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I Will Touch the Skies - A Pokemon Fanfiction (OC)

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Soussouni1, Jan 27, 2023.

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  1. Extras: Grace and Princess fanart
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    A user on my Discord called ObsidianOlive commissioned this for me. It's the first piece of fanart I've ever received and I'm extremely giddy about it, so I decided to share it here. Enjoy! (Drawn by @artbynath on fiverr)

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Extras: Side Story 1 - Sailor
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    SAILOR

    "Takeda! Takeda!"

    Takeda, who had been resting his head on his palm, nearly fell and knocked himself on the ship's railing. His head snapped toward the source of the voice and he straightened his back. It was his boss, not the captain of the ship, of course, but the CSO— Chief Security Officer, Mister Richards.

    "Yes, sir!"

    "No slacking. You keep an eye out at sea, and you keep an eye on your Buizel."

    "Yes, sir!" Takeda repeated again. Buizel, for his part, was barely visible from this high. There was the bright yellow of his flotation sac, but apart from that, Takeda only saw the white foam of the ocean.

    And Legendaries, was it a mesmerizing sight. Calm blue waters as far as the eye could see without an island in sight. The horizon appeared a seamless curve, and Takeda couldn't see where the water ended and the sky began. The sun kissed his face and the wind blew in his hair, carrying a salty scent. Wild Wingull followed the ship wherever it went, flying high in the sky and occasionally landing to nab any food they could get their hands on.

    "If I catch you dozing off, I'm throwing you overboard,"

    That'd be illegal, you son of a bitch, Takeda grumbled to himself. He exhaled and ran his hand on the rusty railing. Takeda was a new sailor, and he'd recently gotten a job aboard the Evercrest Voyager, a container ship that traveled the world and shipped goods in between regions. Right now, they were traveling between Hoenn and Unova, and they were taking the long way because traveling near Orre's coast was a sure way to get your ship raided by a bunch of pirates.

    Takeda was just a small part of what kept this ship running, but his job in the security apparatus was to have his water type keep a lookout for any wild Pokemon getting any ideas. The official position was Navigational Watch Officer, but that made it sound a lot fancier than it actually was. He was a dime a dozen, and there were at least two hundred people like him on this ship. The only requirement to get hired? Have a water type Pokemon that can keep up with this boat for hours at a time. The Pokemon worked in shifts, of course, but his Buizel had a lot of stamina since he could float along the water's surface and move using only his tail.

    Takeda hadn't really imagined that he'd be a sailor, but he couldn't complain. The pay was good, since he stayed away from home and treaded dangerous waters for months at a time. The ocean was different from the routes, and Takeda knew routes. Just like many trainers with jobs aboard this ship, he'd failed multiple times in Hoenn's Circuit and decided to get a job instead of wasting his time beating his head against the wall. Routes were relatively calm, and Pokemon there could be negotiated or dealt with. In the ocean?

    Well, there was a reason this job was dangerous as hell.

    "Boss caught you slackin'?"

    "Shut it." Takeda groaned. "Are you taking over my shift?"

    He wouldn't have called Cameron his friend. More like an acquaintance because they shared the same job. The man was actually from Orre, and he'd entertained the entire ship with stories many nights in the crew's quarters. The region was lawless hell where death, looting and murder were just a way of life, save for a few safe zones and cities. Cameron's hometown didn't even have a name, nor was it on any maps, but it had been victim to raids many times in the past. He never did tell them how he had escaped, though.

    The tanned man leaned against the railing. "Nah, just makin' rounds. If I look like I'm doing something, I'm not getting yelled at."

    Takeda rolled his eyes. "You ever regret taking this job?"

    "Isn't this only your fourth trip? And you're already thinking of quitting?" Cameron wheezed as he slapped his leg. "Why don't you go back to being a little trainer while you're at it."

    "That's not even— you know what, never mind."

    The man paused. "I'm just pulling your leg. What's on your mind?"

    "It's just, you know… this is it. I'm just gonna be standing on a ship for the rest of my life, shipping whatever the hell is in those containers," he sighed, turning toward the huge row of red, metallic boxes. "Fuck, man."

    "The pay's good."

    "It's not about the pay, it's about being bored out of my mind. I should have tried for another job."

    "Stick around another few months," Cameron shrugged. "This is your first go at Unova, right?"

    "Not like I get out of the port. Heard Castelia was pretty though."

    Cameron smirked. "Hear me out. Me, Doyle, Jimmy, and Kaine were thinking of sneaking out when we get there, just for a few hours. Go to a bar, meet some girls, get laid—"

    "Arceus—"

    "No, I'm serious! You need to get your dick wet, man, that's your problem. Spend a night in a woman's arms and all of your stress will vanish. Not like the girls working here are any good, and I'd have to report that shit to HR."

    Takeda scoffed. "Asshole."

    "Yeah. I am. You're too innocent, Takeda. Tell me, what led you to this ship."

    "Huh?"

    "What made you get this job?"

    "Isn't it the same for everyone? It's your fifteenth birthday, you think you're going to be the next big thing, but you realize that shit is harder than you thought?"

    "Can't relate, I'm from the shitty desert," he smirked. "But I meant, why this job? It can't be the pay, you said as much."

    "I thought it was a way to still have an excuse to travel," Takeda said after a short pause. "I was stupid and thought I'd actually get to use my paycheck and act like a tourist at every port we stopped at. I also thought it'd be good for Buizel and Carvanha. I have two water types, so why not use them?"

    "Well, there ain't much those two can do against the threats of the ocean."

    "No shit," Takeda deadpanned. "I'm a lookout— oh sorry, a watch officer. I'm no battler. But you worry too much. The waters are calm."

    "Let me paint you a picture—"

    "You're going to jinx us."

    "In these waters? No, no, we've gone through this route a hundred times, the Pokemon here are harmless. Anyway, this was… fifteen years ago. My Swampert's a little pipsqueak Mudkip. We're traveling from Kanto to Galar."

    "That's a long ass trip."

    "Twenty-five to thirty-five days depending on the weather and what happens. Guess how long this one took."

    "I don't know, two months? Three?"

    "That was a trap. We never made it. Gyarados attacked us near the Sevii Islands. Half of the crew and their Pokemon went missing. That's what they always say. Missing. Can't recover bodies or Pokeballs in the damn ocean."

    "Which island did you wash up on?"

    "Oh, I don't remember. There are way too many on that archipelago to count. The natives threw a fit, let me tell you. That was back when they had their whole independence war and they thought taking us hostage would send Kanto-Johto a message. Those dumbasses didn't care if the company we worked for was fucking Galarian. Hell, there was only three fucking Kantoans and two Johtoans alive at this point. The vast majority of us had nothing to do with it."

    "How'd you manage to get out?"

    "Months of negotiation. Let me tell you, it's weird to be in the headlines and to have governments squabble over you when you're not even from the place. Anyway, long story short, the government invades and takes back control of the Sevii Islands. It was when they were still reeling from Team Rocket's last remains in Johto, so their forces were stretched a bit thin."

    "Never thought you'd be the type to know about shit like that."

    "Well, I am an old man."

    "You're forty."

    "I said what I said," he laughed, clapping Takeda's back. "Anyway, that day, the waters were perfectly calm, just like today. Gives you something to think about, eh? I hate it when it's calm… too calm."

    "Correlation doesn't equal causation."

    "Take it from an experienced sailor, Takeda. Can't you feel it? Everyone's on edge."

    The young man turned around and started to notice the temperament of his older and more experienced crewmates. One, nervously tapping a foot against the metallic ground. Another, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. His head turned toward the bridge high up behind him and saw a glimpse of people looking through binoculars.

    "Sailing's dangerous, kiddo," Cameron said. "We link the world together. We're the ones that allow them to frolic with their damn luxuries, and people never think about us. Hundreds of us die every year, but we aren't even a headline. Being taken hostage? Now that's interesting. Being vaporized by a Gyarados' Hydro Pump? People don't give a shit about that."

    Takeda swallowed.

    "So you should live every day to the fullest. You don't need no fancy dream. Come with us to Castelia. Here, I'll take over your shift, go and get some rest."

    "Thanks," he nodded as he recalled Buizel. He barely got the words out of his mouth.

    Cameron released a Swampert that was made of pure muscle into the ocean, and the ground type began to swim.



    The crewmates' quarters were a cramped, hot and uncomfortable affair. The bunk beds were barely large enough to fit Takeda, and he was smaller than the average man. What had woken him up was a flurry of steps and activity on the deck of the ship. Takeda rubbed his eyes and yawned before tapping another man on the shoulder.

    "You know what's going on?"

    "Nope," he answered. "But I was about to go on deck. You're…"

    "Takeda."

    "Takeda. Right, one of the new guys. Don't panic, you'll be fine."

    His words had the opposite effect, and Takeda's leg began to bounce. It was a nervous tick he'd had since he was a child, and he'd repeated it during every single Gym Battle he'd tried. And failed. In retrospect, worrying about losing some Gym battle had been stupid, especially compared to now. His life was on the line. Cameron's story still hadn't left his head, which Takeda assumed was the point. He'd been too lax, sleeping on the job and acting like he was some security guard at a mall instead of a sailor braving the most dangerous areas known to man.

    There was a reason the ocean floor outside of very well-guarded areas with underwater cables couldn't be explored. Mapping was done by sonar, and every submarine sent down never came back up. Pokemon ruled here, and they would rule forever.

    Takeda scrambled up the narrow stairs and pushed the door open. He'd expected rain to be battering down the deck, heavy winds or at least large waves, but there was nothing. The ocean was perfectly calm. Too calm. It was only now that he understood what Cameron had said. The suspense was killing him, and he'd rather for it to be storming than whatever the hell this was.

    "Takeda! To your post, now!" Mr. Richards bellowed. A huge Kingler crawled by his side, onto the containers. "Protect the cargo at all costs!"

    "What is it? What's happening? Cameron took over my shift—"

    "There was a massive drop in the water temperature. Code Purple S."

    Takeda audibly gulped. He was green, but he'd gone through training. He knew protocol and a drop in temperature that large at this latitude could only mean two Pokemon. Jellicent or Dhelmise.

    "Focus, sailor!" Mr. Richards screamed. "To your post!"

    "Yes sir!"

    Takeda scrambled back to his position with Carvanha's Pokeball in hand. The water looked fine, but he knew the ship had measuring tools tracking the temperature and the water type Pokemon swimming around them could feel something coming. He released his water type into the sea.

    "Carvanha! Be careful!" He screamed, cupping his hands. "There might be a ghost under the hull!"

    Carvanha was too far for Takeda to hear his response, but he was far from the only water type there. He spotted Cameron's Swampert swimming with broad strokes way down the hull. As Takeda's eyes scanned for any disturbance in the water, his boss' words rang out in his mind. Protect the cargo. They were worth less than merchandise here.

    He could see why Cameron behaved the way he did.

    Two hours passed with no progress. The water temperature kept dropping until ice formed around the hull and slowed the ship down to a crawl. The Wingull had all left, and the sky was completely clear. Takeda shivered and frowned when he noticed he could see his breath. They were still next to Hoenn!

    Suddenly, someone screamed.

    "Jellicent!"

    An audible series of gasps ran through the deck, but they didn't panic. They were sailors. Takeda leaned over the railing and saw a glimpse of a pink tentacle as large as one of the containers slither up the hull, but someone pulled him back by his collar.

    "Don't look down, kid. Easiest way to get dragged down and drown."

    It was Cameron.

    "I didn't know Jellicent got this big," Takeda stammered as his leg bounced.

    Cameron shrugged. "They can swell up to massive sizes. Call out for your Carvanha and tell him to stay away, he'll hear you."

    Takeda quickly followed suit and hoped for the best. He heard the hull start to crack and the ship began to tilt starboard. Jellicent were monsters of the sea, known to drag ships to the bottom of the ocean to feed on any living creature that dwelled within. If you were lucky, you'd drown or freeze to death. If you weren't and you got stuck in a room with air, it was only a matter if time until Jellicent found you and touched you with a tentacle that would somehow stretch far into the ship and scan for anything alive.

    Takeda heard and saw things. Attacks from Pokemon powerful enough to hope to stand up to a Jellicent of this size. Cameron leaned against a container with his arms crossed. There was nothing they could do. The engineers downstairs were probably hard at work, and so were the other members of the crew, but the trainers? They could only trust that their Pokemon would be enough. Takeda flinched when he heard a huge explosion somewhere below the ship— no, an explosion would be wrong. Something had punctured. The ship began to tilt more, and Takeda had to hold onto the anchored containers.

    "We're still relatively close to Hoenn," Cameron said, his voice stone cold. "Carvanha and Buizel can alternate and take you there. You might die of hypothermia, but there's a chance."

    "What about—"

    "Worry about your own skin," he interrupted. "The ship's done for. Swampert!"

    Protocol dictated for them to get on the lifeboats, but Jellicent wouldn't let them escape through those. Takeda stood on the left side of the container as the ship rolled onto its side and he heard a loud booming noise that felt like a shockwave blowing through his body. He stepped back for a second and saw that everyone was either falling overboard or jumping. It took him a few seconds to understand why. If he waited too long, he'd be buried by the ship.

    Just when he was about to grab Buizel's Pokeball, Cameron held him back.

    "Don't jump you fools! You're jumping to your death!"

    Below the water, another Jellicent loomed. Blue, this time. It looked a little smaller, but it was still huge. Large enough to swallow up anyone that had jumped on this side of the boat.

    There were two.

    Swampert jumped out of the water and began to climb up the deck with his hands glowing white. When he reached them, Takeda noticed the frost anchored on his skin, and he couldn't help but think about Carvanha. The little water type was nowhere to be seen, but all he could do was pray for his safety.

    "Hold onto him. Tightly."

    Takeda's body moved on his own. Half of the ship was submerged at this point, but at least he figured he'd die trying. He grabbed onto Swampert's shoulder as tight as he could while Cameron held onto the other side, and the water type began to climb up toward the bow of the ship. His arms felt like jelly, but he couldn't let go. When they reached the top, Swampert jumped with no hesitation.

    Takeda screamed as he fell toward the ground a hundred feet down. At this height, the water would feel like concrete, and they were going to hit ice anyway—

    Swampert croaked. Water broke through the ice, spun and formed into a pillar that stretched high into the sky and carried the water type toward the ocean's surface. The cold hit Takeda like a truck, and his body immediately felt numb. First, his fingertips, then his arms, then his core. Swampert swam quicker than he'd ever seen him until the ship was nearly a dot in to horizon and the waters had returned to their warm state.

    Takeda had been crying for the last twenty minutes.

    Carvanha was gone.

    "Sorry for your loss, kid," Cameron sighed, patting him on the back.

    "C—Carvanha—"

    "I know. I know how it feels. I know loss. All you can do is bear through it. I lost friends today. Colleagues. Fellow sailors. I don't even know who escaped and who didn't."

    And they'd be declared missing.

    "Why would anyone do this stupid fucking job?!" Takeda sobbed. "We're worth less than cargo! Fuck!"

    Cameron sighed as Swampert continued swimming toward Hoenn. "If it's not us, some other poor sods will get enticed by the paycheck."

    Takeda blinked. Declared missing. Every accident, out of the headlines and quietly buried.

    "I see," he simply said. This wasn't a job. It was a death trap. A death trap that was necessary for global trade between regions.

    "Hoenn's probably three days away. Swampert is strong, so he'll manage with a few breaks—"

    Takeda interrupted with a scream after he felt something nibble his legs. Two yellow horns protruded out of the water's surface and Takeda's heart swelled. It was Carvanha! Swampert stopped and the water type dove into Takeda's arms and tackled him into the water. Arceus, he was still cold, but the tropical waters were warming him and he hadn't lost anybody! They were all alive!

    "Ain't that something," Cameron smiled. "Get back on and recall your fish, kiddo. We've got a long way ahead of us. It's not over. Three days without without food is going to be tough. Swampert can handle the water front."

    When they reached Dewford, they were almost exhausted, their skin wrinkled and swollen, and they were too weak to even walk.

    Takeda vowed to never be a sailor again.

    Cameron hopped on his next job the next month.


    A/N: So what is this? This is a new type of chapter called Side Story. They'll be one-offs or short stories exploring facets of the world that Grace/other characters are unlikely to see. And guess what? You could have read this early on my Patreon and my Discord! From now on, Patreons will get them six days early and Discord three days early. These will never replace the main chapter of the day, so you can consider them a bonus, and they are also not integral to the plot whatsoever so feel free to skip them if you wish.

    Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2023
  3. Extras: Side Story 2 - Glimwood
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    You could have read this early on my Discord or even earlier on my Patreon


    SIDE STORY - Glimwood

    Ready to get inside the Pyroar's den?"

    Jonah turned to Karina and rolled his eyes. In front of him lay Glimwood Tangle, the only way to access Ballonlea. There were many old stories about horrors that had gone on inside the forest in olden times, but these days, it was as safe as it could be. They'd stayed at the edge of the forest for days as they took multiple, day-long classes at the outpost asking them to never veer off the outlined path and how to deal with different fairies and wild Pokemon that inhabited the forest, and now, they were finally ready. There were hundreds of trainers in the outpost waiting to do the same thing.

    "I just hope you don't livestream the entirety of it," Jonah sighed.

    "Are you kidding? I'd totally stream it if I could, but Ballonlea's stupid and doesn't want to put wifi in their stupid forest. Like, get on with modernity already! This is why no one wants to live there."

    "I have to admit, it does suck. I wanted to finish watching Raihan's tips and tricks," Jonah said. "Let's go, then."

    "Your fault for not downloading what you want to watch."

    "Would it kill you to have an ounce of compassion, Kari?"

    Jonah released his Corvisquire, who anchored himself on his shoulder while Karina released her Yamper, and they gave their pass to the Rangers and entered the forest right away.

    "Woah," he gasped.

    A sense of wonder overtook Jonah as he stepped inside the Glimwood Tangle. The forest path beneath his feet felt soft and slightly springy. It was covered in thick, glowing moss that released a pleasant, earthy fragrance with each step. The air was cool and crisp. Pure. Every time he took a breath, his nose tingled, but in a good way.

