TEEN: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Hands of Creation

[namohysip]

Chapter 18 – Mistakes​

Shortly after Klent revealed his cause of death, Owen had left the table, saying that he wanted to think. Nobody stopped him, though they did watch to see where he went. Zena, however, started to slither after him.

“Zena, wait—” Star said.

Zena spun her head back and gave a glare to the Mew so intense that her pink, misty form fizzled halfway out of existence.

Zena resumed her pursuit. “Owen,” she called gently.

The Charmander didn’t stop. He was going straight for his home, to his room. The group collectively sighed in relief, but Zena pressed on. He needed company. Even if he didn’t remember it, he gave her company in her time of need. It was high time she returned the favor.

“Owen,” Zena said again. “Please, look at me.”

“No,” Owen said. “I need to think.”

“Owen,” Zena repeated. “May… may I follow you to your room?”

Owen didn’t object, so Zena took that as an affirmative. She knew it wasn’t the case.

The Charmander went to his room and puffed a small plume of fire at the central fire pit, immediately setting it alight. He dug through his bag next, rummaging for something to calm his nerves. Zena, now closer, noticed that Owen was still trembling. He could barely hold his bag open.

Zena couldn’t find her words. He was only a few feet away, and yet they were a world apart.

“Did you know?” Owen said, not turning his head away from the contents of his bag.

Voice missing, Zena could only tense her jaw.

“Did you know I killed him? Did Star tell you?” Owen kept his gaze fixed on the bag.

The Water Guardian was still unable to speak.

“Does everyone here know what’s wrong with me? And they just aren’t telling me?”

It ate away at Zena. When Owen didn’t say anything further, the silence was unbearable. She had to break it. “I—” Zena choked. “I’m sorry, Owen.”

Thick silence. The fire crackled a few times in the pit.

“Right.” Owen pulled out something from the bag and bit into it. In a blink, he vanished. All that remained of him, for a split-second, were the last few embers of his flame.

<><><>​

“Owen has vanished,” Valle announced to the others, just outside in the square.

“WHAT?!”

Gahi, the fastest, rushed to the home—followed by Willow, the second fastest. “Zena! What happened?!” Gahi said, but then saw Owen’s bag half-open in his room. “…Warp Seed.”

Zena turned around. The mutterings and discussion among the others were blurry murmurs to her. She couldn’t get that image out of her head. The moment before he left, Owen had looked at her. They made eye contact for just a second. Owen’s eyes had never looked so empty and lightless.

“V-Valle! Uh—d-d’you know where he went?” Demitri asked.

“I am searching for him now. The Warp Seed must have brought him somewhere within these caverns.” The motionless Rock Shiftry then went silent. “I have found him. He is deeper inside of the caves. He is heading toward the lava flow.”

“Wh-why?!” Willow said. “He’ll burn up!”

“Doubtful,” ADAM said. “Owen’s species is capable of surviving in the lava. It is their habitat. It is very likely that he is going there to cool his system. The irony is not lost on me.”

The Porygon-Z buzzed to fill the worried silence.

“Additionally,” he continued, “it is likely a place where we cannot approach as easily. He wants to think in an isolated environment.”

“At least he’s not running off somewhere stupid again,” Star said. “That’s a start. And, to be honest, Klent, I don’t blame him this time!”

“If I vanish,” Klent said, “it means Owen’s power is waning. You can use me as an… indicator, if you like.” He rubbed his pom-poms together. “Was I too harsh? He may have… been the one to kill me, but…”

“I still don’t believe that,” Gahi said. “What d’you mean, he killed yeh?”

“It’s just as I said,” replied Klent. “Owen is responsible for my death. His flames are what snuffed out mine.”

Gahi clicked his jaws irritably. “How long were yeh waiting ter break that line out?” he said. “As… as just a Charmander? C’mon, don’t kid us like that.”

“He was not a Charmander,” Klent said. “He was… some sort of Charizard. A very powerful one… very…” He shivered. “It is not a memory I like to revisit. I was not the only one to die. My daughter was also killed. It still affects her, as any death would. She still doesn’t want to see Owen. I… don’t blame her.”

“But… he’s a Charmander,” Demitri said. “He never evolved! He…! He…!”

“Oh boy,” Star mumbled, forming a strange, white light in her paws again.

Zena glared, but did nothing. Demitri was clutching at his head, wobbling where he stood. The other two weren’t doing any better. Star fired—the white light enveloped them dimly, and the three collapsed, asleep before their panic could fully set in.

“So much for that,” Star said, followed by a sigh. “Don’t worry, guys. When they wake up, I think they’ll just assume they got tuckered out after their meal. Just play along like before, okay? They’ll believe you if you fill in the blanks. Let their own heads trick them on the rest. Zena, can you carry them to their beds again?”

Zena stared at the three helpless creatures. They would never know who they were, what they became. They’d live, forever, in ignorance of that, while everyone else acted as if they were totally normal. Lie after lie after lie. Until what?

Klent looked at his pom-poms. “Oh. I’m fading,” he said. “but—Owen feels just fine. Valle?”

“Owen is walking.”

“I think he’s too far away from me,” Klent said. “I won’t be able to…” He faded, returning to Owen’s core as a blue ember.

