MATURE: Galactic: Exposed

[AceTrainer14]

@diamondpearl876

Thanks for the feedback. As I am in the early stages of planning the rewrites for these, your comments are more than helpful. You touched on a lot of points, so I'll try to cover as many as I can without writing an essay
- Firstly, I do enjoy writing Vanessa: she and Sahara are my favourite characters in this story because of their backstories, personalities and their general relationships.
- Sahara, clearly, does not have a normal disorder with her personalities. Don't want to say too much here since the next chapter (as in new one) touches on these elements so I shan't spoil the surprise, but I'll make a note of that when I rewrite.
- I regret Emerson as well. I wanted to cut him out in the rewrites but I think his role is actually a bit too vital in the long run to axe, at least with his connection to The Slayers, so I will keep him around but shake him up a bit.
- Ursilla didn't have powers, just weapons. She was a bit tooooo imaginative, looking back, so I can understand the confusion.
- I will definitely work on the battles. I was a bit new to writing them then so I hope to make things more interesting. I do find it hard sending out commands: they are fairly dull sentences to write for the most part.
- Will definitely work on the POV changes. I have big plans for the early chapters in term of padding things out and making them make more sense, so I hope to make them as a whole click better.

Other matters seem to be smaller issues, but I will take them into account. Some of the points will be redundant since some Pokemon will be cut and replaced in the rewrites to give greater effect to the story, but everything was read and noted and I will be likely coming back to this in the future. Glad you found some stuff to like amongst all the mess

 

[AceTrainer14]

Been a little while since this thread was updated, but since that seems to be a trend lately, thought I might as well get in on it before I become completely irrelevant. Enjoy!

Exposed

February 27th 1996

The whole world was on fire.

As he ran through his house, Frasier kept one eye on the television. Chaos. That was the only word to describe what was happening. After months of tension, hoping it would fizzle out, hoping that this war would never become a reality, someone had flicked a switch and let all the hate and anger and vileness burst to the surface.

The Sevii Islands were a war zone. Kalos was falling one city after the next. One of the greatest scientists the world had ever known, if not the best, had died barely an hour ago, and with him the one opportunity to end this madness before it got out of control. And here was Frasier, his biggest concern right now the fact he couldn't find a pen.

It's going to stop though. It pained Frasier that he knew that. He had been close enough when Missingno had detonated to catch just a glimpse of what the good doctor had seen. Kalos would burn, there was no stopping that. Giovanni would retreat within minutes, there was some salvation there. Every nightmare, every bit of destruction tearing their world apart, it would all be over within hours. The ramifications would be felt for years to come. Giovanni would try again for a second shot at glory. Frasier could see that, and it frightened him.

But now, now he had a chance to stop it.

A cry. Frasier froze gormlessly in the kitchen and gazed back towards the living room. She was getting restless being ignored for so long. He had hoped she would be asleep when it started, that he could go through it without having to look her in the eye. Frasier knew she would never remember this, yet part of him could not shake the feeling her last impression of her father would be him standing over her, knife in hand as he cursed her.

I have to do this. I can't back out now. This… this is my redemption.

Frasier knew he should never have been involved. He had been young and naïve, keen to impress his father-in-law and all his friends. But Rowan, Samuel, Blaine, Fuji, all of them had no idea what they were getting him into, blinded by curiosity and a love for science. They had no idea what Giovanni had been funding them for, what Project Rocket was all about. They, and Frasier, had realised far too late, and now the world was burning for their mistake.

Missingno knew. He had been planning this all along. If only it had worked, then maybe things would be different, maybe Frasier wouldn't be forced to do this. He was nowhere near Missingno's talents; he was a barely capable technician let along magician, yet he was the last hope.

Why didn't you focus, why didn't you try harder? Frasier was close to tears it left him weak, and he collapsed into a chair at the dining table. He had watched his mentor die a horrible, painful death. You got it wrong. At the last moment, you got the formula wrong. You were arrogant to presume death was the easiest solution – everybody dies, if it was the worst thing to happen to us it wouldn't be such a collective punishment.

"Elekid Kid Ele?"

Frasier nearly jumped out of his seat. In his internal chaos, he had completely forgotten about his Pokémon. He turned away from the blank sheet of paper before him and faced them: Seviper was sliding across the floor, ignoring her trainer, but Elekid was staring beadily at him. Frasier had never been great with Pokémon; Seviper he had caught more out of fear as a young adult, and the few others he had had over the years normally ended up at his father in laws. Only Elekid had wanted to stay (Seviper gave them little choice in the matter). Runty, moody, loyal, it only dawned on Frasier now that this was probably his closest friend in the world. The strange things you realised when death is staring you in the face.

"You stay in here now, alright?" Frasier said firmly. "Keep an eye on Seviper – make sure she doesn't get in the cupboard, Deidre won't forgive me if she jumps out at her again." Elekid nodded, though he didn't break eye contact. His look was both suspicious and confused, and it was like a knife through his chest. It was cruel to end their relationship like this, but Frasier was not exactly going out on the best of terms.

"Fuck it," he hissed. There was no point writing a letter: how could he sum up what he had done, what he was about to do, in a few measly sentences? Deidre would still have questions regardless, and he was in no state to answer them all. Frasier threw the pen aside and kicked his chair backwards. Seviper hissed but Frasier ignored her: he gave Elekid one final look as an apology and disappeared back into the living room.

It was like walking into the set of a cheap horror film. Three orbs sat in the middle of the floor. One as smooth as a pearl, another hewn like a diamond, and the final one emitting a golden glow that made it look gaseous: it was easily the most beautiful of the three, but Frasier could see it had burnt a hole in the carpet in the few minutes it had been laying there.

"Are you ready now, darling? I don't have all night."

With a shudder, Frasier turned towards the voice. What horror film is complete without a ghost? He had heard whispers of this girl, this spectral figure that had allegedly been haunting powerful men for centuries. He had dismissed it as an old wife's tale, some sort of grown up campfire story. Never had he thought to find her rising from the smoke above his mentor's body or floating calmly around his living room, somehow cradling his daughter in her smoky arms.

"We can… we can do this later, if you have… other, um, places to be."

Charlotte smirked. "See them?" She pointed at the TV. Frasier watched shaky footage of Giovanni's soldiers fleeing, Moltres' Flamethrower chasing them up the beach. "I've already played my part in tonight's events: now it's your turn." Charlotte waggled her finger, and Frasier saw a knife had appeared on the floor.

"That… it's… wow…" He paused, cold fear coming over him once again. "Do I… do I have to say anything?"

"Are you fluent in Ancient Unown?" Frasier shook his head and Charlotte smirked. "Then I will do my part and you can do yours. We need to hurry this along – saving the world has really drained all my energy, I'm going to need at least, I dunno, twelve years and four months to recover." She winked as she said that and giggled, a laugh that made Frasier seize up inside.

Gagging slightly, he stepped forwards and picked up the knife. It seemed to throb in his hand, but Frasier couldn't tell if that was just his imagination or not. He stared briefly and finally around his house, eyes flickering between the destruction on the television to the dull normality of their home: the two sagging sofas they had brought on sale, the bookcase filled with old VHSes and romance novels his wife loved so much, the coffee table Seviper used to sharpen her teeth. Outside of the strange circle of glowing orbs, it didn't seem like anything had changed. It was still the place where they had spent so many nights together as a family, the three of them, inseparable until these final weeks. It was those memories that Frasier clung to as he took his daughter from Charlotte's arms, as he prepared to ruin the lives of his wife and daughter forever more.

"I'm sorry, Sahara. One day you'll understand what I've done. One day… one day you'll know why I did this, and what you have to do next."

Finally, his dams burst. As Frasier looked down at his daughter, innocent, helpless, his tears cascading down his face, he knew he couldn't go through with this. How could he do this to her – no future was worth ruining her life, no one else in the whole world deserved happiness if it meant taking away hers.

Frasier looked up, desperate to do whatever it took to end this, but froze with the words sticking in the back of his throat. Gone was the angel-faced teenager that had previously floated before him: Charlotte had embraced her horror film destiny, her body suddenly dense and black, golden-white orbs replacing her eyes, mouth open as wide as the gates of hell. Words, dark and ancient, poured from her mouth, cutting through the air and hitting Frasier right in the soul. The whole house was the shaking – no, the earth was moving, Frasier could feel it. He could hear Elekid and Seviper screaming from down the hallway. As his tears burnt like acid on his skin, Frasier looked down at his daughter for the last time.

"I'm too late… I'm sorry my darling, I am so, so sorry…" He could barely see anything, but he could hear the screams loud enough, ancient and violent as they were. He watched as together the Lustrous, Adamant and Griseous orbs rose, moving towards him and Sahara. Weeping, Frasier swallowed, and then he raised the knife.

***

February 24th 2010

"Ow!"

"Pachi?"

Sahara looked down at Nutty and smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine. I just keep getting stabbed by these bloody stones." She pulled the latest culprit off her back where it was still clutching onto her skin. She sighed and threw it towards the water and watched as it hit the sluggishly grey water with a dull splash. Some break this has turned into.

For as long as she could remember, Sahara had always wanted to go on her journey. There had rarely been a moment growing up in Floaroma where she hadn't dreamt about what her adventures would be like. Surrounded by pleasant fields and more flowers than anyone could possibly imagine, Sahara had longed for something more, something different. She wanted oceans, she wanted mountains, she wanted deserts, she wanted everything and she didn't care how she got to enjoy it.

Yet after two months of travelling, Sahara was beginning to accept that her fantasies were not living up to the reality. Route 217 was the perfect example. It was not a beach, it was a stain across the south coast of Sinnoh. For the past hour Sahara had sat shivering on an ugly boulder that looked like it had been dropped there, a roughly hewn lump sitting hideously out of place amongst the sand. Though it wasn't even sand, it was a field of pebbles, sharp white rocks coating the ground daring you to take your shoes off and test your pain thresholds. In her fantasies, Sahara had always imagined beaches as being sunny and warm, but today, the sky was grey, clouds packed together as though purposely blocking the sun from her, and it made the winds roaring in from the ocean bitter and icy against any exposed skin. The sea was frothing and as dull as slate, a writhing monster crashing violently against the shore instead of calmly inviting her to step inside. It was a disappointment, but disappointment was a sensation Sahara had quickly become accustomed to.

"Isn't it meant to be February? Why the hell is it still so bloody cold?"

"Pachi Pach." While the other Pokémon were training, swimming or resting around them, Nutty had refused to join in, sticking closely to Sahara. The two had nestled together on the boulder making the most of their miserable surroundings, and Sahara was glad for the company. If she had to endure another disappointment alone, she wasn't sure she could trust herself to handle it.

No Sahara, dont think that way, a voice whispered in the back of her head, but Sahara found it hard to focus on it. Her eyes kept drifting towards the water lapping at the pebbles just a few metres from her, and her mind kept wandering to the idea that if she simply concentrated and flicked her hand, she would stop them in their path. Making sure Nutty wasn't looking, Sahara slowly raised her hand and pointed it towards the waves. Maybe one day she'd be able to change the view, shift the oceans to her will, bring the experiences she had been longing for.

"Pachi?"

Sahara quickly snatched her hand back. She looked fearfully down and sighed with relief as shed saw Nutty was merely muttering in her sleep. She suddenly felt dirty, as though she had been caught looking at porn. She gazed around to see if anyone was watching her, but everyone was too far away.

If you keep risking it, you will get caught, the voice said again.

Sahara couldn't help herself though. Her mind had rarely quietened over the last few days. Ever since her powers had begun to act up, they had been all she had thought about. There was no denying she was afraid of them: she knew what the voices in her head were capable of, and the fact that wall between them was slipping was unsettling. Yet on the other side, the breakdown between her and them presented Sahara with an opportunity. After talking to Spiritomb the other day, Sahara felt more determined than ever to master these powers and take control of her body once and for all.

If I can be the one to control them and not Jaki or Crystal or Eden, I can be the difference in this war. I can change things, I could end it all. No one else has to die, not if I can help it.