    Even if the canopy was so thick no sunlight made it through, glimmering, bioluminescent plants and mushrooms were everywhere, illuminating their path with a soft, soothing light. The distant, otherwordly cries of multiple Pokemon made Jonah feel a twinge of nervousness, but he was assured the path was safe. Jonah stared up again and realized the trees were all curving in a different direction, some tying into knots.

    "Hi guys, KariTheBest here, and welcome to another vlog! As you can see, we're walking through the Glimwood Tangle right now—"

    "Kari. Just… take a breath and live in the moment, please," Jonah begged. Corvisquire squawked in his ear, agreeing loudly.

    Karina answered with a middle finger and pointed her phone toward him. "Jonah's here, and like always he's ruining our fun. Before we start the video, don't forget to subscribe, hit the notification bell and like! Let's get started!" She yelled excitedly before she stopped recording. "Thanks as always, Jonah."

    The teenager had to stop himself from mocking how monotone her voice sounded every time the camera was off. She wasn't done quite yet, but she would only record when they came across something interesting.

    "I mean, we're literally in a mystical forest right now, and you're recording."

    "Yeah! If I don't record, my subscribers won't see!"

    Jonah groaned as he passed a group of tiny Morelull and another group of trainers that were taking pictures of them repeatedly. They'd probably post it on their socials later. Jonah blinked, and for a second he swore that he saw the moss under his feet shift. There was constant movement at the edge of his vision, but the Rangers in the classes had told them this was a normal occurrence. Jonah swallowed and decided to keep his head down. They'd reach Ballonlea soon enough, and then he'd be freed from this nonsense. There were some strange occurrences in the city, but at least he could stay in a Center there until it was time for him to battle.

    Two hours passed without much happening aside from the occasional encounter with a fairy type. Jonah had to stop Karina from trying to catch one multiple times. People in Galar weren't allowed to handle fairies before they had four badges, and they only had one. There was too much danger involved, and it would just be taken away by the Rangers. Speaking of Rangers, they had encountered those too. They patrolled every inch of the path, making sure no one veered off course. It was then, however, that Karina spoke up and graced him with the worst idea she could have had.

    "Nothing is happening," she whined. "This vlog is going to be hella boring. Do you— do you think we should sneak out?"

    Jonah froze. "What do you mean?"

    "Veer off the beaten path. Adventure!" She whispered with a grin.

    "You just want views, Kari."

    "Well, that too," she said. "But don't you want to do more that listen to the rules? This is why other countries treat us like a laughing stock. Trainers keep having to stick the safe spots. How are we supposed to grow if we're never in any danger? Plus, I'm sure it won't be that bad. There's no way wild Pokemon wouldn't invade the route and attack us if they were that dangerous."

    "No, Kari. I mean, I agree to an extent, but we have one badge and two Pokemon each. This is stupid. And since you want to upload it, you're just going to get punished anyway."

    Galar had many rules to keep trainers safe, but they were strict. If you ever got caught breaking one of them, the punishment could range from a fine to being disqualified from the Circuit altogether. Jonah grabbed her by the wrist a bit harder than he would have liked and shook her.

    "This isn't a game, Kari. This forest, it creeps me out," he muttered.

    "Is Jojo scared?" She mocked. "It'll just be for an hour. If you don't want to come, you don't have to. Just stick around and wait for me here."

    "I'm going to tell a Ranger—"

    "Good news, we just passed a pair seven minutes ago. That means we probably won't for another half-hour or so," she said. "So knock yourself out."

    "You were planning this?! You could be disqualified—"

    Karina slipped away from him and walked backward through the tree-line with her phone in hand while a few other trainers just stared and murmured to each other. Her Yamper loyally followed, and Jonah's hands began to tremble. If she wanted to throw herself into danger so much, then fine. He would walk back, tell the Rangers and wait for her while they went and looked to drag her back kicking and screaming. Jonah leaned back against a tree and yelped when he nearly sunk into it, like it was a soft pillow. He waited there for thirty seconds, and each moment, doubt crept into his mind like a virus.

    Every second he stayed here, it meant that she could get lost.

    "Fuck you, Kari," he hissed. Jonah turned toward a group of girls. "You guys. Can you go and warn the Rangers? Tell them that Karina Read veered off the path, and that Jonah Sharp is following her. Please."

    "Yeah. Yeah, of course," one of them said. "But should you even—"

    Jonah ran off into the trees, releasing his Deerling, which followed closely behind as he got the grass type up to speed. He yelled out for Karina's name over and over, and the deeper he went the more dense the forest got. He pushed glowing foliage away from his face, jumped over some fallen branches and nearly tripped a hundred times, but the good news was that he hadn't gotten attacked yet. In fact, he hadn't come across any wild Pokemon. Ten minutes passed without any development, but Jonah didn't give up hope. The Rangers were on their way.

    "Kari!" He yelled.

    "...I almost can't see anything in these woods, it's really dense. Yamper can barely navigate it all. Right?"

    Jonah heard the small canine let out a high-pitched bark, and he nearly cried when he saw his best friend again. He nearly tackled her into a hug, and she dropped her phone on the ground.

    "Jonah? What are you— I thought you were waiting for me!"

    "Shut up and follow me, you idiot," he cried. "I'm dragging you back whether you like it or not."

    "Already?" She groaned as she hugged him back. "Well, I guess it's not that interesting anyway. The Rangers probably just don't want us to get lost."

    "Well I went in a straight path, so let's just get back to the route," he said. He attempted to drag Karin, but he met more resistance than he thought. When he turned back, her eyes were wide.

    "You said… a straight line?"

    "Yes. I just ran forward and yelled your name a bunch of times," Jonah shrugged. "Corvi?"

    The Corvisquire squawked in agreement, and Deerling also nodded.

    "Jonah, I— I went in a bunch of different directions so the Rangers would take longer to find me. Are you sure?"

    "We probably just got lucky. Come on," Jonah said.

    The girl nodded and they began to walk back toward the path. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Then thirty. There was still no sign of anyone, and they hadn't met a single wild Pokemon. The duo traveled the entire day and all they could find was more forest. They decided to set up camp when they got tired. The only way they had of figuring out it was night time were their phones, but it wasn't like they were useful for anything else. There was no reception, no internet for them to contact the outside world.

    "I'm sorry, Jonah," Kari said. She hadn't cried. Neither of them had since finding each other. But it was easy to see the guilt was eating her inside. "This is— I was stupid."

    "It was," he nodded. "You're a moron. But we'll be alright. There's probably a huge manhunt going on for us right now. Like when that kid got lost in the Slumbering Weld? And they found him after a week?"

    She nodded. "Yeah…"

    "I mean, I hope we don't have to wait a week, but we'll be fine," Jonah said. "The last time someone died in the Circuit was two years ago. The odds of it happening are astronomically low. Now let's eat something and rest up. I think the best tactic is to stay still. The forest is leading us somewhere, so if we don't move, they'll have higher odds of finding us."

    Jonah fought himself to get the words out of his mouth.

    He was trying to convince himself as much as her.



    When they woke up, they were no longer in the same spot.

    Jonah hadn't known how it had happened, but they were in a completely different location. He shot up and spat out a mouthful of shiny dust that was in his mouth. His entire body felt horribly dry, like someone had sucked all of the moisture from his skin. He licked his lips to moisten them and drank a mouthful of water. Even his eyes felt like they had no moisture until he blinked multiple times. They had to ration, but he'd go crazy if he walked the entire day feeling this dehydrated.

    Karina felt the same way, strangely enough, and they both had some weird dust on their clothes and skin. It was almost impossible to get off, so they opted just to let it be for now. Even if they weren't going to travel anymore, Karina had both her Pokemon, Yamper and Eevee out of their Pokeballs while Jonah did the same. They could never take too many precautions. At this point, the fact that they had encountered zero wild Pokemon scared him more than the alternative. It was like this entire forest was dead.

    "Jojo," Karina muttered. "Do you think we'll really get out?"

    "Obviously," he answered right away. "Don't be so down in the dumps. Why don't we watch something on your phone? You have a bunch of stuff downloaded, right? I know we should probably save power to keep track of how much time's passed, but we have a battery, and even then we'd still have my phone."

    The girl nodded. "Yeah. What do you want to watch?"

    Jonah patted her shoulder. "Anything you'd like."

    "What about Love in Wyndon?" She said.

    "Sure."

    He scooched up next to her and she let the video play. Love in Wyndon was her comfort show, and there were ten seasons the last time Jonah had checked. It was a dating reality show where trainers lived in a resort with their Pokemon. At the end of each week, two people would be voted on and they'd battle. The loser was eliminated while the winner was immune for the next week. The winner of the entire thing got to go on a date with Raihan.

    Needless to say, it was one of Galar's most popular shows, especially when every girl in the region had a celebrity crush on Raihan. They watched the show for hours, and for a few moments, they forgot that they were stranded in the middle of a forest. Jonah even found himself getting into the drama of it all.

    This was nice.



    Five more days had passed. There was no sign of life anywhere.

    Every time they went to sleep, they would wake up somewhere else. Somewhere deeper in the forest. Each time, they were so dehydrated their skin wrinkled. They had tried to sleep one at a time, but the other would always fall asleep without fail, and it was the same for both of them. They were compelled to do so by strange lights in the distance. They only had a few more days of food and water, and they knew at the back of their head they would probably die that way. There was no attack from a wild Pokemon, no exciting, blood-pumping event.

    It was just the slow, withering march of death.

    On the dawn of the seventh day, Jonah and Kari awoke in a clearing.

    There were so many lights here, of every single color. Colors Jonah didn't even know existed. He saw them floating, dancing, and laughing with each other like they were alive. Enormous mushrooms swayed back and forth, but there was no wind here. The air was completely still, and it smelled like… it smelled like something.

    "What's that smell?" Jonah muttered.

    "Burned steak?" Karina whispered. "Should we— should we stay here again, or should we leave?"

    Jonah stared up and nearly gasped when he saw something blue. It took him a few seconds to realize it was the sky. He hadn't seen the sky in a whole week. He couldn't help but tear up, and Karina did the same when she noticed. They hadn't cried since getting lost, and it was the first time they let their feelings out. They sobbed for ten minutes in each other's arms. Karina kept apologizing over and over for throwing their lives away. Their Pokemon weren't here. They'd kept them to their Pokeballs in order to save on food, since it slowed their metabolism.

    "There you are, children."

    Jonah's head snapped toward the voice. Another voice that wasn't Karina's.

    An extremely thin, old woman slowly walked forward, using a pastel blue and pink umbrella as a cane. She was so thin in fact it was like she hadn't eaten in weeks, and yet Jonah knew who she was. Opal. Just Opal. Ballonlea's Gym Leader had a last name, but nobody knew of it. Not even her fellow Gym Leaders or the Champion. Opal smiled, exposing perfectly white teeth.

    "You should know better than to make an old woman walk through the woods," she continued.

    Jonah ran toward her, tripping on the way there until he crawled to Opal's feet. "Thank you. Thank you so much for saving us. We're sorry for breaking the rules, can we— can we just go home, now? I'll do anything."

    Opal laughed. A strange, inhuman sound that did not sound like a laugh, but some strange garble.

    "Anything, you say? In my heyday, I would have stripped you to the bone after such an offer. Do not offer me anything, children, lest I fall back into my old ways."

    Confused, but happy to just be out of danger, Jonah nodded as Karina offered the Gym Leader her sincerest apologies. Jonah didn't know how a person as old as her had navigated the difficult terrain of the Glimwood for seven days, but he knew not to question her skills. While they looked and smelled horrible, she was intact. No tears or rips in her clothes and shoes, and no smudges in her makeup.

    "Before we go, I must speak to an old friend," Opal spoke as she walked toward the center of the clearing. "You watch. Children these days are too soft. You do not know the dangers that lurk beneath our squeaky clean, dear old Galar. This will be a good lesson."

    Opal stopped, and placed both of her hands on her umbrella's handle as she stuck it into the soft ground. She tapped it twice and spoke.

    "Cimmerian."

    Jonah swallowed as the ground under their feet shook and something emerged from below.

    Shiinotic weren't like Jonah saw in the illustrations.

    This one was larger, far larger. It dwarfed Opal and reached the top of the canopy, masking the bit of sky that Jonah had been so glad to see. Its mushroom glowed with a sinister light that overtook and swallowed everything else. The colors changed, and Jonah could only see in shades of… pale yellow and purple. Horrible growths that bubbled and expunged a pungent, steak-like smell sat atop the cap, and both Jonah and Karina covered their noses. He had to stop himself from hurling. It was as if someone had left raw meat out in the sun for days.

    Shiinotic's fingers were long and thin, and they also glowed with that same purple, yellowish color. Its arms were thinner than Opal's and pale white.

    And the eyes.

    Arceus, the eyes.

    There was nothing there. An absence. A stare that was so shallow and yet so deep at the same time. They were just dark. Obsidian orbs that seemed to absorb all light but the ones Shiinotic allowed to stay. Karina averted her eyes right away, but Jonah tried to stare. To find something in those eyes. A pattern, hidden pupils, life.

    There was nothing.

    Its smile was the same. As if someone had taken away all color from that section of its face. Shiinotic tilted his head and approached Opal, who didn't seem shaken one bit. The fairy type touched her body with its fingers and let out a high-pitched squeal that resonated until it became a horrible, deep sound that sounded like static to Jonah's mind.

    "Do not try to rearrange the deal, Cimmerian," Opal said. "When a child veers off the course, you send them back."

    Shiinotic hissed, and Jonah covered his ears at the sound.

    "This is your fief," Opal agreed. "But we feed you plenty already, don't we?"

    The fairy type's thin fingers traced Opal's face and it nodded. It spoke for a few seconds, and the Gym Leader hummed.

    "I see. Well, we'll be on our way, then," Opal said. "If you're bored, talk to me before tormenting children. Thank you for your time, Cimmerian."

    Jonah watched in awe as Shiinotic sunk back into the ground and color returned to the world. It was more powerful than anything he could ever imagine, and yet Opal had talked it down without a Pokemon by her side. She walked back toward them and tapped their backs with her umbrella.

    "Follow."

    They walked in silence for a few minutes, but then Karina spoke up.

    "Um. Ms. Opal, thank you again. W—what was that Shiinotic?" She asked with a trembling voice. "Why is it just allowed to be there? Isn't that dangerous?"

    Opal didn't answer for some seconds. "Do you want to know? Knowledge does not come cheap, girl."

    "What does that mean?" She asked.

    "Do you want to know, yes or no? It is a simple question, is it not?"

    "Yes… yes I do," she answered.

    "That was Cimmerian," Opal said. "He created these woods thousands of years ago. You know the old stories about the Glimwood Tangle, don't you? That you would enter and get lost forever until you starved."

    "I thought that was just scary stories people told children," Jonah said.

    Opal scoffed. "Stories are born from the truth. It is a shame to see what all of this deprogramming had done to the youth. Now everything is just a story. Just! Hah! My life has been long and arduous, but I still cannot get used to that."

    "But why do you not just… kill it? Does that mean Ballonlea is the same?" Karina asked.

    Something wrapped around Karina's feet and dragged her underground as she screamed. Opal clicked her tongue and tapped her umbrella against the floor in a rhythmic fashion until she was finally released, her body full of dust and dry. Jonah helped her up, but she was trembling like a leaf.

    "Watch yourself, girl," Opal warned. "This is no game. We do not kill Cimmerian because this place belongs to him. Ballonlea's first inhabitants were refugees hiding from war and subjugation, and they formed this pact for protection. It cost them an arm and a leg, but they were safe. Our ancestors grew in power until they reopened themselves to the outside world two hundred years ago now, but even then, only the inhabitants could navigate the forest without dying. When trainers started to filter in and out fifty years ago when I opened Ballonlea's Gym, I crafted another pact to keep them safe."

    Jonah handed Karina the last of his water and she hungrily gulped it down.

    "Cimmerian drains on people's energy to live and grow in power. He was feeding on you every night and letting you recover until you were ready to be drained again," Opal explained. A shiver ran down Jonah's spine. "He was twisting the deal we made to the limit. He said he would have let you go after you ran out of food and water in a half-dead state," The old woman stopped herself to chuckle. "He was just having a bit of fun."

    Jonah spoke up, "So every time we woke up dry and with dust, we were—"

    "You'd been kept underground. Hypnotized to stay asleep," she nodded.

    Jonah bit his lip, and he finally began to see wild Pokemon again. Opal was quite spry on her feet— more than he had expected.

    "The Pokemon intrigue you, yes?" Opal said.

    "There weren't any when we were trapped…" Karina muttered.

    "They know to keep away from Cimmerian's feed."

    "We aren't feed—"

    Jonah grunted when Opal slapped his back with her umbrella.

    "You are. Here, we made it."

    The teenager blinked when he broke through the tree-line and saw Ballonlea in front of him. Buildings woven perfectly with trees and large mushrooms, lights dancing far above them and the huge stadium at the edges of the city. Yet somehow, even with all of this construction, this place was one with nature, and it showed. Nothing looked out of place. Not even the stadium.

    "What? A—already?" Jonah stuttered. "It hasn't even been ten minutes!"

    "I know my way around," Opal said. "Now, for your payment. You are disqualified from the Circuit this year effective immediately—"

    Both Jonah and Karina hung their head low.

    "—your parents have already been notified and have called upon both of you to return home to Hammerlocke. As for the payment for the information I gave you… I will ask you to never veer off the routes again. Any routes. If I hear about it, I will make sure to destroy both of your careers before they've even begun and you will never find a job in any Pokemon-related fields."

    Jonah nodded. "Thank you for saving us."

    Opal hummed as she left them, and they released their Pokemon to celebrate their survival and give them the good news.

    The walk back to Hammerlocke would be terrifying, especially since they'd have to go through the Glimwood Tangle again.



    Opal hummed a tune as she made her way back to her Gym. The Rangers had looked for nearly a week until she decided to step in herself and free them. Of course, she could have done so right away, but what was a life-threatening adventure without a lesson being learned? Now, they knew of the dangers that lurked in the Glimwood, and they would never throw themselves in such a situation again.

    Opal entered her office, which sat on the top floor of her Gym Stadium with a view on the entire field. She dialed for Leon's number and waited for their new Champion to pick up. Arceus, he was annoyingly upbeat, but she couldn't deny he was a powerful one.

