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Spoiler:
Yggdrasilor or Ygdrasil
[ig-druh-sil, yg-]
noun, Scandinavian Mythology.
1.
an evergreen ash tree, the three roots of which bind together Asgard, Midgard, and Niflheim.
Table of Contents.
1. The Interdimensional Intersection
1.1. The Interdimensional Intersection Part. I
1.2. The Interdimensional Intersection Part. II
1.3. The Interdimensional Intersection Part. III
1.4. The Interdimensional Intersection Part. IV
1.5. The Interdimensional Intersection Part. V
2.1. Guardians of Sealed Space Part. I
2.2. Guardians of Sealed Space Part. II
2.3. Guardians of Sealed Space Part. III
2.4. Guardians of Sealed Space Part. IV
2.5. Guardians of Sealed Space Part. V
3.1. Fear and Love and Loathing Part. I
3.2. Fear and Love and Loathing Part. II
3.3. Fear and Love and Loathing Part. III
3.4. Fear and Love and Loathing Part. IV
3.5. Fear and Love and Loathing Part. V
Spoiler:
1.1. the interdimensional interstate.
part i
part iThere I was, standing in the middle of the darkness with their blood on my hands. It hurt somewhere inside of me, I guess, but overall I felt better. Liberated, even. The darkness shifted, then it wasn’t their blood anymore.
It was mine.
I stared at my hands, horrified, as laughs crept up on me like an icy chill, stilling me and making me feel as stiff as stone. I tried to swallow but my throat was too dry, and I cracked my mouth open just a bit and blood started running down my chin. I hit my knees, feeling completely ravaged, my head pounding and my heart pounding slowly, then my body went completely numb and I fell on my face.
——————
He pried his eyes open past their tears and saw fingers—his fingers, real fingers—digging into hard-packed dirt, his new fingernails splitting from the effort and leaving thin trails of red human blood. He blinked several times, stunned, before the pain returned and he hit the ground bodily, curling in on himself. (Bodily, wow; he could never use that word before sans the sarcasm.) His jaw clamped down on his tongue so hard that the coppery taste of blood surged in his mouth, and when he parted his lips just a little crimson blood spilled out onto the ground.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the pain began to wane. He became more familiar with his new body, feeling long and wavy hair, a lean torso, and a small burn scar on his left ankle. He braced his hands on the ground, feeling his arms shake and trembling as a newborn ponyta’s before he could find his center of balance. He let out a breath of exertion and prepared to get to his feet, however he was interrupted. A new, stronger sensation rippled through him, so potent that he fell on his face all over again. He couldn’t retain a cry as vocal agony tore through his throat, his fingers digging painfully into his scalp as he groped for a hold on something, on anything corporeal.
Is this… Is this really what they suffer from? Arceus—tricked—me!
The anger overruled the pain and for the first time in what felt like centuries, he could actually move. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he pushed himself to his feet, swaying slightly before finding his center and raising his head. The room he was in was terribly dark and his eyes couldn’t adjust at all, simply forming half-assed shaped from the blackness. He gritted his teeth and strained his ears, trying and failing to make any further sense of things than what he already had. It made no sense that he, who almost was shadows, would fall prey to their dark deceptions. Borderline anything could’ve been in that room and he, a defenseless human being, would’ve been powerless to stop it.
“…You’re half-right, anyway,” a familiarly ragged voice hissed somewhere in the darkness. “Bad things take solace here—you know, just as you did, or used to.” He tried to speak but found his tongue and vocal cords were immovable yet. Spooks, wherever he was hiding, found that hilarious, and he felt his face heat in anger. “Taking things as seriously as always, I see,” his right-hand pokémon continued, and finally he could spot bloodshot eyes through the black.
“—where?”
“Where are we? Containment,” Spooks answered a tad smugly. “At least you’ve found a man that matches your personality to a T.”
“—get—get me—”
“I’ll get you all right. It’s always been ‘Spooks do this’ and ‘Spooks do that’ for you because you think you’re such a hotshot that every pokémon within a twenty-mile radius just has to prostrate before you. But look at you know, as weak as a human!” Spooks’ laugh resounded in the small room as his eyes slowly floated closer. “Did you know that ‘Spooks’ isn’t even my name? Sure, it’s the one you gave me, but it’s not mine. Not that you ever cared.”
“I—” He felt a cold chill run down his back right before another ghostly laugh.
“I don’t want to hear you talk anymore.” Another cold chill skipped across his skin as stones in a pond, and then the darkness lightened enough for him to make out Spooks’ shape several feet away from him. The distance quickly closed between them as Spooks floated towards him, eyes glowing brighter, until he gave one leap and rammed through his annoyingly corporeal body. He gasped in shock, then groaned in pain as the half-possession distorted his human innards, twisting them around until it felt like a cold fist was jammed inside of his intestines and was knotting them up. He fell back against the wall, stunned, as red blood stained the underside of his skin and more blood dribbled out from his mouth.
Sleep well, Master, Spooks’ bodiless voice jeered from somewhere in the growing darkness of his peripheral. Because if you do wake up, you’ll have the entire Ghost-type committee tearing you to pieces.
…
…NO. DAMN. WAY.
He reached out blindly, hand coated in the same shadows that Spooks was reveling in, and grabbed the recalcitrant gengar by his arm, squeezing so hard that his laughter ceased instantaneously. You must have forgotten who you’re dealing with, he whispered without really “speaking.” I don’t care how I treat you or even what your name is, and do you know why?
“W…Why?” Spooks was, for lack of a less ironic term, thoroughly spooked.
Because you are nothing more than one drone in my force, and if you dare attempt to bite my hand again, I will wipe your ectoplasm out of all existential planes. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
“Y-Yes, Master,” he stammered.
Now help me get out of here. He released Spooks to clench his abdomen, feeling the man within cry and scream in agony. Spooks moaned in his own sort of agony as he put his paws on the ground, then he resigned himself to the cool feeling of shadowy darkness as they sunk down within them. That darkness, he was completely accustomed to, and he welcomed it like an old friend.
“Where?” He closed his eyes, feeling out the familiar darkness around him. To those that endlessly searched for faster methods of travels like flying-types or airplanes or whatever else ridiculous invention that the humans came up with, they had yet to realize that they were literally standing on the Grand Central Station of their Earth. As long as there were shadows there, beings of darkness could reach that place, and as there wasn’t a place without shadows, the reach was inconceivable.
“Viridian City,” he whispered, his voice misting in the cool blackness. It would be a while until he could use that body properly, but until then he still had one lackey to push around, just as long as Spooks remembered his proper place. He blinked heavily and watched his blood crystallize in the cold, and he gripped his stomach tighter before his body finally gave out.
He woke only because something was licking his (borrowed) face.
“Koko! What are you doing?” He cracked his eyes open to see a small growlithe getting pulled away by a young girl with auburn pigtails and freckles across her pale face. “Sorry, mister,” she apologized. “Koko is really friendly.”
“You smell like blood,” “Koko” said to him. He snorted through his nose and went to close his eyes again before he remembered what was going on. He instinctively leapt forward, knocking the girl onto her back and pinning her arms to the grass. She shrieked, alarmed, and Koko bristled as she started gnawing uselessly on his wrist.
“Who in hell are you?” he demanded, gripping her wrists so tightly she cried out in pain.
“L-Linda,” she moaned, tears streaming down her face. He raised his eyebrows at the sight. “Linda Fitzgerald…”
“Where are we right now?”
“W-We’re outside of Viridian City,” she whimpered, terrified. “Please don’t hurt me.” He looked around at the stretch of dirt path and green grass around them. Maybe he could see a city in the distance, he wasn’t sure, as his eyes had yet to properly adjust to the bright sunlight.
“Why would I…hurt you?” he finished, a little stunned at his own behavior. His goal was to find the disturbance and get back home, not to freak out the underworld dwellers. Messing with the humans would just make it that much harder to get his job done and return to Yggdrasil unobstructed. “Spooks,” he snapped, irritated that his ghost had made yet another disappearing act. “When I find him, I’ll—”
“Shady, Needle Arm!” He was knocked away as spinning green arms bearing razor-sharp thorns swung at him, causing him to go rolling across the grass until he reached a stop a few feet away. In normal form that wouldn’t even have dented him, however a human body was much more fragile and he found himself with several disgusting and likely to get infected puncture wounds on top of his contorted viscera. He saw a nearly-identical redheaded boy helping the girl up with a cacturne keeping an eye on him.
“Mel,” she whispered, putting her arms around him and burying her face in his chest. He held her protectively with one arm as he glared daggers at him.
“What the hell were you doing to my sister?” he demanded angrily, his cacturne bristling with thorns. He dragged himself onto his elbows and wiped a smear of blood from his forehead.
“Nothing of consequence… I wanted some information.”
“Damn way of getting it,” he growled.
“Dick,” his cacturne agreed.
“Ugh…” He groaned, the pain really hitting him. “You two…you’ll regret doing that…” He dug his fingers into the hard dirt for a moment, trying to gain leverage, then he pushed himself to his feet, feeling his body sway gently from side to side. “Spooks… Spooks!” he shouted, clenching his fists. Unless Spooks had suddenly metamorphosed into one of the random pidgey above, he sure as hell wasn’t coming anytime soon. “Arceusdamn it, that gengar is so— Wait.” He paused, getting a good look at Mel’s cacturne. “Dark-type,” he said sternly, pointing at Shady. Shady’s eyes narrowed a little in response as it stepped forward. “I command you to use Pin Missile on the brat.”
“Shady won’t—” Mel started, an interesting mix of confused and irritated, just as Shady spun around and fired a stream of arrow-like thorns at him. He froze, eyes wide, before Linda tackled him out of the way, the pins exploding into a shower of dirt and grass on the ground. He laid sprawled for the better part of five seconds before carefully pushing her away and sitting up.
“Shady won’t what?” he taunted Mel. “He knows how to save his spiny skin. Now, I have a little favor to ask of you two. Try attacking me again before I can speak and this plant will wither before your very eyes—like magic.”
“No!” Linda cried, beating Mel to the punch. She held Koko back as she barked angrily.
“You two can call me…” He searched in his mind a bit before smirking and snapping his fingers. “Orville. That’s his name. You two can call me Orville.”
“I know what I’ll be calling you,” Mel hissed in response, holding Linda protectively in his arms as her eyes watered in fear. Oops, there he went again. If he wasn’t careful, he would make a ruckus before he even got close to discovering—
“…I have a question,” Orville told them. “Were there any strange occurrences by your proph—newscaster? Psychic happenings? Weather disturbances? Anything like that?” They exchanged a look that was more or less meaningful before shaking their heads in unison. Orville stomped his foot down, becoming aware of his lack of protection there. He had to remember to grab some sort of footwear. “Don’t lie to me.” Mel’s cacturne raised his arms as well.
“W…We’re not!” Linda said, alarmed. They had to be lying, as he was completely certain that the energy he sensed was in that area. Maybe they were completely oblivious, he couldn’t tell, but for all he knew they were hiding something. Had Spooks been there, he could’ve extracted the information from them within seconds, but since he felt like playing hooky, Orville had to play it by the book.
“Then how about a deal?” he offered. Mel’s expression soured almost immediately as Linda paled. “Don’t think it’s anything too sordid,” he added, raising his hands defenselessly. He noticed Shady emulate the gesture from the corner of his eye and grimaced. He nodded his head a little to the side and Shady’s eyes darkened as he returned to the world. “I just need some help, and if you two can give it, not only will I leave you alone, I’ll help you as well.”
“You can help by getting as far away from here as possible,” Mel growled.
“Not happening, and frankly you’re annoying. Shut up. Anyway, I’m looking for a type of anomaly. All I know is that it’s here in this area and I need to get rid of it A.S.A.P. Help me and I, uh, won’t kill you.” That broke through even Mel’s façade and Orville clamped his mouth shut. “Wrong words. I don’t plan on killing you two—but I will hurt you,” he added quickly as Mel tensed as if for a fight, “all one hundred pounds of you.”
“Mel, just agree,” Linda whispered to him. “That way, he won’t hurt us.”
“Hurt us?” Mel exclaimed, taking out a pokéball. Orville couldn’t move fast enough as Mel returned his cacturne and got to his feet. “Linda, make Koko fight him.”
“I—no, she’ll get hurt—”
“We’ll get hurt!” he argued. Distraught, Linda released Koko from the cage of her arms. The little growlithe sped across the grass before sinking her teeth into Orville’s leg. He stumbled, shocked, as blood matted her fur and she started tearing.
“Get off of me before I stomp you to death!” he hissed, trying to regain his balance on one foot. Growlithe were known for their persistence, however, and she did not even flinch at the threat.
“Tear his leg off, Koko!” Mel said even as tears streamed down Linda’s face. Orville growled even though it didn’t mean much as a weak human.
“I said get—” He stopped, still balanced awkwardly on one foot as the pain slowly began to make a return. Arceus, not now! He waved his foot back and forth and tried his hardest to quell that damn man, but as always it wasn’t his body to control. They always backfired on him at one point or another, always, but this time there wasn’t any room for failure. If he did fail, everybody in all three worlds would die.
“NOOO!” he roared, aggravated and in pain at the same time. It was something he hadn’t experienced in a very long time from some kids, not since being challenged by that overgrown weed from Sinnoh…
“Koko, stop!” Linda cried abruptly. Her growlithe persisted, seemingly in the zone, and Linda ran up herself to grip her body and try pulling her free. Orville watched as his veins blackened starting from his feet and working their slow way up. That body was rejecting him and his darkness again, but this time he didn’t have the strength to fight back. He would get forced out and who the hell knew how long it would take him to find another compatible human? He’d be damned courtesy of Arceus and then the entirety of the underworlds would be over too if that anomaly got the change to spread.
A sudden chill ran down Orville’s back, making him think that Spooks had returned, but instead he felt a sudden heat bearing down on every inch of his skin. He took a pointless second to consider how much it itched, as if that human was born of shadows as well. He shifted slightly before looking down, and not only did he find that the darkness had vanished from his body, the shadows had too, leaving nothing but green grass at his feet.
What? Shadows can’t just disappear.
They reappeared just a second later, almost making him believe it was an illusion as Koko detached herself from his leg, leaving a ring of bloody teeth marks as she ran to Linda’s side, who had lost consciousness on the grass. A wave of vertigo hit him as time caught up and he just barely caught himself as he spun towards the ground. He let his eyes roam the land to find stretches of darkness like fingers left from the shadows like dirty residue, branching out from his feet and past Linda’s body to Mel, who was in just as prone of a state. He felt a bit dazed too, and as a matter of fact the only one that was perfectly fine was Koko.
“Ugh,” he groaned, slapping a hand against his forehead as the world began to spin slowly in his peripheral. He felt like utter crap but he couldn’t afford to focus on it at the moment. A disturbance happened there, and even though he didn’t know the finer details or even the cause, he did know the consequence: a portal through Yggdrasil would open. He had seconds to grab the brats and move before some other pokémon with a grudge against him (which numbered somewhere in the hundreds) would appear and seek their own form of revenge. Oh, Arceus must have sent him there on purpose, as he had to have known how many pokémon would want a piece of him—the human him. Koko barked angrily at him as he picked Linda up, cradling her small body against his unsteadily. He could hold her, sure, but he needed Mel to move. “Be useful and wake him up,” he snapped at Koko.
“I’m not your pokémon,” Koko growled in response.
“Yeah, well pretty soon you’ll be too dead to be anybody’s pokémon, you and your damsel trainer.” Koko bared her teeth, enraged, but he didn’t have time to mess around. He stepped down on Mel’s wrist, cracking it, and Mel’s eyes snapped open the same time that he took a gasping inhale as if he just came from underwater. Orville grabbed his arm, roughly dragging him to his feet before he was even fully conscious and forcing him into a run. Not even a second later a deathly boom rang out from behind them as if from tons of pressurized air, knocking them off of their feet and back onto the ground. Linda rolled from his grip and down the path as Orville shifted to his back, watching the pokémon materialize from the air and hover a few feet above the ground. Crimson eyes locked with his as the Eon Pokémon folded back his notorious blue wings to fly.
Spoiler:
1.2. the interdimensional interstate.
part ii
orville’s p.o.v.
part iiorville’s p.o.v.
“Damn all of us to Hell,” Orville said as he pushed himself onto his elbows. He watched Latios center himself and surreptitiously dug his fingers into the shadows at his side, slowly bringing his hand up to let them follow like ink dripping from his extremities. He threw the shadows out just as Latios charged soundlessly, his body getting halted centimeters from Orville’s as his shadow was subjugated by the latter’s. Not a second later the sound that had preceded Latios’ movement came once more, the loud crashing and gush of compressed air that was a sonic boom. Dirt and grass flew everywhere as if a tsunami had hit, clouding the air and darkening the sun above as it momentarily obscured their vision and leaving a huge crater where Latios had been. Orville stared at Latios for what seemed to be a long while until the former smirked.
“I thought I had you,” Latios told him.
“Pokémon tend to think that.”
“You’re still clever.”
“Of course.”
“And not clever enough.” He started struggling against Orville’s grip, the veins of his arm turning black and bulging as he tried to hold Latios in place. In the meantime, he roused Mel and Koko and took up Linda, who was no closer to waking than before.
“Let’s go before he gets free,” Orville hissed to them, grabbing Mel around the waist with his other arm and lifting him in order to move faster. Koko, as he witnessed, was fast on her own, and as long as he had Linda, she would follow. The farther they were towards Viridian Forest the less Orville’s hold on Latios could hold. He felt it being stretched as thin as rubber as they crossed the boundaries, then his arm hurt as it “snapped.”
“He’ll follow us!” Koko whined to him through the darkness. He gritted his teeth, already annoyed that he could barely see two feet in front of him through the thick growth of trees.
“Maybe so, but he’ll be slower about it. He won’t risk a sonic boom where there’s this much wildlife, hating me or not.” Koko had a better time getting around than him, which irritated him to no bounds despite him knowing what he had gotten himself into.
“Why is Latios after you?” she demanded. “And why do you smell like that?”
“Like what?”
“You smell a lot like blood, like you killed someone, but you also have a weird scent of ghost energy and something I have no idea about.”
“Smart mutt,” he muttered, glancing over his shoulder. Though he wasn’t sure, it seemed to be Latios slowly flying through the mess of trees some dozen or so feet behind them. “Look, Cocoa or whatever your name is, I need your eyes and nose.”
“No! You’re not my trainer!”
“Aagh! I know I’m not, but I don’t think you want to die because that guy’s after me!” Koko thought about it. “These damn eyes can’t see crap, so I need you to help me.”
“Then explain everything! —Duck!” Koko suddenly cried. Orville almost fell on his face as he doubled over, and not a second later Latios suddenly flew overhead and rammed his head into an oak a few feet away, causing the trunk to shatter and letting it hit the ground with an ear-splitting noise.
“Everything is a lot to explain,” he said with a grimace. “For now let’s focus on living, and if we manage that then we’ll focus on the next step.” He knew that the only real way to get rid of Latios was another portal through Yggdrasil, but in that state he was incapable of opening one safely. On the other hand, he was doomed if he didn’t open one, so he might as well have taken the risk. He just needed something reflective, anything large enough to take in all seventy-nine inches of Latios… “Is there a pool nearby? A pond, a lake, anything clean?”
“Why?”
“Again, I’ll tell you if we live.” Koko didn’t like that but took the lead anyway, guiding him towards the west but still letting him run into tree branches. Behind them Latios persisted, more attacks flying at them and coming so close that the hairs on the back of his neck were too tired to even rise anymore. He watched the trees thin to allow more light, finally giving his eyes a break as he noticed an abundance of ground plants and water-types that scattered upon sensing Latios.
They came out of a particularly thick growth to a small clearing with a pond the size of a human vehicle. The pokémon lounging around it immediately scattered as Orville came bursting in, and he wasted no time as he felt Latios almost literally breathing down his neck. He didn’t even release Linda and Mel as he jumped into the water, and as he passed through he spun around to release his energy to the surface. Latios attempted to follow him but just as he breached the water the portal formed, causing him to vanish whereas Orville just sunk through six feet under. He waited until the portal vanished on its own, being incredibly weak, and then he surfaced, letting Linda and Mel have their own unpleasant awakening.
“Blergh!” Mel spluttered as he swam up, flailing wildly within the water. Orville found his lack of swimming expertise hilarious and especially so when Linda had to help him float. “What the hell!?” They swam to the shore and Mel landed gratefully on the grass, shedding his drenched hoodie and jacket and even dropping his utility belt. Orville picked it up but Mel paid him no attention as he shook his hair dry with Koko seeing to Linda. “What the hell? Were you trying to drown us!?”
“I’d have fun drowning you, but no, I wasn’t. I was actually saving you two,” he corrected, spinning Mel’s belt around his finger. “You would’ve been caught in Latios’ mess and been killed on the spot.”
“Latios? The legendary Latios?” Linda asked, eyes wide. Mel barked out a dry laugh.
“Very funny.”
“Whether you believe me or not isn’t my concern. The only concern at the moment is getting as far from here as possible before another disturbance happens.” They weren’t known to follow pokémon, but Orville wasn’t willing to take any risks while he was still so defenseless. And because of the children—he couldn’t recklessly endanger children. Arceus sure as hell wouldn’t like that.
“My concern is getting my sister away from you, you—you freak,” he spat in response, grabbing Linda’s arm. Koko growled in response, huddling closer to her.
“It’s all right,” Orville told them as they took a step backwards. He snorted through his nose and put his hands on his hips, turning his back to them. “Just remember that what you saw here can and will happen in numerous other places—maybe even your cozy house. Think of what would happen if, say, Groudon landed in your mother’s kitchen. I bet she wouldn’t find that very fun.” He was lying, but since he was the only one out of the four of them that really understood anomalies, he could get away with it. They were expectantly silent as they mulled it over, looking at each other.
“Where’s the proof again? That mystical, magical, invisible Latios?” Mel sneered.
“He’s telling the truth there,” Koko grumbled, pawing Linda’s leg. She looked down before looking back at Mel worriedly.
“I don’t think he’s lying about that, Mel.”
“Don’t tell me you two are getting brainwashed by this creep!”
“I’d look who’s calling who a creep, Mel,” Orville sneered in response. Mel’s eyes widened as he clenched his fists. Linda was the smarter one of the two, grabbing his arm to stop him from getting his face broken.
“We’ll help you—” she started, earning Mel’s disgusted shock, “—if you give us more information.”
“Gladly,” he smirked.
╬╬╬
It wasn’t easy getting back on track to Viridian City with how much destruction Latios created, but they tried. It did reinforce Mel’s ever so hard to garner belief however, seeing the upturned dirt as big as an airplane’s landing strip where there was previously green grass. He didn’t admit Orville was right however, which still pissed him off to such high bounds. And as if one brat on his behind wasn’t enough, that growlithe was no less than five centimeters behind him at all times. That girl Linda was the only levelheaded one in the whole situation, although she did look to be on the verge of tears most of the time. It was somewhat humorous that despite looking so alike, she was very timid and he was obnoxiously brazen.
“Where’s that explanation you promised?” Mel asked deprecatingly, just barely turning his face to Orville as he spoke. He grunted in response.
“What did I promise exactly? Do I really need to give you written word? Am I that untrustworthy?”
“You’re prevaricating.”
“Nice vocabulary. But yes, I did say that I would tell you.” He decided to omit the harder to believe parts of his tale, although it would dent his credibility somewhat. “I’m here looking for what we call an anomaly. It turns the space into thin ice and not just that, but it also releases dangerous pokémon into this underworld, which puts lives in danger.”
“And who’s this we you’re with? The Ghostbusters?”