Smiling, Sahara stared out at the ocean, trying to control the tingling feeling in the tips of her fingers as she imagined lifting the waves up and firing them at Team Galactic. Maybe once Galactic was gone, once she had defeated them, the darkness that seemed to be tainting the Sinnoh of her dreams would finally be revealed. Maybe then she would finally be happy.

As she stared blankly at the ocean, an orange smear appeared beneath the surface, and Sahara made her face neutral as Vanessa emerged from the water alongside Prinplup and Aqua.

"You should be glad there are no children around – that might get you arrested!"

Vanessa smirked and stared down at her bikini. It was extreme as always: bright orange seashells the size of dinner plates engulfed her chest; while the bottoms resembled a split open Shellder, complete with tongue sticking out of the front. "A visual cunninglingus joke has never harmed anybody."

As Sahara laughed, Vanessa grabbed onto the felt tongue and wiggled it as she made her way up the beach. Sahara continued to smile but she felt her laugh die without noticing, a cold and awkward sensation spreading through her. She thought she had masked it well, but it took a few quiet seconds to pass before she realised Vanessa had frozen, face slack, towel limp in her hands.

Crap! "Vanessa, I didn't mean to –"

"It's fine, I get it." Vanessa smiled tensely as she covered her body, and she marched up the beach without another word.

"Fuck!" Sahara leapt up and turned to run after, but Vanessa had moved quickly and there was already too much of a distance between them. Sahara groaned and looked at the three Pokémon standing around her. "I know, I'm an idiot, you don't need to tell me."

There had been an unspoken tension between her and Vanessa ever since she had woken up to find her friend kissing her. There had been too much going on since them for them to actually talk about it. It allowed them to simply move on and forget about it, yet every time they were left alone, or Vanessa said or did something to remind Sahara of what had happened, she instantly felt ashamed and had no idea why. All she knew was that whenever she was reminded of it, a second later her mind always drifted to Charles.

She waited a few minutes until Vanessa had disappeared into the tent before following after. "Come on you lot, let's see how much of the beach those idiots have torn apart now."

As Sahara walked up the beach, it didn't take long before the sounds of battle reached her. Xavier and Matthew stood in the shadow of a cliff, their entire teams surrounding them except for Grotle and Cherubi, who faced off on either side of a makeshift field. There had been little to do the past few days but battle and think about their unholy situation, and battling was the better of the two options. It did mean a rather unsightly crater had formed in the middle of the beach, but given the path of destruction that had followed them, it was the least of their concerns.

"Razor Leaf."

"Bullet Seed!"

Sahara raised a hand as the shower of glowing leaves and seeds collided, tiny bits of natural shrapnel showering them all. Grotle lunged across the pitch as his leaves battered the tiny Cherubi; it looked as though she was about to get squashed, but she leapt out of the way at the last second, sending the larger Pokémon crashing into the pitch.

"When you're fighting a Pokémon that size, you shouldn't try and crush them. It seems the easiest option, but they are too small to do any damage."

Sahara froze as she walked past Matthew. She hadn't noticed her mother sitting there watching the match, nestled between Beautifly, Lapras, Drifblim and Hammer. She had a glass of something clear with her, and with her thick plastic sunglasses she looked like she was having a lovely day out.

"What would you suggest I do? Grotle does not have any advantageous moves to use against Cherubi. When I asked Matthew to train, I would have preferred he used a Pokémon I could defeat more easily," Xavier said, glancing at Matthew as he spoke.

The coordinator spluttered. "That's not how training works, Xavier," he moaned back. "Cherubi needs time to evolve as well."

"Don't argue, that's just getting childish!" Deidre interrupted with a wave of her hand. "Xavier, if you want to defeat Cherubi, you need to find ways to use your moves creatively. Battling in a straight, strict manner works against weak or unintelligent trainers, but when dealing with an even opponent, you have to work more… imaginatively, let's say."

Xavier looked at her blankly, the clogs behind his eyes clearly ticking away.

Xavier is not exactly an imaginative person, Lapras purred. That really is not the best advice to give him.

"Don't pay her any attention, Lapras, it's not like she's any battling expert." Everyone turned to Sahara as she spoke, her words carrying across the silent pitch. She smirked slightly as she moved closer to the campsite, their four measly tents flapping aggressively in the wind. When no one spoke, Sahara turned back, catching her mother frowning proficiently at her. "What? Don't look at me like that! You won't even take Seviper for a walk. I'll ask for your advice if I need a rock identified, but I think I'll leave battling to the professionals."

Deidre's lips tightened. "I may not fight terrorists on a daily basis, but I have been training Pokémon since before you were born. I was simply trying to help, I didn't realise that wasn't allowed."

"If you are trying to help, why not finally get around to sharing your worldly secrets with us? That's the only reason you're here, isn't it? It's not like any of us asked to hang out with you on this miserable fucking beach!"

Sahara only realised when she had finished talking what she had said. She felt her heart drop to somewhere near her knees, and she had to shut her eyes and breath deeply before turning back to face the music. Matthew and the Pokémon all looked tense, their eyes glancing towards Deidre as though waiting for a bomb to go off.

"Mum, I'm sorry, I didn't –"

"Alright then, Sahara. If you are so desperate for me to leave you again, tonight… I'll tell you all tonight." Deidre placed her glass down in the sand and got up, a bitter smile smeared across her face. She looked Sahara up and down before walking towards her tent with such determination Sahara knew she'd be stomping if it was harder ground.

Great, in five minutes I manage to offend everyone I know. Sahara watched her mother disappear inside her tent, and she glanced towards Vanessa's, wondering if her friend had heard all that. She could feel everyone watching her, and Sahara wished she could make them all look away, forget it had ever happened.

One day you might be able to, she thought as her fingers tingled once again. With a shudder, Sahara walked solemnly back to her tent, trying to ignore the sky grumbling above her, just to rub it in how shit everything was going.

***

I never should have agreed to this, Deidre thought as screams echoed down her hallway, followed quickly by stampede-like thundering as they ran in a pack past her door.

"I told you to play outside!" She bellowed through the door, but hysterical shrieks were all she got in return. Rolling her eyes, Deidre turned back to the readings she was meant to be analysing, knowing fully well that she would not be able to finish her report today.

She had known as soon as Claire's number flashed up on her phone that morning her day was not going to go well. Claire never rang unless it was an emergency, always waiting until the last possible second to call in some one-sided favour so Deidre had no choice but to help her out of her latest child rearing emergency.

They had met at a support group for war widows. Deidre wasn't one, but it was easier to make friends if she just pretended. Besides, Fraiser had disappeared the night Kalos fell. For all she knew he had somehow been caught up in it all. The lie had been worth it at first. She'd met Claire at the first meeting and had been instantly smitten. She was a real laugh, the sort of person Deidre had always wanted to be friends with. However, within a few months it became clear that working from home was what made Deidre such an appealing friend.

"I'M GOING TO GET YOU, I'M GOING TO GET YOU!"

Deidre groaned into her textbook as she lost her chain of thought again. "'Single mothers have to stick together'. Stick together my sagging ass," Deidre growled, barely able to hear herself over Emma's screams.

She might not mind being treated like a cheap babysitter if Emma wasn't such a brat. All she did was scream, leave a mess and burst into tears if things didn't go her way.

"Ssssssseviiiiipeeeeeerrrrrr."

Deidre jumped and reached out for the broom she kept by the door. "No, don't you dare!" She snarled, and slammed it against the floor. Seviper hissed as she darted back underneath the couch, purple spit flying from her mouth and singeing the carpet. Deidre swore as acidic smoke filled her nostrils but for once she couldn't blame the snake. The shrieking was becoming unbearable and she couldn't take it much longer. She'd have to act now anyway if Seviper was at the point of wanting to eat Emma; no matter how annoying the girl was, it would be hard to explain to Claire why only half her daughter was coming home.

"Stay here and don't even think of moving!" Deidre said as she closed the door firmly behind her, but barely a second passed before she heard Seviper hiss and slide over the floor. She would probably return to find her textbook half eaten in revenge, but it was a small sacrifice to make in order to finally concentrate.

"Girls, I've asked you to play outside three times now!" She bellowed down the hallway, trying to work out which room they had run into now. Shrieks sounded from the living room, and Deidre put on her angriest face, which wasn't particularly hard, and stomped down to meet them.

"GIRLS!" She stood in the entrance, watching as Sahara and Emma chased each other around the coffee table; piles of magazines had been upended onto the floor while a mosaic vase wobbled as they sprinted past it. They ran for a few more seconds before Deidre's presence was felt, forcing them to an unwilling stop. "I told you to play outside. If you are going to chase each other, then take it outside, I am trying to work."

"Sorry Mum," Sahara said, looking ashamedly at her feet. Deidre didn't let her façade crack, but smiled internally, glad to have such an obedient daughter. Emma, however, didn't say a word, and instead jumped onto the couch.

"That's okay, we'll just sit here then. I was getting bored anyway."

"Only cause you were losing!" Sahara huffed.

"I was not!"

"Were to – you couldn't catch me at all!"

"Girls, don't fight, I am not in the mood. Just take it outside – no watching TV, Emma, you know what your mother said."

Deidre was all but forgotten now though, as Emma, her normally cherubic face screwed up in an angry snarl, leapt back to her feet

"Fine, I'll catch you now," she yelled, and slapped Sahara on the arm. Sahara yelled and slapped her back, and suddenly the two were fighting, tiny arms flailing across the table.

"OI, STOP THAT!" Deidre lunged forwards and tried to pull them apart, but Emma's sharp fingernails struck her across the chin. She swore and stepped back, feeling blood dripping lightly down her neck. Furiously, she ran into the hallway and grabbed Electabuzz's Poké Ball from the key bowl. The shrieks got louder and louder, Deidre's head throbbing with each passing scream; without a care for how Claire might feel about a Pokémon manhandling her daughter, Deidre threw the ball to the ground as furiously as she could, stifling her own scream in the process.

Suddenly there was silence. After hours of nothing but noise, Deidre knew right away that this wasn't natural. Children never went this quiet straight away. She froze in the hallway, head turned towards the living room. She hadn't felt a silence like this since she bad come home to find her baby daughter lying on the floor and her husband gone.

"I need your help," Deidre whispered to Virus, barely acknowledging the Electabuzz that now stood stoically beside her. She walked towards the living room, slow and cautious, and took a tentative step into the room.

The first thing she saw was Emma. For the first time since she had met the girl, Deidre found she was utterly silen. The only sound she made was that of her breath rapidly leaving her body. The floorboards creaked under Deidre's feet and Emma's eyes flew towards her, filled with terror, and Deidre could tell the look wasn't met for her. With her own feeling of dread filling her chest, she turned towards her daughter.

A scream escaped her lips before she could control herself. Sahara was standing upright with a look as though she had frozen solid. Her arms were hunched back, her head raised, and her eyes had rolled back into her skull. Deidre couldn't stop yelling, her panic consuming her. It looked like she had been paralysed mid-seizure, but she had never had one before. This was unnatural whatever it was, and there was nothing in her eight years as a parent that had prepared for this

As Deidre watched her, body frozen by fear, Sahara's head suddenly snapped forwards, her eyes rolling back to normal. For a split second, Deidre breathed a sigh of relief, but that was before she saw Sahara's eyes: they were jet black, two pieces of coal shining out of her daughter's head. They flickered to her for a moment, and Sahara's lips spread in a smirk Deidre had never seen before. And then she lunged.

"SAHARA, NO!" That was all Deidre could manage before Sahara had grabbed the vase and lifted it over her head. Emma screamed as it was brought down, but was cut off mid-shriek, her cries replaced by an echoing thud. The little girl slumped to the couch, her blonde hair already stained with blood, but Sahara hit her again; this time, Deidre saw bone move as the vase hit, and without another thought she jumped.

She grabbed hold of the vase and tried to pull it away, but Sahara spun around and suddenly Deidre was flying over the coffee table, crashing into the grate in front of the fire. Her head was spinning, her heart racing, and a moment she wondered – hoped – she was having a stroke, that this was all some feverish nightmare.

"Insolent bitch."

It was Sahara's voice that spoke. Deidre would recognise it anywhere, but the tone, the words, the age that seemed to permeate each syllable – that was someone else entirely. She looked up breathlessly as Sahara stepped towards, tiny face filled with rage, the blood stained vase in her hand.