    "Hey, you old bat! How's it going? Heard you saved some children today, good job!"

    "Enough with the pleasantries. Cimmerian is growing bored. He misses the life he had before trainers came into the picture and infested his forest."

    Leon stopped speaking and she heard him sigh. "What, then?"

    "Leave him to me, Leon," Opal said. "But when I die, someone will have to pick up the slack, and none of my trainees are as good as I am."

    "We could… restrain him when you do," Leon said.

    "If you mean kill, say it, boy," Opal snapped. "And no. There is too much history at play. It would be a waste."

    "History is not as valuable as lives."

    "I disagree, but you know that already," Opal said. "But killing him would not be as simple as you think regardless. It would take months. Years, even. Cimmerian is very good at hiding, and he will take the entire city down with him. There is a reason the ground below the forest is full of century-old, preserved corpses, Leon."

    Leon exhaled. "How much time do we have, then?"

    "I can buy you maybe twenty years after my death," Opal mused. "But I want to train you, Leon. I don't care how busy you are. You make time for Raihan, and all he does is use his position to get women. Absolute scum."

    "I'll make time," Leon said. "Sorry."

    Opal hung up and left it at that. Cimmerian was harsh but fair, and he was refreshingly forward. For all Galar appeared squeaky clean from the outside, it was different when looking from within. Opal knew of the covered-up scandals, the corruption, the waste. She was a relic of an older era where death had been far more common, and yet she missed it.

    And now, she had to contend with a Champion that was in the pocket of a select few companies and Chairman Rose.

    Opal pursed her lips. "I've got a decade left in me. I can keep the damage to a minimum, but after?"

    Well, after would be uncharted territory.


    Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric, Nord, Filthymacgyver, Grey J, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller
     
  4. Extras: Side Story 3 - The Glacier
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    SIDE STORY - THE GLACIER

    Name: REGICE
    Class: PAC-Z
    Status: DORMANT*

    Description


    Regice is an incredibly dangerous entity with a robust build and a crystalline appearance. It is 12'3 feet tall and is predominantly composed of an icy-blue angular shell. This outer layer appears to mimic the facets of natural ice crystal lattice, but it is indestructible to any attacks despite it being identical to normal ice on a molecular level and the surface is free of any blemishes or impurities. Regice is therefore incapable of suffering any permanent damage or of being terminated. Pokeballs do not work on Regice and only serve to agitate it. Like its siblings, Regice's face is dotted with yellow lights. This one dons a 'plus' pattern that can dim or flash depending on Regice's current state. Regice is capable of making sounds that remind people of a high-pitched continuous frequency that is known to stutter and 'glitch'. Regice's body maintains a core temperature of 0 Kelvin at all times and its surroundings are permanently frozen. No human can approach the Pokemon without specialized gear without immediately freezing to death. Regice is known to disrupt any attempts to Teleport close to it, instantly freezing any human or Pokemon that attempts to do so even while in its dormant state or when wearing protective gear. It is also known to disrupt psychics in general.

    Containment Procedure

    Regice is currently located in Mount Coronet at Point █████. Historical records do not go far enough to know how Regice reached this place, and the chamber it is contained in was built before the League got there. Regice is to be kept in its chamber at all times. No personnel below the rank of League Commander or Class 5 Scientist may enter the chamber save for experimentation. Regice is kept asleep, and will stay asleep as long as █████████ lays dormant in █████████, but it is known to have periods of agitation during the ritual that we still do not know the reason for. The working theory is that the few seconds █████████ awakens during the ritual is enough to sometimes wake Regice or its siblings from their slumber. Do not approach unless Regice awakens or you have direct permission from a Commander, a Class 5 Scientist, or someone of higher rank.

    Experimentation Log #192 (Doctor ██████)

    Date: January 17th ████

    Deathrow inmates ████ ████ and ███ ███████ were brought into Regice's chamber wearing specialized suits and kept there for 5-hour intervals. The experiment seemed to be going well, but they described a particular feeling of frigidness that grew worse and worse. At the fifteenth go, they were shivering so uncontrollably that they could barely function. ███ ███████ described the feeling as 'the most painful thing they had ever experienced in their life'.

    Date: January 28th ████

    The two test subjects seem to be cursed with a coldness that will never leave. Regice has sipped past their skin and into their bones, and nothing we have tried will warm them. Despite this, they appear to be in perfectly healthy condition. The cold makes it impossible to sleep until they fall unconscious from exhaustion, and they are stuck in a permanent cycle of tiredness. Hallucinations and nonsensical ramblings are commonplace, and they both have expressed a desire to see Regice again so they could 'be complete'. It is my understanding that they are feeling compelled to freeze to death.

    Date: February 12th ████

    The inmates physically assaulted League personnel when they were brought lunch. Seeing as there was no progress in the experiment, we decided to terminate them.

    Recommendation: Regice must never be visited by the same person more than five times. It is unknown if we could space these visits out to abate the effects Regice has on the human psyche. More experimentation is required. Requesting the shipment of more inmates.


    Incident Report #3

    Date: June 12th ████

    Regice's agitation during the ritual on █████████ was far beyond normal levels. It floated up from its frozen podium and fired a beam of ice at the Chamber's door, freezing and destroying it instantly. ██ League Members died from the single blast and ███ more died from the following events. Regice broke out of its Chamber and Protocol Glacier was initiated. Champion Cynthia and the newly appointed member of the Elite Four Flint Teleported as close as they could, prompting much confusion from Conference watchers since they were both spectating a match at the time. The temperature around Mount Coronet began to drop steadily at a rate of one degree every twenty-seven minutes. It is theorized that eventually, the entire mountain and its surroundings would have reached the temperature of 0 Kelvin if given enough time, but it is unknown if █████ ██████'s influence would have eventually countered or would have superseded this phenomenon. Cynthia and Flint successfully contained Regice, temporarily knocking it out after a battle that lasted █ hours. This marked the third time that Regice had ever woken up fully and the first time during Champion Cynthia's tenure. Fewer League Trainers died this time than the last two incidents.
     
  5. Extras: Side Story 4 - Autobiography I
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    You could have read this early on my Discord or even earlier on my Patreon


    Side Story - Autobiography I

    "Arceus, I'm so excited to read this," Cece said as I nestled my back against her chest with Cynthia's autobiography in my hands.

    "Excited? I'm more intrigued," I muttered. "Can you see okay?"

    My girlfriend nodded, wrapping her hands around my waist. "It's more like I'm wondering what experiences could have turned her into the woman she is today. Plus, this is knowledge few people have. Sure, trainers from her generation probably heard about her a whole lot, but delving into her thought process is an entirely different thing."

    "That's true enough," I nodded. I couldn't lie that I was salivating at the thought of getting to know Cynthia's psyche, even if she had written it a decade ago after having spent ten years in power.

    I turned the first page, we started our reading.

    This book is dedicated to my twin sister Celeste, my grandmother Kirsten, to the people of Sinnoh, to the past Champions who had to walk the path I tread and to future Champions who will follow in my wake. The mantle of duty is heavy, and I hope history will look upon me favorably. I have done all in my power to do good to Sinnoh, and I will continue to do so for as long as I live. On that, you have my word.

    Chapter 1 - Encounter

    I'd always found Celestic boring in my childhood. These days, I desperately want to go back to simpler times like the ones I lived through in that town.

    In my childhood, Celestic was even more barren than it was today. The people were almost all old or young. Adults mostly left the city as soon as they could to go to greener pastures, even if they had to brave route 210 to do so. There was one school, one grocery store around a few hundred people at most. There were no televisions and only a few radios, and I remember going to the Pokemon Center to hear battles commentated on their radios as a young child. However, even the Center was old. It was underfunded, understaffed and used outdated equipment that wasn't even using the new revolutionary Ditto cells to heal Pokemon yet. The city was flanked by Mount Coronet in the west and a land of fog in the east. We were an island. Lonely, forgotten, we did not matter.

    But that did not stop me from seeing all the trainers passing through the city each year. I remember asking my grandmother about the scary strangers as I looked at them out our dusty window, and she would answer 'trainers' with much disdain.

    Celestic didn't like trainers. They were rude, did not respect their religion, and walked all over us because who would even stop them? Rangers? We didn't have any of those. The League was preoccupied with more important matters, and Celestic always got the short end of the stick. My grandmother blamed the government for this, and by extension trainers. It was hard not to when Celestic got no funding and help from wild Pokemon attacks always came weeks too late. We had to rely on a few old trainers and their old partners for protection.

    My grandmother's hatred for trainers passed onto my sister Celeste, but me? I'd always been intrigued. They were a gate into the outside world. They carried stories, scars, new things I'd never seen before. They reminded me that there was a world beyond my little island. A world I wanted to explore.

    One day when I was six, the lid blew open and I failed to contain my urges. I decided to skip school and run away from home.

    It was a foolish choice by every single metric. I ran into route 210 as far away as my little legs could carry me and I got lost in the fog. The stories from trainers had made it sound like Floaroma was just a stone's throw away, and I believed I'd get there in an hour at most. And yet, I ran and ran until I collapsed on the ground and wheezed to desperately pump air into my lungs. The fact that I'd still been alive after so long out of Celestic was a miracle in itself. I stayed on the ground for a long time, just staring into the foggy sky as the mist clung to my throat. It was hard to breathe. Hard to see. Hard to think. It wasn't the middle of winter quite yet, but it was cold up in the mountains and my clothes were wet from the fog.

    I thought I'd die here, but I was happy I'd seen something else. A new slice of the world I'd never known. I remember it clear as day, laughing and coughing as I waited for a wild

    Pokemon to snatch me away.

    What came up to me was a Gible.

    She'd been wounded, and I didn't know from what. She was practically crawling on the floor and her eyes were hollow. Dried blood covered her and bled into her red stomach. Gible collapsed next to me as I stared at her.

    I held out a hand and touched her head.

    She blinked at me and growled.

    I don't exactly remember who fell unconscious first. Eventually, I closed my eyes and just drifted off to sleep.

    I didn't wake up in the afterlife. There was no Arceus to greet me and hug me with its thousand arms. No bliss. Instead, I felt a hand touch my shoulder. Old man Richmond had come to look for me with his two Arcanines. He was a Great War veteran that was arguably the most powerful trainer in Celestic. He'd seen fighting at the front between Kanto and Johto and seen one of Zapdos' avatars with his own eyes. The war had abused him. Scars covered his entire body, from shallow ones to large ones that couldn't be ignored, and it was the same for his two Arcanine. At first, he thought that Gible had hurt me, and he considered killing her. War veterans are almost all gone today, but they were everywhere when I was a child, living out their twilight years. The war had scarred them all, and they knew killing and death as much as breathing, sleeping and eating. He wasn't going to let a member of his community be hurt without passing retribution.

    I vehemently defended Gible, yelling with such vigor that my throat hurt for hours afterward. I distinctly remember the shift in his eyes then. He'd turned from a soldier back into an old man. Still, no matter how many times I pleaded with him, he left Gible there to die and carried me on his shoulder back to Celestic. I got an earful from every single adult I passed that evening. An event like a child running away was obviously the talk of town, and everyone had something to say about it.

    As for my grandmother? She was just glad I was alive, as was my sister. People told her she needed to raise me right for this to never happen again. Kirsten never hit me or my sister. She'd gone through so much, losing her daughter in childbirth and we never knew our father. My mother had been too scared to tell her the man's name, and it is easy to understand what happened to her now that I'm an adult.

    I am the daughter of a rapist, and so is my twin sister Celeste.

    It has weighed on my mind for years, and it is my first time exposing that fact to the world. I now know who my father is since he contacted me when I became the Champion, but we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?

    A few weeks passed, but the attention around my escape never died down. Again, Celestic was slow in every aspect of life. Whenever I went to school, the other children would ask me to tell them about the outside. The world beyond the fog and the mountain. I lied and embellished what I'd seen, saying that I saw great towers of steel like those 'skyscrapers' the trainers from other cities liked to talk about, or that I saw great battles between wild Pokemon. It was the first time I'd made any friends. I didn't know it at the time, but our family were outcasts, and adults often told their children not to play with me or Celeste because we'd been born out of wedlock. They'd call us bastards under their breaths when our backs were turned. Celestic was old, and with age came prejudice and discrimination.

    The Gible I'd seen still fascinated me. We had shared a moment, and yet I had abandoned her. Was she dead? If she wasn't, where was she now? Had the Pokemon that attacked her struck again? Questions upon questions. I wanted to run away again, but my grandmother would suffer again if I did. I'd asked old man Richmond to take me there again, but he wouldn't budge.

    Curiosity has always driven me from a young age, and it still does. Questions have always consumed me, and I needed answers even if my life was at stake.

    So I hatched a plan.

    Celeste and I shared a bed due to how small our home was, and after begging for days, I convinced her not to tattle to our grandmother, but she would only agree if I let her come with me to protect me. We snuck out in the middle of the night, armed with a kitchen knife and one of grandma's old gas lights. Two six-years-olds in the middle of one of the deadliest routes in the region with no Pokemon of their own.

    Our bravado didn't last long. Celeste clung to my arm the entire way through as I called for Gible's name. I didn't even know if she was still there, and the plan was stupid, but we were children. We didn't know any better.

    My actions would not be without consequences.

    It was a Zangoose that came upon us first. It was probably famished, because it was thin and ragged. Two human children would be easy pickings for it even if it was weakened. I gripped the knife tightly and waited for it to come. In retrospect, Zangoose was rather weak, young and inexperienced. Its movements were clumsy and slow as it dashed toward us, but we had no way of outrunning it.

    That didn't mean we didn't try.

    Celeste ran slower than I did, and I turned back when I heard her scream. She was lying on the ground with two huge gashes in her back and blood seeped out of her wounds. The gas lamp had fallen on the ground, the glass around it having shattered. I couldn't think. I ran toward Zangoose with a knife in hand to save her, but I stopped dead in my tracks when Gible appeared out of the fog and bit into its shoulder. Her wounds were healed, but still present. The first scars that would ever mar her body. I dragged my sister away from the fight and tried to press down on her back to stop the bleeding. That was all I knew about wounds. Bleeding was bad, and it needed to be stopped. I nearly hurled when I saw all the blood on my hands, but after thirty seconds I turned back toward Gible.

    She was losing.

    Zangoose was too quick and nimble to get caught without the element of surprise, and its claws could pierce through the young dragon's scales. The last licks of light from the lamp illuminated their battle, but everything beyond was a sea of fog and darkness. As if the four of us were the only people in the world, fighting for survival. A primal feeling rose in my chest at that moment. It was the first time I'd ever felt something like this. As my sister lay, crying and bleeding at my feet, as Zangoose fought desperately not to starve, as Gible defended us with all she had.

    I felt joy. A twisted, broken kind of satisfaction.

    I gripped my knife as tight as I could until the color drained from my hands, and I circled around the fight. I abandoned my sister. I wanted to fight. To live.
    To experience.

    Something clicked in my brain. I saw battle. I understood it. I wanted it. I craved it. It was my oxygen! My sustenance! Without it, I would die, or at least that was how I felt in the moment.

    Orders flew out of my mouth before I even had time to think about them. Not moves, but strategy. I told Gible when to jump back, to go in and claw or bite Zangoose. When openings presented themselves, I would run in as quickly as I could and stab my knife into Zangoose. My arms were that of a child, so the wounds were shallow, but it served as a distraction for Gible to strike. We fought for what seemed like forever. My mouth was wide open, grinning from ear to ear until it hurt.

    I was having the time of my life.

    Until Zangoose slashed across my gut and sent me flying.

    Gible managed to force it the flee as I got up. My cut was shallower than Celeste's, and I could still walk, although barely. My smile vanished when I realized that Celeste was still on the ground. She was still breathing, although barely. We were forty minutes out of town, and I would never have the strength to carry her the entire way. The magnitude of the situation slowly sunk in. My sister was almost dead, and it was my fault.

    What would the adults say?

    I spoke with Gible with a trembling voice, and she helped me carry Celeste with her mouth. She was careful not to bite down too hard and we got back without further incidents. I put as much pressure on her wounds as I could. When we were home, she was unconscious. I told Gible to meet me at the city's entrance again in a month and she fled into the night.

    I was given the dressing down of a lifetime. Dozens of people yelling at me, saying that it was a miracle Celeste was alive, that I was the devil in disguise, possessed, awful, a monster. My grandmother joined in this time, and it was completely justified. I had done a mistake, and we had only just barely survived.

    The voices sounded far away to me. What I cared about was what I'd felt during the battle. It was a burst of ecstasy that I needed to feel again no matter what. I was placed under lockdown in my grandmother's house as soon as my wounds were patched up, and my sister would have to stay in the hospital for months. We were twins, and we would have twin scars. Hers on her back and mine on my stomach.

    From that point on, I wanted not only to explore but to chase the thrill of battle.



    Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Benjamin R, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric, Nord, Filthymacgyver, Grey J, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M, Tina M, dotAlice, Nova, Plasmatique, Peg, Lodris, Chester, Powernap, Kolby
     
  6. Extras: Grace and Cecilia
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    A user on my Discord called Yemdm drew Grace and Cece! Give them a warm thanks!

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2023
  7. Extras: Side Story 5 - Silph Co. Raid
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    You could have read this early on my Discord or even earlier on my Patreon. Have this Side Story while I rest my fingers.


    Side Story 5 - Silph Co. Raid

    Silph Co. Headquarters was his.

    Giovanni Campione sipped on some gin as he sat on President's Koyasu's luxurious, leather couch. He let out a satisfied groan as he enjoyed the strong flavor. Two Team Rocket Grunts and Executive Archer stood by his side. The thin, pale, blue-haired man's face was twisted with such disturbing pleasure that Koyasu couldn't help but recoil every time Archer stared in his general direction, and his lean Houndoom kept growling at Koyasu as well. Giovanni had always despised that psychopath Archer. Unlike Giovanni, he wanted nothing more but to inflict suffering. So long as he could have his fun, he would be a useful dog.

    And loyal. One could not forget that.

    "Mr. President," Giovanni smiled, leaning in to exude confidence. The truth was, this was a dangerous play. For him to be anywhere near where Team Rocket operated would have been madness to his previous self, but the opportunity here warranted it. "Let's talk business. You know what I want."