“We are the ones that care for all of you scumbag eight-year-olds that swear you can handle yourselves, but guess what?” With one arm, Orville lifted Mel over his head and threw him down onto the dirt, then he dug his heel into Mel’s birdlike ribcage, holding him down. “If a worthless human like me can take you down without batting an eye, you can bet your skinny ass that something better than me won’t even dedicate a brain cell to the action.”
“G-Get off of me,” he stammered, pushing Orville away to no avail. Orville could’ve very easily crushed his chest, but instead he removed his foot and allowed Mel to stand. “Bastard,” he muttered, turning away.
“I’m not with you three for my good health either,” he told them. “This is basic knowledge to all of us but I still have to explain it, yet you’re having so much trouble understanding.”
“Because in the first place, legendary pokémon are just that—legendary,” Mel said. “This kind of crap is something from a sci-fi movie or maybe fan-fiction.”
“Well seeing is believing, brat,” Orville retorted, pushing Mel back by the chest. He stumbled a little before regaining his balance, mouth open for an angry reply. “And if you decide not to help me you sure as hell will be seeing a lot of proof. Not all legendary pokémon are the people pleasers you read about in your picture books. I’m actually trying to do you all a favor here, so it would help if you’d stop being such a little monster about all of it.” Mel shut his mouth but shot daggers at Orville visually. Linda took Koko up in her arms as she stared pensively at Viridian City on the horizon.
“And what do you do to the things that cause anomalies?” she asked hesitantly. “Do you…kill them?”
“Maybe,” he said vaguely, crossing his arms over his chest. She paled, eyes wide, and Mel grabbed her hand. Orville sighed. “Why is death such a raw topic to you two?”
“Ugh,” Mel complained, his brain apparently exhausted and unable to concoct any witty responses.
“Nobody likes to think of death. It’s scary,” Linda elaborated. Orville didn’t have a response this time. Death wasn’t scary, not to the legendaries, but he would’ve had a hard time explaining the concept to a human.
“Yeah? Well being scared of it won’t make it disappear either.” He sighed, unwilling to get into the fine details of unnecessary topics, and rubbed his arms. The man, Orville, had been wearing odd grey clothes, thin and cheap-feeling, not to mention the no-shoes thing. On top of that, Spooks (damn him) mentioned that Orville was in containment. If so, then he wouldn’t be well off wandering in a wide open city. It was lucky enough that he got away with Mel and Linda. “What were you two doing out there alone anyway? Parents abandon you or something?”
“Um,” Linda mumbled uncomfortably. “We were, uh…”
“Look,” Mel said sharply, “we’re not pals. You need our help to get off our backs? Fine. You don’t need to know about our lives to get your mystical crap done, so don’t ask. Not everybody has a nice story to tell or even wants to tell it, so shut your—”
And a pidgeotto came and plucked Mel up. Like a magikarp.
It was so ridiculously satisfying it was hilarious.
“Mel!” Linda cried as the pidgeotto soared back into the air. She spun to face Orville, tears running down her cheeks as Koko barked and jumped in the air futilely. “You have to do something?”
“Do what, exactly?” he chuckled. “Fly up there and get him? Pidgeotto like little annoying things to eat—that’s the circle of life. Maybe he’ll reincarnate as something more useful, like a miltank.” He didn’t see reason to be scared of her—she was even smaller than Mel, and a female—but the look she gave him made him stop mid-laugh and fear for his mortality just a bit.
“Save my brother,” she ordered, her eyes red from her crying. “Or else.” He was so shocked, in fact, that he didn’t even ask what the “or else” was. He had a suspicion that it wasn’t going to be a merry skip through a flower field.
“I’ll, uh, see what I can do.” He backed out of her reach and sighed in relief. Those two really stuck their necks out for each other. As he bent down and tried to summon Spooks from the depths of his soon-to-come demise, he suddenly remembered why Latios and Latias disliked him so much.
“Hide-‘n’-seek? What’s that supposed to be?” Latios snorted. Latias cried out in surprise.
“You don’t know? All the kids play it in Alto Mare! You, um, uh…” She flew in a wobbly circle as she tried to remember. Emerson (his current possession) wouldn’t have minded had they not been in the Snowpoint Temple, Snowpoint City, in Sinnoh, in one of the few places he could freely access.
“You what?”
“You, uh, you go hide and count to fif…fifteen! And when you get to twenty then you win!”
“Do you even know what you’re talking about?” Latios sighed, letting his wings drop to his sides. The ensuing wind cleared the snow from the floor surrounding him, revealing the smooth ice covering it. Emerson tried to keep his eyes on his reflection but they were getting quite annoying.
“She rarely does, so I’ll say so,” Emerson put in, looking at them from the corner of his eye. They were reasonably incensed by his two cents.
“You can’t talk to my sister like that,” Latios growled, his eyes flashing. Emerson shrugged a shoulder.
“Well, you’re in my region, in one of my domains, so I believe I can say what I please with my mouth.”
“Actually, Sinnoh belongs to Dialga and Palkia,” he pointed out smugly. Emerson gave him a short round of applause for his contribution and his nose flared angrily.
“The point is, we can pass freely through the regions,” Latias said, rubbing Latios’ shoulder to placate him. “It’s in the accords. Nobody owns a region.”
“Yeah? Well that’s not what Arceus said when it confined me to a world without physics and sunlight and, uh, what else is it missing? Riiight, any other living things. That cold dark place is mine own to enjoy. You should go visit, ungrateful brat.” He passed his hand over the ice and it immediately darkened into a streak of black amidst the white snow. Latios gasped as it was pulled downwards tail first, and Latias wasn’t fast enough to grab him before he was sucked in. Her head slammed against the ground as the ice returned to normal, then she raised it to shoot a murderous look at Emerson.
“Bring my brother back!”
“He’ll get back on his own,” he chuckled. “You know, if he can figure out the place fast enough. You’ll see him in I’d say…fifty years at the latest?”
Latias’ feathers stood on end, making her appear a lot more rugged than she was, and they shone with a bright blue light. “Bring him back!” she snapped, her feathers falling away and swirling into a ball of energy. Emerson sunk into the shadows as her attack crashed into the pillar behind him, shattering it into piles of lumpy rock, and he resurfaced just behind her.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said, eyes glowing red. “I only take orders from Arceus.”
Latios was returned as Latias brought the matter to Arceus, and since then he was too happy to come after Orville every time he was in the underworld. Linda and Mel were like them in a way, but maybe all brothers and sisters cared for each other like that. Maybe he would’ve known more if his purgatory wasn’t eternal solitude.
He put his back to Linda and steeled himself before plunging his hand into his shadow. It hurt even more than he expected, doing it on his own, and the backlash was so strong that he almost was pulled headfirst into that cold darkness, but he planted his feet and held his ground. Koko sniffed around him, probably to ensure he wasn’t going to attack them, and he snorted at her. He waved his hand back and forth blindly until he found what he was looking for, thank Arceus. He held on tight and dragged Spooks free even as he tried to cling for his not-life. Orville held him up by the leg as he laughed weakly.
“You, uh, found me,” he muttered.
“Yes, uh, I did. Thank Arceus that I don’t have time for punishment now. I want you to take us out there,” he said, pointing in the direction the pidgeotto had gone. “If I hear one word from you on the way, I’ll rip your mouth off and banish it to the corner of Yggdrasil.” Spooks started to reply but wisely kept his mouth shut. He took a deep breath and took a more gaseous form as he expanded until he was six feet tall. He grabbed Linda and Koko with one arm and Orville with the other before floating off into the sky.
“We’re not going fast enough!” Linda complained worriedly.
“You heard the lady,” Orville said. Spooks grumbled to himself but wisely didn’t make it audible as they moved faster through the air. Orville looked down and saw the green grass make way for hard dirt and gravel. He didn’t know Kanto all that well, but he figured that it meant they were getting off-track from Viridian City. It could’ve just been a small detour, but he couldn’t decide that without first seeing the cause of the anomaly. If it was a person living in Viridian, then that was just a detour; on the other hand, if it was a pokémon or even someone conscious of him on their tracks… Who knew how far they would get before he could catch up again, and he didn’t want to wait for another anomaly to locate them. Another anomaly meant another legendary, and that meant more lives in danger.
“How far is he?” Koko asked as they continued flying. They had only been moving a short time, but to them it probably felt like eons.
“Well, pidgeotto can fly up to sixty miles to catch prey—”
“Prey?” Linda repeated, startled. “He’s not prey! He’s bigger than it!”
“Didn’t seem to stop the bird.”
“Orville!”
“It’s a pretty ingenious plan if you think about it. The boy is a little gamy, but pidgey can pick his bones clean for some protein, and he’s just big enough to feed a flock of—ouch!” he exclaimed as Koko bit down on his hand.
Spooks reached a mountain range sitting around a city. It had plenty of ledges that he assumed a pidgeotto would nest in. “Spooks, check around there,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Spooks muttered in response, holding his tongue from any extra comments. He circled the mountain from the bottom up. Linda grew nervous as they found minor collections of rock-types and nesting areas for smaller bird pokémon, but not the guilty pidgeotto. He sighed and looked towards Linda, expecting another invective, but she was crying silently instead. He looked to Koko for pain instead and found her in pretty much the same state. He was, in simple terms, dumbfounded. Mel was irascible and rude and crass, yet he was still so well-liked. Orville was just the same, though he hated to admit any similarities to the brat, yet he was loathed among many communities. What…could have been the difference?
“How does he do it?” he wondered aloud, a wry smile on his face. Linda looked at him in confusion and he just shook his head. Then he spotted it. “There. Right there.” He directed Spooks to a small ledge with just enough space to house a nest settled between two large rocks as anchors. Mel was lying in the collection of twigs unmoving, his body set between three large pidgeotto eggs. As soon as Spooks drew near Linda wiggled from his grip to jump into the pidgeotto’s nest despite Orville’s protests.
“Mel! Mel, wake up!” she urged, picking twigs and leaves from his hair as she tapped his cheek.
“Oi, you insolent female, listen to me!” Orville snapped. “Pidgeotto hate when others step in on their territory. If that bird comes back and sees you this close to its eggs, you’re just as much chow as him.” She ignored him and he sighed in defeat. “Why are these kids’ heads so full of cotton? Spooks, take me away—I think I can find better travel guides in a daycare.”
“Whoops, not enough time,” Spooks said before releasing Orville to flop on his face in the twigs. He gave a sinister grin before he faded away to be seen whenever the hell he wanted to. Orville growled, taking up a rock and bouncing it in his palm.
“When I see that one again I’ll be sure to banish him to the darkest, coldest pits of Hell.” He looked up as a distant figure appeared on the horizon, flying towards them much faster than Spooks moved. “If we have time.”
Mama pidgeotto returned with one hell of a vengeance, talons out for blood. Orville tossed the rock with as much force as he could muster, but for all of his effort she only veered slightly off course. Linda hugged Mel closer to her body as the pidgeotto swooped down towards them. A thousand thoughts raged in his head as he watched, the scene transpiring a lot slower than he would’ve preferred. He wanted to get his crap done and go back home, but he knew that if Arceus discovered he let three innocents get killed while he watched, he’d end up down there with Spooks. Moreover, a tiny, tiny empathetic part of him wanted to save them just because. He spat on that part and obeyed the voice of his own safety as he stood over them and put his arms out to cover them, then he braced himself for the pain of having his chest carved out. Then he chose an alternative.
He took up her eggs and let her smash into them instead.
The half-formed little pidgey spilled into the nest with a flood of embryonic fluid in a heap of grey, underdeveloped flesh. It wasn’t the grossest thing he had seen—not after witnessing Manaphy giving birth, whoa—but Linda started dry-heaving from the sight. The pidgeotto screeched in alarm, snapping back from them, and Orville took the opportunity to grab onto her leg, pulling her harshly towards the nest. He moved out of the way so her body slammed into the rock wall and she hit the ground.
“Well,” he sighed. “Who wants fried chicken?” He looked at Linda’s expression and frowned. “Not the time?” He picked up a larger stone about the size of his head and brought it down on the pidgeotto, ending her days. Mel also chose that moment to open his eyes. His muscles tensed automatically and he sat straight with his arms out protectively.
“Don’t drop me!” he cried. A few seconds later he calmed down, rubbing his arms as he looked around. He took one look down the side of the mountain and screamed like a little girl—Orville mentally filed the moment away for posterity. Mel sat as far from the edge as possible hugging his knees to his chest, his face deathly pale until he made eye contact with Orville. It turned even redder than his hair as Orville burst out laughing so hard it brought tears to his eyes.
“Heights? Are you kidding me?” he laughed. “That’s all it took? I won’t give you a break from here on.”
“Shut up!” Mel snapped. Orville was still snickering as he looked down at the drop. It was a bit severe, but there were enough ledges to land on to make it possible as long as the birds didn’t peck their eyes out.
“So, unless you three want to claim this nest for your own, we should get down. I suggest Mel goes first.”
“Damn you.” He hesitated, looking down at the pidgey embryos, and his face turned a little green. “Why did you come for me anyway? Don’t you hate me?”
“Hate is a…strong word. I hate confinement; I hate solitude. You’re just bearable. And what kind of question is that? My emotions have no say in the matter. I won’t let a semi-innocent kid get killed.”
“Semi-innocent?”
“You constantly antagonize me. I think my feelings are forever traumatized.” Mel rolled his eyes. “And if nothing else, your concern for each other has moved me.” They exchanged a look.
“Really?”
“My heart isn’t stone. Now go before another bird wants to grab you.” Linda released Koko to the ground to take Mel’s hand. He gripped it tightly as she walked towards the edge and he kept his eyes to the skies as they skidded the five feet down the slant to the nearest ledge. Orville sighed as he followed.
The first thing I want to say is that it was really refreshing to see such an original beginning to a fic. As soon as I saw the character was in a new body I was thinking, "Oh, okay, the protagonist is in a Pokemon body. One of those fics, I guess." Then I kept reading. "Oh, so it's a Pokemon in a human body, that's a bit different." Then I kept reading. "Oh, the main character is actually the devil or something and this is all really creepy. o_o " Suffice to say I loved how the story starts with such a visceral scene. Grabbed my attention right away.
Going along those lines, my favorite element so far is definitely "Orville" and his outlook on life. The way you've set him up as this homicidal maniac but kept him in check with fear of Arceus and a surprising amount of empathy (read: any empathy at all) keeps me guessing and that's great. I find that I'm more interested in just what he's going to do next than the actual cataclysm he's trying to prevent.
Linda and Mel are okay; not as interesting as Orville but that's not their fault. I'm guessing from your implication that they have more going on than it appears, but for now their best moment is when Mel gets swiped by the Pidgeotto. I might have felt bad about Mel losing any shred of dignity he had left, but I was laughing too hard.
Another really funny moment for me was the Cacturn calling Orville a dick. I don't know how funny you meant it to be, but I just pictured him saying one syllable of his name like a Pokemon would except he actually means "Dick." It makes you wonder how much of the Pokemon-talk in the anime battles is actually s***-talk.
On that note, while there were definitely funny bits, sometimes I think it resulted in some tonal dissonance. After the first scene I was expecting something fairly grim and serious, and there's nothing wrong with a story being grim at parts and funny at others, but it's at the intersection that things can get awkward. I'm thinking in particular about the bit with the eggs, which was...something.
Of course, comedy is highly subjective and you shouldn't take my opinion on it as gospel. I suspect you'll get similar reactions, though.
Moving on, here's a writing mechanic issue I found:
Also important, cussology:
Less importantly, here are the typos and other little things I found:
tl;dr: I think the placement of some of the jokes is a concern, but on the whole I really liked it. The action scenes are solid and tactile, and you've done a great job with the lead character so far. I'm also glad I can follow the story even though I'm not familiar with Gen IV, so good job there. I'll definitely be coming back for the next installment!
Going along those lines, my favorite element so far is definitely "Orville" and his outlook on life. The way you've set him up as this homicidal maniac but kept him in check with fear of Arceus and a surprising amount of empathy (read: any empathy at all) keeps me guessing and that's great. I find that I'm more interested in just what he's going to do next than the actual cataclysm he's trying to prevent.
Linda and Mel are okay; not as interesting as Orville but that's not their fault. I'm guessing from your implication that they have more going on than it appears, but for now their best moment is when Mel gets swiped by the Pidgeotto. I might have felt bad about Mel losing any shred of dignity he had left, but I was laughing too hard.
Another really funny moment for me was the Cacturn calling Orville a dick. I don't know how funny you meant it to be, but I just pictured him saying one syllable of his name like a Pokemon would except he actually means "Dick." It makes you wonder how much of the Pokemon-talk in the anime battles is actually s***-talk.
On that note, while there were definitely funny bits, sometimes I think it resulted in some tonal dissonance. After the first scene I was expecting something fairly grim and serious, and there's nothing wrong with a story being grim at parts and funny at others, but it's at the intersection that things can get awkward. I'm thinking in particular about the bit with the eggs, which was...something.
“Well,” he sighed. “Who wants fried chicken?” He looked at Linda’s expression and frowned. “Not the time?”
Actually, I would say it's not the time. You really could replace "Linda's expression" with "the reader's expression" and it'd still make sense. Frankly, it was a pretty shocking scene and I think writing jokes throughout it didn't do anything besides make the jokes fall flat. It'd be different if the main draw of the fic were supposed to be shock-humor like in South Park or something, but I don't think that's what you were going for. In any other genre, people are going to feel conflicted about something like this being surrounded by jokes:
The half-formed little pidgey spilled into the nest with a flood of embryonic fluid in a heap of grey, underdeveloped flesh.
(Btw, I think the phrase you want is 'amniotic fluid.') I also think this scene was a missed opportunity to delve more into Orville's character. If you take away the jokes, or if you make it clear that he thinks it's funny but we're not supposed to, then that could create a different and better kind of tension in the reader: tension in regards to how they feel about the main character, as opposed to tension in regards to whether they're on board with the story's sense of humor.Of course, comedy is highly subjective and you shouldn't take my opinion on it as gospel. I suspect you'll get similar reactions, though.
Moving on, here's a writing mechanic issue I found:
“What the hell were you doing to my sister?” he demanded angrily, his cacturne bristling with thorns. He dragged himself onto his elbows and wiped a smear of blood from his forehead.
At first glance it looks like the second 'he' still refers to Mel. With context you quickly see that it's actually Orville, but it still trips up the reader momentarily and that doesn't help the story flow. The difficulty of balancing pronouns is underrated (Lord knows I struggle with it...), but it's important. I saw several other cases of this, so I'd suggest looking out for them.Also important, cussology:
“Damn way of getting it,” he growled.
Typically this phrase would be of the form "Damn [adjective] way of [participle phrase]." Without the adjective it's awkward. This has been today's lesson in cussology! :DLess importantly, here are the typos and other little things I found:
half-assed shaped from the darkness
To those that endlessly searched for faster methods of travels like flying-types or
“And who’s this we you’re with? The Ghostbusters?”
Should be "shapes" and "travel." Also, I would put single quotes around the "we," just so it's immediately clear that he's using the word as an object and not as the word itself. It also more immediately conveys his intonation.To those that endlessly searched for faster methods of travels like flying-types or
“And who’s this we you’re with? The Ghostbusters?”
tl;dr: I think the placement of some of the jokes is a concern, but on the whole I really liked it. The action scenes are solid and tactile, and you've done a great job with the lead character so far. I'm also glad I can follow the story even though I'm not familiar with Gen IV, so good job there. I'll definitely be coming back for the next installment!
Old, Janky Fics
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=146381"]Gary Stu's Unpredictable Adventure[/url-inline]Complete and FULL of lame jokes[url-inline="showthread.php?t=127518"]Kanto: The Disputed Frontier[/url-inline]Canceled(Now with MST3K'd chapter 1!)
Chapter Fics
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=406057"]Roving Degenerates with Dangerous Pets[/url-inline]Canceled[url-inline="showthread.php?t=387471"]Will Somebody Stop These Kids?[/url-inline]Complete[url-inline="showthread.php?p=9293373"]Digimon Campaign[/url-inline]Complete
One-Shot Fics
[url-inline="showthread.php?t=404864"]Wild Horses in Winter[/url-inline]2017[url-inline="showthread.php?t=385011"]Hubris Island[/url-inline]A&D Collab 2016[url-inline="showthread.php?p=7449808"]Giovanni Destroys the World and Everything in It[/url-inline]2012Small Writing Contest[url-inline="showthread.php?t=193500"]2009[/url-inline], [url-inline="showthread.php?t=230366"]2010[/url-inline], [url-inline="showthread.php?t=258543"]2011[/url-inline] (1st), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=305055"]2013[/url-inline] (1st), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=332174"]2014[/url-inline] (1st), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=374329"]2016[/url-inline] (2nd), [url-inline="showthread.php?t=400230"]2017[/url-inline] (1st)
Thank you thank you for the review. Also, haven't seen you in quite some time iconmeanon.
But on a serious note, I know the pronouns became a little iffy, I'm still editing the story even after I've posted it. And "shock humor"? I don't watch South Park so I'm not familiar with that. Some jokes are just intended to fall flat, especially when coming from Orville because he doesn't quite understand humor, but it's not as apparent in the first two chapters. And please do turn in to the next installment of Ren and Stimpy, I mean Yggdrasil
As soon as I saw the character was in a new body I was thinking, "Oh, okay, the protagonist is in a Pokemon body. One of those fics, I guess." Then I kept reading. "Oh, so it's a Pokemon in a human body, that's a bit different." Then I kept reading. "Oh, the main character is actually the devil or something and this is all really creepy. o_o " Suffice to say I loved how the story starts with such a visceral scene. Grabbed my attention right away.
Devil? Aww, Orville wouldn't like that comparison. He's actually quite cuddly, like a porcupine.
Going along those lines, my favorite element so far is definitely "Orville" and his outlook on life. The way you've set him up as this homicidal maniac but kept him in check with fear of Arceus and a surprising amount of empathy (read: any empathy at all) keeps me guessing and that's great. I find that I'm more interested in just what he's going to do next than the actual cataclysm he's trying to prevent.
Orville is actually a good person, believe it or not. He's just incredibly bitter and bitterness can make anybody look like a bad guy.
I might have felt bad about Mel losing any shred of dignity he had left, but I was laughing too hard.
Mel said to tell you that you've now made his hit-list right behind Orville. You and your ancestors will now be visited upon with the vehement wrath of a pugnacious seventh grader
Another really funny moment for me was the Cacturn calling Orville a dick. I don't know how funny you meant it to be, but I just pictured him saying one syllable of his name like a Pokemon would except he actually means "Dick." It makes you wonder how much of the Pokemon-talk in the anime battles is actually s***-talk.
I truly believe Pikachu curses Ash's name eighty percent of the time with a smile on his faceBut on a serious note, I know the pronouns became a little iffy, I'm still editing the story even after I've posted it. And "shock humor"? I don't watch South Park so I'm not familiar with that. Some jokes are just intended to fall flat, especially when coming from Orville because he doesn't quite understand humor, but it's not as apparent in the first two chapters. And please do turn in to the next installment of Ren and Stimpy, I mean Yggdrasil
Spoiler:
Author's Drabble - This is Mel and this is Linda
1.3. the interdimensional intersection.
part iii
mel’s p.o.v.
1.3. the interdimensional intersection.
part iiimel’s p.o.v.
Pewter City was as boring as he remembered, that was for sure. But this time it wasn’t from a lack of color or even lack of annoying neighborhood Mikey—more like an excess of that creep Orville. Mel didn’t like him from the get-go, but his distaste festered as Orville laughed literally every second that he spent crawling down the mountain. He hoped that the bastard ruined his lungs.