"For years I've had to listen to your constant nonsense, all your pathetic moaning and scolding and crying. You're such a dull cow, you know that, you miserable, whiny quim. I'm going to enjoy seeing the light fade from your eyes."

She lifted the vase, and Deidre screamed, raising her hands in defence but convinced her daughter was about to kill her. There was a flash of light and a thud, and for a moment Deidre wondered if it was death. But then a firm, furry hand grasped hers, and Electabuzz hauled her back to her feet. Sahara now lay on the floor, eyes shut and body limp, a black mark on her back from the Thundershock. Deidre stared at the two still bodies lying on her floor, her heart threatening to burst out of her chest, unable to make any sense of it.

"Well, it looks like I'm not going to that report done today, am I?" She looked at Electabuzz for a second, a laugh briefly escaping her lips, before her whole world turned upside down and everything around her went black.

***

The clouds had cleared up partially come nightfall, but the world was still grey and miserable as they gathered around the campfire. They had arranged themselves in a triangle: Deidre sat on a flat boulder, hip flask in one hand and marshmallow stick in the other; Xavier and Matthew rested on a log to her left, while Sahara, Vanessa and Infernape were squeezed onto a boulder opposite. As the wind tore through their little group, Infernape regularly shot sparks at the towering bonfire in the middle, trying to keep up some semblance of warmth. Camerupt lay fast asleep between Deidre and Matthew, his snores permeating the silence, doing little to help the situation.

"You know, these are probably the best marshmallows on a stick I have ever had," Deidre purred, tearing a giant pink glob off her stick. It was the first thing anyone had said for over an hour, and everyone seemed to jolt out of a stupor at her words. "Come on, you kids are supposed to be the young, active ones: can't have you falling asleep on me now!"

"We haven't had much sleep lately," Matthew murmured back. "Cause, you know, we're sleeping on a beach during winter… and the nightmares."

Deidre laughed. "What do you have to keep you awake at night, boy? I've seen that big old house of yours. Fourteen years sleeping there you'd think would give anyone even good nights for a lifetime."

"Mother."

Deidre turned towards Sahara and for an extended pause their eyes were locked on each other. Sahara knew it was her fault for this latest dent in their relationship. If it had not been for her run-in with Vanessa, it probably wouldn't have happened, but then something else likely would have sparked another fight.

While it had been nearly a month between visits, seeing her mother again had dragged everything up. The years cut off from people, the fact she had had to run away from home, all the bitter arguments that had gotten worse and piled on top of each other for more than a decade. This was not the cosy mother-daughter relationship she had been taught to expect. Hate was not the word Sahara would use to describe her feelings for Deidre, but it was close enough.

And now they had been on this beach for a few days, suddenly reunited with promises of all the information they could have ever wanted. Yet it hadn't arrived yet, Deidre simply sitting around and making them practically beg for it, and all that tension had come right back to Sahara. Even now, sitting around the fire, Sahara felt angry and uncomfortable at sitting so closely to her, pretending that everything was fine, being made to feel bad for snapping. This was Deidre's last chance to deliver, and Sahara wasn't sure if she wanted her mother to finally make up for everything, or if she wanted to be disappointed again so she could carry on seething.

"Right, well, if no one has anything else to say, I suppose we should get into it." Deidre chewed on her marshmallows for a moment and stared around, but no one spoke. She swallowed, eyes darting about hopefully, and Sahara wanted to scream.

"Can you just get on with it before we all freeze to death?"

Deidre sighed and threw her stick aside. "I don't think any of you are going to like what I have to say. This is your last chance, if you don't want me to continue –"

"If we didn't want to hear what you had to say, we would've said so by now," Vanessa snapped. "We've waited long enough, just get going." Sahara smiled at her friend, but Vanessa merely grunted in acknowledgement.

"Alright, fine," Deidre said exasperatedly. "Shall I start at the very beginning?"

"That's generally where one begins a story," Vanessa said, and Deidre smirked.

"I meant the beginning of the universe, darling, but fair point nonetheless."

"What does the Big Bang have to do with our current predicament?" Xavier asked.

"Everything," Deidre whispered. Sahara could see she was trying to keep up her showmanship, remain in control of the charade, but she knew her mother too well for this: there was something dark in her eyes, and as Deidre took one final slug from her flask, for the first time, Sahara was afraid of what would come next.

"Right, from the top! At the beginning of the universe, Arceus was born. Anyone dispute this?" A pause. "Good – I'm not bogging this down with religious dialogue. Some people refuse to believe a Pokémon could have created this world, that it must have been a man, but those people don't consider the power Pokémon possess, nor that legendaries are far, far more than simply Pokémon.

"No one knows quite for certain what happened exactly, but everyone is in some agreement that Arceus hatched from an egg, either in a field of darkness or possibly in some outer dimension or universe. At any rate, shortly after being born, Arceus went ahead and created a universe, shaping two beings to aid in his construction: Dialga and Palkia, two sides of the same coin, one to control time and the other to make space. Together, under Arceus' instruction, they formed the universe.

"But right away, things didn't go according to plan. In the shadow of creation, as time collided with space, on the fringes of Arceus' new universe, a third god came to life – Giratina."

It only took those four syllables for the screams to erupt in Sahara's head. She held tightly to her mug and shut her eyes, trying not to let it show, but the screams were so loud she thought that everyone would hear them as well.

"They say Arceus did not intend to create Giratina; that it was an accident, the result of a collision of antimatter formed at the edge of the universe brought to life. They say when Arceus realised the powers his unwanted creation possessed, he knew Giratina could be of use – but not one that belonged on their dimension. Arceus had created Mew to begin populating the universe, and knew the souls would need to go somewhere after they had died. He cut off the distorted edges of the universe like loose threads, and cast them off into their own dimension, sending Giratina away to guard over the lost souls.

"Obviously, Giratina was not happy with being separated from the rest of creation. Arceus created more gods and used them to build and populate the planets, never casting any of them aside. Giratina had to sit in his own world for millennia as life flourished in our dimension, the only hint he got of what was going on coming in the form of the departed souls that rapidly began to fill up his world.

"Right from the beginning, Giratina is said to have tried to find a way to escape his dimension and return to ours, searching for centuries for a way to break through and get his revenge.

"And he found a way, eventually. There was one tiny tear on the very outskirts of his world, and Giratina worked at it until it was big enough for him, and then he appeared – right here in ancient Sinnoh, only a few kilometres from this spot." Everyone glanced in the direction of the Wellspring Cave, and Sahara saw Matthew sink into his log, eyes sunken, face gaunt.

"Now that he was out, Giratina wanted revenge. You all saw what he did to Solaceon Town: now imagine that on a global scale. The world was young at that point, humanity and civilisation just starting out. No one could defend themselves against him. The true nature of what Giratina did has been exaggerated and distorted over the centuries. I deal with science, not myth, and the facts speak clearer than any story: we've discovered a layer of earth from roughly two thousand years ago that is composed entirely of ash, and this layer stretches almost across the entire planet. That is the only scientific evidence we have that Giratina's rampage happened, and it is more powerful than any religious artefact or painting or book will tell you.

"The rest, I have to leave to the stories. And what they say is that the other legendaries tried and failed to stop Giratina. They all fell to his rage, and many of them were grievously injured. It reached such a point that Dialga and Palkia were forced to intervene and fight the monster they had helped create. The battle is said to have happened on Mount Coronet, and that the carnage was unparalled: time and space were distorted as Dialga and Palkia used everything they could to try and stop Giratina, while death bled over into the real world, a cloud so dark and toxic that it nearly wiped out the planet.

"It was not until Arceus and Mew finally joined the fight and combined their abilities that they were able to subdue him, but even they struggled against the overwhelming and unknown abilities Giratina had to offer. Arceus and Giratina duelled for hours, days, weeks, months, whichever story you want to believe, until the lord was finally able to get Giratina back into his own world and save humanity."

"Oh, come on, isn't this all Sunday school stuff meant to terrify the kiddies into behaving? I thought you were going to tell us something real, not the same old religious garbage we get told to believe – I mean, I stabbed Giratina in the eye."

"Giratina would not have been at his full power, otherwise none of us would still be here, but I will get to that soon." Deidre glowered at Vanessa as she spoke, but used the interruption to slug from her flask once again.

"After Giratina fell, Arceus knew that he had given his gods too much power. The world needed a chance to grow, and any threat to his new civilisation was a risk he was not willing to take. Things were fragile – the appearance of Giratina had furthered the divides between man and Pokémon, sparking centuries of animosity and war between our species. Arceus needed to let the world grow without the gods interfering or challenging things any more than they currently were.

"So it is said that he made a decision. Dialga and Palkia were sealed away inside their own dimensions, left to recover after the battle. In order to prevent Giratina from escaping again, he created three orbs and bound them together, so it was impossible for one to get back into the world without all three being activated."

"The Adamant and Lustrous Orbs, right?" Matthew asked, and Deidre nodded.

"Those keep out Dialga and Palkia respectively. The Griseous Orb opens the portal to the Distortion World."

"How did Giratina attack Solaceon Town then?" Xavier asked.

"There are other spells; the magics of the world are not easily contained." Deidre brushed it aside with a wave of her hand. "It didn't last though, did it? He was weak; moving through the portal likely drained him of much of his power. You never would have been able to stab him if he was at full capacity."

Vanessa scoffed. "We'll see."

"Anyway, the three were banished from this world, though they are known to appear around Mt Coronet where the barriers between dimensions are weak. They were the only gods to be separated from the world, but Arceus cast away the ones who remained. The gods of ideas and elements, Shaymin and Meloetta and that, all went into hiding, while the ones sworn to protect each region from destruction – the birds, the beasts, the golems, all that – remained, but were made to sleep until they were needed.

"So that was how the world was for roughly two thousand years. The gods were largely undisturbed for most of that time – except for the ones in Johto, but that's another story. No, you don't need to know anything that happened then; it's too cold for all that now. I'll skip ahead to just fourteen years ago."

"The Kalosi War?" Matthew asked.

"Exactly. You may not have known all that I just told you, but I trust you know what happened in 1996."

"Giovanni from Team Rocket tried to destroy the world. Yep, we know that much."

Deidre smiled thinly at Vanessa. "Correct, if a tad vapid and devoid of any emotion for the millions of people who died, but correct nonetheless. In the early nineties, a man named Giovanni funded the Rocket Project. The name was to disguise the fact he wanted to try and replicate the DNA of a god in order to create a new breed of powerful super Pokémon. A number of people worked on the project, including… including your father…"

"Dad?" Sahara was taken aback. She could feel everyone's eyes on her now, but she was too stunned to care. What did Frasier Plattina have to do with this? She had rarely ever thought about him, his presence always that of a stranger who had died, but she never imagined him to be involved in something criminal. "Does this have something to do with how he died?"

"Your father was just a junior scientist looking to make his name in the world." Deidre carried on, ignoring Sahara's question. Her voice was shaking a bit now, and she began to fiddle with her jumper. "His mentor from the Arcethian Academy, Dr Missingno, he had heard about the project and asked Frasier to go along as his research assistant. There were a lot of people involved, mostly men from Kanto like Samuel Oak. Your grandfather was involved for a bit as well through your grandmother, but not as much as others. It was enough though."

"But Giovanni was a criminal. How did they not see that?" Matthew interjected, his voice high and horrified.

Deidre rolled her eyes as she made a noise halfway between a sigh and a laugh. "It's nice you still think things are that simple. Giovanni didn't exactly advertise the fact he was a megalomaniac – barely anyone knew what he had done until about eighteen months ago, for god's sake! No, they were all oblivious to what they were really doing, until it was too late for them to do anything. That didn't stop them from trying though."

For the first time, Deidre paused. She had powered through the rest of the story at such a pace Sahara had assumed she was brushing over things, but she realised now her mother was trying to get to this point, to try and rush through it with the same carelessness, but she couldn't: she had hit a wall, and now that she had stopped, Sahara could see she didn't want to continue.