Star sighed. “Zena?” she said. “C’mon, none of us are good at carrying things. ADAM’s too smooth, Willow’s smaller than Anam’s toe, and Valle’s Valle. Can you help out?”

Zena wasn’t sure what came over her. There was a strange heat on the sides of her head, combined with an accelerating heart rate. Like she was preparing for a fight. She stared at Star. The Milotic’s words came without a filter. “Why should we listen to anything you say?”

Star flinched. “H-huh? What do you mean?”

“All of this,” Zena said, staring at her. “Why are we keeping the truth hidden away from them? What they are. They’re the very same things being sent to kill the other Guardians. And now, Owen knows it. H-he forgot everything. He forgot me. Why can’t he remember? Why should I follow your word, Star?!”

Star floated stiffly, tiny, smoky paws clenched. “Because I’m the one keeping you all alive,” she said. “If I didn’t organize to get you guys, you’d all be dead. Your Orbs would be with Eon, and he’d be halfway to ruling the world by now. Zena, you have to trust—”

“I will never trust you,” Zena hissed, slithering until she was mere inches away from Star’s ill-defined face. “Your sins will never wash away, Creator. You did this. You made the Hunters. You kept the Guardians sealed away. And you,” she used one of her ribbons to push at the Mew’s chest, “are the reason for all of this.” With one firm press, she knocked Star back a few feet.

Willow fidgeted. “S-stop fighting,” she said quietly. “This isn’t fun…”

Nobody listened. Star floated where she had been pushed, staring at Zena. She looked around at the others for support. ADAM and Valle were indifferent. Willow skittered toward Zena, hiding near her coils. Team Alloy was either gone or unconscious. She had nobody. And Zena, realizing this, gave the Mew a twisted, sick grin. If Star was going to kill her then, she could at least feel satisfied that she did it knowing she was right.

But then, the Mew spoke. “You don’t… you think I don’t know that?” Her voice trembled. “I know. I kn-know I ruined everything. I know it’s all my fault. I just… I j-just can’t… do anything on my own. I need you guys to… fix my mistake. Because I can’t.”

This caught her off guard. But she wasn’t going to let up. “And why is that, O Creator?” Zena asked. “You seem to do well enough with modifying my memories to your wishes, let alone Owen’s or the rest of Team Alloy. Why don’t you just do that now, hm? Wipe it all away. Go on. What’s stopping you?” Zena slithered closer, never taking her eyes off of Star, even when the deity looked away.

She finally spoke in a voice so tiny, even Zena struggled to hear it. “I can’t.”

She knew it. Despite this going exactly as she had expected, the Milotic’s sneer faltered. “And why is that?”

“I only wiped those memories away in the spirit world. When you meditated and sank into your Water Realm,” she said. “And even then… it was because I was ready for it. You trusted me. Your mind was open enough for me to… if you reacted badly…” Star shook her head. “I can’t do that anymore. You’ll never let me inside. And… and that’s a good thing. I never should have in the first place. I’m sorry, Zena. I’m… sorry.”

No. Stay strong. She won’t influence her with tears. That was how it worked before. “That isn’t good enough,” Zena hissed. “Sorry won’t make up for my centuries away. For the life I could have lived, simple and happy with petty worries. Sorry,” her voice cracked, “won’t make up for the fact that I’m alone again!” Her echo bounced off of the cavern walls. ADAM buzzed anxiously. Willow nuzzled against Zena, sending a mild, irritable shock through her scales.

“You aren’t alone,” Willow said. “I’m here. And I’m your friend!”

“You have heightened user permissions,” ADAM stated to Zena.

“I tolerate your movement,” Valle said.

Zena puffed a few times through her nose. Her heart was racing and she didn’t know why. She didn’t expect to get this far. She was ready to throw everything away just to get one jab at Star before leaving to the aura sea. She was ready to be made an example of, to experience a Creator’s wrath, just to prove a point. In hindsight, it was completely illogical. But she still did it. In some stupor, she finally laid her heart bare for the others to see its pain, and for Star to finally end it.

But none of that happened. Instead, the pink mist floated there, staring at the four Guardians. She was too ill-defined to see an expression on her, but her voice was clear.

“I’ll fix everything. I—I just need help. I’m helping as much as I can. I’m working as fast as I—and—and I’ll make Owen better,” Star said. “That’s—that’s what I’ve been trying to do this whole time, Zena. I’ll have him remember everything. I—I just need time, Zena. He’s not ready! You saw how he reacted! If I gave it all to him now, he’d—he’d totally lose it. You believe me on that, at least, right?!”

Zena’s body tensed, looking for a fault in the logic. Star wasn’t going to deceive her again. But… she had a point. Owen’s aura was blazing before Star had blocked his memories.

“Owen,” Zena repeated. “You can easily modify his memories, even outside of the spirit world. Yet, you can’t for us?”

Star shook her head. “I’m not modifying them. I’m sealing them. His brain makes up for what’s missing.”

“That does not sound like best-practice,” ADAM said.