“Hey, hey, I’ve got a serious question,” he chuckled as they reached ground level. Mel blew his cheeks out, already angry at the result. “You save her skin, and she saves yours—what happens when neither of you aren’t up for the call?”
“Huh?” he asked, thrown off. He and Linda stared as Orville calmed down, running one hand through his tangled hair.
“Let me word it better… Do you ever not want to save each other?”
“What? Why wouldn’t we want to?” Orville let his hand rest on his forehead as his eyes squinted from some sort of pain.
“It looks tiresome to me and I barely know you. Or maybe I’m just a selfish bastard—don’t respond, I know I walked into that one,” he said as Mel readied himself for an insult. “But, uh, anyway, we’re in, uh…” He rubbed his forehead as he stared at the city.
“Pewter City,” Linda told him. “It’s a few miles from Viridian.”
“Oh… So, I’m guessing that here lies the rock specialist gym leader?” he asked absently, angling his whole body towards the city. “Okay, so…” He stopped talking to bring both hands to his head, trembling a little. Koko started towards him but then backed away out of confusion. Okay, that wasn’t a good sign.
“Hey… You’re not dying or anything, are you?” Mel asked awkwardly. “I don’t want to watch somebody die.”
“Ain’t that selfish of you,” he said dryly, cracking his eyes open a little with a wry smile. “No, not gonna die… I’d never die in this worthless state.” Saying that didn’t make him look any more alive.
“Then maybe you need a hospital,” Linda suggested. He waved her off and took a weak step forward. Mel squinted at his face and saw little black branches appearing under his skin. They looked like his veins but that was impossible—nobody had black blood. Yet they still throbbed a little like veins and especially when Orville grunted before falling on his side.
“I’ll—,” he choked out as they bent at his side, “—take that—hospital after all—” He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head to the side to cough out a semi-solid mass of blood, mostly red but with black boils. (Could liquids get boils? …That was something Mel never wanted to imagine, let alone see.)
“What’s wrong with you?” Linda asked, panicking, as she shook his shoulders. His head just bounced from side to side like a ragdoll’s.
“Linda, I think he passed out. We gotta take him to a doctor.” If she was surprised by what Mel said, she didn’t show it. He avoided doctors like a plague…and if that counted as a pun, it wasn’t intended.
“How? He’s too big for us to carry!” Koko was still sniffing around him, although she kept a two-feet distance with that perplexed expression on her face.
“Growlithe,” she said uneasily, looking up at them. “Lithe.”
“Is she saying don’t touch him?” Mel asked, just about to jab Orville in the eyes. Linda looked twice as anxious as she shrugged.
“She just says something’s weird about him.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Guy looks like he swallowed a fountain pen. Probably hurts like a—”
“Don’t curse,” she said immediately, standing and brushing the dust from her jeans. Mel stood as well as she waved her arms at the street leading out of Pewter. Mel wanted to join her, but he was honestly terrified of another flying-type mistaking him for a snack.
“Hey, heeey,” Mel urged, pushing Orville’s back. “Don’t die, okay? You didn’t let me die even though I’m pretty sure it was Linda that told you to come after me, so I won’t let you die.” More of Orville’s veins showed through his skin as he started coughing again, his blood showing less red and more black.
“I n—I need—” he rasped. “Need to—get out—hu—hurts too bad—” What looked like black smoke started coming from Orville’s skin and pluming into the air. Mel backed away as more of it…seeped out and made him pretty much untouchable. Mel was pretty staunch in his disbelief of legendary pokémon, but that crap could only have been described as something divine, and not from the good end of that spectrum. All the smoke must’ve looked pretty terrifying, because a truck heading into Pewter screeched to a stop a few feet away from them. A young man jumped from the driver’s seat and looked between the three of them before his eyes landed on Orville.
“What’s going on with him?” he exclaimed, pointing.
“That would be the million-dollar question,” Mel replied. “I don’t know if he needs an expert or an exorcism.”
“Maybe both.” The man drew closer and Mel got a better look at him. He was a pokémon trainer if the pokéball belt around his waist meant anything, although there was just one pokéball and it was shrunken down, and he was colored almost exactly like the city: brown skin, brown hair, brown eyes that suddenly glinted with understanding. He bent down next to Orville and grabbed his arm, causing him to groan in pain, then he lifted Orville to his feet, half-supporting and half-dragging him. The black smoke made him shiver a little but he was otherwise unaffected, so it probably wasn’t toxic.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking him home,” he answered. He walked a little funny until Orville started moving their legs, and they walked in synch towards his truck. “I believe I can help him.”
“Really?” Mel asked dubiously.
“Sure. I’ve got nothing better to do anyway.” Linda rushed to Mel as the man had to not so gently put Orville in the truck bed, which Mel took a small amount of pleasure in.
“Can we trust him?” she asked in a low voice.
“I mean, we already trust Orville,” he responded bitterly. “We’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel. I don’t think there’s anything left to lose if we trust this guy too.”
“If you say so,” she said tentatively.
“And even if he does try something, I’m here to protect you, remember?”
“Growlithe!” Koko said. Linda took her up as Mel sighed in defeat.
“Her too.”
“Mm…”
He wound his fingers through hers and held their hands up. “Two halves of one whole. Just like the sun and moon make up a day—”
“—love and hate make up a person,” she finished quietly. “Okay, I trust you.”
“Why is that the only thing that still works?” he sighed. “It’s just a stupid mantra we came up with as four-year-olds.”
“I think it’s still cute.”
“You also think pigtails are cute. Your opinion is obsolete,” he joked. The man honked his horn and gave them an impatient look. They looked at each other, sighed, and went towards his truck.
“Your friend is dying and you kinda took your time,” the man said, looking at them in the rearview mirror as he turned back towards Pewter. The smoke spouting from him completely dissipated as soon as they began moving, and he couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Not my friend,” Mel pointed out. “I’d say the bane of my existence—”
“Can I ask your name?” Linda interrupted.
“Sure. It’s Demetrius, but everyone calls me Dee. I used to be pretty good with pokémon a couple of years back, so I can see what’s wrong with your friend—err, bane of your existence.”
“What, don’t tell me he’s a pokémon.”
“Eh, well, I’m not sure. He looks human, but I can’t ask him in that condition. I know that black smoke though: ectoplasm. It’s a—”
“I took classes in pokémon biology, I know,” Mel interrupted. “It’s the substance that ghost-types are made of.” Dee met his eyes in the mirror with a little annoyance. “I didn’t know it turned into smoke.”
“It usually doesn’t. It’s leaking out of him, like a punctured water balloon. If he’s just an average guy possessed, then it’s a good thing. On the other hand, this could be like that one Horror movie and he’s a corpse brought back to life by a banette with—”
“You sound stu-pid,” Mel said, drawing it out for effect. He sighed in response.
“You’re not the nicest kid around, are you?”
“Adults say I’m as friendly as a jalapeno pepper. It’s also a bad redhead joke.” He looked over his shoulder and could see smoke still trailing them through the cab’s window. As they drove through busier streets it also got a fair amount of gaping pedestrians and at one point Mel heard fire truck sirens in the distance, although he never saw the truck itself and they could’ve been saving a cat from a rubble’d building. (There wasn’t much fire to be heard of in a city whose chief exports were topsoil and bedrock.) He wondered, Could Orville have been possessed? To be that annoying couldn’t have been humanly possible so yeah, it was an option. On top of that was the fact that he was talking about “anomalies,” something Mel and Linda had never heard of, but they had some pretty strong evidence that they were real. Mel was a pretty hard person to scare, but knowing that Orville was looking to kill was terrifying.
“You remind me of my little sister,” Dee said. “You’ve got that same tongue.”
“We’d be best friends…you know, if I had any friends.” Linda became fed up and pinched his side. “Ouch! Hey!”
“I’m sorry, he has no chill,” Linda said. “I’m Linda, and this is my brother Melchior.” Oh, so she was that mad at him. Dee tried to swallow a laugh and failed.
“Melchi—”
“Mel. It’s Mel. Everybody that values their life calls me Mel.”
“Dude, you’re, like, half my size. I’m so scared,” Dee chuckled. Mel ignored him and bumped Linda with his elbow, looking at her from the corner of his eye. She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a good view of the back of her head. He wanted to tug her pigtails until she turned around, but he knew from painful experience that that was a last resort.
“You’re always mean to everyone we meet.”
“Are you really counting Orville?”
“Okay, I won’t count Orville. What about all of our teachers, our neighbors, Mr. Clark at the market?”
“I’m sorry but that doesn’t give you the right to blab my name to everybody. You know I hate it.”
“People hate us too when you start going at it. And it makes you sound like a little boy with these dumb insults!” She gave him the look that said she was about to jump into her ‘I know you’re still upset about what your life was like before but’ spiel and he cut her off to avoid hearing it for the zillionth time in his life.
“I’m sorry if my attitude bothers you. Really, really sorry, Linda.” She scanned his face like a high-tech lie detector. Seeing through his bull was pretty much her hidden ability.
“We’re here,” Dee interrupted, pulling into an apartment complex’s parking lot. Mel and Linda exited the truck with him but he stopped them before they entered the building. “You should make sure your friend’s okay,” he said. “I’m gonna go to my place and grab my ghost-type—it can help if that smoke really is ectoplasm.”
That long as hell drive was just so you can get a pokéball? Mel wanted to say, but he knew it would annoy Linda so he kept his mouth shut. “Thank you a lot for your help,” she said to him. He nodded before jogging across the parking lot and heading into the building. Mel went to the back of the truck and saw that Orville was sprawled in the truck bed like he was asleep—of course he would be—but his eyes were darting around beneath the lids. Too much, actually; he must’ve been having a nightmare. Mel started wondering what that guy could possibly be afraid of.
“Let’s wake him up,” Linda said.
“Nah, he looks pretty happy. Let’s leave him be for another few hours.”
“Mel,” she chastised.
“Okay, we should wake him up.” He reached for his belt and jumped when he realized it wasn’t there. Linda pointed and Mel saw that his utility belt was on Orville. “That bastard! When did he do that?” He didn’t wait for an answer and took it back. “Let Shady wake his ass up.”
“Mel!”
“I’m sorry, I meant let Shady wake his sorry ass up.”
“Growlithe,” Koko said, and he imagined that she agreed. He started to release Shady, then he remembered why he returned Shady in the first place and let the pokéball be. He started pulling Orville’s cheeks and poking his eyes. “Wake up. Wake up wake up wake up.” He pinched Orville’s nose and covered his mouth. He must’ve been a damn good swimmer, because thirty seconds later he was still KO’d.
“Hey,” Dee said as he returned, this time holding what looked like a bug-type’s shell wearing a cape. Mel just stared, perplexed and a little grossed out, until the shell floated into the air by itself and just…stayed there. It didn’t flap its wings or even breathe, only hung in midair by the invisible strings of Arceus. It was totally creepy. “This is Omen,” he introduced.
“As in ‘omen of death’? Because that thing is scaring me,” Mel said, putting the truck between them. If it heard him, it didn’t react in any way.
“It’s a shedinja—you’ve never seen one?”
“I, uh, never got out much. Why is it wearing a cape?”
“There’s a hole in its back, and if you look at it it’ll steal your soul.” Mel put an extra few yards between himself and the living corpse. “See if you can help their friend,” Dee told his demonic spawn. Mel didn’t think it understood until it moved two inches closer to Orville and its eyes started glowing with purple energy. Orville’s head went back and he groaned in pain, then his eyes opened to show his pupils going all over the place. His irises were bright red instead of the dark color they were before. Dee looked at his shedinja in a way that made Mel think that they were communicating telepathically, then he looked over at them. “Omen said that he is, in fact, possessed.”
“Possessed by who?” Linda asked.
“By what?” Mel corrected. Dee looked at Omen again, listening intently.
“It’s not sure,” he said. “Omen only senses the presence of another ghost-type. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”
“He’ll most likely lie through his teeth,” he lamented.
“How’d you guys meet anyway?”
“You know, he assaulted my sister, almost got us killed—normal stuff,” Mel said dryly. Dee looked at Linda as her silence confirmed his words.
“Then why are you still with the guy?” Mel exchanged a look with Linda. Orville never said that the anomaly crap was classified info, but it would be a hard pill to swallow even for Dee.
“He needed help,” Linda answered quietly. “So we helped.”
Orville—if that even was his name—groaned again as he focused on them.
“What, now there’s three of you bastards?” he asked hoarsely, rubbing his eyes. The blackness slowly faded from his veins, leaving his skin looking paler than before.
“What dead bastard are you?” Mel asked him, getting to the point. “Cyrus? Spiritomb? That bastard cheat at the pool hall—ow! Linda!”
“How about…none of the above?” he grumbled, grabbing onto the edge of the truck to pull himself out. He didn’t fall on his face as Mel expected but still looked to be in pretty bad shape. He looked over at Dee’s shedinja and nodded at it. “You helped me. Thanks.” Mel was astounded that he even knew the word.
“Sheeeediiinjaaa,” it replied in a ghastly moan that made Mel hide behind Linda. Orville, on the other hand, found it worth laughing at.
“We should keep in touch. And uh, thank you, his owner,” he added, looking at Dee.
“I live to help. What are you guys doing out here?”
“Coincidence,” Mel said before Orville could speak. He continued anyway with a smug expression:
“Melon here almost became the light snack of a pidgeotto’s family.”
“A what?” Dee asked, perplexed. “I’ve never heard of a pidgeotto grabbing a person like that.”
“She probably thought he was a rattata with a fur mutation.” Mel tried to punch Orville in the side but was repelled by one hand. “And of course, I saved his life, the good Samaritan that I am.”
“That’s not true,” Linda said, beating Mel to the punch. “I asked him to save Mel when he refused to.” Dee raised his eyebrows at that while Orville only explained himself with a shrug.
“But yeah, I guess it’s a little weird,” Orville conceded. “It could even be anomalous… Hey, uh, that machine, the metallic monstrosity that runs across rails…?”
“A train?” Dee supplied.
“That. Do you have one that goes to Viridian City?” Dee scratched his head as he thought about it.
“Mhm,” he answered after a moment, “but it doesn’t run on a good schedule. The next one leaves in the morning.”
“You memorized the train schedule,” Mel said deprecatingly.
“I work part-time selling tickets—it was that or with the family Fossil store. It’s kind of a boring city,” he explained.
“And what time is it now?” Orville looked at the sun for a few seconds, analyzing its position. “About five… That’s a long wait.” Dee shrugged helplessly.
“You should try the pokémon center if you need a place to stay.”
“Thanks,” Orville said again. “Thanks a lot for your help.”
“No problem.” He clapped Orville on the shoulder and nodded at Mel and Linda before heading back to his apartment. Orville watched him go before turning to them with a sigh, holding his hands out. Mel and Linda stared at him in confusion and he snorted.
“What, you all don’t shake hands anymore?”
“No, but…for what?” they asked.
“You didn’t let me die, even though I’m a bastard—yeah, even I know that much. So, thank you.”
“Well da—I mean, err, you’re welcome.” Mel shook his hand reluctantly, then he punched Orville in the chest. It surprised him but didn’t knock him off balance. “And now you explain why and whose body you dragged from the coffin to torture us.”
“Eat first,” he said, letting his hands fall to his sides. “Then I’ll give you any answer you want. Promise.”
“It’s a little hard to take your dirty stinking word for it.”
“Fine. On the way.” Mel rolled his eyes and looked at Linda, who shrugged. “Well? Don’t hurt yourself thinking too quickly.”
“Fine, whatever.”
I admit I too got a bit confused at the beginning and thought, "Gengar going inside a human body, sounds interesting." as I read further, Orville refusing Spooky's advance there already is an interesting twist. and his interactions with Mel and Linda already went off to an interesting start. Mel and Linda's Pokemon's interactions with him in the beginning were amusing, too.
I too like Orville being emphatic, first saving them from Latios and then the Pidgeotto. Concerning icomeanon6's pointing out shock humor, I watched some South Park and I think I got what he's talking about. To give an example...
But yeah, I can see why he pointed that out as if you do that too often the readers might be tired of it fast. You mentioned Orville doesn't understand humor in the normal sense, so I'm interested to see how you'll tackle that further.
Onto the latest chapter, good thing Mel and Linda found someone that can help Orville. and oh, I thought I recognize Dee. Yup, definitely him (from that other fic with Theo the Zoroark and the main character with psychic abilities). I'm still wondering what kind of backstory Mel and Linda have, but I'm sure that will be revealed soon. also curious over what's the deal with Orville, which we'll know soon enough.
“Because in the first place, legendary pokémon are just that—legendary,” Mel said. “This kind of crap is something from a sci-fi movie or maybe fan-fiction.”
You and your fics over how the legendaries aren't that good. (runs)I too like Orville being emphatic, first saving them from Latios and then the Pidgeotto. Concerning icomeanon6's pointing out shock humor, I watched some South Park and I think I got what he's talking about. To give an example...
Spoiler:
There's this running gag where one of the characters keeps dying in several ways, but he comes back in next episode.
But yeah, I can see why he pointed that out as if you do that too often the readers might be tired of it fast. You mentioned Orville doesn't understand humor in the normal sense, so I'm interested to see how you'll tackle that further.
Onto the latest chapter, good thing Mel and Linda found someone that can help Orville. and oh, I thought I recognize Dee. Yup, definitely him (from that other fic with Theo the Zoroark and the main character with psychic abilities). I'm still wondering what kind of backstory Mel and Linda have, but I'm sure that will be revealed soon. also curious over what's the deal with Orville, which we'll know soon enough.



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Spoiler:
1.4. the interdimensional interstate.
part iv
mel’s p.o.v.
part ivmel’s p.o.v.
“Now, you speak,” Mel said as they headed down the sidewalk. Orville was almost skipping as Koko kept nipping at his bare heels.
“Tell her to stop,” he told Linda.
“She won’t listen.”
“Good for her,” Mel praised. “Speak already.”
“Speak? You can’t just give me commands like that, I’m not a mutt like this little—ouch!” he yelled as Koko hit home. “Put her in her pokéball already!”
“She doesn’t have one,” Linda said. Orville came to a sudden stop, surprising Koko and causing Mel to run into Linda’s back. He crouched down and, jeez, started barking at Koko, which Mel thought was bogus until Koko started barking back in pretty much the same way. They had what sounded like a passionate argument before Orville’s eyes flashed red and he literally growled at her. She yelped and ran behind Linda, crouching at her sneakers.
“Koko?” Linda picked her up and Koko curled up into her chest. Her face turned as red as her hair and Mel thought Well damn, Orville unleashed the Beast. “What did you do to her!?” she shouted at Orville. He recoiled just a bit before regaining his footing and looming over her.
“She was the one attacking me! Don’t shout at me like I’m the culprit! I get enough of that back home!”
“You hurt my friend!”
“Boo-freaking-hoo, I’ll cry you a river.”
Mel hated to interrupt a good shouting contest, but they were starting to get nosy bystanders. He finally intervened by pushing the two of them apart. “Okay, okay,” he said, looking between them. “Orville’s a jerk and you’re mad, let’s leave it at that. Please. Now let’s get back on topic.”
“Back on topic,” he muttered disdainfully, looking around as the bystanders reluctantly dispersed. “Then ask away and I’ll answer truthfully—that’s what you wanted, right?” He started walking and Mel and Linda had to jog a little to keep up, he was taking such long strides.
“Yes, but how do we know you’re not lying?”
“I won’t,” he said, turning back to look them in the eyes. “You helped me, so I owe you as much.”
“Okay, then tell us who you really are.” Orville hesitated for a moment before giving a defeated sigh.
“One of…Arceus’ chosen, I guess you could call it,” he said, picking his words carefully. “One of its many call boys to dump menial work upon. It’s all I’ve been doing since my creation.”
“When was that?” Linda asked. Orville sighed with exhaustion, his steps becoming slower with his feet dragging along the concrete until he finally came to a stop, his slouched back to them.
“Millenniums ago… Perhaps even eons… Where the legendaries exist, time is nearly irrelevant—there is only a fight here and there to mark its passage, and how long it continues, and how long it takes for the fallen to revive and, vindictive as they are, return for further bloodshed. We exist to keep the balance, yet most are fonder of damaging it to watch what can happen to the residents all along Yggdrasil…” He stopped as if he realized what he said and completely changed his tune. “And that’s why I’m here! To have those guys in this world where the amount of pokémon that can adequately fight a legendary are limited would just be a travesty.”
Mel was speechless at how beaten Orville had sounded a moment ago. He found Orville to be a pain, but never thought about what it meant for him to be there on his own trying to combat issues on the spatial level. “I’m sorry,” he said before he could change his mind. Orville looked up at him. “That you had to watch all of that.”
“Eh, it’s life,” he shrugged, forcing the matter away. “Any more questions?” Mel and Linda exchanged a look.
“Why us?”
“You two were the first humans I saw. It could have been literally anybody else.”
“And why him? ‘Orville’?”
“Possession is like finding clothes. You focus on getting a good fit with breathing room, and the appearance comes second. Although I can tell from what little he remembers that he wasn’t the most pleasant guy around.”
“So you can see his memories too.”
“Not all the time,” he amended. “It doesn’t help that his mind is still jacked up. Possession causes a lot of pain for the person and the pokémon…that’s the one downside, I’d say. Well, that and the fact that the extra powerful pokémon such as myself have a hard time staying corporeal. Human bodies weren’t meant to hold or use pokémon abilities so they suffer the longer that we stay inside.” He rolled up a sleeve to show his veins slowly blackening all over again. “This here is an example. Ghost energy in its most potent state is like poison to any living thing, let alone weak humans…no offense. Which is why I was having so much trouble sticking—and why I’m still having trouble, matter of fact.”
“But you’re decently knowledgeable with human things,” Mel pointed, “so this isn’t your first time possessing a human?”
“Well no, but let me correct you on that: ghost-types don’t need human bodies, anything solid works. Household items or another pokémon, because they all can interact with this world. Ghost-types…can have a little trouble with that at first, as it’s an acquired skill. Sometimes they end up scattering themselves and from what I hear it’s extremely painful. I, on the other hand, am a certified professional,” he boasted.
“Glad to see your pride isn’t poisoned,” Mel muttered.
“So the man, the real Orville,” Linda asked tentatively, “is he in pain?” Orville gave her a very odd look, like he felt an emotion that he couldn’t articulate on his face.
“Is he…in pain?” he repeated. “Well…I said that he is, didn’t I?”
“And you’re in pain too?” He just nodded, still bewildered. “It sounds cruel, that the both of you are in constant pain,” she said with a sad look.
“No, no, no no no, please don’t pity me,” he sighed, slouching over again. “I don’t want it, nor do I need it. If there’s one thing Arceus can teach you, it’s that pain is just as irrelevant as time. There are worse things than pain, Linda, like…” He deflated even more if it was possible, then he turned on his heel and started walking again, muttering incomprehensibly to himself. Mel and Linda followed until he stopped in front of a small open-air café. (Why there would even be an open air café in Pewter City, Mel had to wonder, because the only scenery was rocks.) “This place looks good.” He started up the steps but stopped suddenly, a forlorn expression on his face. “Right. Humans use money, I almost forgot.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Mel said. “We can pay.”
“Hmm, trainers still pay for losing a battle? I thought that fell out of practice long time ago.”
“What? We’re not trainers.”
“Huh? You’re not?” They shook their heads. “Then why were you out in a field by yourselves? I could figure if you were on a journey, but since you’re not trainers—”
“We already went over this—our lives are our business.”
“You know what? I don’t feel like arguing the matter,” he said, waving them off as he went up to the bar. “Whatever’s good, I’ll take it,” he said to the woman behind it. “And uh, something for these kids.”
“Do you have ice cream sandwiches?” Linda asked.
“Sure,” the woman replied. “Vanilla or strawberry?”