"I'm so sorry my love." The words were like broken glass pouring out of Deidre's mouth, a deep moan that crashed into the silence around them. She turned towards Sahara, her glasses shining golden in the firelight but not enough to disguise the tears crashing down her face.

"Why?" That was all Sahara could manage, the only sound she could make as she felt her entire world come crashing down around her.

"When… when people like your father realised how unstoppable the monster was, they alerted the authorities, but Giovanni was unwilling to give up his creation. He used a Pokémon, a legendary from ancient Kalos, to open a hole between dimensions, and an army from some alternate universe got through."

"Alternate universe?" Xavier asked, but Deidre and Sahara both shushed him.

"In order to stop Giovanni and the monster, most of the men from the project, including Fra… your father, came together to research a way to save the world. Missingno tried to use the same orbs Arceus had created to try and summon Dialga and Palkia. The magic was uncontrollable though, and it killed him – no, it destroyed him; there was nothing left but dust.

"However, he could have opened the portals if there had been the third orb, the Griseous, as well. Because they didn't have that, the spell couldn't work, but it proved that it was nearly possible to do so. Your father, he got a glimpse into the world the doctor saw, and he knew he couldn't allow that to happen. He had to do something to make sure no one could ever open the gates again…"

"What? Tell us!" Sahara snapped. Deidre was silently weeping now, her tears streaming down her face and pooling on her jumper. Sahara didn't care though; she had jumped to her feet and loomed over her mother, and Deidre flinched.

"Your father, he saw something that no one else had realised before. They weren't just random orbs. Arceus had placed pieces of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina inside – not bits of skin or anything, but parts of their very essences, their souls. The orbs need them to be opened, but Frasier saw that they could be removed, there was a spell for that, to render the orbs useless in case the portals were never to be opened. He didn't want to do it, but he knew that separating them was the only option. The only problem was that he needed a host for them."

As she spoke, the voices inside Sahara's head got louder. She clutched her forehead trying to block them out, but laughter from all three of them echoed, joined by hushed whispers and distant shouting.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm so sorry my love, I wish this had never happened to you. I wanted to tell you earlier, but I…" Deidre trailed off, her sobs consuming her.

Sahara felt like she was going to be sick, she could feel everyone watching her. She knew where this was going, but she had to hear it from her mother. "What did he do? You can't stop now, tell me – WHAT DID HE DO?"

"HE USED YOU!" Deidre wailed. "He used you, Sahara. He made you into a key."

***

Deidre had never liked hospitals. They were messy, chaotic places, people running around like animals with no semblance of order or structure. She was particularly annoyed by how all these medical practitioners called themselves 'doctors', a title that had to be earned through study, not because it was easier than going by your proper title.

Today, none of that mattered.

They had been taken into the room shortly after arriving. It was clean in both the medical and decorative sense, a white room, bare except for a bed and chair. Deidre could see people and Audino moving around outside but they were all silent passengers who had nothing to do with her and her life. Occasionally doctors or nurses would peer in as they passed, their faces making it clear they had heard what had happened, or rumours of it at least. Deidre would have loved to pull the curtain on them and shut them out, but she was waiting for her father to get there. She needed support right now; she wasn't sure how she could handle this alone.

Sighing, she turned to Sahara again. She lay on the bed with her eyes shut, mouth slightly open, and would have appeared asleep if you didn't know what had happened. Deidre wanted to look at her and feel sadness, but she only felt disgust. Who was that little girl laying before her, because she certainly wasn't her daughter. Those black eyes, beating Emily into unconsciousness: the girl may look like Sahara, but Deidre had no idea what she had turned into.

"Deidre." The door crashed open, jolting Deidre from her thoughts. She looked up and felt a wave of relief as her father appeared in the doorway. His eyes, bordered by thick grey eyebrows, flickered between her and Sahara. When Richard Rowan finally settled his gaze on his daughter, everything Deidre had been holding in for hours came bursting out. Tears streamed down her face and she leapt up and ran into his arms like a small child desperate for comfort.

"Deidre, what happened?"

"I don't know!" She hated herself for wailing, for collapsing into a mess like this, but she couldn't help herself. Something unspeakable had happened to her daughter, and there had been nothing she could do to stop it. "It's Sahara… something happened to her."

"What do you mean?"

"Her… her eyes, they went black. And then… and then… she grabbed a vase, and…" Deidre choked up, unable to carry on. Not that she could anyway. Every time she thought of it, the echo of the thunk as the vase hit Emily's skull made her want to throw up.

The door crashed open again. Deidre and her father jolted out of their embrace to find Claire standing there. With her round face and full figure, she was normally always smiling, her jolly laugh and joking nature making her an easy person to bond with. But there was no smile on her face now. Her lips were parted to reveal clenched teeth, while her eyes, normally glistening after firing off another joke, were wide, manic and red, black streaks of ruined mascara in rivers down her face.

Her friend's anguish made Deidre sob again, and she stepped forwards. "Oh Claire, I'm so sorry, I don't know how –" She never finished her sentence. She didn't see Claire's open hand rise up, but she certainly felt it as the stinging slap sent her crashing into the wall.

"You fucking bitch, how could you let this happen?" Claire roared. "My daughter's head has been cracked open, what the fuck happened? She might still die, how the fuck did this happen?"

"Ma'am, please."

"Fuck off," Claire roared, and shoved Rowan over. Deidre, clutching her swollen face, tried to get up, but Claire swung and kicked her in the shin before grabbing her shoulders.

"MY DAUGHTER, MY ONLY DAUGHTER! HOW COULD YOU, HOW COULD YOU!" Both women were crying. Deidre wished she could explain, she wished she had some way to put any of this into words, but she could do nothing but sob and take the pain as Claire slapped her again, her shouts filling the room, well aware she deserved all of this.

Then Claire fell silent. The sudden change was as unsettling as the quiet that had preceded Sahara's outburst, and Deidre's body went cold for the second time that day. She stared at her friend, took in her gormlessly hanging open mouth, her eyes crossed and distant, her tall, rotund frame slowing stooping over, and simply watched as Claire dramatically toppled forwards. The thud filled the room. Stunned, Deidre turned towards her father for advice, but he was staring at the doorway with a face of anticipated disappointment.

"Fuck, what a mouthy bitch."

If it was any other day, Deidre may have been terrified when she looked up and saw who was talking, but after everything that had happened, looking up and finding what appeared to be a transparent teenage girl floating in the doorway was so far down on her list of priorities that Deidre was simply confused. She looked between her daughter, her grandfather, Claire and the girl, head throbbing, and had to suppress the sudden urge to drink something strong and bottomless.

Finally, her mind began to focus, and Deidre stared definitively at the girl. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Um, rude. How about 'Thank you for saving my life, Charlotte', 'Oh, it's not biggie, Deidre, which is a stupid name by the way, I'm just happy to help'." The girl tutted and floated past Deidre and her father. She walked up to Sahara and stroked her face, her fingers passing through her cheek.

"Well, this was always going to happen one day. I would have rather things took a bit longer, but I guess I don't get a say in that."

"Seriously, who the fuck are you?" Deidre lunged towards the girl, her confusion passing and being replaced with a strong feeling of rage. "I mean, what even are –"

"Oh please tell me you aren't going to pull out the 'who are you, what are you' line. I am so sick of hearing that. I swear, if I had a dollar for every time someone said that to me, I'd have, well, more money than you, for one thing." Charlotte cast her eyes up and down Deidre. "I should really be asking you that. What do you call this outfit – housewife chic?"

"Charlotte, behave!" Richard snarled, stepping forwards. "This is a stressful day for everyone, I don't need you making it worse."

"Wait, do you know her?" Deidre asked, incredulous as she glared at her father.

"Honey, everyone knows me," Charlotte purred, tossing her white hair back and laughing. "Champions, scientists, homicidal maniacs, you name it, I've met them. I knew your husband once, actually."

"Frasier?" Deidre whispered.

"Sure. I must say, I don't quite see what he saw in you, but I guess that's why he was willing to die, right?"

Deidre screeched through clenched teeth. "What the fuck is going on here?"

"Deidre, calm down, you getting angry will only fuel her," her father whispered, grabbing her by the shoulders. He looked at the ghost, eyes narrowed. "Charlotte, is there a reason why you are here? Do you know what happened to Sahara?"

"Do I know? Do I know?" Charlotte laughed again and rolled her eyes. "You really don't understand me, do you? God, if I had a dollar for every time I repeat myself –"

"Charlotte!"
"Of course I bloody know what happened to her! I did it to her. Well, I was the instigator, you could say. Frasier was the one who actually did it."

Deidre lunged again, ignoring her father's grip on her shoulders, tears swimming in her eyes. "What did you do to my daughter? What does Frasier have to do with this?"

"Richard, control your woman," Charlotte said, smirking as she stared superiorly down at Deidre. "If she doesn't, I might just have to knock her out like I did to her friend – which, I might add, I haven't been thanked for yet."

"STOP TALKING YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Deidre screamed, still struggling to break free from her father. "JUST TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON! My daughter possibly killed someone today and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Just tell me… please… just tell me what's going on."

Exhausted, emotional, angry, Deidre stopped fighting and instead collapsed into Rowan's arms. Her tears flowed silently down her face as a meagre whimper escaped her lips. She felt defeated. Nothing made sense, and she had a feeling they never would again. She glowered at Charlotte as the ghost sank to her knees, leaning towards her, but whatever she had to say, Deidre just hoped she got it over with quickly.

"My love, I can't possibly tell you," Charlotte whispered. As she spoke, she reached out with her right hand, and suddenly the room seemed to glow white. "Let me show you."

Deidre said nothing. She didn't move. She made no attempt to break free. She sat there and leaned back as the hand touched her cheek. And then she saw everything, and she began to weep.

***

"A..a…a… a key?"

Everyone was looking at Sahara. She ignored them all, her eyes locked on her mother. Deidre looked back, eyes swimming with tears that looked like molten lava in the reflection of the fire. Sahara had the urge to cry herself, but she felt nothing except a dull numbness that seemed to have a grip over her entire body.

"What the fuck does that mean? A key to what?" She knew her body was shaking, but Sahara didn't feel it. She sat there, quivering with rage on the outside while internally she felt her body shutting down, the shock, the confusion, the anger, her emotions taking over where her thoughts were failing.

"In order to open the portals between dimensions, you need the three parts of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina –"

"YOU'VE ALREADY FUCKING SAID THAT!"

Deidre winced as Sahara's screams echoed around them. "I'm just clarifying, sweetie. The portals between dimensions can only be opened if the essences of the Creation Trio are inside the orbs. You could take the orbs to the right place and do everything else you need to do to open them, but without the essences, that is all useless. It's like a door that is double locked and you only have one of the keys to open it with."

"But we saw Giratina, I stabbed him in the fucking eye –"

"I've already said, it was a different spell, something that only opened a hole between our world and his!" Deidre hissed, tears falling from her eyes as she turned to look at Vanessa. "If Giratina had been here unhindered, he would have killed you all by simply wishing it. No, it's not the same, it's not the same!" Deidre banged her fists against the rocks, a painful thud that resonated in the tense silence.

It was a silence broken only by Matthew's shaking voice. "So, if the orbs are one key, does that mean…" He trailed off, but his eyes fell back onto Sahara and everyone knew what he meant.

"Yes. As long as the three essences are inside of her, Sahara is the other key," Deidre replied, her voice barely a whisper.

I am not a key, Sahara thought, but she didn't have the energy to put it into words. Her throat had clamped up, just like the rest of her, and if she opened her mouth she wasn't sure what would come out of it; words, screams, vomit, some untampered, unknown godly portal opening power she possessed.

"So does this mean Team Galactic has to kill her in order to complete their plan?" Everyone looked towards Xavier: he seemed calm and unfazed by all this, his tone as dull and neutral as ever, and Sahara wanted more than ever to knock some sense of social normality into him. "We must presume that opening the portals will be their final goal, yes? They unleashed Giratina onto Solaceon Town, and they had one of the orbs already, so one would assume -"

"Shut up Xavier, no one asked for your input!" Vanessa hissed.