“Yet, you still can’t do that to us. I doubt Owen and the others trusted you enough to give you free access to their minds,” Zena said. “Does that mean you’re lying? That you’re—"

“They were designed that way,” Star blurted. “They…” She looked down. “That’s how their minds are supposed to be. They have an intentional vulnerability in their auras to revert them to their lowest forms if needed. If you inspected them up close, you’d see the same thing. Ask Anam or Amia. They’ll say exactly what I said. And that same vulnerability seals away their memories. All you need is the right aura key, and…” She motioned to the three slumbering mutant larvae. “Rhys is an aura expert. He taught it to me, Zena. And then to Amia. If you want to help control Owen and ease him into recovery, have Rhys teach it to you, too.”

Zena’s adrenaline, by now, was gone. “And you want to save him?”

“Of course I do. All of them,” Star said. “That’s the whole point. I just want them to live normal lives. I want everyone to live normal lives. I want the Hunters gone—or at least, for them to give up. So the world can be at peace. So everything can be… fixed. But I… can’t do that on my own.”

“Why not?” Zena said. “What’s stopping you from just coming to the real world and wiping the Hunters out yourself? You’re the Creator!” Zena shouted. “Descend upon the mortal realm and make it so!”

“Wh—” Star shook her head. “What, you think I wouldn’t do that if I could?! I’d’ve done that a long time ago! I can only see the world through you guys if you let me! If you guys block me from your realms, I… I’ll be…” She shook her head. “I can’t, okay? I’m not descending on the world any time soon.”

“Then why not?!” Zena said. “Or are you afraid that if you show your face here, we’ll kill you? Because in the end, you think we’ll turn on you because you were the one who—”

“I’m not afraid that you’re going to kill me!”

“Is that a challenge?!” Zena raised her voice.

“No!” She raised her voice even more. “I’m not afraid because I’M ALREADY DEAD!”

This time, despite her tiny, smoky body, it was Star’s voice that echoed throughout the cave.

“I literally can’t come down. It’s the same way for Arceus. We’re dead, Zena. Dead gods! And neither of us will let the other come back. So, we’re stuck.” Star turned around. “I’ll never let Arceus down again. And he won’t let me, either. And if we can stop the Hunters from upsetting that balance… then that’s all I want.”

“You want… to stay dead?” Zena asked.

Star looked away. “I’m… tired, Zena. I’m… I’m s-so tired…”

Zena’s breathing was completely normal again. He looked at the others.

Willow sparked a few times anxiously, squirting a bit of web beneath her body. “Oops…”

Zena sighed. “We have a common goal. Save Owen, and stop the Hunters. I suppose I can work alongside you until that is completed.” She looked away. “You’ll need to work more for my trust beyond that.”

“Thank you,” Star said. “Can… can I get a hug?”

Zena slithered toward her home. “I am going to wait for Owen.”

Willow hopped—and partially sank—into Star’s arms instead.

<><><>​

Every step the four elite fighters took made soft echoes in the long, winding cave. From the outside, the Spire of Trials looked like a giant spike from the ground. Smooth. It was the perfect monument, and they were sure that Guardian Manny and his spirits had crafted it themselves from a mountain. They must’ve had a lot of spare time.

Amia lit the way forward with a blue flame. The light revealed how well-polished the halls were. “Amazing,” Amia said. “Do you suppose they chiseled it with nothing but punches and, ah, their determined fighting spirit?” Amia winced. “I apologize, Rhys. I’m not familiar with your Typing and their tendencies.”

“I wouldn’t consider myself typical,” Rhys said, but then pointed forward, into the first arena.

And there he was. Feraligatr Azu, posing with his bulging muscles in various stances to show off each one. Every flex felt like it made the air itself bend in shockwaves, the sheer power radiating from him making the atmosphere tremble. It was likely all for show.

“Goodness,” Amia said quietly. “It’s as if his muscles have muscles.” She wondered if she could make Alex look like that with a bit of Mystic work.

“Hm,” Rhys hummed. “From how I understand it, we will be fighting in an order of some kind? From weakest to strongest…”

“Who is weakest of us?”

“Me,” James said, nodding. “I may be strong… but I am still limited by Anam’s power output. It would be best if I attack first, and then Anam follows sometime after.”

“Isn’t Anam… only defensive?”

“He has a kind heart,” James said, “but against spirits, he knows he can’t hurt others. He will be able to fight at his best.”

Rhys nodded. “Then, I am fighting Manny… That leaves you two,” he nodded to Anam and Amia, “to decide who will fight the third and second strongest.”

“I wouldn’t consider myself the greatest of fighters,” Amia said. “Not compared to you, Anam! The Association Head of the Thousand Hearts Association… you’re definitely stronger!”

Anam giggled and blushed a slight purple under his cheeks. “Aww, I’m not that good… but okay, if you say so, I’ll fight after you.”

“Got it,” Amia said.

And with that, James finally called out to the Feraligatr. “Azu! We are ready to battle you with our weakest member, me,” he said. “Do you accept my challenge?”

“I accept!” Azu said, stomping the ground. “Ha! You are familiar!” Azu called out to Amia. “Are these your best?”

“Y-yes!” Amia called back. “We’re the strong four of our group, more or less! Well—so far, at least!”

“Yes,” James said. “So, don’t think this will be as easy as your fight with Owen.”

“Owen?” Azu repeated. “H-ha! The Charmeleon, you mean!”

“Yes. That was Owen—I’m quite a bit stronger than he is. Do not expect this fight to go as well.”

“To go as well?” Azu said. “Ha! I see! You mean to say that you are even more powerful than Owen!”