“Strawberry,” Mel answered. “And I’ll take a couple of roast beef sandwiches and two cups of lemonade. And bread.” In the middle of writing it all down she paused.
“Bread? Like, plain bread?”
“Yeah, just bread.”
“Mm,” she shrugged before going into the kitchen. Orville didn’t say anything about it, just sat on a bar chair with his head still down.
“Don’t tell me that that’s all you were questioning about me.” Mel and Linda sat a few seats away from him.
“I wonder,” Linda said. “You speak English well. Do all pokémon know a human language, or did you get it from those memories?”
“We can understand your language well enough,” he answered. “And no, I didn’t learn how to speak from these memories. Remember, I’ve lived a pretty long time—it would’ve been a shame for me not to learn anything.”
“Yes, but you apparently never learned about trains,” Mel said dryly. Orville shrugged a shoulder.
“I’m forgetful. It happens.”
“Okay, one last thing. You’ve never said what pokémon you are.”
“Does that really matter?” he sighed.
“Kinda, yeah.”
“Later.”
“There’s no later. You said you’d answer all of our questions.”
“You won’t believe me,” Orville said, “and I’m really not in the mood for your verbal tirade, Mel.” The woman returned with a dragonite that served them their plates. Orville’s food turned out to be a salad adorned with pink petals and a large glass of something dark and bubbly, and when he saw it his face went white like he was about to die. “Um, is this gracidea?” he asked the bartender.
“Yes, it is. Are you allergic?”
“No, just…I don’t think I’m hungry anymore,” he said bitterly, pushing the plate away and grabbing the glass. Mel released Shady and passed him a sandwich and he set Koko on his lap to give her the other one.
“Growlithe,” she said appreciatively.
“Sure thing.”
“Let me know if you want anything else,” the bartender said before going over to another customer. Her dragonite stayed back to start a conversation with Linda as she ate her ice cream sandwiches.
“What’s your beef with gracidea flowers?” Mel asked as Orville gulped down whatever was in that cup.
“Reminds me of worse times,” he said with a grimace. Then he, of course, changed the subject. “Why aren’t you two trainers? You know, unless that’s also super classified in-for-ma-tion.”
“It is,” Mel confirmed. “But I…couldn’t…do it.”
“And I didn’t want to leave Mel, so I stayed with him,” Linda said.
“You two are pretty inseparable huh? You even do that a-nnoy-ing twin talk thing.”
“Twin talk thing?” they asked.
“Yeah, that thing. I know twins just like you, that are never apart and always stick their necks out for each other… I feel sorry for them,” he said, resting his head on the counter and upending his emptied glass. “They care for each other so much I doubt they remember how to care for them-selves. You too…I don’t think that you two can help your-selves anymore.”
“Orville?” Mel snapped his fingers in front of him and Orville’s eyes crossed trying to follow the movement. Mel picked up the cup and smelled it. “You never drank beer before?”
“Beer? What’s that?” he asked tiredly.
“That’s a no, that’s what that is. Well now you’re even more useless than before.”
“’m not useless,” he muttered, banging his fist against the wood. “I can do more than just cause trouble for everyone… Damn Arceus for not seeing that…!”
I know what it’s like to feel useless.
“Lithe,” Koko whined, licking Mel’s hand. He snapped from his thoughts and saw just crumbs in his palm.
“Sorry, I’m out of sandwich. Maybe Shady will share.”
“Turn,” Shady protested, stuffing the rest of his sandwich in his mouth staunchly and drinking a glass of lemonade.
“She’s not licking you because of the sandwich,” Linda told him as Koko moved from his lap to the counter, tentatively nudging Orville with her nose. He groaned and pushed her away weakly. “She does that when she smells sadness.”
“Dragonite? Drag?” the dragonite asked her.
“Growlithe, growl lithe lithe,” Koko replied, sitting down.
“Like how she used to growl at me every she smelled me?”
“She doesn’t like anger either.” She paused for a minute, then picked up Orville’s cup and smelled it, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “How do you know what beer smells like?”
“I don’t know…scratch-‘n’-sniff?”
“Mel!”
“I wasn’t drinking, if that’s what you think,” he said, annoyed. He deflated quickly at Linda’s reprimanding look. “I used to…when you were at school…” he murmured, running his finger along the lip of her glass.
“What?”
“Sneak out of the house and go to that gas station down the street…you know, the one that sells snow cones…and homeless guys were always drinking and pissing out there.” He looked away, unwilling to see her expression.
“You never told me that.”
“I know.”
“How many times did you sneak out without me knowing?” He shrugged.
“A lot,” he mumbled, staring at his shoes, feeling her eyes burn holes into his skull.
“Mel.” She sounded hurt, which was twenty times worse than her being angry. She was his mother and his babysitter and his sister all in one, had always been and even more so since they left, and disappointing her was like having his own heart ripped out.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up, but she had already turned away, was paying the bartender for their food as she stood up with Koko yipping and pawing at her jeans worriedly. She pulled Orville’s arm and he, being reasonably sober, got to his feet, which reminded Mel of something else. “We should take him to a clothing store,” he told her, shaking her shoulder a little. She looked away from him as she nodded. Shady tapped his arm gently as they started walking, catching his attention.
“Cacturne,” he said, which was pretty much his way of saying Well, you’re damned.
“Thanks a lot, you useless plant,” Mel muttered, returning him.
Okay, I'm a sucker for Pokémon-Human hybrid fics. My first fanfic ever was a (very bad) PH hybrid fic, and some of my most favourite fics (Anima Ex Machina and The Thinking Man's Guide to Destroying the World) are PH hybrid fics (I mean AEM is kinda one I guess if those creatures count as Pokémon). That said, what I think sets yours apart is that your actually isn't so much a hybrid fic, as in Pokémon and human working together symbiotically (or humans being the character focus), as it is just this ghost Pokémon up and possessing this dude—because reasons, and I think that's just so fantastically macabre that I was hooked right away.
Anon's said pretty much everything I wanted to say about your incredible opening so I won't repeat what he said save for mentioning that I agree completely. The semi-serious style of narration just works, and I don't want to knock it because I can't really see how it could be improved without straying too much from this style which I enjoy immensely. It reminds me of a more sarcastic and darker Thinking Man's Guide, which isn't a bad thing in any way.
Moving on from the opening, the synergy (corporations have ruined that word forever) between Orville and the twins is actually really well written. Orville's flippant attitude towards literally everything about humans and the world except what he's told to do, Mel's dry wit and bravado façade, and Linda's general pure and goodness schtick feel to me as natural as Neapolitan ice cream. You'd think that two jerkasses to a trio would get tiring really fast, but I think the balance here comes from the fact that while Mel, who only his sister could love, acts like a complete jerk, he generally isn't treated like he's much of anything at all, which I find hilarious. So he just completely fails to come off as a badass jerk like Orville and more like a kid trying to act tough. Anyway, I may be completely off the mark here, but that's what I think is so interesting about their dynamic. The fact that at least one of your jerks is a complete punching bag.
Leading on from that, I can't help but laugh every time something bad happens to Mel or when an adult (like Dee) isn't fazed by his tough guy act because it's just so satisfying. This line, particularly, resonated with really well in that regard:
In any case, I think everyone's mostly said what I've wanted to say up to this point. One tiny thing I want to point out is that I'm not completely sold on the Latios appearing out of nowhere and disappearing into nowhere thing. That just seemed awfully convenient to me. I suppose it's got something to do with the anomaly, but potentially that could use some explaining because everyone seems to have forgotten about the Latios already despite the massive threat it posed before, and ehhh… it just feels unresolved at this point. Potentially it could come back to bite them in the rear, but it feels like at least somebody would have made a note of it by now, Pidgeotto abduction or no.
Anyway yeah. Great start to a fic! I'd definitely love to see more of this.
Anon's said pretty much everything I wanted to say about your incredible opening so I won't repeat what he said save for mentioning that I agree completely. The semi-serious style of narration just works, and I don't want to knock it because I can't really see how it could be improved without straying too much from this style which I enjoy immensely. It reminds me of a more sarcastic and darker Thinking Man's Guide, which isn't a bad thing in any way.
Moving on from the opening, the synergy (corporations have ruined that word forever) between Orville and the twins is actually really well written. Orville's flippant attitude towards literally everything about humans and the world except what he's told to do, Mel's dry wit and bravado façade, and Linda's general pure and goodness schtick feel to me as natural as Neapolitan ice cream. You'd think that two jerkasses to a trio would get tiring really fast, but I think the balance here comes from the fact that while Mel, who only his sister could love, acts like a complete jerk, he generally isn't treated like he's much of anything at all, which I find hilarious. So he just completely fails to come off as a badass jerk like Orville and more like a kid trying to act tough. Anyway, I may be completely off the mark here, but that's what I think is so interesting about their dynamic. The fact that at least one of your jerks is a complete punching bag.
Leading on from that, I can't help but laugh every time something bad happens to Mel or when an adult (like Dee) isn't fazed by his tough guy act because it's just so satisfying. This line, particularly, resonated with really well in that regard:
And a pidgeotto came and plucked Mel up. Like a magikarp.
It was so ridiculously satisfying it was hilarious.
I just lost it at that point. That was good, very good.It was so ridiculously satisfying it was hilarious.
In any case, I think everyone's mostly said what I've wanted to say up to this point. One tiny thing I want to point out is that I'm not completely sold on the Latios appearing out of nowhere and disappearing into nowhere thing. That just seemed awfully convenient to me. I suppose it's got something to do with the anomaly, but potentially that could use some explaining because everyone seems to have forgotten about the Latios already despite the massive threat it posed before, and ehhh… it just feels unresolved at this point. Potentially it could come back to bite them in the rear, but it feels like at least somebody would have made a note of it by now, Pidgeotto abduction or no.
Anyway yeah. Great start to a fic! I'd definitely love to see more of this.
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The Best
Pokecreepypasta Entry 2010
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Originally Posted by Miz en Scène
[ Original Post ]
Okay, I'm a sucker for Pokémon-Human hybrid fics. My first fanfic ever was a (very bad) PH hybrid fic, and some of my most favourite fics (Anima Ex Machina and The Thinking Man's Guide to Destroying the World) are PH hybrid fics (I mean AEM is kinda one I guess if those creatures count as Pokémon). That said, what I think sets yours apart is that your actually isn't so much a hybrid fic, as in Pokémon and human working together symbiotically (or humans being the character focus), as it is just this ghost Pokémon up and possessing this dude—because reasons, and I think that's just so fantastically macabre that I was hooked right away.
Moving on from the opening, the synergy (corporations have ruined that word forever) between Orville and the twins is actually really well written. Orville's flippant attitude towards literally everything about humans and the world except what he's told to do, Mel's dry wit and bravado façade, and Linda's general pure and goodness schtick feel to me as natural as Neapolitan ice cream. You'd think that two jerkasses to a trio would get tiring really fast, but I think the balance here comes from the fact that while Mel, who only his sister could love, acts like a complete jerk, he generally isn't treated like he's much of anything at all, which I find hilarious. So he just completely fails to come off as a badass jerk like Orville and more like a kid trying to act tough. Anyway, I may be completely off the mark here, but that's what I think is so interesting about their dynamic. The fact that at least one of your jerks is a complete punching bag.
Ah! You've no idea how ecstatic I got reading this, because I didn't think I was writing their synergy that well, but you understand! I would jump through the net and kiss you if it wouldn't be so inappropriate!
Leading on from that, I can't help but laugh every time something bad happens to Mel or when an adult (like Dee) isn't fazed by his tough guy act because it's just so satisfying. This line, particularly, resonated with really well in that regard: [insert divine comeuppance quote here] I just lost it at that point. That was good, very good.
Would you believe that Mel had a girlfriend back home? Actually that's a total lie {XD}
In any case, I think everyone's mostly said what I've wanted to say up to this point. One tiny thing I want to point out is that I'm not completely sold on the Latios appearing out of nowhere and disappearing into nowhere thing. That just seemed awfully convenient to me. I suppose it's got something to do with the anomaly, but potentially that could use some explaining because everyone seems to have forgotten about the Latios already despite the massive threat it posed before, and ehhh… it just feels unresolved at this point. Potentially it could come back to bite them in the rear, but it feels like at least somebody would have made a note of it by now, Pidgeotto abduction or no.
*serious face* It was, actually. Latios' appearance was heralded like this:
A wave of vertigo hit him as time caught up and he just barely caught himself as he spun towards the ground. He let his eyes roam the land to find stretches of darkness like fingers left from the shadows like dirty residue, branching out from his feet and past Linda’s body to Mel, who was in just as prone of a state. . . . “Ugh,” he groaned, slapping a hand against his forehead as the world began to spin slowly in his peripheral. He felt like utter crap but he couldn’t afford to focus on it at the moment. A disturbance happened there, and even though he didn’t know the finer details or even the cause, he did know the consequence: a portal through Yggdrasil would open.
So, I actually got more expo on anomalies coming up, but this is how they work here: there's a disturbance in the Force and it weakens space, making a little tear in it that legendaries come through, like here. That's how Latios got into the human world. Then Orville made another portal:
They came out of a particularly thick growth to a small clearing with a pond the size of a human vehicle. The pokémon lounging around it immediately scattered as Orville came bursting in, and he wasted no time as he felt Latios almost literally breathing down his neck. He didn’t even release Linda and Mel as he jumped into the water, and as he passed through he spun around to release his energy to the surface. Latios attempted to follow him but just as he breached the water the portal formed, causing him to vanish whereas Orville just sunk through six feet under. He waited until the portal vanished on its own, being incredibly weak, and then he surfaced, letting Linda and Mel have their own unpleasant awakening.
I mean, portals are portals, they are kinda like disappearing/appearing. But I'll go back and amend it a little. P.S. having you read is like, freaking wow, because I really think you're better spoken (read: written) than me, so thanks guy!
Originally Posted by Aisu
[ Original Post ]
That's how Latios got into the human world. Then Orville made another portal:
having you read is like, freaking wow, because I really think you're better spoken (read: written) than me, so thanks guy!
Aww, you're making me blush. :3c All I am is just some dude, but I'm happy that you liked the review. :)
» Fiction «
Havisham
SWC 2011
SWC 2011
» Fanfiction «
The Rainbow Chasers
SWC 2016 (1st Place)
——
The Promise I Made to You
SWC 2012 (2nd Place)
——
The Best
Pokecreepypasta Entry 2010
——
Using Firefox and see a scrollbar?
Tell me so I can fix it! (Hopefully)
SWC 2016 (1st Place)
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The Promise I Made to You
SWC 2012 (2nd Place)
——
The Best
Pokecreepypasta Entry 2010
——
Using Firefox and see a scrollbar?
Tell me so I can fix it! (Hopefully)
» TBD «
Want a fanfic review?
Just ask me!
Got a review from me?
Pay it forward!
Drop a comment or a review on someone else's fic. I'm sure they'll appreciate it!
“Millenniums ago… Perhaps even eons… Where the legendaries exist, time is nearly irrelevant—there is only a fight here and there to mark its passage, and how long it continues, and how long it takes for the fallen to revive and, vindictive as they are, return for further bloodshed. We exist to keep the balance, yet most are fonder of damaging it to watch what can happen to the residents all along Yggdrasil…” He stopped as if he realized what he said and completely changed his tune. “And that’s why I’m here! To have those guys in this world where the amount of pokémon that can adequately fight a legendary are limited would just be a travesty.”
Oh, this explains Orville's role there. Indeed sounds like a tough one there. With the mentions of Arceus, him being ghost-type, and refusing the gracidea, not hard to pinpoint what Pokemon he is. The mention of the possession there was also interesting.
“You won’t believe me,” Orville said, “and I’m really not in the mood for your verbal tirade, Mel.” The woman returned with a dragonite that served them their plates. Orville’s food turned out to be a salad adorned with pink petals and a large glass of something dark and bubbly, and when he saw it his face went white like he was about to die. “Um, is this gracidea?” he asked the bartender.
Dragonite as a server is a cute imagery, heh.
“Orville?” Mel snapped his fingers in front of him and Orville’s eyes crossed trying to follow the movement. Mel picked up the cup and smelled it. “You never drank beer before?”
“Beer? What’s that?” he asked tiredly.
“That’s a no, that’s what that is. Well now you’re even more useless than before.”
“’m not useless,” he muttered, banging his fist against the wood. “I can do more than just cause trouble for everyone… Damn Arceus for not seeing that…!”
I know what it’s like to feel useless.
This went from amusing Orville being buzzed to Mel been drinking in the past very fast. Looks like things will be awkward for Linda and Mel for a while.“Beer? What’s that?” he asked tiredly.
“That’s a no, that’s what that is. Well now you’re even more useless than before.”
“’m not useless,” he muttered, banging his fist against the wood. “I can do more than just cause trouble for everyone… Damn Arceus for not seeing that…!”
I know what it’s like to feel useless.
While I'm sure you're waiting for the right oppurtunity to reveal Linda and Mel's backstory, I do hope it'll be sooner than later as Mel avoided that subject several times now. Of course, I also would prefer their backstory be revealed gradually which I'm sure you're doing that already with the mention of Mel drinking. Still looking forward to more!



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Spoiler:
@Bay Well he wasn't drinking in the past, just smelled it. At first it was really obvious then I changed his line because it came off pretty douche-y, even for him xD
Posting this today because I know that my writing time'll be cut all the way down to size when school comes back in. Senior year you guys, wish me luck o_O
1.5. the interdimensional interstate.
part v
mel’s p.o.v.
Posting this today because I know that my writing time'll be cut all the way down to size when school comes back in. Senior year you guys, wish me luck o_O
1.5. the interdimensional interstate.
part vmel’s p.o.v.
“What is this place?” Orville asked, looking around the shop. It took a few hours of standing outside and watching him run into streetlamps like a total moron before the pain sobered him to walking levels.
“It’s a store,” Mel said, pushing him inside. Linda tried to enter but was stopped by an associate who warned her about taking pokémon inside. “It’s okay, I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Okay,” she said, giving it up way easier than she usually would. His heart was ripped out again as she went to sit on a bench just outside of the store.
“You seem depressed,” Orville noticed as he looked at a pink shirt.
“Thanks for caring,” he said sardonically. “Also, that’s a female shirt.”
“Is there a difference?”
“Well you don’t have tits, so I’ll say yeah.”
“Tits,” he repeated blankly.
“Tits. You know what I mean. Guys have dicks and girls have tits.”
“I’m not good with slang,” he said.
“Yet you’re good with almost every other facet of English.” Orville replaced the shirt on the rack with a sigh.
“I am, in fact, well versed in more than just English,” he clarified. “Remember that I’ve been here a long time, seen most languages develop. Still, I don’t come to the lower levels of Yggdrasil much, so the challenge is adapting to how the language has changed every few decades. Slang is hard to keep up with. If you can tell me the non-twelve-year-old version of the word—”
“You know what? Never mind, it’s not important.” He shrugged but kept one eye on Mel as he continued searching. “What, is there something on my face?”
“No.”
“Then why the hell are you staring at me?”
“I wonder,” he said absently, checking another women’s shirt.
“Wonder what? Hey, answer me!” he snapped as Orville ignored him.
“I’d say you’re annoying, but I’m sure you hear that all the time. How can Linda stand to be around you?”
“She’s my sister!”
“Ha! Family means nothing,” he said disdainfully, turning to face Mel. “My family is always trying to rip out one another’s throat. I’d take you there if I could, if for nothing else than to trim that ego. I’m not the best guy around and I know it, but at least I can be psyducking humble when the need arises.”
“Shut up Orville! That’s why you’re here, alone, no one here to help you!”
“Watch yourself,” he warned, eyes flashing. “It would be brutal and I’d surely get punished, but it would be so worth it just to snap your neck.” He flinched at that, involuntarily but still noticeably. Orville scanned his expression with a smirk, making him fume more and more. Then he shrugged it off like it was nothing and took up an armful of clothes, asking a worker where he could try them on.
Mel ran both hands through his hair as he tried to calm down. He caught a glimpse of himself in the store window, his hair all up in a mess and his face still slightly red, and he turned away, resisting the urge to break the glass because that sure as hell was going to hurt. But it didn’t help that it was a clothing store and therefore had a lot of mirrors around. He found a safe place near the bathrooms and sat there to wait.
“Yeah sure, but what size socks?” a girl near him said into her phone as she passed through the shoe aisle. “Color? Style? …Okay, I’ll get whatever.” She long, kind of nice brown hair and a pokéball belt around her jeans. “Nothing else? Alright, bye.” She hung up and looked around, which was when she locked eyes with Mel. “Mel?” she gasped, covering her mouth. He sighed through his nose.
“Mikey, wow, I thought you were out on a journey or whatever else stupid reason.”
“I’m visiting my folks,” Mikaela replied, pocketing her phone. “It’s been two years, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah… You grew up,” he commented, eyes on her chest particularly. She didn’t reply to that but clenched her fist as a warning.
“And you’re the same size, like always. Where’s Linda?”
“You just assume Linda is here with me?”
“Well, I know you two stuck together like conjoined twins the last time you were here.”
“Don’t you know how twins work?” he pointed out. “She’s outside—they wouldn’t let Koko in here.”
“Hmm,” she mused, then she gasped a little as the topic he was dreading occurred to her. “Why are you out here? You couldn’t leave the house before. Did you—”
“I left,” he answered in a clipped tone. “Please don’t ask any more questions about it.”
“But Mel…” she said worriedly, and she had that stupid pitiful look in her eyes.
“I’m fine!” he said, trying not to make a scene, but his attitude always got the better of him. He stood up and smacked his chest for emphasis. “I. Am. Perfectly. Fine! I already have Linda’s pity, I have too much of my Mom’s pity… I don’t need yours too! If that’s all you have to give me then you can make a U-turn and psyduck off! You should be more concerned with that deadbeat dad of yours. Last time I saw him, he was lying around with anything that has a heart—”
Wrong person.
In between his moderate-to-severe concussion and severe-to-deadly strangling, he remembered why he found Mikey annoying: she wasn’t afraid to call him out on his bullmuk. Violently.
The fight had to be broken up by a few store security and Orville was sent out with just flip-flops, which was better than nothing, and they all ended up on the street. Linda hugged Mel to her, which he normally would’ve protested on grounds of him being a capable man, but he took it for the time being because she was good protection from Mikey. Orville stepped between then as she started cracking her bloodied fists. “Hey, I’m the one reserving the right to kick Mel’s ass, so back off,” he told her.
“Who are you, their uncle?” she sneered. “Step away. This is between Mel and I.”
“Yes, well, now it’s between you and I.” She narrowed her eyes as she unclipped a pokéball. “You shouldn’t do that,” he warned. “If you attack me, I have no responsibility for what happens to you.”
The pain didn’t hit him until he touched his face and his hand came back bloody. He remembered that Mikey’s bulldozer fist knocked him into a mirror (irony) and he got a good view of his panicked expression before his face collided with the glass. Koko climbed onto his lap to lick the wounds, which made him feel a little better until Linda pulled her away. “Don’t, Koko, you’ll get germs in it.”
“Her tongue is cleaner than ours,” Mel murmured. He saw Mikey release a pokémon from the corner of his eye and tried going for his pokéball but his hand was too slick to grab it. Mikey’s aerodactyl held up Orville as she headed back towards Mel. He should’ve said something snarky to throw her off, but there was real pain burning in his face and he couldn’t find his nerve. At least with Orville, there were more threats—Mikey would definitely kick his ass across the world. Koko jumped in-between them with a growl and Mikey came to a stop, reaching for another pokéball.