    Giovanni had Teleported here before having his dark types flood the building to delay the League, and more of his Executives had struck important regions all over the country to confuse them. More importantly, though?

    Mewtwo had been let out to play. Let Lance, the Elite Four and their trainers chew on that for a good few hours.

    "W—what could you po—possibly want from us?" President Koyasu stammered.

    "The Master Ball, you buffoon!" Archer snarled.

    Giovanni raised his hand, and Archer silenced himself. "The Master Ball, and its schematics. We want to… be able to recreate it."

    "Madness!" Koyasu exclaimed. "I will give you the Master Ball, but I can't allow its production to fall into your hands!"

    "Look at that! You've found a backbone," Giovanni grinned.

    "Thousands— tens of thousands are dying because of your very actions, Giovanni," Koyasu said. "Why? Money? Why would a Gym Leader like you do something like this—"

    "Why?" Giovanni scoffed sarcastically. "Ah, yes, why? Money is only a secondary goal. It is for the greater good of Kanto, of course."

    Giovanni sipped on some more gin and calmly placed the glass on the coffee table. "Tell me, my dear president. Did you fight in the war?"

    The man shook his head.

    "Coward," Giovanni spat. "Had I been of age, I would have volunteered instead of letting the conscription officers come at my door. Let me guess, your wealthy family paid them off? We have time… so why don't we talk a little."

    Giovanni cursed at himself. Why talk instead of running out of here? Part of him felt compelled to tell his story, and it wasn't like they were going to let him live regardless. Koyasu was the only one who had seen him, after all. Team Rocket had been slandered by the League for years ever since its inception in the post-war years. His mother had been at its head until he realized she was only after profit. He realized there was no grander goal to her actions, and then he killed her and took control. For the greater good of Kanto.

    President Koyasu could only muster a tight nod.

    "You want to know why, Koyasu? Because Kanto and Johto being a part of the same nation makes me sick," Giovanni growled. There was so much anger in his tone that he felt his vocal chords strain. "Indigo must be dissolved, and the war must be started again. Kanto must rule Johto. We are not equals. They must be subjugated. But that is not all, Mr. President. Kanto had broken through the front line in the last months of the war. Victory was right within our grasp."

    Giovanni held out his hand and clenched a fist.

    "But those damned Legends," he slammed his fist against the table. His glass rattled against the old wood. "They ruined it all."

    Giovanni remembered it as clear as day despite having been a child. Fire incarnate, flying over Viridian. Moltres hadn't even aimed at them, and it hadn't even been that big. It had just flown over his city on the way to the front, and half of it had burned to smithereens, killing hundreds of thousands. The city still bore the fire's scars to this day.

    Mewtwo, Giovanni thought to himself. A clone of the progenitor Mew, mixed with Ditto and human cells that had been designed over the course of decades and who was capable of dispatching any Legendary Avatar in a one-on-one fight. Once Giovanni took over and the war started again, he would be their contingency should the birds intervene once again.

    With a little luck, Mewtwo would kill Lance and his Elite Four to soften Indigo for him.

    "Madness," Koyasu finally answered with a trembling voice.

    "I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the matter," Giovanni said.

    "I do. You'll kill me anyway," he said with a tired sigh. "I will not be allowed to live now that I've seen who truly leads the Rockets."

    "Oh, of course," Giovanni nodded. "But your family might."

    President Koyasu's face lost all of its color. "No…"

    Team's Rocket leader snapped his fingers, and one of his grunts produced a picture in his hand. It was President Koyasu's two daughters, their husbands, his son, his wife and his grandchildren, all tied up and with tears streaming down their face.

    "Now we can stop playing these games," Giovanni said "You must—"

    At that moment, another grunt knocked at the door's office and let herself in. She saluted Giovanni and whispered into his ears.

    "Sir, a trainer has broken into the building. He is currently breaking past all of our forces and was last seen on the third floor."

    Giovanni drummed his fingers over the seat, and his Pokeballs seemed a lot heavier on his belt. "Drag Koyasu out of here for a second."

    His two grunts quickly executed his order and grabbed the president out of his office.

    "Do you have any more information for me?" Giovanni said.

    "The descriptions all point toward it being Red Isamu, sir."

    "Arceus, damn it!" Giovanni snarled. "Why now of all times?"

    This wasn't Team Rocket's first scuffle with Red. First in Mount Moon, where some low-level grunts were trying to steal some fossils to sell, but Giovanni had not worried about that event. Those grunts had been the lowest of the low. New recruits trying to prove themselves.

    But then, it never stopped. In Cerulean, he dealt with a group of grunts trying to smuggle TMs. In Celadon, Red broke into one of their bases and defeated an Executive. Giovanni had been too busy pretending to be a Gym Leader to keep his cover to intervene. Then, there was the Pokemon Tower incident with that damned Blue where they had stopped Team Rocket from killing Cubone to sell their skulls.

    Again, again, and again.

    The sheer amount of growth he had shown these last few months shouldn't have been possible outside of war. Never had he seen a trainer grow this powerful this quickly, but then again, Red had practically been raised by that peace-loving fool Samuel Oak, and had his full backing. Blue was the same.

    "Swarm him," Giovanni said. "Don't let him get up here, or I'll have your heads. Bring Koyasu back in."

    The woman paled. "Um… there's also another individual in the building. Blue Oak, sir. It appears they are teaming up to bring us down."

    Giovanni clenched the bridge of his nose. "Bring. Him. Back. In."

    The grunt scampered off, and President Koyasu was dragged back into the room— with an extra bruise forming around his eye, Giovanni noticed.

    "The Master Ball and its schematics. Now."

    "You'll spare my family?" He asked with desperation oozing in every part of his body.

    "I will. They have no blood in this fight."

    President Koyasu pointed toward his desk with a trembling hand, and Archer tried to open the drawer. When he realized it was locked, he had his Houndoom smash it open with a Headbutt, and the Master Ball fell onto the teal-tiled floor. Its dark purple tint and yellow 'M' were almost hypnotic. So much power at the tip of his fingers.

    "The schematics are downstairs in the basement where we experiment on making new types of Pokeballs," he said. "You'll have to send your grunts and have them talk with one of our scientists. They'll know."

    "Very well," Giovanni said. Koyasu winced, expecting his death, but Giovanni could only laugh. "You aren't dying yet, Koyasu. Not until we verify that the schematics are actually there. Archer! Go downstairs— avoid any battle at all costs. Let our grunts slow Red and Blue down. Take a few scientists with you. They'll help us get started on producing our Master Balls."

    "Yes, Giovanni sir!" He bellowed before running off with his Houndoom.

    With a monopoly on Master Balls and Mewtwo, Team Rocket would be unstoppable. Many dangerous Pokemon in the wild would now be able to be caught on a whim. Who cared if they hated their new masters? Drop them in the middle of a fight, and ninety-nine percent of trainers wouldn't think twice before attacking first and forcing them to retaliate to save themselves.

    And if he lost a few grunts to them? No matter. Those were always expendable.

    The minutes passed agonizingly slowly. Giovanni couldn't help but stare at the clock and internally curse when only a minute or two had passed. Archer was too slow for his liking, and their radios had been jumbled by the darkness swelling around the building. Giovanni moistened his lips and couldn't help but feel his hands start to sweat. It wasn't so much that he thought he would lose. Talented or not, he would not suffer a defeat from two trainers that were this green.

    It was that should one of them escape, his entire plan would collapse. He could always run. Order his dark types to stand down and Teleport away. But Giovanni was so close. Should the state of the building shift, then that might alert the League that something had changed, but more than that, Giovanni's vanity would not allow him to not be present for the culmination of years of planning and work.

    An explosion rang downstairs, and the entire building rattled. Giovanni dusted his head and sighed as he stood up.

    "You keep Koyasu bound in this room," he said to his two grunts. "He must not be allowed to escape."

    Giovanni arranged his suit and tie, making sure to look his best before stepping out of Koyasu's office. Large, window panes allowed him to face Saffron in its full glory. The streets down below were swarming with Rockets. The city was his. He had conquered it through might alone, and he planned on conquering many more. The hallway was large with a high ceiling and plenty of space to battle, but Giovanni could not exactly go all out here. If he collapsed the entire building, he would die, and all of his plans would be reduced to ash. With Mewtwo here, he would have been able to do whatever he wanted…

    It is too late for regrets, Viridian's Gym Leader steeled himself, and he released his Nidoqueen and Nidoking.

    "Prepare for battle," he spoke.

    The two poison types grunted.

    The two boys arrived three minutes later.

    Blue Oak, always with that haughty smirk on his face and that necklace his mother had given him. A simple stainless steel charm that he kept around his neck at all times. Red Isamu was shorter and wore his usual red cap and jersey and his face sported his usual blank expression that he'd gotten known for. Pokemon swarmed them on all sides.

    For Red, a Pikachu sat on his shoulder while a wounded Charizard and Snorlax flanked him. Espeon rubbed itself on his leg. He released a perfectly healthy Lapras onto the cold tiles. Five Pokemon left, then, Giovanni acknowledged. And that Pikachu would be useless against his ground types. Blue was in a better shape. An Arcanine, Exeggutor, Kadabra, Blastoise, an Umbreon, and lastly a Pidgeot flying overhead.

    Mere children, Giovanni thought. Both were only eleven and yet they had caused so much trouble. It was his first time seeing them in person, and it was hard not to feel rage at the thought that two eleven-year-olds had been thorns at his side for so long.

    "So it was you, jackass?" Blue smirked, leaning forward with his hands in his pockets. "Arceus damn, Viridian's Giovanni at the head of Team Rocket. Gramps always said you were a patriot, but you're a damned terrorist? Think you're hot shit?"

    "Focus," Red whispered.

    Blue shrugged. "Fuck off."

    "Aim to kill," Giovanni said.

    Poison belched out of both Nidoking and Nidoqueen's mouths, but each served a different purpose. Nidoking's poison hovered in the air and grew into solid balls while Nidoqueen's spread throughout the ground, separating both. Nidoking grunted, and his poisonous spheres rushed toward both trainers.

    Red whispered something under his breath while Blue screamed.

    "Leaf Storm, Hurricane, Icy Wind!"

    Exeggutor's eyes shone, and it released hundreds of leaves into the air that immediately set to strike at Giovanni. Nidoqueen dragged him toward her and wrapped him in a soft protect, but that was not the end of it. Pidgeot flapped its humongous wings and the Leaf Storm intensified while Blastoise added to the attack with a frigid wind that froze Nidoqueen's poison and Nidoking's poisonous spheres. The purple ground type grunted in pain when he was hit by the combined attack and actually slid back. The entire facade— the huge window— shattered with a deafening explosion, and the wind rushed inside of the building.

    Espeon followed and targeted each of Nidoking's spheres with a rush of psychic energy, blowing them up. Giovanni frowned when each explosion was contained in an individual barrier to keep their trainers safe. Such skill, Giovanni lamented. Children they may have been, they would have made excellent Executives.

    Charizard roared as it soared in the air and Blue's attack sustained itself. A white-hot Flamethrower submerged Nidoking's armor. Nidoqueen was forced into keeping up her Protect for as long as possible. Giovanni realized he would have to go all out, consequences be damned. These children were aiming to kill him as well, it seemed.

    He released the rest of his Pokemon. Persian, Rhydon, Dugtrio and Kangaskhan.

    "Nidoqueen, you keep protecting me," Giovanni muttered through the howling Leaf Storm. "The rest, rush in and overwhelm them."

    Pikachu hopped off Red's shoulder and in a split second, it rammed into Persian's flank with a Volt Tackle. The normal type hacked as it rolled away, shards of glass penetrating his skin. Dugtrio spat out a few globs of mud at the electric type, but it was far too fast to get hit. Rhydon flexed, and shards of rock exploded out from his hand and barrelled toward Red. Exeggutor joined with Espeon to protect Red, and the Leaf Storm intensified.

    A barrier combined with a technique as intensive as Leaf Storm, Giovanni mused. Impressive. "Nidoking, Kangaskhan, Rhydon! Go in!"

    The three Pokemon ran forth to carry out Giovanni's will while the rest of his Pokemon hung back in support.

    Snorlax rolled in front of Blue and Red while Kadabra propelled him forward through Psychic. Nidoking heaved to stop the massive normal type while Rhydon and Kangaskhan sidestepped it. An Ice Punch rammed into Nidoking's gut, and the poison type retaliated by stabbing Snorlax with poison dripping from his horn. Pikachu kept dodging every single strike Persian dealt and retaliated with quick, focused Thunderbolts while Charizard and Pidgeot struck from afar.

    Rhydon came upon Blastoise, who angled its cannons and struck at the rock type's armor with a Hydro Pump. Kangaskhan was free to reign, however. The normal type broke into a run, her fist glowing bright white as it struck toward Blue. No psychic would stop her Mega Punch.

    Giovanni's face fell when tendrils broke out of every inch of Umbreon's body and wrapped around Kangaskhan. She would have broken through had Espeon not begun to assault her mind.

    Red spoke, and an eerie light escaped from Lapras' horn. Confuse Ray!

    "Kangaskhan, stand back!"

    The normal type took a step backward, but psychic force restrained her long enough for the Confuse Ray to get her. Giovanni clicked his tongue, grabbing his Pokeball to recall her, but it was then that Arcanine teleported—

    No, it was Extreme Speed. The fire type rammed into Kangaskhan and threw her off the side of the building. Giovanni's heart sank as Kangaskhan's screams grew more distant, and then he heard a huge crash and a car alarm. If she wasn't dead, she was only barely alive. Giovanni clicked his tongue. Persian finally slashed across Pikachu's gut, sending blood splatter everywhere. The electric type cried out in pain, and Charizard swept into the Leaf Storm. Pikachu quickly hopped onto its back and retreated to safety.

    "Power Gem."

    Persian's gem shimmered bright red, and Rhydon screamed as he ripped off chunks of rocks from his body. The shards turned white and shot out like lasers. Even then, Rhydon was too busy overwhelming Blastoise with sheer power. Shards of rocks flew off of him like shrapnel with every strike. The sharp rocks easily tore through Blastoise's gut, and he didn't have a good angle to strike back with his canons. Kadabra tried to hold the rock type off of it, but there was no way it was going to stop Rhydon.

    Kadabra was the weakest link.

    "Dugtrio!" Giovanni yelled. "Kill that Kadabra!"

    The ground type blurred, catching both Red and Blue off guard. Not many people were used to his Dugtrio's speed. Pikachu jumped off Charizard's back in an attempt to slam Dugtrio with Iron Tail, but the ground type buried itself to avoid the attack and got in front of Kadabra. Claws reached out of the floor and slashed as deep as he possibly could across the psychic's chest and arm. One hit was enough to penetrate any barrier and send it flying, and Blue recalled the psychic type before more harm could be done to him.

    Lapras screamed and let out a frigid Ice Beam that froze everything in its vicinity. The attack was so quick that one of Dugtrio's head were hit. Pikachu took advantage and hit the same head with Iron Tail while Exeggutor's Leaf Storm switched focus.

    "Swap with Persian," Giovanni whispered to Nidoqueen.

    The poison type wheezed, finally letting go of Protect and Persian instantly replaced the shimmering green barrier before Charizard had a chance to hit him. Giovanni had trained the two in absolute defense. They could keep Protect going for a long time.

    Nidoking finally broke through Snorlax, whose gut was bloodied and torn open and his hand loomed over Exeggutor with a Poison Jab while Nidoqueen stood on all fours and spat out a glob of poison in their general direction. Arcanine blurred in front of the Poison Jab and bit into Nidoking's tough hide with all of the elemental fangs at the same time. Many times, Arcanine had tried to find an opening to fling his Pokemon off the building again, but he had not found any.

    Meanwhile, Pidgeot was not silent. The flying type screeched, and a huge sphere of energy concentrated in its mouth. Hyper Beam?! Here?! Giovanni internally screamed with a surge of panic. Blue was going to get them all killed! The attack swept through the hallway, creating an enormous explosion that—

    Everything collapsed, and Giovanni fell to the floor below with his entire team. Red had somehow climbed on top of Charizard in the nick of time, although his arm was bleeding heaps while Exeggutor had spared Blue from the worst of the blast and held its trainer in a psychic bubble.

    Giovanni's face and suit were caked in dust, debris and his own blood. Charizard swept down with a Flamethrower aimed directly at him, but Persian jumped in front of him with Protect. Giovanni's eyes swept the current floor. Umbreon, Lapras, Snorlax, Blastoise and Pikachu had fallen down while the rest remained on the upper floors. Exeggutor placed Blue back on the ground and Giovanni's head split open until cold numbing darkness coated his every pore.

    "Finish off that Lapras," Giovanni spat, standing up and dusting off his suit. Confuse Ray was too much of a threat, but it had tired it out somewhat.

    The water type was largely stationary and as good as a target as any. Nidoking and Rhydon rushed forward, but Pikachu couldn't stop being everywhere. It harassed their legs, dodging every single one of their slow attacks and hitting back with Iron Tail. It split itself off with Double Team just like it had done against Persian and bought Lapras enough time to hit Rhydon with a Hydro Pump. Red pointed forward, and Charizard blurred. The trainer dropped off of his back, landing with a clumsy roll while the fire type slammed into Rhydon at full force and grabbed him.

    "Nidoking, keep going after Lapras. Dugtrio, help against Charizard."

    The flying type's claws shimmered white and buried themselves into Rhydon while the rock type repeatedly hit it in the head with a fist that exploded with Stone Edge every time it struck. Nidoking mauled Lapras, who cried out in pain as Nidoking gored its neck and secreted poison into its bloodstream. Red quickly recalled the water type, and Espeon jumped down to meet him while Blue did the same, not bothering to use a Psychic or his massive Pidgeot.

    Charizard flared up with power that came from nowhere— Blaze! Dugtrio sent a few balls of exploding mud at the fire type, but it only had eyes for Rhydon and grabbed the rock type into a Seismic Toss, flying off into the air and out of the destroyed window.

    Nidoking turned to Snorlax, who landed with a boom on the floor and created a crater, but Giovanni signaled the poison type, and he took a few steps back, returning to Giovanni's side.