“Yes. I do mean that,” James said. “Did I not state that outright?”

“I see! Very well!” Azu shouted back, clapping his hands together. “Thank you for informing me!”

There was an odd silence then, where Azu didn’t say anything, and neither did the group. The four expected him to make some sort of statement about taking the first hit or getting ready for a tough fight. At the very least, they expected Azu to perform some sort of Ultimate Pose Technique to dazzle them. But he just stood there, claws tapping one another with his hands together.

“Goodbye!” Azu declared. He exploded in a flurry of blue embers. The way forward lit up with a dim glow on the opposite side of the arena.

“Oh,” Amia said. “That was… an interesting reaction.”

“I did not expect a forfeit,” James stated, removing himself from his battle stance. The feather-arrow tugged back with an ethereal bow disappeared. “Amia, did you understate Owen’s fighting abilities?”

“W-well, he was getting his scales handed to him when he was a Charmeleon.”

“But how was he after he evolved?” Anam asked.

“Um… he was a much more difficult opponent,” Amia said.

“You may have understated his abilities.” Rhys nodded. “Nevertheless, we should advance. Amia, prepare yourself for your battle. True to his Orb, Manny wants to see our strength before joining us.”

“Right… of course,” Amia said. “Hmm… oh, how should I approach this battle? It won’t be too hard, will it?”

“We can’t know the strength of the third-strongest fighter. He could be slightly stronger, or leagues stronger than Azu.”

They passed through the exit and continued up the spiral. It was much like the last passageway, only with a slightly sharper curve: The only indication that they were higher in the spiral. After a few more circles around, they saw another dim glow. This one was slightly green, flickering with movement. “Here we go,” Amia said.

“Hrruuoogh!”

Amia quickly brought up her flames. The blue embers danced around her like tiny Illumise. They saw a Chesnaught posing in the middle of the room. Like Azu, he was bipedal, with a muscular build. What distinguished him, however, was his large, beige shell with four huge spikes on his back. The shell also appeared to have muscles.

“Be careful, Amia,” James said. “Chesnaught are immune to quite a few projectile attacks. Since you specialize in distanced attacking… I would focus on beam-like moves, such as Flamethrower, or field-of-influence moves, like Psychic.”

“Got it,” Amia said.

“Ahh, so you are the ones who have defeated Azu!” Chesnaught said. “I am Verd, the second strongest of Guardian Manny’s summoned spirits! Give me your third strongest fighter!”

“Th-that would be me,” Amia said. The blue Gardevoir waved sheepishly and stepped into the arena. She waved her hand, creating three bright, blue flames above her.

“Ha! Then if you are the third strongest, I accept your challenge! Do not think this—”

One of the flames with Amia turned into a jet of fire that went straight for Verd. He yelped and rolled out of the way.

“W-wait! Wait!”

“H-huh?” Amia asked; it looked like she was about to launch a second one.

“Y-you didn’t let me finish my speech! I need to psyche myself up!”

“Psyche… yourself up?” Amia said.

“I—I need a second. Give me a second! There’s a process to this!”

Amia crossed her arms confusedly and looked back at Anam, James, and Rhys. The Goodra shrugged. The Decidueye and Lucario merely looked down.

“Okay. Take… take the time you need, dear,” Amia said.

“Thank you.” Verd got into his pose again, stomping on the ground, shouting at Amia. “Do not think this battle will be easy! I shall give you a true challenge to see if you are worthy to face Guardian Manny! Now… let the battle begin! Hrrraaaaaaaa!” Verd ran at Amia with as much speed as his legs allowed, reaching Amia in seconds.

At first, Amia didn’t move. She seemed unsure if the battle had started or not. Then, at the last half-second, she deftly moved to the right, sidestepping the initial tackle. He couldn’t redirect in time. He had a lot of momentum, but no agility to redirect. Still, Amia recognized the strength behind his attacks. Just one could do serious damage. She’d have to finish quickly.

Verd ran toward Amia for a second time, winding his fist back. Still, he was a Fighting Type. That wouldn’t do as much damage against her. His Grass Type was likely hidden away, similar to Azu. Amia’s embers blasted out another blue-hot Flamethrower. Verd punched through it, forcing Amia to dodge again.

“Fight me head on, Gardevoir!” Verd said. “Do not think that such tricks will be effective against Manny!”

“Oh, dear, I’m not fighting Manny,” Amia said. “And this is working quite well against you!”

“Nnngh! Don’t think you have the advantage!” Verd shouted. He pushed his hands together and separated them with a foot-long gap in the middle. An orb of his very fighting spirit formed, brimming with life and power. Verd launched the Focus Blast straight at Amia. She countered with a Flamethrower again, rupturing the ball of energy. It exploded in a blinding flash, sending a shockwave that knocked Amia back a few feet, but the flames persisted. Verd shouted in surprise—but that was all. Amia’s fire was simply too powerful and Verd was just another ember by the time the flames settled.

“…That was it?” Anam said.

“I suppose Verd was only slightly stronger than Azu, then,” James said.

“Or they drew straws,” Amia added, dusting off her dress. “That wasn’t so bad! I haven’t had a fight in quite a while! Did I do okay?”

“I think you did great!” Anam said, pumping a gooey fist in the air.