“Catch!” Orville called before she was assaulted by her own aerodactyl. He was thrown into her and the momentum knocked both of them to the ground, giving Orville the space to run forward and grab Mel’s arm, pausing to let Linda get Koko before tugging him forward. Mel saw that they had no time to run though, as Mikey was already back on her feet and her aerodactyl was back in the air. He was pulled backwards and felt his foot catch on something, but instead of hitting the ground he kept going further through the street. They sunk into something that felt like an ocean of ink, black all around and freezing cold and dulling every other sense he had. He tried to gasp but couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. He started to panic, feeling his heart race as he truly believed he was going to drown, and he didn’t get to see his parents again—
His center of gravity made a sickening shift as they suddenly went from falling to rising, and just as quickly as going under they popped back out. Mel turned his head away from the sunlight before his back collided with something wooden. He cracked his eyes open in time to see Orville land a few feet away, then Linda rolled across the platform with Koko in her arms. “Ugh,” Orville groaned, pushing himself up. “Why do I have to suffer for your mouth, brat?”
“Mel? What did you do?” she demanded, staring him down. He turned away, covering his face.
“I’m sorry.”
“And Arceus says I cause trouble,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. “What exactly are you good for besides taking up air and pissing people off, huh? And why am I even saving your ass now? You deserve what you’ve got coming to you.” He started forward and Linda stood in front of him protectively, arms out to cover him. Orville rolled his eyes again, stopping a few feet away. “Hey. I’m doing humankind a favor here. Move out of my way.”
“You’re not going to hurt him.”
“I mean, I don’t have to. He already has an avid volunteer.” She didn’t budge and he sighed. “All he does is singlehandedly piss everybody off. Why are you still covering for him?”
“Because I know why he does it. I don’t excuse it, but I understand it.”
“Then please, enlighten me. He’s dodged his sob story so many times now that I’m downright burning with curiosity.”
“He…” She stopped and turned to Koko as she started barking furiously. Mel followed her eyes and saw Mikey’s aerodactyl flying in from the distance. Orville’s body tensed as he came within speaking distance, his muscles going so rigid it looked painful. His eyes flashed red once, twice, then he threw his head back as violet-colored smoke poured out from his skin. It plumed in the air and started taking more colors like gold and black and grey, writhing around to become solid, and when Mel actually recognized what came out, he felt like he died for real.
“Linda,” he whispered, “do you see this too?” She grabbed his hand with both of hers, her general panicked gesture, which he took to mean yes. He had wondered why Orville wasn’t overly specific about his species, but now it made a lot more sense, because he wouldn’t have believed it unless he saw it.
You and your violent trainer are the least of my problems, Orville/Giratina growled. So I suggest you find you way back to Pewter City before you find yourself in the afterlife. He added another growl for good measure before giving a regular roar, identical to the one in the pokédex and also loud and grating enough to shatter windows in what sounded like a five-mile radius. The aerodactyl turned wing and took off into the sky, and just in time too, because three seconds after he turned his back the Giratina part of him was unceremoniously sucked back inside of his solid body, which revived with a horrible smoker’s coughing fit. “Arceus that hurt,” he complained, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth, but blood still leaked through his fingers.
“What did you do?” Linda whispered.
“I-I scared it off,” he replied, shifting to his knees as he looked to the sky.
“But you were… I saw…”
“He’s coming back!” he exclaimed, pushing himself to his feet. Mel looked out and sure enough, the aerodactyl realized it had been duped and whirled back towards them. Orville watched him for a moment before rushing forward, grabbing Linda and Mel as he went. Then they were falling again, except this time there was no cold and darkness—he got to watch several wooden platforms and steel girders whoosh through his peripheral, which he slowly put together as a construction site.
They just jumped.
From the top of a construction site.
If he wasn’t already crying from the pain, he burst into tears then.
“Stop whining,” Orville grumbled right before they collided with what felt like a tarp. It ripped under their weight and dropped them into a stack of cardboard boxes that split on impact, raining foam insulation over them. The remainder of the tarp was ripped away by Mikey’s aerodactyl as he came back around with his jaws wide.
“Koko, use Iron Tail!” Linda called. Koko used Mel’s head as a launch pad to get extra air before smacking the aerodactyl down to the hard dirt. She started drawing it away from them, which surprised Mel because he rarely ever saw Koko fight. Orville tore away part of his hoodie’s sleeve and tied it around his forehead, covering up most of his injuries, not that they were cleaned or anything. Mel kept his eyes on Linda as she gave commands to Koko, watching Mikey’s aerodactyl try to sweep down and attack her directly several times before Koko repelled him, but every time he came close Mel’s heart felt like it would jump out of his chest, it was pounding so hard.
“You care about her,” Orville said, his voice muffled as he spoke into his arm. Blood was still draining from his mouth if the spreading stain on his sleeve was anything to go by. “I thought you were faking but no, that’s real panic on your face. So, obviously, you have the capacity to not be an asshole.”
“…Only around her…”
“Ooh, I sense your hard shell cracking. All it took was a good punch? I should’ve gave you one earlier.”
“You can shut up because I don’t even want to be telling you in the first place.” Orville grimaced but didn’t interrupt. Mel wiped his face, scowling when he realized there were still traces of tears on his cheeks. “I’ve never went on a plane, or even on a flying-type, and I never got to go to the neighborhood pool to learn how to swim… I never got to go to school with Linda or play with wild pokémon…” He gave Orville a look that felt steely but probably looked like glass and turned away right after, focusing on a caterpie scuttling across the stone. “I was always sick as a kid, stuck behind a damn window watching everybody live their lives. I watched Linda go out to school every day, make friends, play with pokémon, and I…” He glared at Orville from the corner of his eye, expecting his usual disinterested look, but amazingly he was listening intently.
“That’s a lot of hate for a little boy.”
“You’d be surprised how much a human can hate, no matter their age.”
“And that’s why you’re such a bastard,” he sighed. “Pitiful.”
“Yeah, you’re like the zillionth person to say that.” He wasn’t listening though, apparently deep in thought.
“Well,” he muttered, “I guess we’re more alike than I thought.”
“I’m nothing like—” He cut himself off as he heard Linda’s scream. Mel spun towards her in time to see her fall towards the ground. He started towards her, but whatever happened affected him too, because a wave of dizziness hit him that almost made him kiss the asphalt. Orville ran to catch both of them with a groan, his muscles going stiff from pain.
“Be glad that right now, we don’t have time to waste on this.” Directly behind him, the air shimmered as another pokémon “stepped through.” It was a little over three feet tall and canine in shape with black and green scales. He roughly shoved the two of them away, sending them rolling across the street and away from him. The pokémon growled with its claws digging into the asphalt, but Orville appeared majorly unaffected as he rolled his eyes and covered his mouth again. “I don’t suppose you’ve forgiven me for killing your Cells?” he asked.
“Zygarde!” it barked at him. It started glowing green, then the green dissolved into several light arrows that continued splitting until there were a hundred, then a thousand hanging in the air. Passersby stopped and stared in alarm, pokémon out, and even Mikey’s aerodactyl froze in the air. Linda and Mel hugged each other, expecting them to burst out and pierce everything within a few miles’ radius. Instead, Orville gave them an exhausted look as he dropped his hand, and Mel saw that it was covered in black blood that was still dripping from his mouth.
“Playing hero is tiring,” he said before jumping onto the pokémon, grabbing it by the scales hanging loosely from its neck. He braced one foot on the ground and forced it forward into the shadows. His eyes flashed red as its scales gripped him back, tangling around his wrists and pulling him down as well. “Heh… I’ll play this game with you, if that’s what you want,” he said before they both disappeared. The arrows it left behind hit the ground shortly before fading away.
Spoiler:
“Thanks for caring,” he said sardonically. “Also, that’s a female shirt.”
“Is there a difference?”
“Well you don’t have tits, so I’ll say yeah.”
“Tits,” he repeated blankly.
“Tits. You know what I mean. Guys have dicks and girls have tits.”
“I’m not good with slang,” he said.
“Is there a difference?”
“Well you don’t have tits, so I’ll say yeah.”
“Tits,” he repeated blankly.
“Tits. You know what I mean. Guys have dicks and girls have tits.”
“I’m not good with slang,” he said.
I admit, this part had me chuckled.
Okay finally we get reason for Mel's attitude. Not hard to understand why he's like that (and him sneaking out, which yeah my mistake for still thinking he drank alcohol oops). Ouch over him being beaten by Mikey and that aerodactyl, though.
The most surprising parts were Orville's true form revealed (well, at least to Mel and Linda) and Zygarde featured there. Can't wait until Sun/Moon, huh? =P Dang it Orville, what did the cells do to you, lol. Perhaps we'll see their showdown next time? Either way, looking forward to more!



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Spoiler:
I surprised myself; all of my stories've gone two months without updates, the longest that I've ever taken. I don't know what happened either :P so I tried a different approach. Muk's gonna resume in the next chapter
2.1. guardians of sealed space.
part i
orville’s p.o.v.
2.1. guardians of sealed space.
part iorville’s p.o.v.
“The meeting has now begun.”
“About damn time it has,” Palkia grumbled a second before the usual din flared through Arceus’ dimension. Mostly greetings—“Wow, I haven’t seen you in a couple of centuries!”—but there were the occasional life threats and halfhearted attacks thrown around. No family was perfect, after all, and theirs was damn near dictionary dysfunctional.
“Silence!” Arceus roared, and in an interdimensional second everyone went quiet. “The first matter I’d like to bring up—thank you Palkia—is several temporal-spatial distortions occurring in the Sinnoh region.”
“Those aren’t distortions. I like to call them ‘a weekend morning,’” Azelf said.
“Next!” Keldeo called.
“Second matter: blizzards are stretching for too long in the Kalos region. Humans are growing antsy.”
“Sorry,” Arcticuno said. “It was a bad day.”
“What, did Zapdos break your heart again? Boo hoo,” Regirock shouted from the back of the mass. There wasn’t any air, but the space seemed to get a little colder.
“Third,” Arceus interrupted, glaring the others into silence. “There has been a new abundance of anomalies in Kanto. I will need one of you to take human form and investigate.” That was the one statement that it made that left the dimension silent. It waited for the volunteers that wouldn’t step up before continuing, “This is a dire matter, you all. Should it be left unattended, the underworld will fall apart, therefore causing the collapse of our dimensions as well.”
“That may be so, but no one wants to take up a human vessel,” Virizion protested. “They are cumbersome and don’t have nature’s powers as we do.”
“And they smell,” Azelf added.
“You’re talking about three percent of them, tops,” Moltres corrected.
“But we all agree that being a human is no fun and none of us want to do it?” Regirock asked, and the others voiced their agreement. Arceus stamped a hoof for silence.
“It does not matter whether you want to or not—this is something that must be done to maintain the stability of the world, and it can only be done surreptitiously as to avoid the immediate detection from humans. Being a human allows more mobility, hence the temporary vessel. The faster the job is done, the faster you can return. Now, who chooses?”
“It can’t be me; it would be near impossible to maintain the volcanoes of the world from a vessel,” Entei protested.
“And I, the thunderclouds,” Raikou added.
“They smell!” Azelf repeated.
“I do not have the necessary emotions to properly assimilate,” Uxie pointed out dully.
“Even within a vessel I burn too hot to interact with manmade items,” Moltres said.
“I am too cold,” Regice continued.
“I nominate Giratina,” Dialga piped up. “It does little more than idle in the Distortion World anyway.”
“It’s not so hot that it burns everything it touches,” Moltres added helpfully.
“And it is not cold-skinned.”
“Though I think it’s coldblooded,” Mespirit complained.
“Barbs aside, we agree that Giratina is the best choice?” Arceus asked. The legendary pokémon gave their consent. “What say you, then, Giratina?”
“I say hell no, uh-uh,” Giratina argued, stamping a foot down in protest. “I have the Distortion World to maintain, which takes immense amounts of concentration—I’m not exactly sitting there and counting the psyducks that I don’t give about you all.”
“See? Perfect candidate. He already has the mukty human attitude,” Rayquaza said.
“Immense concentration… Is that why portals are always showing in the human world?” Palkia asked sardonically.
“Sorry that I can’t keep an eye on one hundred and fifty square miles at once,” it replied testily. “How do you fare with that again?”
“I ought to—”
“You ought to keep a better eye on your dimension. Aren’t anomalies your problem, Space Pokémon?”
“And isn’t it your job to maintain the balance between spaces?” it countered. They were a second from tearing into each other before Arceus bodily cut them apart, although shorter than both of them.
“ENOUGH OF THIS PETTY ARGUING!” it roared. “Which of you was last to destroy Sinnoh?”
“—Giratina,” Palkia answered before Giratina could get in a single shout.
“Then Giratina will be going. Meeting adjourned!”
“What the hell!?” Giratina burst out, pushing past the crowds of jostling pokémon to reach Arceus’ side. “You’ll just take their excuses and let them shirk the duty onto me?”
“I have more pressing matters to attend to than your squabbles,” it replied harshly.
“Right, right. You’re the one maintaining time and space—oh, wait, that’s Dialga and Palkia. It must be hard controlling the weathers of the regions—no, those are the dogs and the birds. Then it must be hard sitting back and watching others slave for you.” Arceus’ eyes flashed, signaling Giratina was stepping too far, but it had to say something. “Injustice, that’s what this is. Why not put more than just myself? Two heads are better than one, or even twenty.”
“Because,” it snapped, fed-up, “the others will be missed more than you.”
“You’re insinuating that no one here cares enough to miss me?”
“Well, do they?” Giratina fell short in responses and Arceus turned away, irritated. “I thought as much.” Soon enough, it left along with the rest of the legendaries, leaving Giratina alone in the expanse of space.
“I don’t know what the hell ‘being missed’ has to do with anything,” it muttered as means of consolation to itself. It worked on tearing open a portal back to the Distortion World, wanting a taste of it before confining itself to a cumbersome vessel for who-the-hell-knows, and focused as to ignore the tiny blip of a presence behind it. “Go away,” it grumbled.
“I want to know something,” Mew replied, buzzing about his tail like an insect. The urge to swat it down was overpowering, but if Arceus was the overbearing parent of their screwed-up family, Mew was the Golden Child.
“Knock yourself out. No, really.” It managed the portal open and slid through, hoping Mew would take the hint, but it followed it straight into the Distortion World, faltering and spinning momentarily before it adjusted to the new gravity. Giratina, meanwhile, enjoyed the sensation of shedding a heavy load.
“Why do you stay here alone all the time?” It was like a child, curious to the point of exasperation.
“Because I have to be here and no one else wants to join me?” he said sardonically. Mew hummed, undeterred, and followed him as he slithered to the depths of the world. If the gravity bothered her at all, she didn’t show it.
“Well, I’m joining you,” she continued brightly even as a groan rumbled through him.
“What, is Arceus punishing you?”
“Why would this be punishment?”
“Have you been living under a rock all these years? I’m not exactly the fan favorite among the legendary pokémon,” he snorted, swerving past an upturned waterfall. “As a matter of fact, they hate my guts just because I’m the only one without a filter.”
“Filter?” she repeated, baffled. It sighed, thoroughly exhausted with Mew, but some company was better than no company.
“For being the scant minority to willingly speak any and all thoughts, no matter the vulgarity.”
“You’re bad with pokémon,” Mew commented. “That, I remember.”
“It’s quite hard to forget.”
“You’re mean,” she said quite simply. “Sometimes it’s warranted, but mostly you’re just mean.” He finally came to a stop next to a mangled piece of streetlamp. Mew hovered just within reach, as small and fragile-looking as a newborn or maybe even an embryo.
“I’m mean. It’s always fun to hear that.”
“But you’re not being mean now.”
“It wouldn’t do to disrespect the ancestor of all pokémon, would it?” it pointed out dryly. Mew tilted its head to the side, intrigued by the thought.
“I’m superior to you?”
“You’re superior to all us belly-draggers out here.”
“Hm… I’ve never thought of it that way.”
“No one’s actually dedicated the brain cells to that kind of thinking, no one except me. I get a lot of free thinking here, you know—it helps me focus on how much you all play me every day. I do little more than idle here… Tch. Palkia can shove it up where the new guy Sunleo or whatever won’t shine. I have this entire world to keep track of, little portals that show up whenever they feel and cause huge disruptions in the human world, and when even that slight interest fails me, I have no one to interact with.”
“You can’t leave here?” it asked.
“I could,” it answered bitterly. “But outside of the legendaries that don’t considering me a present in their lives, the human world is very dull.” Mew gasped, scandalized.
“The human world is amazing! There are things like toys, candy, and there are all kinds of little soft dolls that look like us… I’d think you’re always down there, the way you speak,” she added, barely capping her excitement.
“It’s more a convenience than a souvenir.” Giratina was beginning to surprise himself, holding a conversation that long without losing his temper. Well, it helped that Mew wasn’t an unbearable bastard like two other dimensional Pokémon, although she could pry like a crowbar.
“But you’ve been out there? Don’t tell me there wasn’t one thing that you enjoyed!”
“I enjoyed bullfights—does that count?” Apparently, it didn’t.
“Cute things!”
“Ew. No.” He wasn’t sure if it was because he wasn’t shouting or because he had remained still on the ground for so long, but Mew took some invisible cut to perch herself on one of his claws. It wasn’t like she could get tired hovering psychically, but more than that the physical contact annoyed him. “Get off.”
“Have you ever tried ice cream?” she persisted.
“What? No. I said get off.”
“It’s a sweet thing made of milk, sugar, salt… It can have other flavors too, like fruit or mint. I tried sharing one with a little boy long time ago—he was really smart—but he said he didn’t like sweets, but I’m not sure if I’m making that up or not—”
“I didn’t ask for the Dummies’ Guide or your life story either. Don’t make me squish you.” She was becoming damn near hardheaded.
“What about cake? Have you had cake? Double chocolate is really tasty—”
“Arceus you’re stubborn. I’d storm away if this wasn’t my home.”
“You said no one talks to you, yet I’m talking to you and you’re getting angry about it.”
“Of course, the irony isn’t lost on me. Just…” He sighed, mentally exhausted, and lowered his head to the dirt. “I’m used to complaining, not so much being thankful.” Mew patted his head, and if she meant it to be comforting, it was more patronizing. “Don’t, or I’ll eat you.”
“Have you ever tasted soda?”
“Yes. It’s fizzy and irritating.”
“Bubblegum?”
“It sticks to my armor and I can’t get it off.”
“Then what do you like? And nothing brutal!” she asked. He sighed, then sighed again when he realized that the question required a fair amount of thought.
“Salad.”
“Really?”
“It makes me feel like I’m consuming one of my adversaries.” She groaned and flopped over, throwing her paws up in exasperation. Giratina wasn’t one to appreciate cuteness, but the little display was amusing enough to get a short chuckle from him. “It’s not funny!”
“On the contrary, your despair is highly entertaining. Please continue.”
“You’re just mean,” she pouted, but it was said in jest, something that threw him off a moment.
“Thanks,” Giratina replied in the same tone with a smirk. Mew fell silent long enough for him to assume that she’d fallen asleep, and lowered his claw to the ground to let her down before she fell. Well, he couldn’t blame her; time ran differently in his dimension than the others. Legendary pokémon didn’t age as the mortals did, so the effect was more like jet lag, but if a curious idiot stumbled through a portal, it was beyond him when they finished the remainder of their lives in thirty seconds.
“’m not tired,” she protested, blinking heavily.
“Sure you’re not. And I’m a giant pink dinosaur.”
“…Teddy bears?”
“Quit it already and go to sleep. My throat hurts from talking so much and you’re starting to get annoying.” And he had to be rested himself, and Arceus wouldn’t spare him any excess time, because time is ‘of the essence’ or ‘precious’ or whatever other crap excuse it came up with to make Giratina’s life harder in the long run. Talking with Mew almost made it forget how hard things really were.
“Mm,” it mumbled, words lost under its breath. At least there was one Pokémon that didn’t totally hate its guts.
“It’s a sweet thing made of milk, sugar, salt… It can have other flavors too, like fruit or mint. I tried sharing one with a little boy long time ago—he was really smart—but he said he didn’t like sweets, but I’m not sure if I’m making that up or not—”
I spot another reference there. =P
“Salad.”
“Really?”
“It makes me feel like I’m consuming one of my adversaries.” She groaned and flopped over, throwing her paws up in exasperation. Giratina wasn’t one to appreciate cuteness, but the little display was amusing enough to get a short chuckle from him. “It’s not funny!”
Okay, I laughed at this part.“Really?”
“It makes me feel like I’m consuming one of my adversaries.” She groaned and flopped over, throwing her paws up in exasperation. Giratina wasn’t one to appreciate cuteness, but the little display was amusing enough to get a short chuckle from him. “It’s not funny!”
I too thought the jab with the legendaries there was fun. Man, Azelf sure hates the smell of humans lol. Also nice to see Mew there still as cute as ever, heh. Even though I'm familiar with that Mew before, Bardothren probably has a point if your readers haven't read one of your previous works yet. Looking forward to more!



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Eh, well, I use the references as a joke between me and my friends at school; even though I put them, the legendaries and Mew are all different with different personalities from my old stories. Speaking of, I'm still trying to decide if Mewtwo's gonna be a good guy this time around xD
Spoiler:
author's drabble - i suggest that if you're currently wearing socks, gym or knee high or ankle or any kind, you promptly remove them, because they will be knocked off by the first real battle of the story
The last time Orville fought another legendary on Zygarde’s level was years before when Dialga was wrecking the human world and, consequently, the Distortion World. (Suffice it to say, Giratina was very much on Dialga’s hit-list.) He wasn’t a notorious fighter either, not like a pokémon with fighting as a prerequisite—Meloetta, Keldeo, pretty much everyone from Sinnoh—and especially since a major part of his strength lied in the Distortion World, where he held his home-field advantage.
They resurfaced in what initially appeared to be a huge hole in the ground. Orville hit the rugged rock a second before Zygarde, who landed on his stomach hard enough to knock the breath out of him. It growled as its eyes roamed the crater. “This was where the war was held, three thousand years ago,” it said to itself before returning its attention to Orville. It pushed down on Orville’s ribcage hard enough to fracture, then it knocked him away. Orville slammed against a large boulder, which served as the breaking point as a second later he was thrown away from his human vessel and onto the ground.
“My body!” Giratina growled, digging his claws into the dirt. His Altered Form felt so cumbrous after so long moping in the Distortion World. It would take him a moment to get used to battle, then he could focus on flying. “Arceus will make you sore for that.”
“Arceus is busy. What happens on this earth is my problem,” it reminded Giratina. It used Thousand Arrows again, letting them hover for a moment before sending them all flying. Giratina sunk into the shadows to avoid them, relishing the feeling of being in full control again with no chance of a weak human body bleeding out. He burst out right behind Zygarde and lashed out with his tail. Zygarde jumped away and bit down full-force on his neck in-between the golden guards. He growled in pain and swung it away but Zygarde landed easily on his feet. As it was so very obvious Zygarde wasn’t willingly going to leave, he had to immobilize it, but there was also a glaring second issue.
“We don’t need a crowd,” Giratina said as miniature portals appeared all around the crater, allowing Zygarde Cells and Cores through. The Cells and Cores squirmed across the dirt to stick to Zygarde, every bare inch of scales until it was completely covered. It glowed as he started growing, changing shape and size until it was eye-to-eye with Giratina. Giratina decided that well, he had better things to do than get his ass kicked by all the earth, and made to climb away—that ability, thankfully, sufficed well in lieu of flight. Then a large chunk of dirt came at him at record speed, slamming him into the wall of the crater.
“On the contrary, there is a crowd of pokémon that would love to see this,” Zygarde countered.
