking to create his own new reality where everything can just start over #and he can have a home again #he's SO SURE that the plates are the answer!! ZA failed bg using the power of creation by proxy -- he had a direct tie to arceus itself #but the player beats him and so he smokes some weed realizes he's a woman and then she chills out /j #pla #pokemon legends arceus #<- hopefully those wont show up in the main tags after a dozen tags of rambling I just wanna keep track of my own worldbuilding

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claitea · 2 years

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I love your second chance au so far!! Do you have any other info on it?

! i do indeed!! its pretty much a completed au actually, its timeline is complete, i just didnt have plans to release it All in drawing form since just the parts i posted seemed enough

volo in the present day is a librarian. its a simple quiet job where he doesnt really need to interact with people too much, plus his obsession with research translates into a general love of books so he'll often stay after hours when he's supposed to have closed up just to read. he's still very good at the whole fake nice guy act so his few co-workers love him and think he's the best senior the library's ever had but he's sitting there like "they don't know i tried to end the world once"

i havent thought about his team much but i imagine to lower suspicion and not draw attention to himself he strays from using the same pokemon as cynthia. he's already been asked if he's related to her a few times and he's just had to try pass it off as a coincidence so people stopped asking. he keeps using the togepi line though they're his lil buddies and he adores them actually

the au's timeline is simple. volo gathers together emmet, barry and dawn to go find a way to reach hisui to bring back ingo and lucas so that volo doesnt have to keep seeing their names pop up and get reminded of how he Failed so bad at his original plan. its just salt in the wound to keep seeing lucas's face after volo vowed all those years ago to keep trying to meet arceus, but he still hasnt succeeded 200 years on.

at first, volo tells them barely anything. he doesnt even explain why he knows ingo and lucas are stuck in the past. so combined with his grumpiness around them they all initially distrust him, especially emmet who's just become a cool uncle and was trusted to protect barry and dawn. this trio's general cheeriness eventually rubs off on even volo and he cant help softening up after a while of traveling. thats where the guilt sets in for him, really slowly, he doesnt even realize he's getting too attached for his own good until its too late and now suddenly he's starting to develop Empathy again. so eventually he'll at least say he's from an ancient sinnohan lineage that granted him immortality and thats why he knows where ingo and lucas are. hard to believe at first but also dawn remembers that one story about the immortal guy in kalos so like. this might as well be happening

they find a way to timetravel eventually, they track down the lake guardians to (safely, unlike team galactic) summon dialga. a little before he lets them go to hisui, its been so long since they started travelling and the guilt's chipped away at him so much he comes clean. admits the whole past ordeal with giratina and why ingo and lucas were taken was because of him - ingo was direct interference since it was his rift that pulled ingo through, and even arceus itself was forced to call the only person strong enough to stop him, lucas, into hisui. he expects them to hate him after that and was fully ready for it but, while they're shocked and angry, they... still want to be friends with him. they've come to understand volo's changed for the better since his hisui days, they've travelled with him long enough to know that for sure and its not just volo being really good at the happy chirpy friendly facade. they dont forgive him for past deeds, i mean can you really excuse trying to wipe out the Entire Universe, but they at least give him a much needed second chance (roll credits)

emmet, barry and dawn get to reunite with ingo and lucas, everyone goes home. from there i was actually tossing up two ways volo could go: one becoming a researcher again, maybe moving to other regions to help out there. the other becoming a pokemon trainer, pokemon journeys are all about broadening your horizons and connecting with others so volo could benefit from it probably. also cmon he has three friendship evolution pokemon, even if he used to call himself a "wielder" he probably actually cares about his pokemon a lot very deep down. maybe emmet even invites him to be a special guest final opponent on the multi trains with him sometimes.

#clai speaks #asks #second chance au #hehe thank you for asking! gave me a great excuse to talk about my beloved little au #writing this i'm now wondering like. cogita's canonically immortal or long living at least right. volo's not confirmed but--#--you can interpret him as such. is cynthia immortal too? what qualities did this ancient sinnohan lineage have that made them immortal too #do you think its suspicious when people are immortal. like some government official is checking files #and goes hey hold up. this person's birthday is set 137 years ago. thats not right #with how there's been Multiple immortals in pokemon tho maybe theres just exceptions for them now. people dont bat an eye at it anymore #''yeah my pal jimmy accidentally ran into xerneas when he was twelve. pure accident. he just wanted a scatterbug. immortal now yeah''#back on topic though also picturing volo guiding them to jubilife village and stopping at the gates #barry asks why and he says its probably not a good idea if people see him. barry drags him in anyway thinking its probably fine #it is Not fine as lucas attempts to kick volo's ass again as soon as he lays eyes on him #''LUCAS HE'S FINE NOW HE'S NICE. LUCAS PUT THE POKE BALL DOWN. LUCAS''

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