"I highly doubt that Galactic knows the significance of Sahara's powers. Your grandfather and I have kept it a secret, I don't think he even told my mother let alone any colleagues –"

"That doesn't answer the question." Sahara's fingernails dug into the log. The wood resisted her grip, splinters of bark shoving themselves between skin and nail, but Sahara didn't relent. If she didn't keep her hands busy, she was going to strangle her mother, and there was nothing anyone here could do to stop her.

Deidre tried to meet her daughter's eye, but she could only maintain contact for seconds before breaking, staring into the flames as though they might explode and save her from carrying on. "If Team Galactic is planning to summon Dialga and Palkia, which is the prevailing theory about their intentions, then…" She paused, swallowing hard. "Yes, they will need you to do so. But you must remember, this all depends on whether it is even possible for them to do it, which I –"

Deidre's words froze in her throat and were replaced with an involuntary yelp as her head slammed against the back of the rock. She flailed, trying to push her daughter off of her, but Sahara's knees pressed into her shoulders while her hands clawed at her throat, trying to get a hold but they shook with a violent quiver which made it impossible.

"I AM NOT A KEY! I AM A HUMAN BEING, I AM NOT SOME OBJECT TO BE USED!"

Sahara finally felt the tears, she finally felt the furious vibrations of her bones, she finally felt again and wished she didn't. She hated this feeling, she hated feeling this vulnerable, this lost, this angry. She hated feeling Vanessa's hands around her shoulders trying to pull her back. She hated hearing Matthew screaming hysterically behind her. She hated watching her mother's eyes bulge, her nostrils flaring, her engorged tongue flailing. She hated everything right now, but if she didn't do something, the only thing left to hate is herself.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME THIS WOULD HAPPEN? ALL THESE YEARS YOU HID ME AWAY AND MADE ME FEEL LIKE A MONSTER, ALL THOSE YEARS AND YOU NEVER ONCE TOLD ME. WHY DID YOU WAIT UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE FOR ME TO KILL MYSELF!"

Deidre gasped and gagged, her lips moving but the words failing to get out of her throat. Sahara didn't want to hear her excuses anyway. As her tears cascaded down her face and fell onto her mother's, Sahara had no idea what it was that she wanted, only that she wished she could go back ten minutes and stop herself from ever finding out.

"RUUUUUUUUPT!"

The roar was the sole warning Sahara got before the fire was upon her. She turned to her right, unable to ignore the anger and the distress that was as clear as day in Camerupt's booming growl. It was only when her vision was filled with orange heat that she realised the pain was aimed at her.

Sahara screamed as the fire consumed her. She leaned back, trying to ignore the flames that had engulfed her jacket, her hands still flailing at her mother's throat, but the pain was too much. She let go and jumped back as though she had been shocked, leaving her mother to collapse to the ground with a violent cough.

Sahara didn't wait to check on her. Full sprint, she ran. The world turned black beyond the glow of the fire, but her own burning coat lit her way, casting erratic shadows across the sand. The stones stabbed her feet as she ran, and Sahara could feel blood being drawn, but she didn't stop until the light from the flames hit the ocean and the world before her began to shimmer like oil on fire.

It was then that Sahara jumped. The tide was low and the water gentle, welcoming her without resistance. Sahara moaned at its cool, fire quenching touch. She barely noticed as her body crashed into the seafloor, the shock that reverberated through her body a welcome distraction from the raw pain on her shoulders.

She hit the rocks on the seabed with such force that she bounced off, rising up as though caught in reverse: when she breached the surface, Sahara gasped, the salty, frozen air scratching her throat as she inhaled it in. She looked around and saw nothing. It was as though she had stepped off the beach and into an alternate world, one caught in eternal darkness. With the swirling patterns and darkness like ink around her, Sahara realised she may as well be in the Distortion World after all.

No, don't. Sahara froze there, shutting her eyes, breathing deeply as she tried to control herself. Yet after a moment, her throat tickled, and suddenly what little dinner she'd forced down was rising back up. Sahara gagged as the barely digested beans dribbled into the ocean with a revolting splash. She kicked backwards as she heaved, not wanting to swim in her own sick, before pushing herself back underwater.

She let the seawater wash through her mouth, the taste a burning relief. Sahara kept pushing herself until her she felt the rocks crunch under her, and there she stayed, digging her hands into the seafloor. The ocean squeezed her, a sodden hand weighing down on her, but Sahara enjoyed it. It felt better down here, cleaner, calmer, safer.

Can I stay here? Who am I even asking? This is my body; I can make my own choices. I am not a key. I am not going to be used, not by anyone, not anymore. I can stay here, I can go back, I keep swimming… or I can stay here. Really stay here. Forever.

Sahara had considered dying before. When Eden and Crystal started appearing more regularly, when she couldn't bathe without supervision, when electric shocks from cars starting setting her off, Sahara had tried. Her weekends had become personal dares for herself, mostly standing on the pavement waiting for trucks to come past. When she grew bored of that, she'd hike to the cliffs above the Valley Windworks and stand on the edge, wondering how to jump to ensure she landed on her head. She couldn't do it in the house, not when her mother had hidden all the sharp and heavy objects from Jaki's touch.

Yet any time she got close to it, she couldn't do it. It wasn't that she didn't want to. She physically became unable to take the next step, to leap in front of the truck, to walk carelessly over the cliff. Her right foot would hover there in mid-air, Sahara pushing herself, trying until tears streamed down her face, desperate to keep walking, but she never could.

You need me alive. You are parasites feeding on my will to live. What are you so afraid of, what does it matter to you if you die.

Laughter erupted. Sahara's eyes burst open, and for a few seconds she could see light in her eyes: pink and blue dots shining in the darkness, shaking as the laughs echoed throughout her body.

You stupid brat. Don't you realise what your father made you? You can't die. You have more power in you than Zapdos or Suicune or any of those petty gods destined to be tamed by children. We are with you until the end, Sahara, and you won't die until we want you to.

No, you don't control me. This is my body, MY BODY!

Sahara, did you not hear anything your mother said?

Do you not hear me? I can control you all now. You don't scare me anymore. Now get out!

What on earth do you mean?

Get out of my body!

Is she the drunk one now?

GET OUT! GET OUT – GET OUT!"

Sahara felt something pull against her shoulders. With the little energy she had left, she tried to fight against it, thrashing in the waves, but the grip only got tighter and tighter. Sahara continued to scream, not noticing as fresh air filled her lungs or as cold crawled down her throat.

"GET OUT! GET OUT!"

"STOP!"

The two voices echoed across the ocean. Sahara opened her eyes, and for a moment she thought her scream had caused the space around her to ripple, the Palkia third of her powers making their mark. The moment passed, and Sahara stared sadly at the waves swelled gently against her.

"Have you calmed down?"

Sahara turned around, a struggle in the tight hold Vanessa had on her. Her friend's face was masked by darkness, but the distant fire was enough to illuminate her brilliant hair. "Let go of me."

"No."

"I said let go of me."

"I said no. Have you ever known me to back down?"

"I have powers, you know. I could make you let me go."

"Will you though?" Vanessa said; Sahara may not be able to see her face, but she could tell her friend had raised an eyebrow. "Come on, let's get out of the water. It's freezing, and I don't think this fabric is meant to be doused in seawater."

Sahara refused to move. "How can you be so calm about this?"

"Calm?" Vanessa asked, a slight scoff breaking the silence. "You seriously think I'm calm right now?"

"You sound calm."

"You just beat up your mother and dived into the ocean. One of us has to be."

Sahara ignored the dig. "How can anyone possibly be calm after what she said. Were you paying attention at all?"

"Of course. I've been paying attention this whole time."

"A key. He made me into a fucking key." Sahara spat the word out, and she could feel her blood pumping. "All my life, I've wondered what I am. Turns out I'm not human, I'm a fucking object."

"Sahara, let's get out of the water. We can talk about this on the beach."

"NO!" Sahara yelled, and she tried again to fend off her friend's grip. "Why are so strong?"

"My dresses are made of very heavy material," Vanessa deadpanned, her hold tightening. "I am not letting you go, Sahara. I know what you want to do."

"Why are you stopping me?" Sahara hissed. "You heard what Galactic will do to me if they get their hands on me."

"I won't let that happen."

"Oh please, we have barely been able to hold them off! Once they know how important I am, they will tear us apart and bring the world down with us."

"You're being melodramatic!"

"Says the girl with a fucking sword. I have three gods living inside of me, what's your excuse?"

"Sahara, please, just listen –"

"No Vanessa, you listen! I've wanted to die for years, to end this pain I've been cursed with. Even if it takes me all night, I am going to end this once and for all. If I live, everyone will suffer. I am fine with being the only one who dies."

"You can't die. I am not going to let you."

"If I live, they are only going to kill me later – just let me die and we can end this all tonight! No one else has to suffer if you just LET ME DIE!"

"NO!"

Vanessa let go of Sahara so suddenly that both of them lost their balance. The splash rippled across the ocean as the two crashed into the water, the waves briefly submerging them both. Sahara got up first, gasping for air as she wiped the water from her face, and she watched as Vanessa broke the surface a moment later. There was some distance between them now, enough that Sahara knew she could make a break for it. But as she stood there, her melted clothes rising and falling with the current, she gazed across at her friend. Vanessa's face was visible now, the moonlight and distance enough to shine some meek light on her, and all Sahara could see was anger. It was not a vicious rage though; Vanessa's lips were twisted in a snarl, but her eyes were large and wet, her pain visible even in the dark.

"We need you. Galactic have no idea that they need you, but I do. Those culty bastards are going to keep going until they find a way to end the world, with or without your body. The four of us, we are weak, we are unstable, we have no idea what we're doing, but we've held them back so far. You help no one if you die now. It would mean nothing, you'd die for nothing!"

For the first time since Sahara had known her, she heard Vanessa's voice break as she forced out that last word. It stung more than anything Deidre had said that night. Sahara tried to move closer but Vanessa pushed herself backwards out of her grip.

"It would just mean more people would get hurt," she said, carrying on as though nothing had happened. "You need to live so we can stop that. What your dad did… it's horrible, and I am sorry, I am so sorry Sahara, but you need to take that anger you are feeling right now and channel it at Cyrus. We have to defeat Galactic, and we… I can't do this without you."

Sahara could feel her body shaking. The cold was seeping into her bones now, it was infecting her thoughts, but she couldn't move. "It hurts, Vanessa. It hurts to know that this didn't have to happen. I always thought there was a reason, but no, it just… it just happened. I've been put through so much. I don't know if I can take it anymore. I just… I just want this to be over."

"We all do. I know this hurts, I can only imagine what is going on inside your head, but if you can take this pain and if you can use it, you will be stronger than anyone in Galactic put together. You are a key, Sahara – you are the key to us stopping them. Don't abandon us. If not for yourself, then for us. Please… I'm begging you."

Vanessa didn't make to move towards her; instead, she slowly held out a hand. Sahara looked at it as though it was a foreign object. She could feel the tears streaming down her face, warm and bitter against her frozen cheeks. Sahara knew she should take it, but she couldn't, she simply couldn't. She doesn't know what it feels like to want to die this badly. She doesn't understand my pain.

The call of the ocean was strong. Sahara could feel the weight of the water as it moved around her. She had nearly done it; for the first time, she had nearly succeeded. All it would take would be for her to dive underwater again, find a stone and grip onto it, hold on until she couldn't any longer, until the pain went away.

I want to. I want to. I want to. But I can't, can I?

Sahara grabbed onto Vanessa's hand and collapsed into her arms. The two embraced, and Sahara howled. There was nothing left for her to do but give in. For minutes, the two floated there on the cusp of the ocean, locked in each other's arms, their tears pooling together in the water, and Sahara let her pain out the only way she could.

***

It was only as he hit the floor that Frasier realised he was falling.

Everything was a daze. The room was filled with bright light, washing out everything it touched. Screams echoed everywhere, fighting to be heard over each other. Frasier's eyes moved wildly over the scene, trying to find the source, but all shapes and shadows blended into one another, horrific creations of the light that burnt in the centre of the room.

"What's going on? Where am I? What happened?"

Frasier knew he had done something. He tried to stand up again to see what had happened, but his legs weren't working. He had to rely on what he could see, but the only object he could make out was a knife, the shining hilt dark in places.