“I know that!” Giratina growled, digging his claws into the dirt. Zygarde was only at 50%—that was good. Giratina had balls, at least in the metaphorical sense, but even he wasn’t haughty enough to take on 100% form and get himself brutally murdered. “And I know you care more about kicking my ass than the small talk, Zygarde.” Light danced across Zygarde’s scales as the dirt around it rose into the air, whipping around them faster and faster until it was a sandstorm. He felt the grains battering his skin and armor but ignored them as Zygarde readied a real attack.
“Such secular speech… Humanity has had too great of an effect on you.” Zygarde vanished a second later, and Giratina only caught it a second before it reappeared, tail out as a whip. He curled inwards to let his armor take the hit, although he could feel it crack from the impact, and Zygarde quickly switched to Dragon Tail, knocking him from his grip and sending him rolling down the slope of the crater. He didn’t have time to recover or even stop the world from spinning before the dirt beneath him violently jerked upwards, tossing him forward and into a bed of jagged rock.
“Augh,” it groaned, spitting a mouthful of gravel. “The ages are just ages to you: altered faces on the surface and with the same tedium as filling. What, pray tell, do you really care about them? About us?”
“Don’t accuse me of sharing your isolationism sentiments.”
“Isolationism sentiments?” Giratina barely forced the words out through its growl. Ghost energy swirled around it before shooting forward, as thin as the wind and sharp as a blade. Zygarde lost a few scales before it erected a shield. “I was never asked my take on being confined to the Distortion World, Zygarde. I was imprisoned there against my will, guarding that twisted reflection of a dimension with no company other than my own thoughts, and even those grew tiresome after the first century. You take a lot for granted, you know: the Earth changes all the time, every second of every day; that place does not.”
“Are you pitting your woes on me?” Zygarde replied heedlessly.
“To what avail would that be? I know you don’t trouble yourself with our problems,” he sneered. He let his Ominous Wind build until Zygarde’s shield broke apart and it was slammed back into the dented wall of the crater. “And while you sought to stay as far from us as possible, I spent my solitude honing my abilities. I am one of the few that can control shadows, after all—I might as well have learned their full extent.” He caught his front leg on Zygarde’s shadow as the sun shifted, and with one quick movement he tore a gash down the darkness like a rip in paper. An identical slit appeared in Zygarde’s shoulder area, dark green blood leaking down over its scales.
“So we’re showing tricks now,” it said, undeterred. “I have plenty more than you.” The dirt around Giratina shot up into tall pillars, which quickly shifted to form numerous hands that bore down on him and latched onto his limbs, forcing him down into the ground.
“Cute. Very cute,” Giratina grounded out. “On the other hand, it would suit you well to not place me near the darkness.” He burst into darkness that quickly melted in with the other shadows around them. Zygarde watched him travel along the ground before its scales shone with energy once again. Thunder rumbled distantly as thick dark clouds rolled in and blocked the sun, instantly throwing them in semi-darkness. Giratina was ejected from the ground as the shadows faded away.
Zygarde was in Giratina’s face in a moment and swung its tail, slamming him to the side and right into its special rock wall. Giratina shook his head out and lashed out at Zygarde with his claws. The whirling sand suddenly cut in front of him, forcing him away as the high-speed sediments cut numerous scratches into his hide. He backtracked into a pitfall made by his adversary, tripping over his rear legs and baring himself for a razor-sharp piece of stone that shot into his chest, barely missing his heart. He groaned at the pain as blood leaked around the point of contact, increasing in flow when Zygarde pushed down on it.
“Ugh… You think…this will…kill me?” Giratina smirked.
“At the very least, I assumed they would shut your accursed mouth.” Zygarde retrieved several other stones and, cracking them down to killer points, buried them in Giratina’s limbs, effectively pinning him to the ground. He growled before his body faded to transparency, lifting the rocks and spinning them around to Zygarde before letting them fly. It caught them right before they made contact, crumbling them into dust.
“I’m getting a little tired of playing with pebbles… Aren’t you?”
Zygarde’s scales shone, but this time the light remained longer before scattering around it like an external reflection. The green and gold condensed into a single, bright point between its eyes, gathering blue and scarlet draconic energy and swirling into a ball. The ball scattered into several lights that arced into the air before shooting down to earth in a wild pattern. Giratina formed several dozen Shadow Balls in response, tossing them back to match each Draco Meteor. The consequent explosions coalesced into a massive one that almost took up the entire crater, poisoning the air with smoke and waves of heat energy. Hidden by the remnants, Giratina tested his wings and, finding them apt, took off into the air.
“I see you attempting to escape, Giratina!” Through the gloom came several hundred flashes of green that Giratina was just a second too slow in dodging. One pierced his wing through, dropping one of his spikes to the ground and causing him to dip, and another chipped one of his golden guards. That was ten… Nine thousand and ninety to go, he thought bitterly before turning tail. He could sense the power of them trailing him as he soared over Geosenge, keeping a solid space between himself and them even as he watched Zygarde keep the same pace directly below him, slithering across the grass like a pro. If he remembered correctly from the dozen or so times he’d been dragged to Kalos, Coumarine was the port city, meaning lots of water, meaning a portal large enough to take even Zygarde’s big ass. Problem was, Zygarde would surely be harder to trap than Latios.
Giratina glanced back to make sure Zygarde’s arrows were still following—they were—before preforming a sharp dive. Zygarde came to a stop on the rocky route to watch Giratina spiral towards the dirt, wings folded back to increase his speed, and the earth started shaking. Not giving it the chance to retaliate, he spun and exploded a Shadow Ball right in its face, blinding it as he sunk into the shadows. He surfaced a couple of miles away in time to feel a drop of rain on his head, quickly succeeded by a heavy downpour from thick, slate-grey clouds.
“You’re going to give me a bath now? Not that I don’t appreciate it, having been rolling in the mud so long,” Giratina jeered, planting his feet on the route’s grass. The simple shower soon became a downpour, however, raindrops hitting him like bullets and softening the dirt so much he was forced to remain in midair lest he be taken away in a mudslide. He didn’t expect that, of all the things Zygarde would do—in that form, it was unable to fly, so it wouldn’t be able to physically reach Giratina. He continued backing away, however, as the green glow of its Thousand Arrows showed through the gloom, and as the ground was out of the question, he had no other choice than to take the attack head-on. The arrows couldn’t quite pierce his armor, but his skin was easily sliced apart, creating several deep lacerations on his body that slowed his flight until he was hovering precariously above the mudslide.
“I’m going to do more than just clean you,” Zygarde intoned, its voice preceding its appearance in the dark environment. Giratina growled as he spun as quickly as he could in his condition, creating several wobbly Shadow Balls on the spot as his eyes darted in search of Zygarde’s massive form—it couldn’t be too hard to find a hulking green reptile in the center of a rainstorm— “I’m going to, as the humans say, wipe the floor with you.” Giratina met eyes with a blue-palette version of his adversary right before it slammed its tail into his face, sending him spinning head over tail backwards. He had no time to recover as Zygarde was instantly behind him—how in hell was it moving so quickly all of a sudden?—and head-butted him, severely damaging his mouth guards and knocking out a couple of teeth. Giratina was spiraling towards the muddy ground, disoriented, but it still hadn’t had enough, and the churning mud was instantly covered with a sheet of thick white ice that he collided with bodily, throwing him into blackness until Zygarde’s tail around his aching body awoke him.
“H-How are you—” he managed before a bubble of blood cut him off.
“I used Camouflage to become as the rain, since the earth was not as effective on you,” Zygarde said. Its grip intensified so much Giratina could feel his organs shifting. “You’ve always sustained the belief that you can speak to us however you wish to, do whatever you wish because you can eventually escape our ire in your world, but now there is no escape for you. Your punishment will surely make you think the next time you feel the urge to speak.”
“J-Just k-kill me.”
“Not as long as Arceus is using you—powerful as I am, I do not wish to weather that storm. However, it has no qualms with traveling damage.” Zygarde backpedaled down the small icy island it created, finally giving Giratina a chance to breathe deeply. “Are you unable to rise now, Giratina?”
“Of course I—” he began, indignant, but all attempts to roll to his feet failed as an acute agony in his center forced him down again. Zygarde rumbled a laugh in response to his pained writhing as he fought to regain his bearings past his scrambled thoughts. He was injured, barely able to move, and on top of that Zygarde now had the type advantage. There was no way he could make a portal in that condition, let alone force it through. Maybe, maybe if it returned to 10%, it would ease his burden, but the only way he could strip it of its Cells now—
Arceus, he was going to feel this battle in the morning, if he even made it that long.
“I believe—argh—I believe you’re greatly underestimating me, Zygarde,” Giratina growled, finally rolling to his feet. He was glad that his battered body served as an excuse for halting his offensive. “And I also believe you all are giving yourselves too much credit. I’m selfish and hard to get along with? Then why is it that, in every meeting we have, you all do a pretty good job of arguing up a storm without my input? You all love to hold yourself in such high regard even as the world falls to pieces because of your…our…inanity. We aren’t all that far off from humans.” Especially that redheaded pest.
“Your time as a human has made you think as one.”
“We all think as humans, whether we’d like to or not. I know Mew does,” he pointed out with just a bit of amusement. “And there’s nothing wrong with that—humans in general are not bad creatures. When they lose their way, that is when they are something to be reckoned with, and that is what we shouldn’t be. Then again, I don’t need fingers to count the number of times that we’ve all screwed things up. Take responsibility for yourself already, will you?” he snorted with an eye roll. Zygarde growled, irate, which was just what Giratina was going for. “The truth is annoying, isn’t it? Here’s something else that should really sting: you were also meant for the ability to open and close portals as you wish, but Arceus decided I was the better one to hold that, and it restricted you to just toting your Cells from here to there. And now you’re charging me,” he smirked as Zygarde slithered towards him. “Great.”
The clouds rent as a great white bolt of Thunder shot down towards their icy islet. The small fingers of electricity grew into their own lightning bolts as they caught on the rain, expanding the attack until they were amidst a field of energy jumping through the air. Zygarde suffered most, being a Water-type, but Giratina’s pain doubled as the volts zapped across his sliced skin. The current buzzed between them, molecules crashing and crashing until they finally reached their end point and blew the two of them apart with a giant burst of white lightning, throwing them into the still-churning mud. Zygarde surfaced quickly, back to its original green shade, but Giratina had a much harder time getting his bearings as his limbs remained locked up from the Thunder. He struggled to keep his head above the sludge but still gulped it down instead of air as it weighed him down like tons of steel, locking his wings in place and eventually yanking him under.
“You’re not gonna catch me!” Shaymin called with an arrogant grin, winding circles around Giratina in its own dimension. It growled, opening its mouth guards and baring its teeth as it fought to keep pace with the lithe little rat. “C’mon, stop messing around Brother!”
“I’m going to rip you to shreds, you pest!”
“That is, if you can catch me at all!” It was tired, it was frustrated, and it was destroying the buildings as it faltered in imitating Shaymin’s turns, which it knew would earn it a long invective from Arceus as the underworld suffered. It turned back towards Shaymin as it whirled from behind, eyes glittering with the excitement of battle, and went to—
He was brought back to the surface by a foreign power in time to catch a wild, pained roar. Giratina shook his face clear of mud and caught Zygarde’s tail disappearing into a midair ball of rainwater. He blinked, perplexed, then caught the pink glow around the edges—it was being maintained telekinetically. He could use Psychic, yes, but not with the pain blurring all edges of his mind. It was coming from something—someone else.
“You’re welcome!” Mew beamed, a bright spot among the gloom of the storm. Giratina felt no gratitude—it was too fatigued for that.
“How…” he trailed off, vaguely aware of Mew forming a Psychic barrier above his head, sparing him from the rain, then set to work on his injuries. Then he remembered his Thunder attack, the outpouring of the last of his energy amplified by the rain. He managed to create an anomaly, which he could only assume Mew traveled through. That wasn’t his intention, but thank Arceus anyway.
“Wow, it really did a number on you,” Mew commented, looking up towards the sky. She wrinkled her nose in distaste and the rain slowed to a complete stop, the black clouds withering away until they were little more than streaks against the dusk. “You weren’t kidding about the legendaries disliking you, huh?”
“Why…would I…”
“Oh no, I didn’t assume you were joking, but this is just…wow.” She looked at the damage they had caused: patches of missing ground, damaged rocks, entire cliffs charred and broken away and still crumbling into the nearby shore. Coumarine was just in the distance; it was a wonder nobody had come to investigate. Then again, with the storm having dissipated, the humans were surely rushing over. Mew apparently came up with the same thought, because she strengthened her hold on Giratina and started pulling him towards the water.
“M…body…”
“I can’t hear you.”
“Body…Orville…” he growled, forcing his tongue to work. “In Geosenge…still there…”
“Body… You mean your vessel! That’s going to be a problem,” she sighed. Giratina was glad she couldn’t hear his resounding Well duh! “What if you damaged him?” she suddenly gasped. “You were in that vessel for longer than normal, weren’t you? and you used your powers…”
“Don’t…care…”
“You should!” she reprimanded. Giratina smiled a little, likening her to Linda. They were both small, bright, and very buggy. Not quite a bad thing. “What’s so funny?”
“You.”
“What? Why? —Tell me!” she pressed when he remained silent. She pouted as he continued grinning to himself, but he quickly sobered as he watched the braver humans trek onto their battlefield. The effects of a legendary fight were just that, and often remained for generations after. All because of a freaking anomaly— Wait.
“Psychic…psychic people exist…right?” he asked.
“They’re a minority, but yes. Some just have vague abilities like communication with pokémon, and others can warp reality like Gym Leader Sabrina.”
“I see.” The first few anomalies’ locations were unknown to him, but he knew they took place somewhere in Kanto. The first one that he’d tracked was in Viridian, where the three were leaving; the second occurred right where they were as Linda tried to pull Koko away; and the third was when Mel was endangered by that girl’s aerodactyl. It was safe to assume that they all came from the same person, which narrowed it down to either Mel or Linda, and Mel already had trouble communicating with his own species, let alone another one, so that left the girl. But she’d never done anything on purpose, and unless she was an ace liar (which she didn’t appear to be by a longshot with her gumdrops-and-rainbows demeanor) she had no idea what was going on. Regardless, if she was, in fact, the one causing anomalies, she would have to be dealt with.
…He would think it through while recovering.
2.2. guardians of sealed space.
part ii
orville’s p.o.v.
part iiorville’s p.o.v.
The last time Orville fought another legendary on Zygarde’s level was years before when Dialga was wrecking the human world and, consequently, the Distortion World. (Suffice it to say, Giratina was very much on Dialga’s hit-list.) He wasn’t a notorious fighter either, not like a pokémon with fighting as a prerequisite—Meloetta, Keldeo, pretty much everyone from Sinnoh—and especially since a major part of his strength lied in the Distortion World, where he held his home-field advantage.
They resurfaced in what initially appeared to be a huge hole in the ground. Orville hit the rugged rock a second before Zygarde, who landed on his stomach hard enough to knock the breath out of him. It growled as its eyes roamed the crater. “This was where the war was held, three thousand years ago,” it said to itself before returning its attention to Orville. It pushed down on Orville’s ribcage hard enough to fracture, then it knocked him away. Orville slammed against a large boulder, which served as the breaking point as a second later he was thrown away from his human vessel and onto the ground.
“My body!” Giratina growled, digging his claws into the dirt. His Altered Form felt so cumbrous after so long moping in the Distortion World. It would take him a moment to get used to battle, then he could focus on flying. “Arceus will make you sore for that.”
“Arceus is busy. What happens on this earth is my problem,” it reminded Giratina. It used Thousand Arrows again, letting them hover for a moment before sending them all flying. Giratina sunk into the shadows to avoid them, relishing the feeling of being in full control again with no chance of a weak human body bleeding out. He burst out right behind Zygarde and lashed out with his tail. Zygarde jumped away and bit down full-force on his neck in-between the golden guards. He growled in pain and swung it away but Zygarde landed easily on his feet. As it was so very obvious Zygarde wasn’t willingly going to leave, he had to immobilize it, but there was also a glaring second issue.
“We don’t need a crowd,” Giratina said as miniature portals appeared all around the crater, allowing Zygarde Cells and Cores through. The Cells and Cores squirmed across the dirt to stick to Zygarde, every bare inch of scales until it was completely covered. It glowed as he started growing, changing shape and size until it was eye-to-eye with Giratina. Giratina decided that well, he had better things to do than get his ass kicked by all the earth, and made to climb away—that ability, thankfully, sufficed well in lieu of flight. Then a large chunk of dirt came at him at record speed, slamming him into the wall of the crater.
“On the contrary, there is a crowd of pokémon that would love to see this,” Zygarde countered.
“I know that!” Giratina growled, digging his claws into the dirt. Zygarde was only at 50%—that was good. Giratina had balls, at least in the metaphorical sense, but even he wasn’t haughty enough to take on 100% form and get himself brutally murdered. “And I know you care more about kicking my ass than the small talk, Zygarde.” Light danced across Zygarde’s scales as the dirt around it rose into the air, whipping around them faster and faster until it was a sandstorm. He felt the grains battering his skin and armor but ignored them as Zygarde readied a real attack.
“Such secular speech… Humanity has had too great of an effect on you.” Zygarde vanished a second later, and Giratina only caught it a second before it reappeared, tail out as a whip. He curled inwards to let his armor take the hit, although he could feel it crack from the impact, and Zygarde quickly switched to Dragon Tail, knocking him from his grip and sending him rolling down the slope of the crater. He didn’t have time to recover or even stop the world from spinning before the dirt beneath him violently jerked upwards, tossing him forward and into a bed of jagged rock.
“Augh,” it groaned, spitting a mouthful of gravel. “The ages are just ages to you: altered faces on the surface and with the same tedium as filling. What, pray tell, do you really care about them? About us?”
“Don’t accuse me of sharing your isolationism sentiments.”
“Isolationism sentiments?” Giratina barely forced the words out through its growl. Ghost energy swirled around it before shooting forward, as thin as the wind and sharp as a blade. Zygarde lost a few scales before it erected a shield. “I was never asked my take on being confined to the Distortion World, Zygarde. I was imprisoned there against my will, guarding that twisted reflection of a dimension with no company other than my own thoughts, and even those grew tiresome after the first century. You take a lot for granted, you know: the Earth changes all the time, every second of every day; that place does not.”
“Are you pitting your woes on me?” Zygarde replied heedlessly.
“To what avail would that be? I know you don’t trouble yourself with our problems,” he sneered. He let his Ominous Wind build until Zygarde’s shield broke apart and it was slammed back into the dented wall of the crater. “And while you sought to stay as far from us as possible, I spent my solitude honing my abilities. I am one of the few that can control shadows, after all—I might as well have learned their full extent.” He caught his front leg on Zygarde’s shadow as the sun shifted, and with one quick movement he tore a gash down the darkness like a rip in paper. An identical slit appeared in Zygarde’s shoulder area, dark green blood leaking down over its scales.
“So we’re showing tricks now,” it said, undeterred. “I have plenty more than you.” The dirt around Giratina shot up into tall pillars, which quickly shifted to form numerous hands that bore down on him and latched onto his limbs, forcing him down into the ground.
“Cute. Very cute,” Giratina grounded out. “On the other hand, it would suit you well to not place me near the darkness.” He burst into darkness that quickly melted in with the other shadows around them. Zygarde watched him travel along the ground before its scales shone with energy once again. Thunder rumbled distantly as thick dark clouds rolled in and blocked the sun, instantly throwing them in semi-darkness. Giratina was ejected from the ground as the shadows faded away.
Zygarde was in Giratina’s face in a moment and swung its tail, slamming him to the side and right into its special rock wall. Giratina shook his head out and lashed out at Zygarde with his claws. The whirling sand suddenly cut in front of him, forcing him away as the high-speed sediments cut numerous scratches into his hide. He backtracked into a pitfall made by his adversary, tripping over his rear legs and baring himself for a razor-sharp piece of stone that shot into his chest, barely missing his heart. He groaned at the pain as blood leaked around the point of contact, increasing in flow when Zygarde pushed down on it.
“Ugh… You think…this will…kill me?” Giratina smirked.
“At the very least, I assumed they would shut your accursed mouth.” Zygarde retrieved several other stones and, cracking them down to killer points, buried them in Giratina’s limbs, effectively pinning him to the ground. He growled before his body faded to transparency, lifting the rocks and spinning them around to Zygarde before letting them fly. It caught them right before they made contact, crumbling them into dust.
“I’m getting a little tired of playing with pebbles… Aren’t you?”
Zygarde’s scales shone, but this time the light remained longer before scattering around it like an external reflection. The green and gold condensed into a single, bright point between its eyes, gathering blue and scarlet draconic energy and swirling into a ball. The ball scattered into several lights that arced into the air before shooting down to earth in a wild pattern. Giratina formed several dozen Shadow Balls in response, tossing them back to match each Draco Meteor. The consequent explosions coalesced into a massive one that almost took up the entire crater, poisoning the air with smoke and waves of heat energy. Hidden by the remnants, Giratina tested his wings and, finding them apt, took off into the air.
“I see you attempting to escape, Giratina!” Through the gloom came several hundred flashes of green that Giratina was just a second too slow in dodging. One pierced his wing through, dropping one of his spikes to the ground and causing him to dip, and another chipped one of his golden guards. That was ten… Nine thousand and ninety to go, he thought bitterly before turning tail. He could sense the power of them trailing him as he soared over Geosenge, keeping a solid space between himself and them even as he watched Zygarde keep the same pace directly below him, slithering across the grass like a pro. If he remembered correctly from the dozen or so times he’d been dragged to Kalos, Coumarine was the port city, meaning lots of water, meaning a portal large enough to take even Zygarde’s big ass. Problem was, Zygarde would surely be harder to trap than Latios.
Giratina glanced back to make sure Zygarde’s arrows were still following—they were—before preforming a sharp dive. Zygarde came to a stop on the rocky route to watch Giratina spiral towards the dirt, wings folded back to increase his speed, and the earth started shaking. Not giving it the chance to retaliate, he spun and exploded a Shadow Ball right in its face, blinding it as he sunk into the shadows. He surfaced a couple of miles away in time to feel a drop of rain on his head, quickly succeeded by a heavy downpour from thick, slate-grey clouds.
“You’re going to give me a bath now? Not that I don’t appreciate it, having been rolling in the mud so long,” Giratina jeered, planting his feet on the route’s grass. The simple shower soon became a downpour, however, raindrops hitting him like bullets and softening the dirt so much he was forced to remain in midair lest he be taken away in a mudslide. He didn’t expect that, of all the things Zygarde would do—in that form, it was unable to fly, so it wouldn’t be able to physically reach Giratina. He continued backing away, however, as the green glow of its Thousand Arrows showed through the gloom, and as the ground was out of the question, he had no other choice than to take the attack head-on. The arrows couldn’t quite pierce his armor, but his skin was easily sliced apart, creating several deep lacerations on his body that slowed his flight until he was hovering precariously above the mudslide.
“I’m going to do more than just clean you,” Zygarde intoned, its voice preceding its appearance in the dark environment. Giratina growled as he spun as quickly as he could in his condition, creating several wobbly Shadow Balls on the spot as his eyes darted in search of Zygarde’s massive form—it couldn’t be too hard to find a hulking green reptile in the center of a rainstorm— “I’m going to, as the humans say, wipe the floor with you.” Giratina met eyes with a blue-palette version of his adversary right before it slammed its tail into his face, sending him spinning head over tail backwards. He had no time to recover as Zygarde was instantly behind him—how in hell was it moving so quickly all of a sudden?—and head-butted him, severely damaging his mouth guards and knocking out a couple of teeth. Giratina was spiraling towards the muddy ground, disoriented, but it still hadn’t had enough, and the churning mud was instantly covered with a sheet of thick white ice that he collided with bodily, throwing him into blackness until Zygarde’s tail around his aching body awoke him.