    "Whew," Blue sighed, noticing a lull in the fight. "This really gets my blood pumping. Hey Red, get a load of this guy! He really thinks he can take us."

    Blue recalled the rest of his team and set them down on this floor, and Red did the same.

    "Surrender to the League," Red said, ignoring his fellow trainer. "Strike a deal with Lance."

    "Hah!" Giovanni cackled. From the corner of his vision, Charizard carried Rhydon back down and a shock wave rocked his body. A second later, he heard a huge crash. Rhydon was down. "It is true what they say! You are a child of few words, Red," Giovanni spat out the name. "A deal? Lance would rather see me killed, and I have gone too far to give up now."

    "Well, die," Blue shrugged. "Not my problem."

    Four Pokemon left to their nine, Giovanni's mind raced. And that was if he counted Persian, who was straining to keep up his Protect. They were stronger than he expected. Easily past the level of eight badges already.

    Giovanni could not afford to send off his Pokemon into the fray any longer.

    "Stick together. Persian, swap with Nidoqueen. You're going to hit their psychics—" Giovanni whispered.

    "Keep whispering, loser! You'll still fucking lose," Blue grinned. "Umbreon, go on the offense! Arcanine, you're support!"

    The dark type sunk into the floor and crawled up on the half-broken walls while Arcanine ran toward Giovanni's Persian. The feline's eyes glared, and Arcanine froze for a split second, allowing the normal type to pass him. Umbreon snarled as he jumped out of the wall, darkness exploding out of him with a harrowing silence.

    The dark submerged all of Giovanni's Pokemon, and Nidoking blindly swept his arm and tail around. Right at that moment, Charizard flew back into the building, not blinded with rage but with determination as it spat out a Dragon Pulse at Dugtrio, who buried to avoid the blast.

    Blastoise's Rapid Spin sent high-pressurized water flying everywhere, including the building's walls. They easily collapsed from the strain, and Persian yowled in pain, but a Night Slash cut across Espeon's barrier and Dugtrio was close behind with a Night Slash of his own. Persian quickly ran back to Giovanni's side, going around every opponent and dodging their attacks with ease until Arcanine slammed into him with another Extreme Speed.

    Snorlax was too slow, so Pikachu was the last line of defense. Thunder roared, and Persian was caught in the blast until his fur caught on fire, but Dugtrio was immune. Espeon cried out as Dugtrio's claws slashed at her, but Giovanni's smile fell when Exeggutor kept the ground type still with Psychic and began to assault his mind. At the same time, he expended his barrier to include Red while Blastoise focused his attacks on Dugtrio.

    A Sludge Bomb from Nidoking would have killed off Espeon had Red not recalled it. Next to Giovanni, Blue's Umbreon still clashed with Nidoqueen, and it was losing. At least until Pidgeon swooped down with something akin to a remote Steel Wing, and Snorlax reached them with a Rollout that led into a Heavy Slam onto Nidoqueen. The Protect around Giovanni nearly collapsed when the full weight of the massive normal type landed onto Nidoqueen, and Umbreon pawed at her leg with some kind of dark type attack—

    Which quite literally destroyed her leg. Such power! That could only be Foul Play! Giovanni's eye twitched as Snorlax used Ice Punch repeatedly on Nidoqueen's face and her protection collapsed. Persian was still reeling from the Extreme Speed.

    "Now," Red said.

    Pikachu appeared from nowhere like an assassin, and it would have killed Giovanni had Nidoking not drawn the electricity with his horn. The poison type kicked the rodent away and turned to continue spewing his poison on the opposition. Umbreon had struck many blows to Nidoqueen, but even with a broken leg, it was no match for her. Nidoqueen roared, and she clapped her hands around the dark type's face, crushing its skull. Giovanni clicked his tongue when Umbreon hadn't died. Blue's mask of confidence slipped, however, and he placed Umbreon back into its Pokeball.

    "Blastoise, Hydro Cannon! Pidgeot, Arcanine, Hyper Beam!" Blue snapped.

    Red side-eyed him, and Giovanni blinked.

    That was suicide.

    Fucking Oak giving his grandson these damned TMs! Giovanni watched as two spheres of concentrated energy materialized in Arcanine and Pidgeot's mouths and the air around them shifted from how hot these attacks were. Water gathered in Blastoise's mouth and cannons so powerful it was just foam and vapor. Red just ran away without a single word, leaving Blue and his wild suicidal grin to face Giovanni.

    His ears popped, and everything exploded.

    When Giovanni opened his eyes, he tried to move his arm and restrained a scream. Broken, he acknowledged. He had fallen multiple stories, and he was nearly dead.

    But not dead.

    He had noticed Persian and Nidoqueen desperately use Protect in front of him the moment of the attack.

    And yet, he had lost everything. To two children. Giovanni stared around in hopes of finding a teammate as he strained to stand up. Bodies littered the floor. Dead employees he had taken hostage and the Rockets he had brought for this mission. Was it over, then? He no longer had the Master Ball, and he doubted he could recreate it now. Giovanni's skills had rusted. He had not focused on or loved Pokemon battling for years now. Was Kanto doomed to irrelevance—

    No.

    He still had Mewtwo.

    Giovanni limped toward the stairs and his Persian soon joined him.

    "Go find the others," he hacked.

    Koyasu had probably died of collateral damage, but Giovanni's identity was going to get leaked. The knives were out.

    It was war.


    Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric, Nord, Filthymacgyver, Grey J, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M, Tina M, dotAlice, Nova, Plasmatique, Peg, Lodris, Chester, Powernap, Kolby, ShipGoSync, Kcx1, ArgentumTriKeras, AnotherUser, SmallBusinessBoi, Papito12495
     
  8. Extras: Side Story 6 - Great War Testimonies
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    You could have read this early on my Discord or even earlier on my Patreon. I had no time to write yesterday, so you get this instead.

    A/N - This will be about war and its consequences (and the war was basically this world's World War/World War II) so it involves dark topics, and like all Side Stories, it's not plot relevant, so feel free to skip.



    Side Story 6 - Great War Testimonies

    It goes by many names. Most commonly, the 'Great War', but also the 'World War', the 'Kanto-Johto War', the 'Final War'. Personally, I will always prefer the Final War despite how unrealistic that notion is. Today, we remember the pain of loss, the agony of war, but in a generation? In two? When the people that lived through the conflict begin to die and children that do not know of war start gaining positions of power? I dare not suggest another conflict is likely, but all credence points toward it not having been the last.

    This year marks the 10th since the end of the Final War. The world has changed irreparably, for better or worse. Orre was scorched by multiple Moltres to the point of becoming uninhabitable to everything but the toughest of Pokemon and men. Companies are rising in Unova and Galar and gaining in influence. Kanto and Johto have done the unthinkable and have formally united under Indigo out of fear of Legendaries. A revolution rocked Kalos and the royal family was imprisoned or executed just months after the war's end. The world population fell by twenty-three percent, mostly due to Legendaries, and that was just a warning. All of that is the tip of the iceberg.

    As for me? My name is Jonathan Briar, from Unova. I am just a record keeper, writing this in hopes of preserving these traumatic experiences on paper. With enough luck, my work and the work of others will dissuade future generations from delving into another war. This will not go into geopolitics. Instead, I will focus on the small. Individual accounts from Pokemon, civilians, soldiers, leaders from every region. I believe that personal accounts like this are even more important and will help paint a picture of what war is truly like.

    My questions will always be in bold, and the responses will be written normally.

    PEWTER CITY, STATE OF KANTO-JOHTO - LIFE AT THE FRONT, AN ACCOUNT BY SAIKI IESADA

    Saiki Iesada looks old. The lines running across his face are deep, he looks tired and grunts every time he sits, stands or does a sudden movement. It comes across as a surprise, then, that he is only thirty-nine years old. The veteran is missing an arm and the remains of lacerations mar his neck and shoulders. We are currently inside his home, and his wife brings us some tea. Pewter is a rough city. Rugged architecture, hardy people, and it is still rebuilding from the war even ten years later. Massive war memorials litter the entire city with hundreds of thousands of graves. More than half of the city died or left as refugees toward Kanto's interior, and most have not come back. During most of the war, Pewter was an easy target for sabotage and aerial attacks.

    "I'll start with what might be a tough question. What was life like at the front?"

    Saiki laughs. "Pfft. I thought you were going to ask how I lost my arm! As soon as the war began, I volunteered. If I could go back in time, I would do it again. I didn't have much. Just my old man's Torkoal to my name. They said a fire type would be useful and sent me to the front," he said, staring into the distance. A picture of Torkoal sat on a drawer. His Pokemon had died in the war.

    "So Pewter was not a front-line city, then?"

    "It might as well have been with all the times we were attacked!" Saiki gruffs. "But for a while, the true front was miles to the east at Mount Silver. Some of us fought in the caves— a terrible, terrible thing. The stories scare even me!" He says, leaning back into his chair in a defeated fashion. "I was on the mountain's flanks."

    "And how would you describe your experience?"

    Saiki works his jaw and stares up at the ceiling. He stares back down at me, and the unimaginable weight of war sits atop his shoulders.

    "Hell."

    "If you don't mind, could you go into further detail?"

    "I still remember my first day," he recalls. "The war had only been going on for two weeks at that point, and no one knew what the hell they were doing. Not the soldiers, the leaders, or the politicians. Hell, we didn't even know what the war was for. Some fucking border dispute, they said. I was brought in to the foot of Mount Silver and our barracks were attacked the night of. Some night raid from some Johtoan punks."

    He paused, trying to find the words to describe his experience.

    "The thing about a boy's first battle is that it's confusing," he said. "The adrenaline tampers the fear of death, and all you're trying to figure out is who is who and how the hell you're going to make it through the next ten minutes. People die all around you. There are battles in the air and on the ground. Buildings collapse, but in that instant, you don't care about who the hell is winning. You don't even care about getting some Johtoans killed. You care about living, but you can't run! That's a coward's way, and you'd get killed for deserting. Eventually some commander took control of the situation and gathered us up, and we began to push back the Johtoan forces. I'd say there were around one hundred of 'em in the raid. They tried to catch us while we slept."

    "And you won?"

    Saiki nods. "Technically we did. The thing about war is that there aren't enough trained psychic to protect the troops. All of the psychic types are sent to missions that matter or are protecting the people in charge, and the result is that the fights are a fucking bloodbath. People burning to death, getting cut up, run through— the fragility of humans is put on full display. The way we were all trained— the doctrine was to kill the trainers first and the Pokemon later. Cut the head of the Ekans, so to speak."

    "And the Pokemon would be disorganized, leaving you an opening?"

    "That, and there was also the psychological effect. This wasn't just a war between humans. Pokemon are soldiers as well. Even if a lot of them lived through battles— more than humans, anyway— you kill their trainer, and they lose all of their motivation. That's a soldier knocked out of the war for however many months it takes for it to be transferred to a new trainer."

    "Pokemon swapped hands?"

    Saiki waves his only arm. "All the time. A Pokemon that isn't fighting is a waste of supplies. They get put with one of them war shrinks for a few weeks and get right back to fighting. Some of 'em lost themselves to war and became killing machines. How else do you cope when you cycle through a trainer every few months? A lot of 'em went crazy and killed some of their own too," he sighs. "It is what it is."

    "So, back to the front. Were these raids common?"

    "Very much so. Johtoans were adept at them and far better than we were. I saw a few battles as well— with thousands of people and Pokemon on both sides. When that happens, all semblance of what you know about Pokemon training disappears. It's formation, doctrine, strategy. There's no calling out commands. We tried to keep Pokemon that could complement themselves together. No one was putting an Onix with a Furfrou. Think of something like hundreds of same type Pokemon lined up. Water types for example would be blasting their enemies with Water Gun, Water Pulse or Hydro Pump."

    "And the humans?"

    "They took a backstage during the largest battles, and they were mostly there for support. Flanking, assassinating generals, strikes from the air, artillery support in the back. Human-made weapons were never used that much before the war. Who needed a Howitzer when Pokemon could do the exact same thing? A plane when you could fly on a Fearow? Well, we did. There were far more humans than there were Pokemon fighting in the war, and we needed to put them to good use. Even non-trainers were conscripted."

    "Let's move a little further into the future. The breakthrough when you made it through Mount Silver."

    "Ah, yes! That was when things really ramped up and battles started happening left and right. A massive push around Mount Silver from Kantoans and Hoennian forces pushed our enemies back, and we reached Johto's heartland. You know what happens next, though."

    "The Legendary Birds."

    "Never saw 'em, but I have plenty of war buddies that did," he says with dimmed eyes. "In the end, what are we? Nothing. Legends could end humanity in an afternoon, and it's a wonder they haven't. Ten years ago, it was the birds, but who knows what it'll be next time?"

    "You think there'll be another war?"

    "Obviously. War is a human and Pokemon constant. We can't stop it, it's in our blood. I don't know where it'll be next time. If I had to guess, probably here again. Kanto and Johto getting along? That can only last so long."

    CASTELIA CITY, THE REPUBLIC OF UNOVA - THE UNOVAN CAUSE, AN ACCOUNT BY MASON WOODS

    It is easy to see at first glance that Mason Woods is no soldier. The way he carries himself is calm and collected. He does not flinch at the closing of doors or cars passing by, nor does he look at Pokemon walking in the streets with wary suspicion. We sit in a small café that is nearly empty, and we both order something to drink. Mason drinks his coffee completely black and downs it before the interview. He is a retired politician and was a member of parliament. One of the key figures in the Committee for Foreign Intervention formed in the months after the war's start. Today, he is ostracized by Unovan society at large and is seen as the main cause for Unovan's intervention in the Great War and its subsequent escalation. Not many Unovans died during the war compared to the other regions, but they were still scarred by war, and Orrean refugees swarm the country's border in an attempt to escape the wastes.

    They are, of course, brutally shut down.

    "Help me paint a picture here. Why would Unova, a country on the other side of the world, intervene in Johto's favor?"

    "Tell me, Jonathan," Mason answers. "Do you think democracy is precious?"

    "I certainly think it's the best form of government, but—"

    "Kanto was a military dictatorship. Johto was a corrupt democracy— but a democracy nonetheless!" He says, clenching a fist. "The only one on that damned continent. I believed— and many of my colleagues who now spout anti-war nonsense still do— that Johto was worth protecting. People say that nobody won the war, but that isn't true. Kanto won the war. They forced their form of government over Johto."

    "So you wanted to protect democracy, then?"

    "Why else?"

    "Some people say that a lot Unovan companies had a lot of stake in Johto and that was one of the major reasons. Also, the Opelucid Group grew five times richer during the war by selling weapons and training Pokemon abroad."

    "Complete and utter nonsense," Mason scoffs. "You take the word of leftists desperately trying to frame me instead of real, tangible goals? And look! Those same companies are growing ever richer now that the war is over. Sure, the government sold contracts to the Opelucid Group because they made the best weapons and streamlined the Pokemon training process! But what about the others? Avalon, the Obel Energy Company? The war only hurt their profits. That's as dumb as saying we're intervening in Ransei for oil. We have plenty of fucking oil!"

    "Please relax, Mr. Woods. Moving on, could you explain what you saw in the inner workings of government during the war years?"

    "I apologize for raising my voice," he sighs with trembling lips. "I formed the Committee for Foreign Intervention along with a few like-minded colleagues. Kiran Lang, Aubrey Lewinsky…"

    He lists many names from many different political parties before continuing. Some of these are new to me, and others are vocally anti-war today.

    "We were laughed at at first. Sending our boys and girls to die an ocean away wasn't exactly a popular notion with most of parliament, and we were ostracized by our own parties. We grueled and lobbied for months, but to no avail. But—" he stops and smiles. "Hoenn joined Kanto's side and Sinnoh joined to help Johto. Alola was a Hoennian colony at the time, which Orre was very interested in seizing for themselves for a forward-facing base in the Azure Ocean."

    "Ah. Now it's starting to make sense."

    "Orre invaded Alola with a surprise attack and seized the archipelago for themselves in Hoenn's moment of weakness, and that got Parliament nervous. Orre might be a backwater now, but ten years ago it rivaled Unova— but of course, you know that already."

    He clears his throat and I continue.

    "Wouldn't logic dictate that you back Kanto and Hoenn should Orre back the other side?"

    "Geopolitics aren't that simple. The last thing we wanted was for the war to escalate and for our cities to be bombed to smithereens. A land war with Orre would be terrible for us. Instead, we looked to pragmatism. Join the war on Orre, Sinnoh and Johto's side and act as a mediator after what looked like an inevitable victory. Grant Alola its independence from Orre through diplomacy and weaken them in the process due to the fact that they would have used men, money and resources on a country they wouldn't control.."

    "Pragmatism and democracy?"

    "Why not both? One does not disallow the other," he shrugs. "Anyway, suddenly, we were all about intervention, and the Committee finally got to work. We would send Johto an expeditionary force 150,000 thousand strong, not counting the Pokemon, and most of our efforts would be concentrated in the sea and air. We expected complete domination. After all, it was four countries against two."

    "But other regions intervened."

    "So goes history," Mason nods. "You know, sometimes I have these visions at night. Nightmares."

    "Nightmares?"

    "What if Moltres had picked Unova to scorch instead of Orre?" he trembles. "Then we would be ruined, and they would be prospering. Unova won the coin flip."

    "You think it was a coin flip?"

    "I doubt the Legends bothered to learn about the intricacies of who was at fault, who was in the right, and what region to burn, freeze, or electrocute. We were dirtying their backyard and they gave the Durant nest a kick. Hundreds of millions died in the process."

    "What do you think the future holds for Unovan politics?"

    "Well, as much as it pains to admit, we achieved all of our war goals and we're the only power left on the continent. Orre doesn't have a functioning government any longer and the majority of their people died in the fires. Their lush lands were glassed and turned into desert. So…"

    His face scrunches up, and he exhales.

    "In the end, I suppose Unova was one of the winners."

    ECRUTEAK CITY, STATE OF KANTO-JOHTO - THE LEGENDARY BEASTS, AN ACCOUNT BY LIZBETH BANE

    Lizbeth Bane glares at me as I enter her office, and she stops typing on her type-writer for a moment before continuing. She asks if I'm the interviewer her staffers were so excited about, and I say yes, introducing myself. She dresses like a man, sporting a black suit and pants with a tie. She was one of Johto's leading Legendary researchers during the war, but today, she is just a University Professor in Ecruteak. Her office is orderly, as if everything is in its intended spot.