James nodded, deciding not to point out the flaws. “You did well for not fighting in so long. Quite well.”

“We should advance,” Rhys said. “Anam, are you ready for your fight?”

“Yep!”

The upward curve through the spiral was getting even sharper. It felt like the inside of the spire was roughly two or three stone’s throws in diameter. The dim glow met them again—red, now—and this time, they saw an Infernape waiting for them at the center of the penultimate arena.

“I,” the Infernape greeted, “am Roh, the strongest of Guardian Manny’s Fighting Spirits! Give me your second strongest fighter to face me in a battle of might and honor!”

Anam giggled and wobbled forward. “That’s me!” he said.

“You, Goodra… shall be my opponent. Do you accept this fight, and not stop until either of us falls?”

“I accept!” Anam said enthusiastically, clapping his hands together. They made wet, slapping noises.

Roh seemed slightly unnerved. “And… you are certainly the second strongest?” he said. Despite his hesitance, his voice was still loud.

“Yes! Well, Rhys and I might be around the same strength, maybe… but Rhys would be good against Manny, don’t you think?”

“The Lucario?” asked Roh. “Yes. Manny would appreciate that. Then, very well!” The Infernape went into his fighting stance, holding his two fists in front. “Do not expect me to go easy on you! Let the battle begin!”

Roh moved perhaps a single inch out of his starting position. Anam opened his mouth and fired an intense, blue blast of dragon might from the back of his throat. The blue suddenly became indigo, and for a fleeting moment, it looked like the blast Anam had fired had grown dragon wings of its own. The wings tucked in, accelerating, twisting toward its target. Roh had no time to dodge. It went straight through his chest, leaving a hole behind. Roh stared in surprise, looking down at the spiritual embers that poured from him. He didn’t have the words to react. Then, delayed, he said, “I—” His body burst into embers, returning to the Guardian above.

Anam giggled, clapping his hands. “That was fun!” he said. “He’s so cheerful! I like Manny’s spirits. They seem really fun to talk to!”

“G-goodness, Anam,” Amia said.

“So, are we gonna go to see Manny, now?” Anam asked.

“I—I suppose so!” the Gardevoir replied. “Um… Anam, did you tap into your Mystic power for that attack?”

“I might have,” Anam said, rubbing his ill-defined chin. “After a while, your Mystic power just naturally enhances your attacks.”

“O-oh, right.” Amia nodded. “Of course. Um… let’s go. Rhys?”

“I am prepared.”

The turns got even sharper, and a strange smell filled the air. The further up they got, the more it became… foul. Rotten. An ominous air filled the atmosphere with every step they took. Cautious, the group walked a bit closer together, and a bit more slowly. Every so often, Amia bumped into Rhys from behind. “S-sorry,” she mumbled.

“What’s that smell?” Anam whined, covering his nose.

Amia nodded. “It’s quite… strong.”

James had his eyes closed, walking with them. “…It’s the smell of decay,” he said. “The decay of… bodies.”

“B-bodies?”

“Yes. I am familiar with this smell. It is death.”

Around the corner, Amia stumbled over something. “Oops—what was…” She brought her flame closer and screamed. She scrambled back and bumped into something else, screaming again. Anam screamed with her. Rhys and James tried to calm them down. Rhys held Anam steady, getting goo all over him; James tried to get near Amia, but his feathers got scorched in the process.

It was the fallen body of a slain Pokémon. There didn’t appear to be any major wounds on it, but it was lying there for quite some time—at least a day. “O-oh, Arceus…!” Amia said.

“We must advance,” James said.

“Did—did Manny do this…?” Amia couldn’t look for long. She walked, looking straight; she only gave flashing glances below her to avoid stepping on anything else. Anam was covering his eyes, guided by James and Rhys; the Goodra was shaking.

“It’s okay, Anam,” James said. “Relax. It’s just a body…”

Anam whimpered. The feelers on his head twitched. “D-d’you hear that?” he asked.

“A-a ghost?” Amia asked.

“H-huh? No, not a ghost,” Anam said.

They stopped walking to listen.

“Hah! Yah! Heh… that all yeh got?!” It was coming from ahead and above.

“…Isn’t that Gahi’s accent?” Amia said.

An aura explosion blasted the wall. Amia yelped and jumped away, slamming into Anam. “O—oops, sorry, dear!” She struggled to break loose of his gooey belly.

“What was it?” Anam asked, clutching Amia from behind in fear.

“J-just an Aura Sphere!” Amia said, unable to move out of Anam’s grip. “Rhys?”

“Yes,” Rhys said. “I’m beginning to understand why they wanted me to fight Manny.”

After only a few more steps, they saw it—another Lucario, a bit taller than Rhys, and significantly more muscular, rather than Rhys’ lean build. And the other Pokémon—a fierce one, Garchomp—but, more importantly, it was like all the other mutant, clean auras. Something was different. She used her arms as legs, and those arms were larger than a normal Garchomp’s. It looked like it was built for quadrupedal movement. She growled and rushed at Manny, and the Lucario laughed and dodged every strike. Fallen Pokémon littered the ground—the Garchomp was the last one standing, aside from the Mystic she was fighting. Was he fighting the entire time, ever since Owen had arrived?

“Watch out!” Amia shouted.