“H-How are you—” he managed before a bubble of blood cut him off.
“I used Camouflage to become as the rain, since the earth was not as effective on you,” Zygarde said. Its grip intensified so much Giratina could feel his organs shifting. “You’ve always sustained the belief that you can speak to us however you wish to, do whatever you wish because you can eventually escape our ire in your world, but now there is no escape for you. Your punishment will surely make you think the next time you feel the urge to speak.”
“J-Just k-kill me.”
“Not as long as Arceus is using you—powerful as I am, I do not wish to weather that storm. However, it has no qualms with traveling damage.” Zygarde backpedaled down the small icy island it created, finally giving Giratina a chance to breathe deeply. “Are you unable to rise now, Giratina?”
“Of course I—” he began, indignant, but all attempts to roll to his feet failed as an acute agony in his center forced him down again. Zygarde rumbled a laugh in response to his pained writhing as he fought to regain his bearings past his scrambled thoughts. He was injured, barely able to move, and on top of that Zygarde now had the type advantage. There was no way he could make a portal in that condition, let alone force it through. Maybe, maybe if it returned to 10%, it would ease his burden, but the only way he could strip it of its Cells now—
Arceus, he was going to feel this battle in the morning, if he even made it that long.
“I believe—argh—I believe you’re greatly underestimating me, Zygarde,” Giratina growled, finally rolling to his feet. He was glad that his battered body served as an excuse for halting his offensive. “And I also believe you all are giving yourselves too much credit. I’m selfish and hard to get along with? Then why is it that, in every meeting we have, you all do a pretty good job of arguing up a storm without my input? You all love to hold yourself in such high regard even as the world falls to pieces because of your…our…inanity. We aren’t all that far off from humans.” Especially that redheaded pest.
“Your time as a human has made you think as one.”
“We all think as humans, whether we’d like to or not. I know Mew does,” he pointed out with just a bit of amusement. “And there’s nothing wrong with that—humans in general are not bad creatures. When they lose their way, that is when they are something to be reckoned with, and that is what we shouldn’t be. Then again, I don’t need fingers to count the number of times that we’ve all screwed things up. Take responsibility for yourself already, will you?” he snorted with an eye roll. Zygarde growled, irate, which was just what Giratina was going for. “The truth is annoying, isn’t it? Here’s something else that should really sting: you were also meant for the ability to open and close portals as you wish, but Arceus decided I was the better one to hold that, and it restricted you to just toting your Cells from here to there. And now you’re charging me,” he smirked as Zygarde slithered towards him. “Great.”
The clouds rent as a great white bolt of Thunder shot down towards their icy islet. The small fingers of electricity grew into their own lightning bolts as they caught on the rain, expanding the attack until they were amidst a field of energy jumping through the air. Zygarde suffered most, being a Water-type, but Giratina’s pain doubled as the volts zapped across his sliced skin. The current buzzed between them, molecules crashing and crashing until they finally reached their end point and blew the two of them apart with a giant burst of white lightning, throwing them into the still-churning mud. Zygarde surfaced quickly, back to its original green shade, but Giratina had a much harder time getting his bearings as his limbs remained locked up from the Thunder. He struggled to keep his head above the sludge but still gulped it down instead of air as it weighed him down like tons of steel, locking his wings in place and eventually yanking him under.
“You’re not gonna catch me!” Shaymin called with an arrogant grin, winding circles around Giratina in its own dimension. It growled, opening its mouth guards and baring its teeth as it fought to keep pace with the lithe little rat. “C’mon, stop messing around Brother!”
“I’m going to rip you to shreds, you pest!”
“That is, if you can catch me at all!” It was tired, it was frustrated, and it was destroying the buildings as it faltered in imitating Shaymin’s turns, which it knew would earn it a long invective from Arceus as the underworld suffered. It turned back towards Shaymin as it whirled from behind, eyes glittering with the excitement of battle, and went to—
He was brought back to the surface by a foreign power in time to catch a wild, pained roar. Giratina shook his face clear of mud and caught Zygarde’s tail disappearing into a midair ball of rainwater. He blinked, perplexed, then caught the pink glow around the edges—it was being maintained telekinetically. He could use Psychic, yes, but not with the pain blurring all edges of his mind. It was coming from something—someone else.
“You’re welcome!” Mew beamed, a bright spot among the gloom of the storm. Giratina felt no gratitude—it was too fatigued for that.
“How…” he trailed off, vaguely aware of Mew forming a Psychic barrier above his head, sparing him from the rain, then set to work on his injuries. Then he remembered his Thunder attack, the outpouring of the last of his energy amplified by the rain. He managed to create an anomaly, which he could only assume Mew traveled through. That wasn’t his intention, but thank Arceus anyway.
“Wow, it really did a number on you,” Mew commented, looking up towards the sky. She wrinkled her nose in distaste and the rain slowed to a complete stop, the black clouds withering away until they were little more than streaks against the dusk. “You weren’t kidding about the legendaries disliking you, huh?”
“Why…would I…”
“Oh no, I didn’t assume you were joking, but this is just…wow.” She looked at the damage they had caused: patches of missing ground, damaged rocks, entire cliffs charred and broken away and still crumbling into the nearby shore. Coumarine was just in the distance; it was a wonder nobody had come to investigate. Then again, with the storm having dissipated, the humans were surely rushing over. Mew apparently came up with the same thought, because she strengthened her hold on Giratina and started pulling him towards the water.
“M…body…”
“I can’t hear you.”
“Body…Orville…” he growled, forcing his tongue to work. “In Geosenge…still there…”
“Body… You mean your vessel! That’s going to be a problem,” she sighed. Giratina was glad she couldn’t hear his resounding Well duh! “What if you damaged him?” she suddenly gasped. “You were in that vessel for longer than normal, weren’t you? and you used your powers…”
“Don’t…care…”
“You should!” she reprimanded. Giratina smiled a little, likening her to Linda. They were both small, bright, and very buggy. Not quite a bad thing. “What’s so funny?”
“You.”
“What? Why? —Tell me!” she pressed when he remained silent. She pouted as he continued grinning to himself, but he quickly sobered as he watched the braver humans trek onto their battlefield. The effects of a legendary fight were just that, and often remained for generations after. All because of a freaking anomaly— Wait.
“Psychic…psychic people exist…right?” he asked.
“They’re a minority, but yes. Some just have vague abilities like communication with pokémon, and others can warp reality like Gym Leader Sabrina.”
“I see.” The first few anomalies’ locations were unknown to him, but he knew they took place somewhere in Kanto. The first one that he’d tracked was in Viridian, where the three were leaving; the second occurred right where they were as Linda tried to pull Koko away; and the third was when Mel was endangered by that girl’s aerodactyl. It was safe to assume that they all came from the same person, which narrowed it down to either Mel or Linda, and Mel already had trouble communicating with his own species, let alone another one, so that left the girl. But she’d never done anything on purpose, and unless she was an ace liar (which she didn’t appear to be by a longshot with her gumdrops-and-rainbows demeanor) she had no idea what was going on. Regardless, if she was, in fact, the one causing anomalies, she would have to be dealt with.
…He would think it through while recovering.
Like Bardothren, the flashback with Shaymin seems a bit sudden there, though I'm assuming Shaymin and Giratina's relationship might be important. I do like some of the banter between Giratina and Zygarde, for instnace the bath and shower talk around the end of their battle. Some lines I feel are a bit overstuffed, though, like the paragraph that starts with "We all think as humans, whether we’d like to or not. I know Mew does." I can see Giratina trying to push Zygarde's buttons there, but the speech went a bit too long there.
Oh, hey Mew, nice save there. And oh dear over Orville. Yeah, Giratina will needs some recovering after that big battle.
Oh, hey Mew, nice save there. And oh dear over Orville. Yeah, Giratina will needs some recovering after that big battle.



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Spoiler:
auhtor's drabble - more filler than naruto lol. Honestly this story in particular is draining me right now and I have no idea why, hence more character development than actual action.
@Bard and Bay Dialogue and me suffer from a love-hate relationship most of the time. I love to write it out, but the scene hates it :P
2.3. guardians of sealed space.
part iii
lindas p.o.v.
@Bard and Bay Dialogue and me suffer from a love-hate relationship most of the time. I love to write it out, but the scene hates it :P
2.3. guardians of sealed space.
part iiilindas p.o.v.
Breaking news: a battle between the legendary pokmon has just occurred outside of Coumarine City in Kalos! The battle, waged between the Distortion World pokmon Giratina and the guardian of our earth, Zygarde, has left miles of damage in its wake, and in its aftermath the two have not been spot
Mel! Linda complained as he tossed a pillow at the television, followed by him getting up to shut it off.
Whats it matter? The bastards gone and isnt our problem anymore, he said, dropping into a cross-legged position at the base of the Pokmon Centers bed. He quickly changed his mind and threw himself back, his hair going all over the pillow and his face as he sighed.
But its my fault that he had to come in the first place, she murmured, hugging her pillow to her chest. Koko placed her paws on her leg, resting her head on Lindas knee with a whine. Mel blew his cheeks out before turning his head away.
Cant be, Im telling you. Sure, you kinda understand Koko, but you guysve been together since forever, so thats no big deal.
Its more than Koko though. Even Shady, and you just caught him a couple of months ago. Wild pidgey too, and caterpie and diglet and She closed her eyes and turned to the wall, gently pushing Koko away. That pokmon almost ruined the city, almost killed people It wouldve been my fault, Mel.
Lindy
He could fix it.
Or he will kill you, he added bitterly, waving a hand. And its not like he was frank about which hed do. We were going to see Sabrina about it, werent we? We just keep going and stick to the original plan.
But Mel
Its going to work, trust me, he insisted, sitting up and letting his eyes burn into hers. He was impossible when he got like that, clinging to his beliefs and notions like a lifeline.
Its not that I dont, she replied, turning her body towards him, but what about the meantime? It can happen againchances are that it will happen again! Linda didnt want to cry but she felt tears creeping past her eyelids anyway. She wiped at them furiously as Koko whined and pawed at her side, licking her free hand consolingly.
I-I dont know what you want me to do anyway. That guys all the way in Kalos, and as you just saw, he probably got his ass kicked back to his home, so we couldnt call him anyway! Arceus, Linda, stop cryingI mean, please stop cryingI meanjeez! He pulled her hand away and wiped her face with his sleeve, but his eyes were shining with unshed tears. Im the problem, he admitted quietly. Im the one that got us in this mess in the first place. Please dont cry, Lindy. She bit her lip a second before shaking her head.
What can we do? He bumped shoulders before resting his head against hers.
I dont know, he said. That scares me the most.
???
Mel was sort of a know-it-all. It helped that most of the time, he did know it allhe did, after all, spend most of his life at home, so he didnt have much other to do than readand he didnt waste any chance to prove it to anyone and/or everyone. It was bothersome sometimes and annoying at worse, but it was good that Linda always had someone to ask for answers. But now he didnt have any answers, and he was just as confused as she was. What did they do then? None of them had any idea.
Linda stood with Koko in her arms as Mel checked them out, watching the Trainers come and go with pokmon in hand. She used to always think about the Pokmon League, but lately the idea of challenging Gyms rarely crossed her mind. Maybe a Coordinator thoughshe could teach Koko the tricks and wow people Well, if she managed to get things under control any time soonor any time at all. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and right when she turned around a candy bar was shoved into her mouth.
I bought it from the vending machine, Mel explained with a small smile. Cause I know you and Koko like almond chocolate, and it was the last one. It cant fix all our problems, but itll make you feel better short-term.
Thanks. She still felt a little dazed as she chewed, alternating bites with Koko. He stared blankly at her for a moment before tugging on her pigtails.
Come on, smile. I promised that Id fix things, didnt I?
But you dont even know how or where to begin.
Sabrinathats where to begin. I dont know where things are going to end up from there.
You always have no clue, she said halfheartedly. You dont think things throughever.
Im not a good planner and I admit that, but things have worked out so farmore or less.
The more or less there is the issue There isnt a halfway that we can get to, Mel. You know what the stakes are. He winced slightly but didnt turn away.
Hes not the one that can make it better, Koko reminded her. Linda hummed in dissatisfaction.
What did she say?
Youre not the one who can fix this. Orville Giratina is the one that knows about anomalies and how to stop them.
I told you, noI dont want him to hurt you, and thats taking things lightly.
What other choice do we have?
I told you
Realistically, Mel! This is something we never heard about before, and I really dont think its something a person would just keep bottled up. If Sabrina did have this happen to her she wouldve told someone!
Sabrinas not exactly known for being a social butterfree.
Anybody with logic wouldve told! she protested.
Well Mel started, then stopped upon seeing her expression. He shook his head once and ran both hands through his hair with a sigh, mussing it and causing it to stand on end. Im trying, he said after a moment.
Youre trying to run circles around the only lead we have. For what?
Hes annoying, abrasive, and he treats us like bugsthats for what. Its not worth it. Linda hugged Koko tighter.
Its not, butlook at the alternative. They both fell silent.
Kalos is such a long way away, he muttered. And considering that he was with another legendary there, chances are that he already ran off.
Or maybe hes injured. Every time we saw legendary pokmon fight on the news, both of them were injured because theyre equal. If hes injured enough, hell be there for a while.
If, he repeated. Its something, I guess. He watched Koko eat the last of the chocolate and sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. Look, its seven in the morning. Lets eat, then well catch the next train tothis is Cerulean, sowell catch a train to Saffron. The airports there, I think.
I Okay, brother.
???
Mel! Mel, look! Shes hurt! Linda cried, running into their room and carrying the comatose growlithe with some difficulty, them being nearly the same height.
What? Mel looked up from his book as Linda came near, then started coughing. Ugh, she smells like smoke!
Shes a fire-type.
Im gonna have an attack, Linda. Just tell Dad tocough coughtake it to the Pokmon Center.
She wouldnt go near himI think shes scared of people.
Shes not scared of you, he pointed out, shutting his book. She ignored him, putting the growlithe down on the carpet and running to the bathroom. Hey! What are you doing?
Taking care of her! She took the first-aid kit to their room and cracked it open. The growlithe snarled as she came close with the peroxide, then she yelped in pain as Linda started rubbing her injured paw with it. Mel sniffed in indignation, pulling his shirt over his nose as he drew closer. The growlithe snarled and dropped into a pounce, causing him to jump three feet back.
Its gonna eat me! he cried.
Dont be a meanie, Mel.
Its the one trying to eat me!
She, Linda corrected. Shes a girl.
No, shes a wild animal!
Shes more than a wild animal! I can I can hear her talking, and shes saying real words!
Now thats crazy, he muttered. She ignored him for the time being, gently cleaning the growlithes paw and whispering to her until she calmed down. She was wrapping the injury when Mel spoke up again: Howd you even sneak that thing past Mom and Daddy?
Im sneaky, she said, tying up the last bandage. The growlithe tested her weight on her paw, making slow circles around the room, before woofing happily. She turned and jumped on Linda, licking her face and nuzzling her neck. Linda giggled and hugged her even as they were both knocked to the ground.
Great, Mel sighed. Now she can go.
Mm, Linda complained, sitting up with her. The growlithe looked at her curiously.
Should I eat him? she asked. Hes small enough.
No Hes a meanie, but hes my brother.
Hey, Mel whined. Im no meanie.
Hes a meanie, but hes my brother, and hes always snappy when he doesnt take a nap, so dont pay attention to him.
What am I, a baby? Im eight years old damn you.
And he needs to wash his mouth out with soap, and he will when I tell Mommy on him.
Oi, Linda! he protested as she got up, throwing his arms out. He wrestled with himself for a minute before grumbling, Dont tell Mom on me.
You wanna stay with us? Linda asked.
Just with you, the growlithe replied. Linda squealed in delight, spinning them around while pretending not to notice Mel smiling behind her. (He liked when she was happy and giggly, but he denied it whenever she asked him on grounds of looking unmanly.)
Ooh what should I name her?
How about Sparky? he suggested, going back to his book.
Mm Koko? she tried. What about Koko? She wagged her tail with a smile. Koko! Your name is Koko.
Great, he repeated. Now you just have to convince Mom and Daddy. And me, dont forget me. Theres no way theyd let you have an arcanine.
Then she wont evolve!
What about the smoke, huh? He coughed as if to punctuate his point.
She wont use fire-type attacks either. Then Mommy and Daddy will have to agree.
Melchior!
Oi, you know I hate that. I dont care either way what happens, but I dont think theyll let you keep her, or at least not until youre ten.
Ill Ill make them agree, she decided, holding Kokos head between her hands. Because
Because? he asked. Cmon, you got me on the edge of my seat now.
BecauseI like her, she lied, and hated doing so. Linda loved Koko, but what she really meant to say wouldve been horrible. Koko, sensing it, licked her hand and warmed her fur to a comfortable temperature. Linda nuzzled into her fur with a sigh.
???
Look, its a flower shop, Mel said, tugging Lindas arm. She blinked back to reality and followed his eyes: yes, there was a florists stuck in-between a game store and a trainers hardware shop. On the other side of the slate-paved street was the polished metal railing, and below that was the canal, always moving in a frothy rush. You like pretty sweet-smelling crap.
Yes? It wasnt the way he said itMel was never known for his tactbut the fact that he was willingly offering to take her browsing in a flower shop. Usually he skipped out on anything bright and sunshiny and happy.
Then cmon, lets look at the flowers. Another sentence that had her questioning both of their lives.
OOkay, brother.
The inside was crowded with shelves of all kinds of flowers, some from Kanto and some from Sinnoh and some really tropical ones she guessed were from Alola. Ooh Mel look at these! she cried, dragging him towards a bouquet of white flowers.
Im looking, he muttered, peering closely at them. They look kinda funny.
Hello, said the flowers. Both of them jumped back in shock, almost topping another shelf, as a Pokmon came from the flowersno, the flowers were a part of her.
What in hell is that? Mel asked. She looked like a grass-type with lots of flowers and a sweet, perfume-y scent, but that was all Linda could tell.
Lilligant, Koko told her. Shes a lilligant.
Your flowers are really pretty.
Thank you, the lilligant replied. Anything in particular that youre interested in?
Um She started looking through the displays, noting in the corner of her eye Mel following behind her as dutifully as Koko. She passed by several crates marked with the flowers meanings below, things like joy, femininity, perseverance, among others. She stared between them, unable to choose, and turned to ask Mel only to see he had disappeared. She bent to talk to Koko instead. What do you like?
That! Koko pointed her nose at the sunflowers. Linda took one and knotted up the stem to put it just behind her ear. Koko pushed her head into Lindas hand, an affectionate rumble in her throat, and Linda smiled.
Hey, Lindy, stay still a second. She felt Mel pull a little on her pigtails and started to complain, then her old ties snapped and her hair tumbled down her shoulders. Then he put a ring of flowers around her head. Okay, there. She shifted around to look at him and saw him smiling and still holding up two flowers, one dark purple and one light purple. Larkspur for beautiful spirit. Gladiolus for strength of character. And uh, a Lindflower, he added, poking her under her chin with a browning stem.
What? Dandelions are not weeds! she protested.
They arelook at my book. He held the page out for her to see. They steal the food from the soil so that the pretty flowers like roses and daisies can die.
Youre a liar!
Its all in the bo He stopped when he saw her start to cry, slamming the book shut and setting it down on his bed. Its no big deal Lindy, really! Please dont cry! He grabbed a tissue from his nightstand and passed it to her. I know something a lot prettier than some stupid dandelions.
Roses? she asked, wiping her nose.
Nope, prettier.
Daisies?
Sweeter.
Orchids?
Maybe, he said, his voice muffling as he dove under his bed. Old books, Kanto League magazines, his retainer
You told Mommy you lost that.
I did, he said absently. I lost my patience with it. Stupid lisp. He inched his way backwards after a while, his hair sticking all over the place, and held out a flower stem.
Its just a stem.
No, no, look, he said when she started crying again. Look at this. He poked her chin with it and held it there. She stared at him, confused, as he stared back at her expectantly. A Linda flower. Lind Lindflower. The best one of all of them.
Youre so sweet, Mel, she said, ruffling his hair. He groaned and pushed her hands away, smoothing it down with a disgruntled expression.
Lets just go already. She turned to the lilligant happily.
How much for the flowers?
Call them a gift, she replied. Linda took up Koko and let Mel move ahead of her towards the door.
Thank you, Mel, she added. He muttered something like girls and their stupid flowers under his breath but didnt reply. He opened the door and started to leave, but whatever he saw made him rear back so quickly he crashed into her. Mel! Whats going on? Is it Zygarde?
No, he said after a moment, eyes wide.
Latios?
No
Orville?
Im pretty sure its related to him, he said with just a little of his usual dry humor. Linda slid past him and opened the door.
That was mean, Mew commented, giving Mel a pointed look. Linda couldnt help but gape too, and so did Koko. The sunlight reflected off of her short fur in an odd way, making her pop in and out of sight. But Giratina said that he does scare easily, so
Youre here because of Giratina? she asked, getting her bearings. Mew smiled.
Im here to take you to it, yes.
Whats it saying? Mel said behind her.
Shes sayingshell take us to Orville
No thank you. Well pass.
Thats not an option, sadly, Mew said, rubbing her paw against her forehead. She was so tiny in person, around Kokos size. The anomalies are still at large, and he cant exactly come to you.
Buthow can we help with them? Linda asked warily. Mews smile turned calming.
Im a mind-reader, Linda. You and your brother can help more than you think. Now come, I dont want to be seen.
How Mel began before psychic energy bubbled all around them. Linda felt a strange pulling sensation at her head like Mel was on her pigtails, then it became an all-over tingling sensation. Compared to OrvilleGiratinas shadows, it was a much warmer feeling. The world blurred into watercolors for a few seconds before it returned as bright sunlight over rough dirt and mountains. Linda stumbled a moment as she landed on an unsteady slope, but she managed to backtrack onto flat ground. Mel, on the other hand, slipped on a rock and landed on his behind. Oof. What? he said, baffled.
What indeed, came a deeper voice behind them. Linda pulled Mel up and turned to see Giratinas massive body half-shadowed by a cave set in the mountain. He stared at them for a long time with a rumble sounding deep in his throat like distant thunder. Cuts and scores and gashes were all over him, some even leaking something clear like water. I thought you two were small before, he said, but Ive actually forgotten how miniscule humans are.
Huh, so Linda could understood Pokemon. It was probably mentioned in a previous chapter but forgot. Wonder if that will be touched upon later. Nice flashback when Mel and Linda found Koko there. Now that they reunited with Giratina, should be interesting what happens next.



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Spoiler:
author's drabble - puttin' my nose to the effing grindstone
2.4. guardians of sealed space.
part iv
linda’s p.o.v.
2.4. guardians of sealed space.
part ivlinda’s p.o.v.
“Stay still,” Mew chastised when he tried to sit up. He grumbled under his breath but obeyed, which was so out of place funny that Linda stopped to stare. Koko, on the other hand, laughed.
“What’s so damn funny?”
“You take orders from a little pink embryo,” Mel explained with a snicker. Giratina growled but Mew stopped him with a look.
“Little pink embryo?” she repeated, tilting her head to the side and widening her bright blue eyes. Linda was slow to catch the pink glow and only looked over when Mel started shouting. He was hanging upside-down by an invisible hold, flailing his arms madly. Linda tried pulling him down with Koko’s help but Mew’s Psychic was impossible to overpower.
“And you two call me mean,” Giratina muttered, shaking his head.
“Because you are!” Mew said before Mel could speak. “Nice people don’t threaten to end the lives of innocent children!”