    "Sorry for the inconvenience. What can you tell me about the Legendary Beasts? Raikou, Entei, Suicune?"

    "Not much," she snorts dismissively. "Don't expect to get a full account of how we went about creating the artificial ones. That is classified information, and I value being alive."

    "On the fourth year of the war, the Legendary Beastsor some form of them were seen aiding Johto's alliance. This sent Kanto and Hoenn into a panic, but they quickly realized they were not the real deal."

    "Yes, yes, yes," she groaned. "They were not real. The fact that Kanto, Hoenn, Kalos and Paldea thought they were for even a few days is proof that they lack a lot of intellect," she quips. "Sinnoh had… the technology and knowledge to create things from nothing. It took four years to find the right vessel. I won't go deeper into it."

    "So how strong were these fake beasts in actuality?"

    "Around the level of an average Gym Leader's Pokemon. Devastating in battle, but not war-changing like we needed them to be. There were worries about… you know what, never mind. Just know that they were not sustainable, which is why they stopped being used after six months."

    "And the war was not sustainable either, was it?"

    "Why do you think Kanto and their allies broke through in the final months? Obviously, it was not sustainable. We were slowly losing, inch by inch until everything gave away and the entire war effort unraveled."

    "Getting back on the topic of the Beasts. Could you have created any Legendor a bootleg version of them, at the very least?"

    "Theoretically. But the Beasts were simple. The Legendary Birds, they're a concept. Too blurry, not enough form. We cannot understand them well. Ho-Oh and Lugia are the same. They are constants. Laws of the world that will survive for time eternal. The Legendary Beasts are good. They're Legends, but understanding them is almost achievable, or at least that was the theory."

    "And this technology is in the hands of the new government?"

    Lizbeth laughs dryly. "Calling it technology is funny," she says. "But yes. You can bet that every single state now knows the theory behind it. Putting it in place is another ordeal entirely. It's not just Kanto-Johto and Sinnoh that know it. We all know it. And I hope we all understand that experimenting with things that were not meant to be played with would be incredibly stupid."

    The weight of her statement settles in the room, and everything seems darker for a moment.

    I breathe.

    HAU'OLI CITY, REPUBLIC OF ALOLA - REFUGEE HAVEN, AN ACCOUNT BY LANAKINA PUKAHI

    Lanakina takes a long drag of his cigarette as we sit on the beach and watch the waves. Time seems to sit still on the pristine beach, and the sound of the water feels nice on my ears, even if writing in the sand is an awful experience. Hau'oli city sits in the distance. It is already a lot larger than it was when I first came here two years ago. The sunlight feels heavy on my skin. Lanakina breathes out smoke and smiles. He works in the Alolan Ministry of the Interior and is overseeing Hau'oli's current expansion.

    "Go on," he says.

    "Thank you. Alola's been independent for ten years, now. Would you say the… ordeal has been a success?"

    "I'd say it's been so and so," he frowns. "Hard to negotiate with the hundreds of Pokemon to expand without a full-fledged war that no one wants. There have been times when conflict was inevitable, and Unova's been a big help in that regard. War never stops. It just slows, wanes, and then picks up again."

    "And how is the government? It wasn't modeled after Unova, was it?"

    "It was not. We aren't exactly compatible," he chuckles. "We're far more in tune with nature, and we've got no League. Everything's civilian-run."

    "Is the fact that a city is bulldozing over a tropical forest not ironic when considering that statement?"

    "If it was Unova, everything would have burned down already," Lanakina shrugs. "Not that we could do that with the Tapus around. It's all about not stepping on their toes."

    "Alola's been getting a bit of a reputation lately, hasn't it?"

    He smiles proudly. "We're a damn refugee haven, that's what we are. We'll take your poor, your tired, your criminals, anything so long as you can work. Our population's growing exponentially. From a few tens of thousands to the 400,000 we have today. Hopefully it doesn't stop for a while. We need the labor."

    "There's been accusations of you taking in war criminals from every region. Layne Lancaster moved to Hau'oli from Kanto, for example. He was known to line up trainers and force them to kill their own Pokemon to spare their own lives, and he would kill those that did regardless afterward."

    Lanakina's face falls. "Is that what this is?"

    "I'm just asking questions."

    "I did say we'll take your criminals. War criminals included," he speaks. "People always rag on us for doing this. They say that we should follow the rule of law— the fucking rule of law! Hah! Give me a break! Every region's got their skeletons in their closets. Hoenn grabbed themselves a bunch of terrible scientists— war criminals," he presses. "To start some kind of fucking space program. Humans going to and sending things to space? What's next? Complete nonsense. Unova allowed the richest to move into their country so they invest in their economy no matter what fucked up crime they committed. It's war crimes all the way down, Jonathan. No one's got clean hands."

    "Fair enough. But no one's been as open with it as Alola has been."

    "Every region's got their niche. We have to specialize, or we'll die. We're the smallest in terms of land area and population, we've got no oil, no rare minerals… nothing. We have to allow ourselves to build ourselves up, and for that, we need immigrants. You come here, you've got a clean slate. Don't fuck up again, and we'll turn our heads the other way."

    "Has Orre… well, do you share any bad blood with Orre?"

    "If there was anyone left to have bad blood with, maybe," he sighs heavily. "Poor bastards. They invaded us and occupied us for years, but they weren't as bad as they could have been, especially compared to how brutal Hoenn was with us and the news we heard about the front in Shinwa. I feel terrible for all the death there, but what can you do but pray and hope for the best?"

    "I suppose so."

    "I suppose so? Have some heart you emotionless bastard," he complains.

    GATEON PORT, ORRE - HELL, AN ACCOUNT BY SIDNEY PIERCE

    Gateon Port is a small settlement of a few tens of thousands of people, and it is far more orderly than I expected. It is one of Orre's only permanent settlements and the only one with a semblance of a functioning society. Coming here is more difficult than I expected. There are no airports to use, and ships have a high chance of being seized by pirates. Many people walk around with guns and rifles, and Sidney Pierce does so as well. He is thinner than what seems healthy with scabs and bruises all over his body. Beyond the city, there is some greenery, but beyond even that, there are the endless dunes that stretch taller than mountains. I cannot help but look over my shoulder every few seconds even though I have hired guards to come with me. Other than their own, there are no Pokemon in sight. The majority of people walking around me have some kind of burned tissue on their bodies.

    "Before we begin, I have to ask. What's with the"

    "Guns?" He speaks with a frail voice. Even then, he looms threateningly. "You gotta have a way to defend yourself, man."

    "I've heard of this before, but there are no Pokemon here?"

    "Oh, there are. Just not enough for everyone. That's not even speaking of maintenance and the fact that we don't have many Pokeballs left from the pre-war days. That stasis effect would at least help us not have to feed the damn things that much," he says with a fidget.

    "Have there been any attempts to establish a working government here?"

    "And do what? What is there to rule over exactly? A few settlements, nomads, ruins?" He stops to spit on the ground. "There's nothing left. A few dozen Moltres was all it took to commit genocide on a scale the world had never seen. Half of us died from the fires, then another forty-five percent from the societal collapse that came after or they managed to run away. Famine, disease, crime, it doesn't take much to kill a man."

    He pauses.

    "That's not to say no one tried. They just all failed."

    "If you had someone in charge, the situation would improve, wouldn't it?"

    "Want me to tell you what we need for the situation to improve? International help," he says.

    "Many regions have sent help. Unova, Galar, Hoenn… to this very port, in fact."

    "That shit gets stolen and sold the moment your ships leave," he rolls his eyes. He stops to erratically scratch his elbow and grunts. "We need a force to fix things. A few thousand, well-trained men and women would be all it takes to take control of this port. Then they can go from there."

    "So you're asking to be invaded?"

    "Fuck yeah, I'll be invaded! People can invade this shithole all they want! I don't care who does it, I just want someone to do something. Not that it'd be easy. Plenty of people have used this crisis to make a fortune, and they'd fight back any authority. Anarchy pays, believe it or not."

    "It would be horribly expensive."

    "And war isn't?" He raises a twitching eyebrow.

    "That depends. Are there any other settlements like this?"

    "This port's the biggest, and there are a few others on the coast. There are also a few beyond the coast, and I've heard whispers of some underground city being built inland too. Only rumors, though."

    "Some people live inland? Isn't that terribly dangerous?"

    His lips quiver, and he stammers. "People will live anywhere, man. There are raiders, Pokemon that live in the dunes, the threat of dehydration, walking for days and weeks in the sand to reach the next settlement or oasis. Most of the people you'll see in-land are nomads trying to go east."

    "To get to the Unovan border and cross it."

    "That, and also scavenge the remains of our old cities that are still standing. I've been to two back in the early days. They're all so empty. Hundreds of skyscrapers burned to a crisp and barely standing. It's hard to imagine we all lived there back in the day. Plenty of scrap metal and other goodies to steal, though."

    "Did you lose anyone in the Great Fire?"

    "That's what they call it abroad?" Sidney snorts. "Yeah, man. It'd be hard to find someone who didn't lose someone else. The entire fucking region was set ablaze. You don't just scrape through that without losses."

    "My condolences"

    "Thank you. Move on."

    "What's your plan for the future? Is there any hope of recovery for Orre?"

    "I heard a few people say it'd take a thousand years for the land to go back to normal, so no," he shakes his head. "Just… survive. Live every day like it's the last, because some motherfucker might shoot me in my sleep for forgetting to pay him back. Maybe find one of 'em Moltres Avatars and shoot it before burning to a crisp. Wouldn't that be fun?"

    I don't answer.

    COUMARINE CITY, THE KALOSIAN REPUBLIC - REGRETS, AN ACCOUNT BY TRISTAN ARCENEAUX

    I watch life on Coumarine's port go by and can't help but marvel at its beauty. It is a stark contrast to Gateon Port. Orderly, well-staffed, paved ground, and Pokemon wandering about. I sit in a restaurant next to the port and Tristan sits with me while on his break. Today, he is just a waiter, content to live a discreet life. Ten years ago, he was a leading figure in the Kalosian revolution that overthrew the old monarchy. Today, Kalos retains much of its old traditions with noble titles, but it is a full-fledged republic.

    "When I talked to you on the phone, you said that you thought the war was a good thing. Will you explain why?"

    "Is there a King in Kalos, Jonathan? A Queen? A royal family?"

    I cannot help but notice the thick accent. Kalos is one of the only countries not to speak our common language, and it is hard to understand him. Tristan's words were slow, long and drawn out.

    "Well, I suppose not."

    "Exactly. Because we killed them and grabbed freedom for ourselves. Without the war, the conditions needed for this never would have risen."

    "And why did Kalos join the war on Kanto's side, exactly?"

    "I am no politician. Just a retired revolutionary. I do not know what goes through their minds. But scum supports scum, Jonathan. Kalos was an absolute monarchy. Kanto was a military dictatorship that was at war against Unova, Galar, Orre, Johto and Sinnoh with only Hoenn on their side. Authoritarians fear when their fellow dictators fall. For a second, it probably seemed like the entire world was changing. That dictators were going to fall. I supposed that scared King Charles III and his ministers."

    "And that is why Paldea joined as well?"

    Tristan chuckles. "Possibly. They're a Military Junta, so a dictatorship all the same. The key point, though, was to be a counterweight to the other nations hoping to strike Kanto down."

    "How did you start getting involved in the Kalosian Revolution exactly?"

    "It was during the war. Kalos was the only nation not on Shinwa that had implemented… uh, how do you say it… conscription on its people. A lot of us were forced to fight in a war that we did not care about whatsoever. I was lucky and was not drafted, but my brother was, and you can guess that anger needed to be redirected somewhere."

    "So you got involved before the war ended?"

    "Far before," he nods. "That was how I ended up as one of its leaders by the end. At first, we did not want to bring down the monarchy. We just wanted to end the war. We would bomb ships, railroads, airports, military bases. We were a thorn in the government's side, but we were an effective thorn that hampered the war effort well. Of course, la Guarde Royale hunted us like dogs."

    "How did you start wanting to abolish the monarchy?"

    "It came in phases. When we realized that King Charles III was not going to come to the negotiating table, we decided that we needed to do more. We settled on a constitutional monarchy at first, a…" he frowns to find the word, gesturing above the able with a hand. "A Figurehead with no power— like what they have in Galar. Of course, everything changed when the war ended."

    He stops to see if I need to speak, but I just nod.

    "With the troops coming back home, we were killed by the thousands. The bodies of my camarades were hung high to scare our fellow citizens. Public executions were done by the King's Haxorus. Heads were cut off with the move Guillotine."

    "So your movement became more radical."

    "As it should!" He yells, unabashed by his surrounding employees and clients. "Soldiers that had seen the horrors of war joined us by the tens of thousands. There were riots in the streets from the lackluster response to the appearance of Zapdos in Lumiose. People were hungry, tired, scared, angry. Kalos gave out at the seams. King Charles was betrayed by his own guardsmen and many of his Lords who knew the situation was untenable, and we killed him and his wife. We gave them both a trial, of course. They were both convicted of trai— treason and their heads were cut, like what was done to so many of ours beforehand. Their children were exiled to Galar and I am sure they are living a nice life."

    He chews on his words and drums his fingers against the table.

    "Parts of me wish we would have kept them in prison. Who knows if thirty years from now, Galar will not hang them over our heads and use their claim to go to war?"

    "So you still dislike Galar, then? Even after becoming a republic?"

    "Rulers may change, but history and politics do not. Galar was a threat to us before the republic, and it still is now."

    "Who did you take inspiration from to form your new government?"

    "No one, save for the Gym Leader system that we found would be a stable alternative to the Lords and a Champion and Elite Four to lead the military side of things— with oversight from l'Assemblée Nationale and le Sénat."

    "And the Lords… what happened to them?"

    "The ones that helped the King were killed or imprisoned. The ones that helped us kept their titles, were stripped of most of their lands, but got to keep crumbs. Much more than I would have liked."

    "You could have been in an important position in the new government"

    "I was not after power. Just freedom, and revenge for my brother's death. Vive la république, et vive Kalos."

    FLOAROMA CITY, SINNOH - WAR HEALING, AN ACCOUNT GIVEN BY SALOME THE GARDEVOIR

    Salome gently gestures me toward a couch, and I sink into the comfortable fabric. Her rooms had dim, yellow lights that washed over the walls and her face. She moves her arm and the door locks.

    "Thank you for your time, and for meeting me on such a short notice. I had a few questions about"

    (She cuts me off and answers in my mind, but I will use quotation marks for consistency)

    "My time spent healing during the war," she says with a nod.

    "You were told about me?"

    "I can read it. In your mind."

    "So you can know what I think at all times?"

    "Correct. I will often let people talk regardless, because humans like to talk. It is good to heal."

    "You were one of the therapists on the front, were you not?"

    "Yes. I spent many years there, speaking to humans and Pokemon— but mostly humans. My job was to get them in fighting shape as fast as possible, so my healing was often not sufficient. Despite my warnings, they often took them anyway."

    "How did you help people get better?"

    "It depends. For the loss of a family member or a Pokemon, I would allow them time to grieve, cry in my arms while I soothed them and told them everything would be okay. For a soldier who was wounded and was in horrible pain, I would make them feel things. Block off pain. Have them focus on the good."

    "So you altered how they felt?"

    "I could not bear to watch them squirm in pain. They asked for me every time they were wounded. I was one of the most popular therapists on the front. Humans like to speak about the ethics of messing with the mind, but when someone's leg is shattered and he needs to wait two days for the nurses to amputate him safely, I would rather block off the pain than not."

    "Do you ever regret sending so many young men back to fight after they'd suffered so much?"

    "The war was a human construct. I was just living in it, and doing my best," Salome softly says. "If it hadn't been me, it would have been someone else. The fact that I am an empath just made me better at the job. I did not care much for sides or who would win. I simply wanted to help them attain a better state of mind."

    "What led you to this career path? Today, you've used your experience to become a therapist here in Floaroma."

    "I belonged to a human that fought in the war. When she died to a stray Stone Edge, I was healed by a woman. I couldnt help but feel like a failure. My barrier had been breached by that Stone Edge and I had gotten my trainer killed, but somehow, her words made me feel better and allowed me to forgive myself. Seeing her work made me want to do the same. Had I not been a Gardevoir, I doubt my request to be a healer would have been approved."

    "So there were not many Pokemon therapists, then?"

    "A Pokemon healer was a Pokemon not fighting at the front, and psychics were dearly needed. I was more the exception than the rule. Humans are weak and are capable of doing the job just as well."

    I nod, noticing her tendency to refer to therapists as healers.

    "So now you plan on living in Floaroma as a therapist, then?"

    "There is nothing I would rather do. Even today, many men suffer from conditions like shell shock and that still need my help."

    "They use a new term for that condition in Unova, now. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

    "That… certainly feels more complete than shell shock. I will see if I can spread the term."


    A/N: For those of you that couldn't tell, this was pretty explicitly inspired by the book World War Z.

    Thank you to my Patreons - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver, Jon, RosaC, TsukiNoNeko, NPM, Jim A, Spicyice101, Ryan T, Vesperal, Iota, Addmolition exe, Zeta, Logan M, Frogsamurai, Alex F, Kiri, Rhuodric, Nord, Filthymacgyver, Grey J, creativityfails, Spartanstoryteller, Peter D, Bum, Zaire M, Tina M, dotAlice, Nova, Plasmatique, Peg, Lodris, Chester, Powernap, Kolby, ShipGoSync, Kcx1, ArgentumTriKeras, AnotherUser, SmallBusinessBoi, Papito12495, KeMon C, Geo, Pedro B, Rat, LR Brantley
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2023
  9. Extras: Side Story 7 - Conquest
    Soussouni1

    Soussouni1 Not too sore, are you?

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    You could have read this early on my Discord or even earlier on my Patreon. Have this Side Story while I write the Gym Battle.


    TRIGGER WARNINGS - Imperialism, talks of war and war crimes, victims of war

    SIDE STORY - CONQUEST

    "Why did father have to die, mother? Why?"