Blood, he thought. Frasier lifted his hands – it was a struggle, they suddenly weighed a ton – and he saw they were black with blood. It coated his arms, it was all down his front, and when he touched his face, it was wet and sticky, a strong smell of iron and animal in the air. This isn't mine, is it?

"What have I done, what have I done?" Frasier could feel himself crying, but he wasn't sure why. Had he been crying before he fell? His eyes hurt, but he couldn't work out why. He'd done something, he knew that. There was someone else here, and they had said something, something foreign, maybe. And there'd been the knife, and he'd been holding someone…

"Sahara." More than ever, Frasier tried to get up. "SAHARA!" He screamed, his voice joining the chaotic cacophony around him. The booming thud of his cry seemed to silence the others though, leaving just one scream. It was pained, weak, a voice struggling to produce the sound that it was but unable to stop. It was a cry for a mother, a cry for a father, but Frasier couldn't reach her. He couldn't even see her.

"Sahara, I love you, I'm here for you. I'll make this better, I promise!" Frasier pushed his arms into the floor and tried to lift himself up, but the pain was unbearable. He sank back into the floor, his head heavy with pain. Fresh tears spilt down his cheeks, and Frasier was still sobbing when a female face appeared above his own.

"I warned you the toll it would take on you. You're spent, my dear boy. Nothing else to be done but to end it all." Charlotte smiled sadly as she reached out.

"NO!" Frasier yelled, turning his face away, the only thing he could do. "Not yet, not yet. Let me see her… please…"

There was a sigh followed by silence. It took Frasier a moment to realise it was truly quiet; the screaming had stopped. Ecstatic, he looked up and had his heart broken again.

Sahara floated above him. Her eyes were red and her face a violent shade of pink, but she had stopped crying now. With her big, wet, confused eyes, she looked down at her father, mouth hanging curiously open as though she was trying to work out what he was doing down there. She would have looked adorable if it wasn't for the blood that coated her body, her marble like skin drenched thick, ruby red. Frasier sobbed as he struggled to reach out for her, remembering what he had carved into her back: a thin, wide circle, three smaller ones carved along the edge with lines pointing to the middle. That was all he could remember before the orbs had flashed, and now they were here.

"She's… she's going to save the world one day, won't she?"

"Will it make you feel better if I say yes?"

Frasier ignored Charlotte. He was content with his own thoughts. He tried to smile for his daughter, he hoped she didn't notice he was crying or coated in her blood, he hoped she didn't know she would soon be down a parent.

"You are a brave girl, Sahara, and one day, you are going to save the world. I love you."

For his final action on earth, Frasier reached out and stroked his daughter's cheek. He could only manage to touch her for a second, but it was enough. He looked past her towards Charlotte, but she had already reached out, wearing a smirk so reminiscent of Deidre's. In his final moment, Frasier smiled, eyes on his daughter, a strange pride in his heart. Then Charlotte's hands touched his head, and he screamed as he faded into the white.

***

February 25th

A bitter wind blew across the beach. The few dregs of sand that resided between the rocks were whipped into the air, forming mini clouds that hovered near the shoreline but petered out before they could reach the camp. The breeze may not have been strong enough, but it had the icy grip of winter, bringing a chill far more bothersome than any flecks of dirt.

Sahara shivered each time the wind blew past. Vanessa had worked her magic last night, sewing a segment of white, woollen fabric to replace the black melted mess left by the fire, but though it was seamless work, Sahara could still feel the cold clawing at her back.

She stared at the smoking ash that sat in the middle of the pit, all that was left of last night's fire. The cold seemed exasperated by sitting next to an empty fireplace, and Sahara longed for it to be alive again, to inject some warmth into her frigid body.

You could always move, a voice in her head suggested scoldingly. Sahara gazed across the beach towards the cliffs. The cold didn't seem to be bothering her Pokémon or her friends. They were all out, standing on the side-lines, watching as Vanessa and Matthew tested their new Pokémon. The excited cheers and shouts of battle carried across the silent beach, and Sahara smiled as she watched the fight, not sure if Honchkrow or Mismagius was winning but not caring either.

They all look so happy. It was the first time any of them had been able to relax in weeks: there was no one around them, no threats to their safety. They had all earned their happiness, which only made Sahara more determined to stay away.

"You frozen to that log already?"

Sahara jumped at the sound of her mother's voice but didn't make the effort to look at her. She knew Deidre would do what she wanted anyway, and sure enough, a second later there was a groan of stiff joints as her mother sank down beside her.

"I'm fine, it's not that cold," Sahara replied, smiling thinly at the fire.

"You should walk around, get your blood moving. You'll be no good to anyone if you catch a cold."

"I said I'm fine," Sahara said stiffly. She instantly felt guilty, but still wouldn't meet her mother's eyes. "It was nice of you to give them those Dusk Stones," she said, gesturing towards the battle.

"It was nothing. It's not as if I have any use for them. I can get you an Oval Stone if you like, for when your Happiny hatches."

"I'll be alright. Thanks, though," Sahara added quickly. She felt awkward, unsure how she should be acting. She wanted to strike her mother again, she wanted to get her feelings out in the open, but she could not ignore the guilt she felt for how things had ended last night.

Minutes passed tensely by with neither of them saying anything. It was only when Sahara couldn't bare it any longer and tried to stand that Deidre's thin hands gripped onto her own.

"I am sorry, Sahara. I know that word isn't enough to make up for what you've been through, but I am sorry. We might have had a relationship if I had told you about this earlier, but I… I… I…" Deidre paused, her voice shaking so badly she couldn't carry on. Sahara clasped her mother's hand in both of hers, not sure why she was comforting her but feeling right in doing so.

"I didn't know what to do. When I found out about you, about what your father had done, I was so angry and betrayed but mostly I was confused. I didn't know why it had to be you, I didn't know why it happened to us, I didn't know what this meant, I didn't know how to handle it. I was a single parent with a full time job, and suddenly my daughter starts displaying all these powers and… it was hard, I hope you understand that. It was hard. The choices I made didn't come to me easily. Just know that, please know that."

Even in the silence that seemed to coat the beach, Deidre's sobs were barely audible. Here she was pouring her heart out, and she still was trying to control her emotions. Sahara wanted to laugh at the contradiction, but there was no point. It wouldn't change her mother, nothing ever would. She simply gripped her hands tighter and finally looked up, meeting Deidre's bloodshot, tear struck eyes; her nose was red and bloodied, her face was bruised, her lips swollen. Sahara's desire to laugh faded as she took in her the injuries she'd caused and she sighed.

"I understand why you did what you did. I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive you for what happened, but I understand why you did it at least. I think if you had told me all this as a kid… I don't know how I would have coped. I barely did as a teenager. It's a lot to take in… quite a lot," she added, smiling sadly. "I think… I think I just need some time, is all. Vanessa said some stuff last night and I know she's right, even if it hurts me to admit it. I can still do some good, but… yeah… I need some time."

"Of course, of course." Deidre rested her head on Sahara's shoulders, and with her free arm pulled her daughter in close. Sahara let it happen. She didn't have the energy to fight back. With the fight she knew lay ahead of her, she couldn't afford to harm herself anymore.

"Look at us, crying together on the beach. This is like some tragic comedy," Deidre chuckled as she broke away from the hug, wiping her tears away quickly. "Why don't we go join the others, eh?"

Sahara nodded, and the two made their way towards the battle. All their Pokémon were out basking in the weak summer sun, some cheering at the match while others snoozed beneath the cliffs. The happiness in the air should have been contagious, and Sahara smiled as Nutty waved at from the top of Staraptor's head, but she wasn't ready for this yet.

"You look as though you're being led to the guillotine."

Sahara broke away from her mother, too entranced by the battle to notice, and gazed down at Spiritomb. If the mysterious creature had eyebrows, Sahara was sure they'd be raised with the neon green look she was receiving.

"It was a rough night. I'm not quite over it yet."

Spiritomb laughed. "Rough is glossing over things slightly. Infernape told us all about mummy's secrets. He made it sound all very dramatic, I thought I'd missed out, but things look very Rory and Lorelei from where I'm standing."

Sahara looked away and watched Deidre as she moved around the outsides of the makeshift fields, heading towards the cliff face. "I'm dealing with it."

"Good on you. I don't know if I'd be the same in your position, but I guess we all handle things differently."

"We do," Sahara said with surprising firmness. "You told me to take control, and I am taking control."

Spiritomb's glare got sassier. "You and I both know that is a lie. You are adapting because everyone here wants you to. That is not taking control."

"Be quiet, I can't handle this right now!" Sahara hissed. The sharp sound attracted the attention of Prinplup and Luxio, and Sahara flashed them a smile, her eyes remaining on Spiritomb. "Just let me handle this at my own pace, alright?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

"I won't." Sahara turned away from Spiritomb and looked up at the battle. This was what she should be doing; training Pokémon, enjoying the scenery, having fun, not letting everything weigh her down. She may hurt, both emotionally and physically; the feelings she'd had underwater still lingered at the back of her mind; she didn't know if there was any chance she could come back from this, but Sahara had to hope. She had to believe this was going to get better, because if it didn't, then what would her life mean?

Matthew's enthusiastic shouting cut across her thoughts. "Mystical Fire, aim for her crest!"

"Deflect it with Aerial Ace!" Vanessa boomed, her eyes alive with the heat of the battle.

Interesting matchup. Sahara turned her eyes to Mismagius first, watching as the necklace-like jewels around her middle lit up with a brilliant orange glare. Her dark eyes shone a second later, and a ball of glorious fire shot across the field, burning so brightly it was hard to look at.

Honchkrow seemed unfazed though. "KROW!" She squawked and dived forwards. Despite her enlarged form, complete with what reminded Sahara of a fedora on her head, the Dark type moved swiftly, wings outstretched and glowing lilac. She soared right for the fire and batted it aside with the attack.

Sahara looked at Matthew to see how he'd react and was intrigued by his smile. "I was hoping you'd do that," he called out. "Time to bring a bit of contest magic to this – Psybeam, pull the fire back!"

"Mis-mag-i-us," his Ghost type said, her voice high like that of an ancient siren. Ignoring her foe, Mismagius turned towards the ball of fire and unleashed a rainbow beam from her eyes. Like a laser, it shot towards the fire and hit it square on.

Instead of grabbing onto the ball, the Mystical Fire suddenly engorged. Sahara tensed, watching the orange flames slowly expand, a rainbow shimmer spreading over the surface. And then the inevitable happened: the attack exploded in a shocking orange flash. Everyone averted their eyes as the fire spread above them, but Sahara stared straight ahead. The attack had been close to the cliffs, too close, and as she stared at the stone she saw her fears were coming true: cracks had spread across the surface, and as she watched, a thick boulder broke away from the cliff face and fell towards the crowd.

"WATCH OUT!" Sahara ran forwards as everyone else fled. Deidre screamed in terror as she searched desperately for her Poké Ball, but Sahara knew it would be too late for Camerupt. She focused on the rocks and raised her hands: she blocked out her pain, she blocked out every emotion and feeling she had; all her energy, physically and mentally, went into focusing on those rocks. She had no idea if it would be enough, if there was more she had to do, but as soon as Sahara felt that tingling at the tips of her fingers, she shut her eyes and clenched.

Seconds turned into minutes. Sahara stood there, blood coursing through her body. Her hands were balled into the tightest fists possible, her fingernails digging into her flesh so hard she could feel blood dripping down her arm. Slowly, she raised her head and opened her eyes, body tensing as she did, trying everything to keep her focus.

The rocks sat in mid-air as simply as if they were sitting on an invisible ledge. Sahara wanted to smile, to bask in what she had done, but her vision was starting to shake, her head throbbing with a pain she had never known before. She looked forward and saw everyone had moved, and with a grunt of relief, she let go.

Sahara hit the ground the same time the rocks did. A cloud of sand and stones rose at the impact, and she sheltered her face as it came towards her. Silence followed though it had been quiet on the beach for what felt like hours. No one said anything, no one seemed to move. Sahara lay there waiting for her vision to return to normal, for her head to stop swimming, counting the seconds as she began to wonder if she'd done the right thing.