“Innocent?” he repeated, eyes wide and mouth guards wide open.
“How does she know?” Koko asked. “She can read your mind too?”
“Of course she—it can. We’re not immune to each other’s abilities…however much we wish to be,” he said dismally, ignoring Mew slapping his guards in protest. To be fair, her tiny paws against his massive body was probably like wind on a boulder.
“Mew, can you please put my brother down?”
“Yeah, please?” he echoed not as sincerely, his face turning red from all the blood rushing into it.
“I suggest you hold him there until his head explodes,” Giratina advised. “It would make him fifteen times more bearable.” Mew ignored him, slowly righting Mel and letting his feet hit the ground. He fell back against Linda for a moment to catch his breath.
“Zygarde damn near exploded your head,” he muttered. Giratina growled, shifting until he was half-righted.
“You’re just the right size for me to eat now,” he warned, pressing forward. Mel simultaneously moved behind Linda. “I’ll finish the business that pidgeotto started— Ow!” He stopped mid-step, eyes winced with pain.
“Your fault,” Mew chastised, tapping him on the head. He turned away but didn’t respond.
“I can tell you lost,” Mel said, “but what happened to Zygarde? You killed him?” Linda tensed at the thought. Mel, catching it, took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
“I wish,” he lamented before catching himself. “I mean, no, but I was close.”
“Close is in horseshoes, buddy, and this isn’t a rodeo. What I’m guessing you’re trying to say is I got my ass kicked and couldn’t do a thing about it.” Giratina eyed him like he was the bane of all existence but didn’t say a word. Koko tugged his pants in warning but he continued anyway, a wry smile growing on his face. “And even after it’s said and done, you can’t admit that you were Zygarde’s plaything. Maybe you should be a little more psyducking humble, Giratina.”
“Stop it!” Linda snapped, causing both of them to fall silent. She glared at Mel until he finally decided to look ashamed before turning to Giratina and Mew. She wrung her hands anxiously for a moment, debating her words, before she finally managed to speak. “You said before…that you were looking for the cause of the anomalies…and if you found it, you’d kill it…”
“I said maybe,” he corrected. Mew gave him an unreadable look but didn’t intervene.
“Then… Then if I say that I’m—”
“The source? If you say that you’re the source, will I kill you, is what you’re asking?” She nodded, holding her breath. He sighed and shook his head slowly. “To be completely frank with you, I do not have adequate energy to deal with this—all of this.” He dropped his head to the ground, closing his eyes with another sigh. “Even if I wanted to kill you—which I do not want to do, considering you’re the more bearable of the set—I couldn’t. Mew wouldn’t either, at least I think she wouldn’t.”
“Think?” Mew echoed, offended. He snorted but didn’t speak.
“He likes you better,” Mel muttered. “He likes you better. I don’t even know how to feel about that. It’s just baffling, offensive, creepy— I don’t know what to say.” Linda didn’t respond, still staring at Giratina. He didn’t look like he was sleeping, but he didn’t continue the conversation.
“Killing you would be the easiest way,” Mew said after a moment. “There are other ways though.”
“Please, Mew, any other way.” She slowly floated forward, causing Linda to freeze up, and she stopped a little bit away. Mew reached out slowly and touched her forehead. Warmth blossomed out from beneath her paw and Linda leaned into the touch.
“Your mind…” she muttered thoughtfully. “The minor energy you have isn’t yours. It may just be a side-effect of some event. Whatever the case, they can be removed entirely.”
“Gone? I won’t be able to talk with Pokémon anymore?”
“If you ask me, that’s a pretty sweet deal that you should jump on,” Giratina said. “That, or I could eat your brother and call it a damn day. I like that option better.” He clicked his mouth guards and grinned when Mel jumped at the sound.
“You won’t be eating anyone. Stop torturing this poor little boy,” Mew reprimanded, glaring daggers at him. “And you should be resting to begin with! You’re not going to get better like this.”
“Humph,” he complained. “Out here playing nursemaid to me… Don’t you have better things to do? Like cozy up in that reserved spot with Arceus?” Mew tilted her head, confused, then she blinked in understanding.
“Golden child,” she mumbled. “I’m not a ‘golden child.’”
“Whatever. The sooner that I’m better, and this whole psyducking anomaly muk is over and done with, the sooner I can rend space and return to the Distortion World. I am so entirely fed up with this stupid world I can’t stand it.”
“I think the problem here is that the world is fed up with you,” Mel said dryly, but there was a sort of desperation beneath his words, like he absolutely had to poke at Giratina or else something bad would happen. Well, something bad had already happened—maybe it was him coping. “And the world turned you into this shredded tuna heap that we see now.” Giratina didn’t respond immediately, then he moved way quicker than any of them expected, and in a second he was face-to-face with Mel. He was so huge that his mouth guards could easily crush Mel’s torso.
“Being hated is something you’re good at sympathizing with, huh?” he growled, causing Mel to shake and go completely colorless. His mouth opened automatically but nothing came out but a weak whimper. The growl continued in his chest and even Mew froze for a moment. More fluid leaked from his cuts as he moved forward, and it occurred to Linda that it was his blood. “I’m going to—”
Stop it! Mew’s voice rang through their minds as the whole area was filled with a pink aura on every surface down to the tiny grains of dirt. The two of them shot apart in a second; Giratina crashed into the cave bodily, curling in on himself reflexively, and Mel slammed into Linda’s front, making her fall on her back. Koko went over and licked her hand, then Mel’s when she confirmed that she was okay. I can’t just send you anywhere, not until you’re healed, she said to Giratina as he rolled over with a groan, but you have officially gotten on my bad side.
“Mew has a bad side?” Mel said dazedly. He looked okay, then he started muttering something about cotton candy vanilluxe.
“You’ve already fractured my last good ribs,” Giratina complained. “What else can you break that isn’t already broken?” She didn’t answer, but that pink glow remained when she turned back to them. Linda flinched at the intense look in her eyes.
“I can’t carry Giratina around, not when he’s this conspicuous, so we have to retrieve his vessel first.”
“You mean Orville?” She stared before realization hit her. “He’s not here?” Mew shook her head.
“He was lost in Kalos. Most likely he’s in a hospital right now.”
“And you’re just going to drag him away to force Giratina into again?”
“There isn’t a choice in the matter. The time it would take to recover another vessel is indeterminate, and it’s time that we don’t have. You’ll stay with him,” Mew said to Linda.
“My sister is not staying with that vicious beast,” Mel protested, finally focusing on them.
“Between her and you, I believe that she is less likely to be eaten.”
“Why do you need me anyway? You’re Mew.”
“So you two don’t kill each other!” she said with finality, and in the next second they were gone. No noise, no visuals, just silence. Linda watched Giratina worriedly as he shook himself out, regarding her with passive eyes.
“You’ve got a problem?” he demanded. Koko started growling, where Linda calmed her by resting a hand against her side. “I’m not going to kill you or anything,” he said in a lower voice. “Not in this condition. I’d most likely end up killing myself.”
“I wouldn’t let you anyway,” Koko said, finally sitting down and eyeing Giratina dangerously.
“Like I’m scared of a little flaming rat.” She growled. “Actually, I don’t think I’ve seen you use fire yet,” he continued, smirking. “Can you even?”
“Koko, stop, don’t attack him,” Linda said, picking her up and setting her on her lap. She settled on her jeans and stared daggers into a nearby plant instead. Giratina burst into laughter that shook the ground beneath them.
“This is psyducking hilarious!” he exclaimed. “A fire-type that can’t even use fire… I think I might break my last few ribs!” Linda let him laugh, even though Koko complained and asked for permission to attack three times. “Okay, okay, I’m fine,” he said after a few minutes, still smiling. “Can I ask why?”
“When I first found her, Mel had bad asthma, so she couldn’t use any fire and risk him having an attack from the smoke. She never learned how to use it then.” He listened with a surprisingly stoic expression.
“You sacrifice a lot for that brother of yours,” he said.
“What’s wrong with protecting family?” she demanded, running her fingers through Koko’s warm fur. Giratina sighed.
“Did you ever wonder how you found a growlithe? It’s because arcanine abandon their young early, to fend for themselves and develop their instincts. Otherwise, a growlithe won’t ever learn how dangerous nature is until the appointed time has long passed. No matter the maternal feelings of the other, she knows this, and she accordingly releases her cubs,” Giratina said matter-of-factly. “Not doing so means that they end up as predator fodder and the mother is so distraught that she, too, gets killed. Get what I’m saying?”
“It’s not like that…”
“Alright, then tell me what it’s like.” Linda had no comment, which Giratina picked up on immediately. “But what do I know, huh? It’s not like I’ve a burden to drag around the rest of my life.”
“He’s not a burden!” she protested.
“My mistake. The definition must have changed since I last came to this world. Is it not still ‘that which is borne with difficulty?’”
“He’s… He’s…”
“Your precious little porcelain brother?” he mocked. “Or would you rather I talked about your charity case of a growlithe?” Koko snarled, which he ignored. “You are one of the better examples of humanity, Linda. No, seriously, you’ve a better soul than half of my so-called family. Don’t waste it.”
“It’s not a burden to take care of Mel,” she said tersely. “It never was. And Koko is my friend, not a burden either. I help them because I want to.”
“What a prodigious little angel you are. Not everyone needs help, little princess. Worry about yourself some more.”
“Linda?” Koko asked worriedly when she went silent, nudging her stomach.
“Sorry, Koko, I’m just—” A ripping sound cut between them, like space itself was tearing apart, then a distorted mass of blue energy exploded against the stone. Linda and Koko were both thrown backwards from the ensuing wind and smoke, and she felt something hard and jagged stab into her back as she collided with the cliff. She fell forward onto her stomach and was frozen as blood soaked through her top and ran down her arm.
“I can’t ever catch a damn break, can I?” Giratina complained as the smoke cleared. Linda saw Mel sprawled across the stone, a bloodied Mew half-thrown from his arms, and a few feet away was a lucario, but it looked a little…odd. She didn’t have time to narrow down the difference before it pulled back its arms and launched another Aura Sphere. “Nope!” With a loud groan Giratina threw a Shadow Ball. The two attacks collided in an explosion of energy that burned across her skin like fire. Fire—Koko. Linda looked around and saw her lying on her side a bit away, but she could barely move. “You’re not getting at them and especially not at Mew,” he growled. “Not while I’m alive.”
“You being alive is the issue here,” the Lucario snapped back. “Because you’re alive, my owner barely is.” His owner… Orville. He must have meant Orville. Giratina had the same idea.
“That pitiful human is who you’re fighting for? I feel sorry for you.” Giratina crawled from his hole, shaking himself out and clicking his mouth guards menacingly. Lucario looked him up and down.
“Damaged. This will be easy.”
“That’s what you think,” he snarled even as more blood ran from his wounds. He wasn’t going to make it, and whether or not he knew that fact, Linda did. She forced herself up to her knees despite the pain, watching her blood trace a new path down her arm.
“Koko… Get up, Koko.” Koko rolled to her feet, shaking herself out before she saw Linda. She trotted over and licked her hand worriedly. Linda gently pushed her away. “Koko, you have to fight,” she said, pointing at the Lucario. Koko followed her finger and growled a little.
“I don’t want to,” she said, looking back at Linda. “You have to get to a hospital.” Linda shivered as another surge of pain ran through her.
“No, not yet. You have to fight. Please.”
“I don’t want you to die.”
“I won’t. I’ll be fine.” Will I? “Please.” She stared at Linda for a long time, then a growl caught their attention. Lucario formed another Aura Sphere while Giratina recoiled, trying and failing to make another Shadow Ball. Koko hesitated for just a second before running forward.
“Blow into pieces, you killer!” Lucario shouted, launching it. Koko jumped between them, and before the attack connected she smacked it with Iron Tail, launching the ball off course and into a massive rock formation, which promptly burst into pebbles. Koko’s lips were pulled to expose her teeth, her fur raised like quills. Linda had never seen her like that before, and it was so frightening.
“You hurt Linda,” she snarled, eyes burning. “I’m going to rip you to shreds.”
“You take orders from a little pink embryo,” Mel explained with a snicker. Giratina growled but Mew stopped him with a look.
Mel's not wrong there I have to admit, heh.
Stop it! Mew’s voice rang through their minds as the whole area was filled with a pink aura on every surface down to the tiny grains of dirt. The two of them shot apart in a second; Giratina crashed into the cave bodily, curling in on himself reflexively, and Mel slammed into Linda’s front, making her fall on her back. Koko went over and licked her hand, then Mel’s when she confirmed that she was okay. I can’t just send you anywhere, not until you’re healed, she said to Giratina as he rolled over with a groan, but you have officially gotten on my bad side.
“Mew has a bad side?” Mel said dazedly. He looked okay, then he started muttering something about cotton candy vanilluxe.
That's Mew's bad side all right. “Mew has a bad side?” Mel said dazedly. He looked okay, then he started muttering something about cotton candy vanilluxe.
Orville's Lucario making an appearance does make things more complicated then it already is. Thought the info on why Koko isn't allowed to use fire attacks makes sense, though I think that might change, especially her ready to unleash there.



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Spoiler:
2.5. guardians of sealed space.
part v
giratina’s p.o.v.
part vgiratina’s p.o.v.
As far as the others knew, Giratina hated the assist, but inwardly, he was glad that Lucario couldn’t kick his ass more than it already had been.
Still, that growlithe won’t win, not against a Mega Lucario…
It was more than a little surprising to hear concern in his own thoughts, but he figured that even those dregs would grow on him eventually. Lucario was first to recover, clenching his paws around an invisible weapon that solidified into a bone made of energy, and rushed her. Koko dodged his swipes at first, then a feint ended with her taking a hard crack to the side that made Giratina wince, sending her barrel rolling across the dust. She recovered with a cough and charged, electricity racing from her form as she rammed into Lucario’s chest. He was stunned by the impact, but not for long as he used Bone Rush once more, this time connecting with her legs. Won’t work, he thought with a growl, trudging past them. She has no real battle training. She’ll die, then we’ll die.
With a more furious growl, he stepped down hard on Mew’s shadow. She jerked once in shock, then her body turned rigid as he rolled her onto her back. She gave a surprised gasp that turned into a coughing fit, red blood dribbling down her chin. “Mew, we really need you right about now.”
“G-Gira,” she managed, eyes a little blurred. He carefully gripped her tail with his mouth guards, lifting her into the air.
“Nap time’s over. Take a look.”
“What?” Mew looked over at the battle raging between Lucario and Koko and frowned. “No…”
“Exactly. You’ve got to send him back.”
“I…can’t,” she said after a moment of straining. More blood ran from her mouth and joined a stream from her nose. “Headache,” she complained, clenching her head. She probably had a concussion—she wouldn’t be useful for a while. He released her and tried sinking into the shadows. While he could still manage that without causing himself too much pain, he couldn’t say the same for the others, and as much of a bastard he knew he was, he wouldn’t leave them behind. Couldn’t leave them behind.
“Next time Arceus needs help,” he muttered resentfully, “damn everyone’s excuses. I’m never doing this muk again.” He watched Lucario knock Koko flat on her back one more time, a stream of blood following her trail, then he raised his bloodied fist for the last blow. Linda tried to run over but fell on her stomach with a weak cry. He tried to make a portal to anywhere, but just the attempt had pain lancing through his body like the lightning from earlier. Why did he have to be so useless? The one time someone went out of their way to help him, and he couldn’t return the favor. “Giving up, I can’t be giving up…”
It turned back towards Shaymin as it whirled from behind, eyes glittering with the excitement of battle, and went to dodge its Energy Ball, opening him up for a Seed Flare in the face. The light blinded him, followed by an intense burning sensation all over his torso, and he slowly sunk from the air and to a platform, furiously rubbing his eyes.
“Giving up already?” Shaymin jeered from just a few feet away. “You always quit. You’re such a quitter, Brother.”
“I’m not…” he rumbled.
“You’re what? I can’t hear you.” Now it was just next to Giratina’s ear. He growled louder and spun around, slamming its tail into Shaymin’s side. It went flying before crashing into a mangled streetlamp.
“I’m not done with you!” it roared. “I only give up when I’m dead!” Shaymin floated back into the air, a few damaged leaves falling from its body.
“Good,” it beamed. “Because I know you, Brother, and you’re too strong to give up.”
Strong, him? The words still didn’t make sense to date.
Giratina’s bones ached as he slammed his front leg down. Lucario froze not of his own accord, eyes darting to his shadow now pinned beneath Giratina’s foot. “Release me,” he growled, fist inches from Koko’s skull. She was shaking as she got to her feet, and blood trailed from her leg as she limped away. “Or would you rather I killed you first, in front of these kids?”
“I’d like to see you try,” he sneered. He lifted the chunks of rock around them and launched them at Lucario, who was still paralyzed. They stacked all around him, growing thicker and taller until he had a virtual mountain restricting him. Giratina quickly backed away, knowing that even that wasn’t going to hold long, and went to inspect Koko.
“She’s hurt,” Linda whispered as Koko laid silently on her lap. She may not have been killed on the spot, but she was already going down that road for sure. Giratina crouched down as much as he could and nudged her.
“Thank you,” he said. Koko mumbled something in response before she started coughing, blood staining her fur and Linda’s pants. “Linda, let go of her and step away.”
“I’m not going to—”
“Do it,” he barked. She met his eyes and maybe saw something in there that he wasn’t aware of, because she silently nodded. She gently set Koko on the ground and stood on shaking legs, making her way over to her brother. Numerous cracks and smashes echoed from the rock formation as it began to crumble—it wouldn’t hold much longer. Koko couldn’t even lift her head as Giratina made a Will-O-Wisp, letting it burn just above her fur. She leaned into the heat gratefully. Flash Fire, he figured. Dragging out more of his energy, he stepped away as he made more, letting the flames coalesce into a fire growing bigger and bigger around her by the second. She rose into a sitting position, then stood as it looked like she was centered in a bonfire. An indeterminate expression flashed in her eyes as, amidst the now-blue fire, a white glow surrounded her body.
BOOM! The rocks flew apart and Lucario stood heaving, fists literally smoking from the effort. He gave them an enraged look before running, disappearing entirely the next second. Giratina could sense him though: he was moving too fast to be seen. He lifted his legs and slammed them down on the ground, rending it with a huge fissure down the center. Lucario briefly appeared some feet in the air, slightly startled, but used Extremespeed right after, vanishing again. He used Protect, or at least tried to, and managed to block the first attack, but his shield shattered right after as he couldn’t keep his focus. His next punch smashed one of his mouth guards, golden bits raining to the ground, and Giratina recoiled from the pain. Then, point-blank, he made another Aura Sphere. Giratina was just preparing to take it when Lucario was sent flying by her Iron Tail. He caught himself as he hit the ground, but a new bruise was forming on his head.
“It’s gonna be harder to eat you now,” Giratina complained. Koko turned back to flash her teeth, and Giratina noticed that she didn’t really have to look up at him anymore. Linda stared with wide eyes, her mouth open. Koko started running, larger muscles contracting powerfully, and as soon as her paws hit the ground she burst into flames. Lucario was up as well, and when he charged she dropped into a roll, the flames bending around her to form a wheel. Lucario dodged her initial lunge, but she made a sharp turn and barreled into him. He tried to stand his ground, but her lack of control was in her advantage: her flames burned hotter and hotter by the second. On top of that, she also had a height and weight advantage now. He dug his feet into the ground, holding her at arm’s length, but after a while his form dissipated into vapor, leaving him a normal Lucario. Koko came to a stop, her bared teeth right in his face, and she bit down hard on his arm.
“Let go!” he howled, trying to pull away, but Koko held fast. Electricity started sparking from her jaw and then both of them were covered in it. His muscles locked up after just a few seconds, and by the time the electricity dissipated he was too weak to stand. She didn’t release him though, and her flames were having a devastating effect now. Blood stained her teeth and the fur around her mouth from his arm before she let go, and he immediately fell onto his back. Giratina turned away; he knew what was going to happen next, and he didn’t really want to see it.
“Koko,” Linda whispered. He looked back and saw her freeze, her teeth just barely around the Lucario’s skull. “Koko,” she repeated before falling onto her side and going still. Koko yipped as she ran over, nudging her onto her back.
“Hospital,” she said nervously, lowering her head to move Linda and Mel onto her back. “Can you fly?”
“If I could, do you think I’d still be here?” he said dryly. She growled in response. “Yeah, I get it, not the time for sarcasm.”
“What about shadows?”
“It’s going to hurt them even more.”
“But…there’s no other way…” He saw the conundrum too, and he didn’t like it any more than she did.
“Arceus isn’t fond of me,” Giratina said, using his back legs to dig up the earth. “I just want to give you warning now. It is not very likely to spare me good fortune.” It gestured to the shadows created by the mount of dirt and Koko stepped into the range. It gripped Mew between its mouth guards with just enough leeway to breathe and followed. She stood shoulder to shoulder with him. “Hold your breath,” it warned before they plunged into darkness. Mel’s eyes popped open as did his mouth, and his hands went to his throat when he realized that he couldn’t breathe. Giratina rolled its eyes as it brought them to the surface again.
“Cold,” Mew complained, shivering. Snow surrounded them in all directions, and more of it was coming from the dark clouds above.
“There,” Giratina said, turning towards the buildings in the near distance. “Snowbelle City.” He heard a yelp, then Koko jumped back, releasing Linda and Mel to the ground. The snow under her paws and around her melted in record time.
“Can’t,” she said, turning away. “I can’t control the fire.” Mew managed to get in the air and patted her head.
“You’ll learn,” it consoled. Koko whined in response. “Giratina, you have to carry them.”
“Great. Now I’m demoted to luggage boy.” Mew helped lift Linda and Mel onto its back, but the effort left it more exhausted than before. “This would be so much easier in Origin Form…”
“We don’t have the time to go looking for your Griseous Orb.”
“I know where it is,” it corrected, setting across the snow purposefully. It helped that Koko took the lead, melting it to clear the path ahead. She was emitting too much fire though—she’d burn herself out quickly like that. “It would be an easy flight too.” Mew flopped onto its head.
“Maybe.” There was silence for a moment, nothing but the wind in their ears.
“Thank you,” Koko said. “For not saving your own skin.” Ah, it sounded worse coming from another’s mouth.
“What can I say? You all grew on me. Like fungus.” He paused. “Speaking of fungus, didn’t the brat have a cacturne?”
“The pokéball is still in the hospital room,” Mew said. “The teleportation was sort of…quick thinking.”
“Yes, I’m very curious about that situation. Please elaborate.”
“Well, we snuck into the hospital and found Orville’s room. He, Melchior, was acting…odd, so I both caused a distraction and worked on getting him away.”
“Odd?”
“It makes sense,” Koko said. “Mel doesn’t like hospitals.”
“Oh, yeah, he said he was sick as a smaller brat. Then let me guess: blue rat crashed the show?”
“No, Orville’s Lucario showed up. There wasn’t a rat or a show.”
“It’s exaggeration.” He sighed into the air, watching his breath freeze into a cloud instantly. The cold made his wounds ache even more, and his steps were starting to get sluggish. He was down to his last three when Trainers on their way from the city spotted them—not that they were hard to miss.
“Is that— Haylie, look, it’s Giratina!” the boy said, pointing. “And he’s hurt— Are those kids?”
Giratina came to a stop, allowing the two to pull Linda and Mel down. Take care of them, it said before losing consciousness.
While risky, it's also clever Giratina had Koko use Flash Fire to her advantage. Lucario looked to be in pretty bad shape after that battle, though. With now a few more people spotting Giratina, I wonder if a big commotion will occur (I think Giratina's appearance already did in earlier chapters, but I forgot).



Miles Edgeworth
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
Foul Play [On Hiatus]