    "Remember, Akagi," her mother softly said. "War is a way of life. People die for what we believe in. In hopes of seeing Ransei unified."

    Flames crackled within the fireplace, spreading warmth and light throughout the living room. Akagi's bare feet felt warm on the stony floor. She'd always liked how the fire made the stone like that, given how cold her house got during wintertime. There were no sounds of bombings or explosions in the distance tonight, so it would have been a good evening spent with her mother, had she not received terrible news of her father's passing this afternoon. Akagi's fingers intertwined with her mother's, who smiled.

    "Aren't you sad?" she asked.

    "This is something a wife must expect," Mother answered, softly caressing her hair. "When a man has married and his wife given birth, he is drafted into the fighting, so it is only a matter of time. How many old men do you see out and about in Aurora, Akagi?"

    "Two…"

    "Exactly. A good wife must expect her husband to die for the dreams of the Ranseian people," she beamed. "You too, one day, will be in my position. It is important for you to learn these lessons."

    Her mother's hands, usually so comfortable and warm turned cold and rigid in a split second, though Akagi did not react. She hated talking about adult life, given all of the terrible stories she would hear from her friends. Her mother made it sound beautiful and worth it, but her friends' parents did not, and she wanted to make full use of the three years she had left as a child.

    "Do not be unhappy, sweetie," mother smoothly said. "When we push back these monsters from Ignis and Fontaine, we will rise again."

    "Mother… we were allied to Fontaine a year ago, weren't we?"

    Her parent stared into the fire, saying nothing for a long while. She grabbed onto a cup, sipping on water heated from the flames. Akagi loved tea leaves, but they were expensive and she could only get those in batches when the merchants came back from Shinwa. They made it sound like such an amazing place. A land of peace and cooperation, where humans never fought each other. Akagi was only thirteen years old, but she knew about the expeditionary forces the outsiders sent to back whoever they favored at the moment. The kingdoms supported by them would rise above the rest for a few months or years, and then support would suddenly vanish, and they would collapse all over again and no progress would be done. While the world had been killing itself forty years ago, forcing the Three Elements into action, Ransei had known that kind of war, had been born in it, molded by it. For centuries— or perhaps millennia, Ransei had been at war with itself, and while tribes had risen and fallen, only a few had come close to uniting the continent with one goal.

    For the creator to show Himself. It was said in the scriptures, that the people of Ransei were the oldest and the continent itself was as well.

    "Alliances shift, Akagi," her mother finally answered. "That is the nature of politics."

    She would talk about politics, when Akagi managed to break past the happy housewife persona that her mother put on. She was far smarter than she seemed, and yet… her mother was just there. Drifting across life.

    "Tell me the truth."

    Her mother's dark brown eyes closed for a few seconds. "The other women say that Sinnoh's Champion started backing Ignis and that they thought they could stab us in the back in exchange for rights to mine their coal and… some kind of gas."

    Akagi did not freeze, for subterfuge and betrayal was a way of life, here, but she wondered. If Shinwa was a land of peace— if the entire world outside of Ransei was a land of peace, then why? Why did they feel the need to come in and ruin things? She was just a girl, but if no outsiders intervened, then would one of the kingdoms finally unite their lands in cooperation? Would peace finally come to Ransei?

    Would their creator finally appear before them and lead them to His garden?

    Akagi's eyes burned as bright as the flames, and she clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into the flesh of her palm. It was the fire of ambition, that burned inside of her, and she used the death of her father and the knowledge that other nations used Ransei as a whorehouse as kindling. Father had not needed to die, because Sinnoh had killed him. The world had killed him, smothered him before he could truly live. He had been at war since the age of sixteen, lived for thirteen years on the front lines with only a few months spent at home.

    "Mother," Akagi said, her voice trembling with rage. "Why is the world unfair?"

    She sighed. "Do not think unnecessary thoughts, or you will not be let into His garden and your soul will be lost."

    "I hate you. You hate yourself, too, but you act like everything is fine. Like this is normal."

    A breath caught in her mother's throat, but the smile returned soon after. "I suppose I do. Hate myself."

    "I know."

    Akagi ran away from home during the night.



    Akagi Yoshike, thirteen years old, had left Aurora in the winter with nothing but a satchel on her back with as much food she managed to scrounge up. The air was bitterly cold, slicing through her layers of clothing like a thousand icy blades. Her entire body shivered as one, the wind carrying a chill that seeped into her very bones and her face numb. The snot leaking from her nose was frozen on her upper lip, and she could see her breath in front of her face.

    Akagi followed a lonely path in the wilderness leading out of Aurora with a destination in mind. She had not learned geography or even how to read, but everyone knew that in reference to their kingdom of Aurora, Ignis lay to the north, a nation of harsh land not fit for agriculture that had turned them to raiding Aurora's granaries after every harvesting season, save for when an alliance had been established and they traded instead. To the south lay Fontaine, a smaller coastal kingdom full of rivers and streams, and a lot less cold thanks to hugging the warm ocean breeze. Since Aurora was in a state of war with both, Akagi's only option lay to the west.

    The Kingdom of Greenleaf, surrounded by lush plains for miles and the biggest producer of food in the region, or at least according to her mother. They were currently at peace with Aurora, so it was her best bet to get through the frontier without meeting a military contingent that would kill her or capture her on sight. She had heard horror stories of what they did to girls they managed to get their hands on, and Akagi would rather slit her own throat than live through that.

    Her feet scrunched on the snow, and exposed patches protested against the frigid, agonizing cold. Akagi pulled her scarf tighter, attempting to shield her face from the relentless howling of the frozen winds. Every twig, every leaf, even the path was completely blanketed in pristine, unmarred snow, and the only reason Akagi knew where to walk was because it was slightly more elevated than the rest of the terrain and she knew that the sun rose in the east and set in the west, so she was walking away from it, cursing the enormous star for not giving her any warmth. For hours, the road stretched ahead, seemingly endless in its monotony.

    Was she outside of Aurora yet? Her village was at the edge of the Kingdom, so maybe. She couldn't feel her legs or hands. Was that normal? Why was she so tired? Why was she on the ground? The snow coated the side of her face, and Akagi crawled forward, hoping to get herself toward one of the trees to sit upright, but her body felt so numb. She gripped the snow and dragged, but her grip wasn't strong enough to get herself moving. She cackled, her eyes fluttering as she struggled to stay awake. Was this it, then? Should she have stayed home, been handed off to a man and be made to bear as many children as she could to sustain Aurora's population?

    Akagi spat on the ground, and it froze in front of her eyes.

    Half delirious, she started to whisper.

    "O Arceus, creator of realms and harbinger of balance,

    Bless us with your guiding light, as vast as the cosmos.

    Grant us strength to face the challenges that lie ahead,

    And wisdom to navigate the paths of our journey.

    In your divine presence, may harmony reign,

    As we tread upon the landscapes of our destinies.

    As Poke
    Pokemon trainers and seekers of truth,

    May your cosmic grace be our e
    eternal companion.

    A
    Arceus, source of all existence,

    We offer… our gratitude and reverence,

    For the wonders of… creation and the bonds we
    fforge,

    In your name, we find purpose and… unity,

    And one day, we
    —" she stopped to cough. "—we will unite these lands under your radiance."

    "That's a pretty prayer, little tyke," said a gruff voice slightly masked by the wind. "What're you doing all the way out there? Decided to go off and die?"

    Akagi didn't freeze, for her body was already completely still, and she struggled to open her eyes again. They were nearly frozen shut, and no longer how hard she told her body to move, nothing happened. It was over. She was going to get captured. She could hear the steps and the muffled voices of the others in the distance. They were going to have their way with her and keep her as a slave.

    "Lieutenant! Don't get too close, she might have a bomb under her clothes!" a voice said. Male, but lighter than whoever this lieutenant was.

    Akagi finally managed to open her eyes, nearly gasping when she saw the size of the man who had approached her. She could only see with one of her unburied eyes, but he towered over all around him at around seven feet, at least, and he had the build of someone who had tilled fields his entire life. It was nighttime now, so it was difficult to see in the moonlight, but his hair was blonde and spiky. Unkept. He carried a sharp scent that tingled her nose and kept her awake. Slightly sweet, but burning. A Raichu and some kind of blue and yellow Canine stood by his side, a Pokemon Akagi had never seen before.

    "Grab her and take her back to camp," the Lieutenant said. "Not the first runaway runt we've come across."

    "Not the first that'd have a dirty bomb on 'em either," the man said. "But orders are orders. You heard the Lieutenant, boys and girls!"

    Akagi was not sure how, but energy coursed through her veins, and suddenly, she could move again. Her heart was beating so loudly she could feel the pulse in her ears, and she started to sweat. She could not move very much, but her hand sluggishly reached inside her satchel. The people around her jumped out of the way, diving away from her as she grabbed her knife and shoved it toward her throat—

    The Lieutenant's burly hands grabbed her wrist, and she knew he could have snapped them if he applied enough strength.

    "None of that," he grunted. "We won't do anything you're thinking of to ya, so no need to be all fucking dramatic about it." He grabbed her and put her over his shoulder. "Declan! Get your fucking Houndoom to work, you useless sack of shit! I'm freezing my fucking balls off."

    Akagi felt warmth spread through her skin, but she had no time to enjoy the sensation, given the fact that she passed out seconds later.



    She woke up inside of a bed larger than she'd ever been in, and the warmth here felt so good she almost opted to go to sleep before remembering she'd been kidnapped. Akagi's entire body ached, was covered in blisters and was slightly swollen and paler than she was used to. Just the covers and clothes brushing up against her body was painful. Frostbite. She'd never seen one this severe, though, and it made her want to die. The same Raichu Akagi had seen early was lying on the floor, curled up next to some sort of machine that continuously hummed and emanated with heat and contained some kind of chimney that rose through the tent's ceiling. The entrance flap of the olive-colored tent was zipped up, keeping all of the warmth inside. Akagi froze, hoping not to wake up the electric type and gather her thoughts. There was no sound of any bombing or fighting outside, so she knew she was in a peaceful area, at least. From the subtle hints of light and how hungry she was, the thirteen-year-old could tell it was morning again. The tent had a desk and a few chairs, and was more spacious than any tent ought to be, but it didn't look like there was anything she could make use of, save for some papers at the desk that she couldn't read.

    And either way, it wasn't like they would have left anything of import here.

    What did Akagi know? The accent of the people who took her… was foreign. They were foreigners, but from where? Shinwa? Arceus almighty, if she was in a foreigner camp, she was screwed. If these were Sinnohans, then that meant they'd taken her back to Ignis or somewhere nearby, and if they learned she was an Auroran, they'd enslave or execute her.

    She needed to run.

    Every movement spread agony throughout her body, and she left the bed inch by inch in order not to wake up Raichu. She was barefoot, but there were shoes in the tent, way to large for her, but it would work. Akagi had one leg out of the covers when that same Lieutenant bent over to enter the tent with another average-sized man at his size. Declan, he had called him. They both wore thick, green clothing with strange patterns on them and he had a medal around his neck made of silver, or maybe a plaque. When he saw she'd been trying to run, he simply grinned, waking up Raichu, and another smaller electric type climbed onto his shoulder from behind his thick neck. This one, she recognized as Pachirisu. Akagi would have called it cute, in different circumstances.

    "Already up, hm? Told you she was fierce," the Lieutenant boasted, dragging a chair for him to sit. It looked like it would almost collapse under his weight. "You feeling better, runt?"

    "Who— who are you?" she forced out.

    "None of your business," he smiled sharply, something both his Pokemon mirrored. "You cooperate now, and we might play nice later. Declan."

    Declan was an average man through and through, though Akagi usually never saw ones his age. Brown eyes and hair that was cut short, a thin face and a bit of a beard that looked to be growing.

    He stayed standing, tapping on some kind of wooden board he carried with a pen in his other hand. "Tell us what we need to know, and we'll let you go back home."

    "I don't want to go back home," she instantly said. "I ran away."

    The Lieutenant snorted. "She got you there."

    "Then we'll just let you go with actual winter clothing and supplies."

    Akagi frowned. "You would… do that?"

    "Can't kill civvies we capture, kid," the blond Lieutenant said. "Much less children. Gotta respect the rules of engagement and all of that."

    Her frown deepened. "We get bombed at least once per week!" she yelled. To be honest, she knew she shouldn't be fighting this hard. There was distrust, yes, but these Sinnohans had caused her father's death, and all for resources! "Don't pretend to have rules. We keep dying because of the weapons you give. Weapons that go against the bond between a Pokemon and its trainer!"

    "Who cares about the bond?" Surge said, causing her to gasp. There was nothing more important than that bond, in these lands, save for the creator Himself. "You people don't use Pokeballs, and most of you use one or two Pokemon at most that take you way too long to train and die or get crippled before they can do anything of note anyway. Missiles and artillery are faster." He paused, scruffing his Pachirisu's neck. "But I can tell you we're not the ones bombing you. We just relocated here three days ago from the other side of the continent."

    Declan chimed in. "Maybe if you tell us where you're from, we can help you figure out who was hurting your people."

    "I already know who it was. The Sinnohans!" she yelled.

    "Auroran, then," Surge nodded as Declan scribbled on his paper. With a tiny gasp, Akagi covered her mouth with her hands. "Just give it up, kid. We'll figure it out eventually."

    "...Akagi Yoshike, thirteen years old from Millstone," she sighed, her shoulders slumping.

    "Millstone. It's a small border town 40 miles to the southeast of here…" Declan hummed, flipping through the papers on the table. Akagi caught a glimpse of a map. "44.7854° N, 116.8503° W."

    The Lieutenant nodded. "Figures. Seen anyone on the road?"

    "Just me."

    "Looks like their plan to push in actually was a dud," he gruffed, scratching his chin. "Fucking Sinnohan pricks."

    Wait— you're not Sinnohan?" Akagi gasped.

    "Kantoan, born and bred," he grinned. "The name's Surge. Just Surge. We figured we'd nurse you back to health and then let you go. Not the first time we've done it. If you tried to run and somehow made it out of camp, you would have collapsed ten minutes into your escape. Wouldn't have bothered me, personally, but I think it's a waste of talent."

    "Talent?"

    "You're determined. Walked… twenty-eight miles in the snow until we picked you up, and tried to end your own life rather than get taken by the enemy. I can admire guts like those," Surge grinned. "You've got more balls than Declan and the majority of the people under my command," he laughed, clapping his underling on the back. Declan only whimpered, though he didn't try to escape. "Tell me, runt. What do you want in life?"

    Akagi clenched a fist, bearing through the pain. "I want to bring peace to Ransei."

    Pachirisu laughed at the idea, though Surge raised a hand. "Interesting. And how would you do that?" he asked.

    "I would… can I say whatever I want?"

    Both Surge and Declan nodded.

    "I would forge alliances to kick out outside powers… and then we would fight it out between ourselves and unify, and Arceus would intervene and welcome us all into a life of eternal bliss and peace."

    Surge leaned forward. "That's a very nice dream," he said in a clearly sarcastic tone. "Maybe we'll all join in, link hands and sing and dance in the flowery fields too, eh?" he snorted. "What you want, Akagi, is impossible."

    "Why is it—"

    "I wasn't alive for it, but more than forty years ago, we spent years killing each other until Gods had to come and make us stop," he interrupted. "But war's built into the human condition, you see, we can't fucking stop. It's encoded into each and every one of us, to want to take something we don't have, even if we don't fucking have a need for it, so the world looked and saw your shithole of a continent. Divided into petty kingdoms, more than half the people still living under some feudalistic system and without running water or electricity, but so, so many resources. Oil, gas, coal, mega stones, minerals, excellent soil— this place is a treasure trove, and you're using none of it."

    Raichu squeaked by his side, crossing its arms.

    "Right? It's a waste, and it lets us vent some steam. Kill each other in a contained way without awakening the Gods that could end us in an afternoon," he continued with a sigh. "But let's say that what you said happens. Let's say that we all pack up and leave."

    "We get peace," Akagi said.

    "You keep fighting, and maybe, after a few decades, some petty King comes close to uniting this place, but then the remaining Kingdoms band together, his generals stab him in the back, and his country collapses."

    "No, it was the foreigners who—"

    Surge waved a hand. "Oh yeah, sure, we've sped up the process since we came to these shores, but you have history. We've only been here for forty years, but this state of affairs has existed for far longer than that— longer than your recorded history. Tell me, little tyke, have you ever wondered if your people think that uniting the country would bring forth Arceus and you'd get to prance around naked in some fictional garden, that they would just not fight? After all, everyone could be saved if you just stayed at peace. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say Ransei has to be united through conquest."

    "The glory!" she snapped. "Being the one to unify the continent would put you in His good graces!"

    He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Exactly! It's all a game! All ego! A thinly veiled excuse to justify this generational slaughter. You remind me of Johtohans, you know? The way you spin religion to justify whatever the hell you want at the time."

    Akagi bit her lip. "So what? Do you think you're any better? All of you foreigners, you're all cut from the same cloth!"

    Surge laughed. "Oh, no. I'm a bastard. We're all bastards who're exploiting your home for profit, but hey, at least we don't pretend. Funny thing is, the Unovans say it's to bring freedom and democracy, as do the Galarians, though they're more focused on the free market side of things. Kalosians are ideological fanatics who want all monarchies to disappear. Sinnohans, they say that they need to keep control of the waterways in the Ranseian Channel because those pricks from Fontaine keep mining the sea and raiding their ships, but let's be honest, they just want in on the feast. Us at Indigo? We tell you how it is. That's what's right. That's honesty."

    The girl huffed. "Doesn't make me like you anymore."

    "I don't expect you to like me. I expect you to hate my guts. Funny thing is, we're here to ally with Aurora to counterbalance Sinnoh's alliance with Ignis."

    Akagi blinked.

    "That's what I'm talking about. That look. You hate me, but I'm doing what you want." He outstretched his long arms and grinned. "I like you, runt. Let me train you and make you worth something. I'll teach you how to fight, how to read and write, and at the end of it all, I'll give you a 'mon and maybe you'll have what it takes to shine bright in this pile of shit you call home."

    He offered his hand.

    She took it, thinking that she would kill him by the end of it.