“I got it, I got it!” Manny said, firing another Aura Sphere at the Garchomp.

She screeched and tried to dodge—but it was impossible to avoid the Sphere. She shouted and slammed against the wall, collapsing.

Amia held her hands to her mouth. “Is… is she…?”

The Garchomp abruptly roared and attempted another Dragon Rush toward the Fighting Guardian. In an instant, he countered with another Aura Sphere. Amia recognized those movements of that Pokémon. The desperate lunge, that primal, single-minded need to fight to the very end, against even one’s own body’s physical limits—that Garchomp wasn’t going to quit, no matter what. She looked at the bodies in the arena, and then at the last one standing.

The Garchomp slowly stood up. She growled, wobbling closer to Manny.

“P-please… stop,” Amia said.

Fight and fight and fight—but instead of Azu, who lost once Owen evolved—and lost quite badly, in fact—Manny wasn’t even tired. He was on a completely different level than this Garchomp.

The mutant growled, glaring at Manny.

“Just… stay down,” Amia said.

The Garchomp lunged.

Amia thought, for just a moment, that the Garchomp had transformed. Like it had wings and a flaming tail. Running straight at Manny, straight toward his death, driven by thoughts that were tied to his original purpose.

“P-PLEASE, STOP!”

Manny fired directly at the Garchomp’s head.

 

[kintsugi]

hey! I've seen you posting a lot and I wanted to return the favor. Also, PMD is that genre that I've always thought is cool but never fully got to engage in. This is just for the first chapter, so apologies if I miss anything that gets explained later down the line!

chapter one

quick grammar thing -- I think there were section breaks in this chapter (like Owen blacking out after the fight/Owen getting sleep after waking up after dreaming about blacking out) but they got swallowed up somewhere. Printed books have the luxury of forcing us to new pages to denote this gap, but in online works, it's nice to have something (some people use * * * or _______________________, for example) just to emphasize that discontinuity and make sure readers realize that the scene is shifting.

As a prologue, I thought this was a really solid start -- there are a lot of unanswered questions that you pose for your characters, and lots of room for Owen to figure these things out as he journeys. His parents are keeping something from him (and us), he's got birth parents out there somewhere who is Rhys???, he's got vivid dreams of horrible fights that are way out of his league, and yet he's merrily going off on an adventure anyway. The allure that I found here was that you don't really address any of these points head-on -- these questions definitely get posed to the readers, but none of them are directly asked by the narrative; they're just woven in.

I'm not awesome at commenting on first chapters on anything more substantial than how interested they make me to read the rest of it, but I think this is a really strong beginning and I'll be coming back for more!

 

[namohysip]

Hey, always glad to get a new reader! Welcome to the club, kintsugi!

quick grammar thing -- I think there were section breaks in this chapter (like Owen blacking out after the fight/Owen getting sleep after waking up after dreaming about blacking out) but they got swallowed up somewhere.

Hmm... that's curious. Could it look different on different interfaces? Here--this is what it looks like on my end. I don't use any dividers like that, unfortunately. Instead, I use "double line breaks" which is another method that books do. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like on my end.

Does this look different on your side at all, the larger line break? I might have to look into this further. Send me a DM or something if it looks different, and maybe I can think of something.... I've had problems with this in the past with FFN eating my line breaks. In hindsight, I probably should have just gone with actual characters, but, well... I'm, like, 50 chapters in at this point over there... Sigh another thing to consider.

I'm not awesome at commenting on first chapters on anything more substantial than how interested they make me to read the rest of it, but I think this is a really strong beginning and I'll be coming back for more!

Hey, I'm glad! And I hope the eaten line breaks didn't mess with things too much! Or maybe, now that you know what they look like, it'll be easier? I'm not sure. Maybe larger spaces are just harder to see. I do notice that in some mediums, it's less obvious.

 

[canisaries]

Heyy, a bit late to this again, but I hope you'll just take it as a compliment that I'm thinking of this as the play after work :> and oh boy what work. sooo much work

“Right.” Owen pulled out something from the bag and bit into it. In a blink, he vanished. All that remained of him, for a split-second, were the last few embers of his flame.

“Owen has vanished,” Valle announced to the others, just outside in the square.

Man I wish I had a way to just warp out of social situations, too. I may end up manifesting above a giant pit, but... eh, still preferable.

“I literally can’t come down. It’s the same way for Arceus. We’re dead, Zena. Dead gods! And neither of us will let the other come back. So, we’re stuck.”

DAMMIT NIETZSCHE LOOK WHAT YOU DID

“I wouldn’t consider myself typical,” Rhys said,

this word makes so much sense here I'm almost angry

“Goodness,” Amia said quietly. “It’s as if his muscles have muscles.” She wondered if she could make Alex look like that with a bit of Mystic work.

Amia into bara confirmed. makes sense for a waifumon

“P-please… stop,” Amia said. Fight and fight and fight—but instead of Azu, who lost once Owen evolved—and lost quite badly, in fact—Manny wasn’t even tired. He was on a completely different level than this Garchomp.

The sentence after Amia's line is kind of disorientating, partly because of its location and partly because of its tense. It'd be better for readability for it to start a new paragraph or be preceded with another sentence more like it.