"How could you." The temperature on the beach dropped as Deidre hissed down at her daughter. She towered over Sahara, face collapsing into her mouth with anger. "After everything I've done trying to protect you, cure you, you do this to me? Do you know how dangerous those other girls are?"

Sahara looked up, tears drying on her cheeks, and she scoffed. "Dangerous – no, funnily enough, I never knew how dangerous they were until yesterday."

"You can be as angry with me as you want, I know I deserve it, but you cannot mess around with those abilities. Do you not remember what Jaki did to Solaceon? Are you foolish enough to think you have a chance of controlling them?"

"I know I can, you just saw it!" Sahara got to her feet, her eyes level with her mothers, their rage reflected back at each other. "I never was able to control them when I lived with you, not the way you treated me. I couldn't even take a bath without Crystal trying to get out, but look at me now!"

"You idiot!" Deidre growled. "Did you not pay attention to anything I said last night? You could kill us all!"

"That won't happen, I am beating them. If Galactic tries to come for me, I'll fight them off." Sahara looked across at the log she had been sitting on earlier and raised her hand at it: with a simple flick of her fingers, it rolled backwards at speed, bouncing towards the other end of the beach.

The log was still rolling when Deidre lashed out. The slap echoed across the beach, disturbed only by Matthew gasping and Aqua growling. Sahara staggered backwards, raising a hand to her cheek. It had been a long time since her mother had laid her hands on her, too afraid of what might happen to risk it. The mark stung, making her already dizzy head spin further. Sahara tried to glower at her mother, tried to focus on that twisted, angry, scarred face, but she could only listen to her tearful vitriol.

"I raised you. I didn't want to be a solo mother, but I did it because I knew it was right. You may not like my methods, I can accept that, but everything I did I did to protect you and ensure you never were a risk to anyone, especially yourself. Hate me all you want, but if you can do one thing for me, never use their powers again, no matter what the situation. Can you do that for me, please?"

Sahara straightened up. Her head still spun, but she could stand properly now and look her mother right in the eye. There was no forgiveness on Deidre's face, only the same steely determination that Sahara had been the victim of her whole life. Her mother felt no sympathy for slapping her, and finally it dawned on Sahara what had been troubling her all morning. She had been telling herself she should feel guilty for beating Deidre up, but the truth was, it was the freest Sahara had felt in weeks.

"You isolated me, you medicated me, you fought me, you controlled me, and look how that worked out. I would never have gotten any control if I hadn't left you behind. I would be the same angry, weak little girl you wanted me to be. You never wanted what was best for me, only what was easiest for you. I've made my choices, and they feel great. I owe you nothing."

Sahara wasn't sure how she expected Deidre to react, but she wasn't surprised when her mother turned away. Her magnified eyes turned towards Vanessa, Matthew and Xavier, who had gathered in front of their Pokémon.

"I don't think you can kill her. If she loses it, your lives are at risk, I hope you know that." Deidre looked back at Sahara, her eyes filled with sadness and pity, and she sighed. "Goodbye, Sahara," she said, and she walked away.

Everyone watched Deidre as she pushed past them, heading back towards the tents. Sahara was speechless. She had gotten what she had always wanted, she had lost her mother. She should be happy, but all she felt was emptiness.

"She's right," Matthew said, breaking the silence. "Those things inside of you, they are uncontrollable. How could you start using their powers like that?"

"Don't you fucking start!" Vanessa hissed. "If Sahara believes she can handle it, she can handle it."

"She's insane if she thinks that!" Matthew yelled, stepping backwards as he eyed Sahara fearfully. "This is insane… I can't be around this."

"So you'd rather be out there on your own when Galactic hunts you down rather than with the girl with the magic powers?"

"That isn't magic what she has, it's a curse!" Matthew shrieked back.

"Xavier, talk some sense into him!" Vanessa yelled, her eyes flickering between her three travellers.

Everyone looked at Xavier. His face revealed nothing, blank as always. Sahara tensed up, her fists clenching; how was this happening, how were her friends judging her like this? She watched Xavier as his narrow, dark eyes looked between her and the stones, the clogs clearly ticking away behind them.

Finally, after a minute of unbearable silence, he focussed back on her. "I do not believe that this is the right way to handle your situation. I am pleased that the rocks did not crush us, and you showed an apt handling of these abilities, but the essences in your body have proved consistently to be a threat. Your emotions –"

She couldn't hold back any longer. "WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT EMOTIONS?" Sahara shrieked, throwing her arms into the air. "I stayed alive for you all, I am still here because you need me, and now you don't trust me? You think two months is enough for you all to understand me, to understand these powers? Well, I'm glad someone else does, but I sure as shit don't!"

Her chest was heaving. Sweat crawled down her face. The puncture wounds on her hands tightened as she turned them into fists. Sahara stared back at her friends, her Pokémon, her allies, nostrils flaring, eyes bulged: she wanted to carry on, her internal dam ready to burst, but she only had to look at their faces to know she had to stop. Fear was all she saw staring back at her. From Cherubi to Smash, from Drifblim to Eevee, everyone was watching her and everyone looked afraid.

"Sorry, I – " Sahara began, trying to calm herself down, but as her eyes turned back to her friends, she realised something was wrong.

Xavier's face hadn't changed at all, but he was no longer looking at Sahara. Instead, he stared at the middle of his shoulder, watching as his blood streamed out down his side. A stone, thin and jagged, jutted out of his body, its dusty surface already coated red.

"Oh my god," she whispered, and went to step forwards, but Xavier moved backwards, exposing his wound to the others.

"OH MY GOD!" Matthew yelled, rushing forwards and clutching his friend. There was a rush of movement as the Pokémon realised the scene, Grotle stampeding forwards with Drifblim and Heracross close behind.

Sahara tried again to step forward but froze as Vanessa moved first. The redhead looked first at the bleeding shoulder and then turned to Sahara; there was no pain in her eyes this time, nor the lustful gaze Sahara had been accustomed to. Only concern.

Sahara did not run this time. She didn't have the energy for it. She merely stumbled back down the beach, trying to ignore Matthew's frantic shouts or the cries of the confused Pokémon. Her brain was spinning, a pain shot up her back, but Sahara kept walking until her knees weakened beneath her. She didn't put her hands out to stop her, falling painfully onto her elbows; she was too busy looking down at her own limbs, the last traces of the tingling running up her arms. I did this. How did I do this. I was in control. I was in control.

"Sahara, are you alright?"

Struggling to control her shaking body, Sahara looked up. She had never expected Spiritomb to manage a sympathetic look, but as she stared into those luminescent green eyes that gazed pitifully down at her, the cursed girl struggled to hold it together.

"No…I'm a monster," Sahara whimpered.

"No, my dear, you are special, you are important. Never forget that; never let anyone tell you different." Spiritomb floated down, the air cooling around her. She could not hold her, she could not comfort her, but the fact she was here was enough for Sahara. Quietly, her sobs deafened the chaos behind her, Sahara leaned towards her guardian and she let her tears flow.

February 10th 2010

She is the one.

***

As smoke filled the sky, as sirens, both natural and mechanical, echoed through the air, as the true cost of the destruction became clear to those affected, Spiritomb was already preparing for the next fight.

She is the one I have been waiting for, the ghost thought, staring through the shadows. She had sensed the power in the air as soon as she had broken free of her constraints, but it had taken her this long to finally track the source. She had to act fast, there would be no other opportunity for this.

I'll have to let her capture me, the ghost thought, disgusted at the thought. The other souls, the other voices, roared in protest at being trapped again. Spiritomb winced against their rage, but she would have to deal with them later. I'm doing what I must to ensure we fight another day.

Before she disappeared back into the stone that bound her, Spiritomb focused her eye again on the strange girl. She had defeated one of her other forms only a short time ago, but already the one they called Sahara was back on her feet. Her power was clearly immeasurable, yet uncontrollable, unpredictable, unstable. The girl had no idea what lay within her, she had no idea how to use it to her own advantages. All the easier for me to make her my own, Spiritomb thought, and she let her corporeal form slip inside the stone, smiling at the sound of over one hundred condemned souls laughing victoriously.

With the power inside this child, she would finally have her revenge.

 

[Ghostsoul]

All was quiet within the forest.

A little bit of a cliche, and I guess kind of vague opening. A forest is a place that tends to be quiet anyway (unless it's a rain forest or something like that). It's a kind of cheesy opening and doesn't set the scene too well.

Ilex Forest was dark most of the time

Considering the description that follows I don't think you need this line here.

The change of light sent the hordes of Caterpie, Weedle, Metapod and Kakuna into their nests and burrows for the night, leaving the Oddish to emerge undisturbed and letting the number of Zubats and Paras' blossomed in the darkness.

As an intro this description seems a little excessive, especially since very few of these elements actually come to be important in the scene later on. Perhaps it could be cut or edited?

All was quiet, except for the heavy breathing of one boy and his Pokemon.

Not the breathing of the other Pokemon too?

so dark

Not sure if the use of 'dark' so frequently is here because it's something you consider important symbolically, however the repetition of the word here makes it seem a bit repetitive. There are other cues you can give to suggest it was night time other than simply mentioning that it was 'dark'.

Charles was never going to let type end his dreams again

I think Charles's backstory and insight into his motivations without going on too long or cutting into the rest of the story, nice going.

light green skin that shone in the light, the pair of bright blue eyes that had watched them from the trees, roughly the same height and size of a child but with almost translucent wings and an oversized head.

The description of Celebi is better than your previous one on the forest, it's a lot more too the point. Although it could perhaps do with a little more alteration, such as changing out 'oversized head'.

Somewhere in the Space-Time Continuum

Not sure if you need to have this here? It might add to the sense of 'mystery' if you got rid of it, especially since there is a reference to the 'black and green' in the next paragraph anyway.

for impact as he felt Gyarados' warm breath wash over him, and Charles' last thought before he hit the lake and blacked out was of Lyla, Typhlosion, Dragonite and the dying Celebi he had left behind in the cave, wondering if he would ever see them again.

I actually think this ended pretty well. Although it leaves us on a bit of a cliffhanger.
It's still a bit strange to me that you split the prologue up into 3 parts.

I can't really say much overall except perhaps edit the description here and there a bit? It's mostly good, it's just a bit too much and therefore distracting in places. It sets up the story fairly well, if a bit short and kind of jumpy.

 

[AceTrainer14]

A little bit of a cliche, and I guess kind of vague opening. A forest is a place that tends to be quiet anyway (unless it's a rain forest or something like that). It's a kind of cheesy opening and doesn't set the scene too well.

The "All was quiet" bit is then called back in the bit about heavy breathing. A bit unexciting, but I don't have many other ideas asides from "It's a forest at night", and I personally find a huge block of text a tad dull.

Not the breathing of the other Pokemon too?

Heavy breathing. I must say, this is very nitpicky XD How loudly are Caterpie and Weedle meant to breathe?

Not sure if you need to have this here? It might add to the sense of 'mystery' if you got rid of it, especially since there is a reference to the 'black and green' in the next paragraph anyway.

Good point. I am trying to cut all the scene setting bits out.

It's still a bit strange to me that you split the prologue up into 3 parts.

It is based on the Celebi event from HGSS.

It's mostly good, it's just a bit too much and therefore distracting in places. It sets up the story fairly well, if a bit short and kind of jumpy.

Thanks for the feedback, I have not looked over this bit since it was rewritten so may be worth another glance over. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story when I start publishing the rewrites

 

[Persephone]

Grammar things. Only thing below that isn't self-explanatory is the "insurmountable" one. That should probably be unparalleled or something like that. Insurmountable means difficult to defeat and, while it technically works, it feels off.

Some break this has turned into.ù

Her mind had rarely quietened over the last few days.

Ever since she her powers had begun to act up, they had been all she had thought about.

and the fact that wall was slipping between them was unsettling.

Vanessa grabbed of the felt tongue and wiggled it as she made her way up the beach.

and the facts speak clearly than any story:

we've discovered a layer of earth from roughly two thousand years ago that are composed entirely of ash

religious artefact

and that the carnage was insurmountable:

the magic of the world are not easily contained.

and you won't die until we want you too.