    Six months had passed since Surge had taken Akagi under his wing.

    The war was a distant thing, now. There were close calls in the middle of the night where Ranseians from Ignis had tried to breach their camp, which they had moved closer to Aurora, but the Indigoans always pushed them back with so few casualties it was almost a joke. The things they could do with their Pokemon, the tactics employed, it was all so new to her, even today. She was fourteen, now, and had spent most of her time sticking by Surge during strategy meetings or when he drilled his troops, or inside his tent like she currently was doing.

    Taking a geography test.

    Ransei currently had seventeen kingdoms, though that number fluctuated throughout the decades. On the table lay a blank map of Ransei with empty boxes above where kingdoms were supposed to be. There were no borders, given the fact that they changed every day, but the general location was always the same. Manectric and Raichu were watching her, making sure that she didn't cheat, and Pachirisu was sitting on the table, sniggering at Akagi for her failure to identify the northeastern kingdoms of Ransei.

    "I'd like to see you try, you stupid runt," she growled under her breath. "How the hell am I supposed to tell which one Valora is? Or Illusio? There isn't even topography to help!"

    Learning about the countries themselves was easier. Each Kingdom specialized in a single type, though they did not only use that type. Ignis, for example, was full of fire type users. The ruling family had used them for as long as they remembered, and according to Surge, it was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, though Akagi couldn't help but think there was something more to it. Aurora, her own country, had been specialized in normal types.

    Pachirisu fell on her back, giggling like an idiot as her legs and arms moved wildly, and Raichu shrugged, probably saying that he wouldn't know? Akagi had learned to know all of Surge's Pokemon, but she had bonded specifically with those three. She was confident in having at least twelve of the seventeen down, but the rest, she was stumped on, and she ended up filling them randomly when she only had two minutes left for her test.

    "Finished yet? Patches, did she cheat?"

    Pachirisu nodded, and Akagi strangled her until she jolted her arms and escaped to climb on Surge's shoulder.

    "I guess not," the tall Lieutenant grinned. "Let's see what you're made of, runt." She handed him the paper, and after a glance, he shrugged. "12 out of 17. Mediocre, but at least you know the ones closest to us."

    "I started learning these a week ago."

    "A week should be enough to memorize seventeen things, Akagi," he said.

    "Whatever. I'll ace it next time."

    "Good attitude to have, just make sure it actually happens, or you're running an extra ten laps around camp."

    "Any news? From the war?"

    "We caught some Sinnohans scouts and brought 'em back to camp," he said. "We're going to question them for their plans to see if they're anticipating our offensive or not."

    "Question how?"

    "Pull a few fingernails," he said.

    It was at times like these, that Akagi remembered who it was, she was facing. An awful man who had caused the death of her people, children included. Who ordered them to be tortured for information, and who was exploiting Aurora for its resources. She'd gotten smarter the last few months, learned about the world, and this small unit was only a small part of the actual operation. Indigo had launched. They still had expeditionary forces all over the continent, and this was only one of them, albeit the most powerful, given the fact that they were led by Surge.

    "No need to look at me like I just pulled your fingernails," he laughed.

    "I thought torture of prisoners of war was illegal under the Sootopolis Accords established after the Great War," she said, her voice shaking. "Have you been doing this the entire time?"

    "Smart girl. At least you can memorize your history," Surge said. "You see, the funny thing with laws is that there are loopholes. Sinnoh and Kanto-Johto are not at war. In fact, Indigo is not at war with anyone. The people we're capturing aren't prisoners of war, they're enemy combatants."

    "That's the same thing!"

    "One is illegal, one isn't. No need to launch into an entire ethical debate, I know what I'm doing is wrong, I just don't care."

    "Is there anything you care about?" she asked. "Or are you just some empty fucking shell?"

    Surge didn't answer. Instead, he sat down on another chair and sighed. "I'm being recalled in three months, runt."

    She frowned. "Recalled?"

    "Champion Lance has personally asked for me to take over the Vermillion Gym to deal with the Rocket presence building up in the city. He thinks my experience in war will help get the country on war footing to take the fight to them."

    He had told her about Team Rocket before, some kind of mafia who was growing more and more prominent in Indigo. Akagi thought they deserved all of it. It was a taste of their own medicine.

    "You could call it an early retirement," he sighed. "All my life, I've fought in this damn place, and just like that, I'm leaving. That's something, isn't it?"

    "What? Are you gonna cry? Ask for me to come with you?" she mocked.

    "No. You could not waterboard begging out of me, runt. I don't ask for things," he said. "And I know you wouldn't come anyway. Bummer, really. You could have a good life in Vermillion, but it is what it is."

    "I don't want anything to do with you. You're just someone I'm using to bring my people peace."

    "I know, I know, stop talking my ear off. Anyway, the goal is to finish off the Sinnohans before I leave, so you'll be of use, runt."

    "Do you mean—"

    "I'm giving you your first 'mon."



    "Weak."

    Magnemite levitated from the small crater in the ground that had formed after Raichu had slapped it down with his tail, and it was covered in dents and scratches. Raichu hadn't even used a move, just his body, and he hadn't gotten hit by any attacks even once. He could move faster than the eye could even see, but the worse was that he didn't. He slowed himself down, weakened himself so Magnemite and Akagi would be able to learn something out of this.

    "You fight like a dumbass," Surge said. "Look around yourself, runt."

    Akagi did so, ignoring Magnemite's protesting beeps. It hated when Surge talked shit, as did she, but it wasn't like they could do anything about it anyway. What she was were just trees. He had taken her to the middle of a clearing.

    "What? It's just fucking trees, you asshole!"

    "Then use those as cover. Don't just tell Magnemite to stand there and use Thundershock or Sonic Boom. Also, you're just standing there, wide open. Until you get yourself a psychic or a Protect user, that's not a luxury you can afford. You'd be dead before you know it. Use the terrain."

    "Raichu could have just killed me anyway!" She yelled, pointing at the electric type, who responded with a laugh. "Don't make fun of me, you prick!"

    "Oh, look at me, I'm Akagi," Surge mocked. "The opponent is too strong, so I'll just roll over and die! That's you, runt! You won't last a week without me, thinking like that. Some lad's Pokemon from Ignis is gonna crush your organs with Quick Attack!"

    "I thought we were just training—"

    Raichu fired off a blinding beam of electricity that burned the side of the arm even when she knew it hadn't touched her, because if it had she would be dead. She flinched, tumbling back into the grass and instinctively crawled back.

    "This is training," Surge said. "Now get back up. Don't let your Magnemite show you up."

    She cursed under her breath, but by Arceus' grace, she stood.



    Surge was leaving in a week, but Akagi couldn't even bother thinking about what she'd do.

    The teenager walked through a village that was eerily silent, broken by the occasional cry or scream and Surge and Declan chatting about the place they had recently bombarded to smithereens with a long-range barrage of Pokemon moves and missiles. The remnants of what were once vibrant neighborhoods now lay in ruins. Crumbled facades and rubble-strewn streets, blown up stores, schools and hospitals. The air carried a pungent mix of dust, despair and blood, a suffocating blend that mirrored the collective grief of a city torn apart. Amidst the destruction, haunting reminders of lives disrupted and dreams shattered emerged. Abandoned toys, torn clothes, and fragments of personal belongings lay strewn across the wreckage, leaving her with a feeling of emptiness. Something here was lacking.

    That was only second to the casualties.

    The corpse of an old woman, the bottom half of her body jutting out from below a massive collapsed structure that must have been her home. Children crying for their parents, clinging to non-responsive limbs. People with hollow stares who had just lost everything, just standing in the street without moving, sometimes wounded. People who would glare at her.

    This was Ignis' third largest city. Akagi had grown up thinking of these people as enemies, but they were just like her. Victims. Victims of the same self-perpetuating cycle engineered by outsiders.

    What am I doing here? she asked herself. The fact that she'd been ever been attached to Surge made her want to gag. The tall Lieutenant wasn't even looking at her, and she feared the next time she actually saw his face, she would convince herself that this was just a one-time event. Why was it so easy to grow to like this man? This monster in the shape of a man. How could one walk through this place and feel nothing? Not care?

    "Wasn't this—" she retched, doubling over and puking on the side of the road.

    "What, your first mission and you're already puking? You haven't even had to wade through guts yet!" Surge cackled.

    Akagi wiped her mouth, though the taste of vomit lingered. "Surge, this is— why did we do this? Just to sniff out a few Sinnohans holding out in the city? So many people died."

    "We warned 'em beforehand," Surge said. "It's a shame, but those who didn't evacuate only have themselves to blame."

    Declan nodded. "And we finally expelled the final remnants of Sinnoh's expeditionary force. Those who didn't Teleport out are all captured or deceased."

    Ah.

    She was talking to monsters, not humans.

    Akagi Yoshike finally understood that she'd been strung along this entire time. Manipulated. She needed to escape, but how could she? Surge had the majority of his Pokemon out, save for Magnezone being used for long-range communication and Manectric and Electabuzz having been wounded in a battle two weeks ago and still at base camp getting healed by the military nurses.

    Meanwhile, she wasn't allowed to use her Pokemon. Not outside of training or unless Surge gave her the okay. She'd caught or been given a few more by Surge that they were training up. Could she release them and strike? No, the noise from the Pokeballs would alert them. She was behind both of them and their Pokemon, at the moment, but she could still strike. Akagi still had that blade she'd tried killing herself with months ago when he had first stumbled upon her.

    Swallowing, she slowly shifted her hand down to her pocket, every casualty she came across giving her an extra oomph. She would have to repent, to ever get these people to forgive her. She had not lobbed the attacks herself, but Akagi had participated and sometimes cheered, when she had not witnessed the true horrors of war. Her village in Aurora had never been bombed like this.

    She moved like lightning, plunging the blade in Declan's neck. The man slumped to the ground, clutching at the hole. It continuously spurted blood, and Declan bled on the floor as he choked on his own blood. Surge barked out orders to his team before Akagi could strike, so instead she ran, escaping as fast as she could. She could get lost in these streets, blend in as a civilian if she dirtied herself enough. She needed to run. To escape from Surge's clutches before she couldn't forgive herself for what she had done.

    "HAHAHAHA! YOU DID WELL TO STRIKE, RUNT!" Somehow, Surge's voice echoed through the streets, though when Akagi looked back, she was not being followed. "I THOUGHT YOU'D ATTACK WHEN I WAS LEAVING, BUT A WEEK BEFORE? HOW SMART OF YOU."

    She wanted to retort, to tell him to go fuck himself, to die in a ditch, but instead, she stayed silent.

    "RUN AWAY, LITTLE TYKE. LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE!"

    And he would not be there to witness her rise.

    Akagi would escape and start an insurgency in the coming years, fighting against Indigo's puppet regime of Aurora. Eight years later, she would take control of the Kingdom and start her own war of conquest across the continent, taking over sixty-three percent of the landmass in another six years with foreign support from Sinnoh. They called her Warlord. Ransei's fastest and best conqueror in centuries.

    Everything had been going according to plan until a coalition formed to oppose her of the remaining Kingdoms.

    Her enemies were supporters by Unova and Kalos in small numbers, but the ones doing the heavy lifting?

    It was Kanto-Johto.



    She was twenty-nine, now. Thirty in a month.

    Akagi had never liked her castle. It was everything she hated in a ruler, the fact that she lived such a luxurious life compared to her people. The stone walls hung in tatters, a faint glow emanating from them as they slowly heated up due to the flames. Grand paintings of her and her conquests would smoulder and burn, as would the golden reams of the frames. The pillars holding up the room would soon collapse in on themselves, but the smoke would get her first.

    So the fact that it was currently burning down and collapsing around her did not bother her much. Akagi lazily slumped on her throne, ignoring the fact that if she stayed here for long, she would be trapped by the flames. Her protector Pokemon Chansey had fainted, taken down by some Indigoan scouts before she could react. Heliolisk, Bibarel, Luxray were also all down, and only Magneton and Jolteon remained at her side, ready to die with her. She expected enemy forces to come and finish her off any minute now, but instead, it was her nemesis, who showed up, his entire team by his side, save for Magnezone who she guessed was playing comms relay again like it used to. He bore an extra scar, this time nearly missing his eye, going over his forehead and temple. This one was fresh. His hair was still as golden as ever, and he looked like he hadn't aged a day, even if she knew he was in his late thirties now. Maybe early forties.

    Her eyes narrowed at the number of Pokemon. Manectric, Raichu, Pachirisu, Electivire— that one was new. Electabuzz had evolved, it seemed. Voltorb, Plusle and Minun.

    "How?" she instantly roared through the flames.

    She was not asking why Surge was there. Akagi had known about his presence for months, and had tortured information about him out of his soldiers. He was taking a break from Gym Leader duties and being deployed for eight months. This was his seventh. Surge was a man of war, and now that peace had come back to Kanto-Johto, he could not stay still for long.

    "Well, look at you, runt," Surge grinned, his teeth perfectly white. "Our long-awaited reunion, and this is how you welcome me back?"

    "Don't play fucking dumb," she drawled. "How is your team back on their feet? I sent people after you— my best people, and the survivors said you'd only have Patches and Raichu left. That the rest would take months to recover, if they didn't die from their wounds."

    He snorted. "Oh, that. Nasty pieces of work, your men. You trained them just the way I trained you, and they caught me off-guard—"

    "Answer the fucking question. You owe me that, at least."

    If she could stall for time, if she could condemn him to burn to death with her, then it would all have been worth it. Surge leaned against one of the pillars, his Pachirisu, Plusle and Minun swarming his shoulder and head.

    "Fancy new tech we got from the Rockets," he explained. "They made some Pokemon called Ditto when they tried to create a God, and it turns out that it's really useful for healing. We can't keep it to ourselves and leaks have already happened, so we're currently selling it to the highest bidder, which is why you lost the war against the coalition. They're already at each other's throats to get access to it and thinking about how to stab each other after the war's done, can you believe it?"

    "You did that."

    "We did," he nodded, crossing his arms. "Now are we going to do this the hard way, or the easy way, runt?"

    "What, are you expecting me to surrender so you can capture me?"

    "I'm asking you how you want to die," he said. "I tried to ask the League if we could keep you prisoner and spare your life, but you're too important to be left alive. Bummer," he shrugged.

    "Tell me, Surge," Akagi inhaled. "Is there anything you care about?"

    He smiled. "Still not going to answer that one, little tyke."

    "Kill him," she hissed.

    The smell of ozone filled her nostrils, and Magneton and Jolteon fired off two Thunders in Surge's direction. Deep in her heart, she'd known it wouldn't work. Raichu grunted, and the electricity bent toward him. He absorbed all of it in his tail, though he was heaving by the end of it.

    "Packs a punch," Surge said. "You would have been a decent fight, with your entire team. Get her Pokemon."

    Minun and Plusle disappeared— no, they blurred— no, they—

    Jolteon managed to dodge, electricity crackling through her fur as she weaved right, but Magneton crumpled to the floor before Akagi even realized what was happening. Minun's body had been overtaken by flames, and she had rammed in its center. Its eyes blinked, and it prepared to fight back, but Akagi raised a hand.

    "Stand down."

    "Glad you're taking the easy way out," Surge said. "Recall 'em."

    She did before they could protest, absorbing them both in their Pokeballs. It was not that she was giving up, of course. Surge was prone to bouts of overconfidence, and she had a plan. Akagi rose from her throne, staring Surge down while he and his team climbed the staircase. As soon as he got within reach, she pulled out a blade from her sleeve and tried ramming it into Surge's throat. The Kantoan was huge, but he was quick, and he ducked, punching her in the gut while Raichu whipped her leg with his electrified tail. The world went white for an instant as she convulsed, hit her head on her throne and crumpled to the floor like a piece of paper.

    "Nice try," Surge said. His voice was distant, so distant, yet he was right here, looming over her. Pieces of the ceiling started to collapse near the entrance. "It's a shame it had to come to this, Akagi."

    "You— you— you used me," she forced out. "Wanted me to— be strong."

    "I suppose I did, in a way. Figured that in a decade, you could own a decent chunk of the continent and be an ally of Indigo. That we could collect the resources in your country in exchange for weapons and aid. Unfortunately you refused any diplomacy and you conquered Ransei a little too quickly."

    "Fuck… you. You— make this land hell."

    "I do."

    It was so enraging, the way he acknowledged it. The way he didn't even try to justify himself for all the crimes he had committed, the deaths he had wrought, lives he and his country had ruined.

    "You walked it too," he softly said. "You killed, pillaged, tortured and conquered. Allied with Sinnoh to get a leg up."

    "Not— the same. Don't compare us."

    "Sure thing, runt," he said, leaning over her. "What do you think would have happened, had we let you take over the entire continent? You were already putting down rebellions before we got fully involved."

    "You can't just—" she coughed as pain coursed through her broken leg. "You can't just say that things would be the sa— same as justification."

    "It's what I truly think. Doesn't make me any better of a person, though. I'm a bastard."

    "I hate— you."

    Surge winced. "I know you do—"

    Second knife. That had been the plan. This one had been hidden in her boot, and she nearly managed to stab Surge in the neck. He'd been kneeling next to her, so he was in range, and she nearly killed him. Instead, he dodged out of the way and the blade penetrated his upper arm. Akagi internally swore, expecting death to take her, but instead, Surge told his team to stand down.

    "Thought you'd try to kill yourself like last time instead," he hissed, clenching at his arm. "Hell of a gambit you threw here."

    "Fuck you."

    "Raichu."

    The electric type's tail shone bright white with Iron Tail, ready to take her head.

    "Any last words?" Surge asked between heavy breaths. With some luck, his use of the arm would be permanently crippled.

    She spat a glob of bloody saliva in his eye. "Shinwa— was never— land of peace. You are— monsters. May Arceus choke you to de—death with His thousand hands, Lieutenant Surge. May your tar soul be lost forever and may you never see His— Garden."

    The man she hated closed his eyes, turning away from her.

    "Do— do it, runt," she choked at Raichu. "Finish me—"

    Akagi Yoshike perished alone in her throne room.

    Her Kingdom collapsed, and within weeks, the coalition needed to take her down were at each other's throats.

    Ransei was a land of war, of subjugation. A victim of imperialism. And it would not change, at least not yet.


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