Hmm... that's curious. Could it look different on different interfaces? Here--this is what it looks like on my end. I don't use any dividers like that, unfortunately. Instead, I use "double line breaks" which is another method that books do. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like on my end.

I think Kintsugi may have meant that the double line breaks felt lacking by themselves and seemed like there used to be some kind of line between them. I actually kind of agree and think that actual symbols like *** or --- work way better than empty space (which at quick glance can look like just an accidental repeated button press - I've corrected double line breaks before in cases where they really didn't seem intentional), but I refrained from commenting on it since it felt like a pretty subjective thing in the end.

 

[namohysip]

The sentence after Amia's line is kind of disorientating, partly because of its location and partly because of its tense. It'd be better for readability for it to start a new paragraph or be preceded with another sentence more like it.

A trivial matter. I'll get to it.

I think Kintsugi may have meant that the double line breaks felt lacking by themselves and seemed like there used to be some kind of line between them. I actually kind of agree and think that actual symbols like *** or --- work way better than empty space

This is less trivial, but after some talk with other writers, I think I'm just gonna get around to fixing this up... slowly. 50 chapters is a lot...

Well! in any case, I suppose I can start by doing that here with this next chapter! Just give me a little while to do those edits...

 

[namohysip]

Chapter 19 – Synthetic​

Amia trembled. She stared at the Garchomp, who was barely breathing on the ground and then at the Lucario still standing. The Aura Sphere had sent the artificial Pokémon flying backward, yet miraculously it was durable enough to remain in one piece. Amia didn’t know what to think about the strange mixture of fear and relief she felt when realizing that the Charizard—no, the Garchomp was still breathing.

“Guardian Manny,” said Rhys. “I think that is enough.”

“Eh?” The Lucario looked up. “Oh, well ain’t that somethin’. Yer aura. Ain’t you Rhys?”

“…I am, but I do not know how you know that. Did Star tell you?”

“Nah,” Manny said. “Well, yeah, heh. But I knew ‘bout yeh befer that. Long time ago, real long time ago, ran across yer student. Good kid. Real firework, got a blazin’ heart.”

“E-excuse me?” Amia said. “You know about Owen?”

Manny got out of his battle stance; he put most of his weight on his left leg, swaying a few inches to the left and right. “Baah, what was his name, eh… Gehi… Gaho… Gahi! Yeah, that was it, heh, Gahi. He kinda was real impressionable, I think. Liked m’ accent, tried ter emulate it, I figure. He still got that?”

“Wh—you… you’re the reason why Gahi talks like that?” Amia said. “…Where is that accent from, anyway?”

Manny shrugged. “Always had it,” he said. “That’s how accents work, I figure. Been alive too long ter remember where I got it. Maybe it’s some ancient accent that’s only lastin’ with me an’ him. Survivors o’ th’ ancient dialect.”

“Dialect, hm,” Rhys said. “Well, I regretfully inform you that he still has that manner of speaking, even if he doesn’t remember he got it from you. And thankfully it is not as thick as yours.” Rhys murmured the last part only to himself.

“Oy, what, he’s still alive?” Manny said. “Well ain’t that somethin’! He became a Guardian too, eh?”

“N-no, he didn’t,” Rhys said. “Actually… Owen did.”

Amia recognized the tension in both Rhys’ stance and his tone. She tried not to point it out, and instead listened for what Manny had to say.

“Owen?” Manny said. “Th’ crazy-lookin’ Charizard with th’ funny techniques? Gahi told me all about’m. Only met yer Flygon student; he told me ‘bout all th’ rest.”

Rhys stared at the ground. “Yes,” he said. “That Owen.”

“Hah! Well, Star didn’t go an’ tell me that! Should talk ter her more often! Which Type he got?”

“The Grass Orb,” Rhys said, but then eyed the Garchomp on the ground. Her leg twitched to life, barely. “Manny… you didn’t have to kill them,” he said.

“Yeah, I did,” Manny said.

“N-no,” Amia said. “You really didn’t. You could have easily just scared them off!”

“They ain’t got fear,” Manny said. “Ain’t capable of it. They’re in a ‘battle mode’ an’ there ain’t no stoppin’um.”

The Garchomp growled groggily. Manny eyed her carefully, yet the left side of his face twisted into a challenging smirk.

“But,” Amia said, “but couldn’t you just tire them out?”

“Don’t tire,” Manny said, shrugging. “If I didn’t kill’m, they woulda done it ter th’mselves from overexertion. If they ain’t fightin’, then they ain’t awake. Never woulda ended. Been through this befer.”

“Y-you have?” Rhys asked. “You’ve been attacked by these mutant Pokémon before?”

“Heh, so that’s what yeh call ‘em?” Manny said. “Call it like it is, ol’ timer. These’re artificial Pokémon. Synthetic.” Manny rubbed two claws together. “I call ‘em Mod Pokémon—short fer modified. ‘Cause that’s what they are, y’know. Modified.” He stared down at the Garchomp. For a moment, his eyes looked serious, defying everything else about his demeanor. “All the way down ter th’ very core. I figure even their souls are artificial.”

“You will not say such things,” Rhys said venomously.