You just beat up your mother and died into the ocean

One of has to be

Galactic don't know that they need you, but I do.

The booming thud of cry seemed to silence the others though,

All the more easier for me to make her my own,

So onto the chapter itself. I noted to you while reading this that the start of the chapter could’ve benefited from a few things. One is a reminder of what the character’s powers/weapons/basic bios and pokemon on hand/nicknames are. Just to ease getting into things if there are months or years between chapters. The second is a “last time on Galactic” blurb that gives recent plot happenings relevant to the next events.

And the third is a content warning. There are some things that can be really traumatic and just giving readers a quick heads-up at the start of a chapter is good. Domestic violence/abuse, suicide, eating disorders and sexual violence are usually the ones that are best to be safe with since those can be, in the first and last case, traumatic and in the middle cases trigger some pretty dark stuff. Not saying you can’t include that stuff, I do in my works, but giving readers a heads up hurts no one and really helps some people.

I quite liked the chapter, especially in comparison to previous ones. It addressed some of my problems with the story (Sahara’s inexplicable magical girl nature, Giratina as the pure evil satanic god, etc.). And I’m really all here for whatever queer relationships I can find in fiction.

The mother scene… didn’t actually seem over the top to me like I thought it would at first. In part because, violence aside, that’s sort of how my own interactions with my mother go. So good job nailing the shitty parental relationship dynamic right down to the victim blaming.

I’m a sucker for Creepy Children horror and the literary equivalent of found footage. So the flashbacks in this chapter were pretty great. Vanessa’s clothing was even more over the top but at this point I liked how it was pretty much mocking itself. Felt like it crossed the line from odd to gently pointing out how odd it is.

But there was one self-referential part that really didn’t stick for me.

This is like some tragic comedy,

I’m ordinarily fine with this stuff but coming at the most emotional moment of maybe the entire story it felt really, really off. There didn’t need to be comic relief there at all.

 

[AceTrainer14]

One is a reminder of what the character’s powers/weapons/basic bios and pokemon on hand/nicknames are. Just to ease getting into things if there are months or years between chapters. The second is a “last time on Galactic” blurb that gives recent plot happenings relevant to the next events.

And the third is a content warning. There are some things that can be really traumatic and just giving readers a quick heads-up at the start of a chapter is good. Domestic violence/abuse, suicide, eating disorders and sexual violence are usually the ones that are best to be safe with since those can be, in the first and last case, traumatic and in the middle cases trigger some pretty dark stuff. Not saying you can’t include that stuff, I do in my works, but giving readers a heads up hurts no one and really helps some people.

These are all good ideas. I may add one in for this chapter given the huge gap between chapters, but I am hoping for smaller passages of time from here on out. Would definitely like to hit Vanessa's backstory in about three instalments time by the end of next year. Warnings I wasn't really contemplating given the violence of the rest of the story, but I realise now that fantastical content such as that is quite different to what happens here.

I’m ordinarily fine with this stuff but coming at the most emotional moment of maybe the entire story it felt really, really off. There didn’t need to be comic relief there at all.

I wasn't really going for comic relief or being meta, I was aiming more for a slightly awkward attempt at Deirdre attempting to break the ice/act like all is fine. I will give it a second look over in a few week's time and see if I feel differently in reflection.

Thank you for the feedback, I am really happy to hear that I managed to get one of these chapters right finally - hopefully it is not just a once-in-every-three-years event XD This review has got me thinking about the edits a bit and hopefully when I have a spare moment I can sit down and do a solid plan of how I am going to go about those and really fix this story.

 

[UselessBytes]

Okay! Post awards review time! I wanna start by saying I really loved what I read of this story, and am definitely gonna come back and read what I haven't once I have the time! So, on with the review


Plot-

The plot starts off pretty basic, and within the first few chapters it looks like it’s gonna end up being a typical journey fic, but with edge™, but it changes direction quickly enough and drops us into what is basically a full out war. (A lot of the buildup was rather choppy, but I’ll excuse that as me not being able to read every chapter. I probably missed a great deal with how long each chapter is) There’s been some surprising twists and turns that I definitely didn’t expect, (Charles ending up with Team Galactic being one of them) and overall, It was pretty solid. There are a few minor plotholes I remember spotting, but nothing major enough that they stick out enough for me to remember the full context.

- Setting

Throughout the story, we’re mostly in Sinnoh. We jump between the cities, like Hearthome, Jubilife, etc. However, there’s not a ton of attention to detail when it comes to anything past a name. There are a few instances of vivid imagery, but there aren’t many. Overall, the story doesn’t do much to paint Sinnoh in any way other than what’s there in the games.

- Characterization

This is one of the harder categories to judge. Early on in Galactic, most characters are barely even passable as human, being merely a collection of tropes and personality traits mashed together to form some vague recollection of a person. This persists for the early chunk of Galactic, and then, thankfully, falls off. Characters begin to develop and solidify their own personalities, and begin to act like people in real situations rather than actors reading off of a script. Their dialogue becomes less cliche and robotic, and more fluid and human. However, they still retain some of that clunky dialogue and cliche action sometimes. As for who’s who, I’m still a tad confused by that. We have some pretty clear antagonists in the form of Team Galactic and Sahara’s alternate consciousnesses or whatever you’d call them, but the protagonists are a more muddled group. I get the feeling that one of the group is supposed to be standing out to be the main protagonist, and I think it’s leaning towards Sahara, but I’m still not 100% sure.

- Writing Style

In early chapters of Galactic (Aside from the rewritten prologue), the writing style is, well, pretty bad. It’s choppy and plain, and honestly a chore to read. However, the writing style does definitely improve as the story progresses, with character dialogue becoming much less robotic and paragraphs flowing much better. It’s still far from perfect, but it’s worlds better than where it started.

- Technical

Early on, there are quite a few errors in every chapter, and frankly, they’re a tad distracting. This clears up soon, and while there’s never a chapter without a few errors (There tends to be one spelling error every few paragraphs later on, sometimes fewer), they’re much less distracting, and overall much less significant. Definitely could use some work, though, and maybe a few more reads before posting. (Although that’s a pretty daunting task with how long these chapters are )


Overall, Galactic is a solid story. Sure, some of its early chapters aren’t exactly easy to read, but that particular issue irons out later on in the story as the plot and the characters develop. It was a pretty refreshing read, standing out from most any other journey fic I’ve read. It’s unique in its own way, and it manages to pull off its own style fairly well.

 

[AceTrainer14]

but the protagonists are a more muddled group. I get the feeling that one of the group is supposed to be standing out to be the main protagonist, and I think it’s leaning towards Sahara, but I’m still not 100% sure.

There is no one lead. It is an ensemble piece. The latest chapter did focus on Sahara, but the story is split between them all.

It’s still far from perfect,

Do you have anything specific that you didn't like style-wise in the more recent chapters?

Thanks for the review. Pretty much most of the story is being scrapped and rewritten, so sorry you had to go through it all XD I did have Sahara down for judging as well and was looking for some more feedback on her and the most recent chapter, if you did read that.

 

[Persephone]

Sahara Plattina (Galactic)

Depth

There's a bit of irony in that while Sahara is the only person in Galactic with real, high level superpowers, she feels by far the most human. She wants things, chiefly her freedom, and is willing to take risks for herself and others to get it. She has a relationship in her mother in the only chapter in this reading period that felt real, even with all the unreal circumstances of it. Also fond of her uneasy, sort-of-relationship with Vanessa.

If I have a quarrel here, it's that early Galactic's writing of characters can be... superficial. I am choosing to ignore that here for the most part because it's been years and the author has started rewrites, but it exists. Additionally, her alter egos are all very one-dimensional. I'm not sure if they really count as Sahara, but it does drag things down a bit.

Originality

I have to say I'm a sucker for superpowers in pokemon fan fics. Especially uncontrolled superpowers. Only problem is that her "uncontrolled superpowered alter egos are... really one dimensional. And sometimes f***ing creepy given that they're controlling the body of a young teenage girl and being gratuitously sexual with it.

Still, she's one of the rare comsic macguffins who actually does things in her own fight, and in a big way. Which leads to...

Contribution to the Story

Until the most recent chapter, strictly speaking the story could've worked without her. It's just something that happens when you have a team dynamic. She was the most powerful, sure, but Vanessa did most of the fighting wins and in the biggest battles where her firepower was really needed, Sahara tended to be occupied at best, villainous at worst.

If her alter egos count here, her really evil one has also driven a few arcs plots.

I wouldn't exactly consider her the protagonist of Galactic, but she's also not irrelevant.

Entertainment Value

Idk I find her alter egoes to be more creepy (in a bad way) than entertaining most of the time. Except Jaki in the last chapter. That was good creepy. And since that's the only one in the judging period, I'll mark it up here.

As far as her as a character goes... her relationship and fight with her mom are good, but were limited until quite recently. Her relationship relationship is interesting and awkward and so very much a young teenage love story.

Otherwise? She's not the instigator of many jokes and most of the biggest moments of the story happened without or in spite of her.

Development:

She is definitely not the Sahara of the earliest chapters, but it's hard to say how much is a changing character and how much is a vastly improved writing ability. Her relationships mature, she handles them more realistically and her gimmick fades and her true personality gets to come out more. She gets better as the story goes on.

Overall:

Oh, boy. I'm unsure how much to fault her for early Galactic being long and punishing for her and everyone else. In her most recent appearance(s), she's been a pleasure to read, even if she can get outshone by Vanessa and the boys sometimes seem to have more plot impact.

She's good and getting better, but I have reservations about giving anything higher than a [redacted]

 

[Soulmaster]

I'm so sorry for the lateness, but here are my awards review kind of thing, just a copy paste from the awards threads, sorry if they do little to help, I was short on time both then and now.
I really need to get around to reading the rest of this, I've done about half of it over the past few years and the gaps are slowly making a ton more sense, but that's a me thing and not a you thing.

Plot:
This is both a standard plot and not one. Sure it has the young trainers going on their journey and the evil team, but it is different in the way it is carried out. I suppose more of this falls under the other categories. Basically other than the literal more warring side of things I don’t see major uniqueness to the plot.

Setting:
It is Sinnoh, not much more than that. I feel bad that this is short, but I don’t have much more to say. It was Sinnoh during a war. From what of the story I’ve read (which isn’t nearly all of it but picked the right chapters hopefully) nothing seems out of place. Ace describes the settings well, and puts a bit of a twist on a couple locations which I think does add a bit of a layer unseen before.

Characterization:
The characters is where Ace truly shines. He takes standard stereotypes, even making fun of them saying that they are such stereotypes. However Ace takes these standard characters and makes something new of them. And even after several years of the story going Ace still is showing new things and characters are still evolving.

Style:
Ace’s style is decent. Many of the chapters switch between the main characters which doesn’t seem so cluttered. One thing I truly dislike about Galactic is how long the chapters are. It makes sense because it does follow the natural breaks of the story, but they do tend to drone on at times.

Technical:
There were a few things that repeatedly had errors, just like using the wrong your/you’re and the like. But in general it was good, other than those issues.

Overall: 80/100
A solid fic overall and I really need to finish reading the rest of it.


And Sahara:
Depth:
Sahara has more layers than any other characters, whether that is because of her personalities or otherwise can be a bit foggy at times. But her depth is there, if a bit mysterious at times, though now we actually know why her depth is such that it is.

Development:
Out of all of her development throughout the story, it seems like most of it happened in the last couple chapters. She has been the primary focus, and we have actually seen her begin to come to grips with what she just found out she truly is.

Originality:
There are relatively few stories that use a split personality, especially ones that actually make it make some sort of sense. But out of my time reading fics here and elsewhere, I have read very very few others even similar.

Entertainment Value:
Sahara definitely is interesting to read. Not sure if that is because she is enjoyable, or because she makes me cringe entirely too often.

Contribution to the Story:
Purely the last chapter, if it wasn’t for that her contribution would be mainly second rate, I’d even possibly make the argument that she should have been in supporting, but now there is absolutely no doubt that she belongs in the main protagonist.

Overall: 76/100