The Garchomp twitched slightly and opened her mouth, about to fire a plume of blue fire, but Manny saw it coming. He leisurely pointed his paw her way and shot one final Aura Sphere at it, but this one enveloped her body. She screeched and struggled against the strange field, flailing her arms and legs, thrashing against the air. But then her movements slowed down like the very life was being drained from her. And then, out of her mouth, came a little, golden light, surrounded by a blue ember—and the Garchomp was dead. The ember moved to Manny’s paw and vanished inside. The Garchomp collapsed to the ground, blending in with the rest of the corpses that lacked fatal wounds.

Amia nearly fainted, but she was held up by Anam. The shock of seeing Manny extract the mutant’s very essence stunned Anam into silence.

“Manny…” Rhys said lowly, his own aura flaring at his paws.

“What?” Manny said. “I’m doin’um a favor.” He fired from his paw an aura; it splashed on the ground and condensed into a solid form again. A Garchomp—the very same one, with the very same mutations. She roared; the whole cave shook, and then she ran at him again, claws kicking up rocks. Manny clenched his paw, and she disintegrated into an ember, returning to her host once more. “See?” he said. “Alive ’n’ well.”

“Th-that’s hardly…!” Amia said.

“They live on in th’ Orb. They can fight fer as long as they want. Th’ old timers from th’ last attack a couple decades ago? Found a way ter calm ‘em down, so now they fight fer me. Yeh met ‘em, didn’t yeh?” he said. “Azu, Verd, Roh… yeah. Those three’re my best from back then. Trained by an old friend that’s too strong fer me ter summon. I gave ‘em new bodies, helped repair their heads.” He tapped a claw against his skull. “Fixed th’ instincts that their master gave ‘em. I figured out how ter give ‘em a proper free will. Too bad they forgot where they came from. Was curious, but I guess that’s a side-effect.”

“I… I see,” Rhys said. He looked down. “…Are they… sapient? Can they speak? Beyond Azu and your best…”

“Eh. They’re gettin’ there,” Manny said. “But hey, way better’n I first met’m.” The Lucario paused for quite some time as if thinking about something. Meanwhile, in the silence, Amia tried to regain her composure; James was inspecting some of the fallen bodies, noticing that most of them didn’t have any severe wounds on them. Anam made sure Amia didn’t collapse again. Rhys was deep in some other part of his mind.

“So,” Manny said. “Yer takin’ care o’ Gahi an’ the other ones? How’re they still alive? Figure Mods also age. What’s keepin’ ‘em from passin’ through the aura sea, eh?”

“They… have been reverted to past selves, so to speak,” Rhys said. “And… Mod Pokémon, as you call them, do not age. They were not built to age and degrade.”

“An’ jus’ who built these guys? Must’ve been some real genius ter come up with that. They’re givin’ me some theories, but their past memories’re real blurry. Somethin’ about bein’ in that battle mode fuzzes it up.”

“Genius, huh?” Amia said. “Well, it was a Hunter, right, Rhys? It… i-it couldn’t have been N-Nevren, right…?”

Rhys sighed. “I thought that without Nevren, the other Hunters wouldn’t have been able to continue the project,” he said. “Clearly, I was wrong. Nevren is going to be very upset about this.”

“I’ve never seen Nevren be upset,” Anam mumbled quietly.

“I have,” Rhys mumbled. “This is precisely the thing that will put him in a mood. He assured himself that the stray mutants we’ve been finding are all there are. Clearly, that is not the case.” Rhys scanned the spire’s chamber. “Eon is making an entire army.”

“Heh,” Manny shook his head, tapping the spikes of his paws together to get their attention. “Well, hey, th’ whole reason yeh came… Yer here fer gettin’ me ter join yeh? That’s what m’ spirits told me. But y’know what that means.” Manny nodded.

“W-wait! Didn’t you already get in a bunch of fighting? Y-you must be tired,” Amia said. “Why don’t you just come with us and rest, and then maybe we’ll do a battle?”

“Maybe? Heh, that ain’t gonna fly,” Manny said, wagging a claw at the blue Gardevoir. “Now er later, yer gonna fight me here an’ nowhere else.”

“Are you not tired?” Rhys asked.

“Feh, I’ll live,” Manny said. “A li’l break an’ I’ll be in top shape, if yeh wanna fight with honor.”

“I suppose that would be my preference,” Rhys said, carefully eying the bodies scattered around them. “What will we do with these?”

“Was gonna haul ‘em out an’ bury ‘em befer they stink up the place, I guess,” Manny said. “Gonna take a while, but with some help, maybe it’ll only take three trips, heh.”

“Hmm…” Rhys said.

“Oh! I bet it would be easier if, um,” Anam said, “we, um, we set a Waypoint here? Then we can warp from here to Kilo Village easily…”

“And they would see us hauling carcasses of Mods,” said Rhys. “We should do this the manual way.”

Manny sighed and hauled the Garchomp’s body over his shoulder first. “Guess we better get goin’, eh?” He summoned multiple spirits; they all burst from his free paw and solidified, grabbing a body or two—whatever their respective sizes could handle—and followed Manny. Amia helped as well. Though a bit too dainty to carry one on her own, Alex was able to help once summoned, and she used a portion of her Mystic powers to levitate another, with effort. Anam did the same, levitating three. Rhys manually carried another. James vanished to give Anam more power.

<><><>​

The lava stung a bit, but after a while, Owen’s body grew used to the hot, dense fluid.

This part of the cave was always glowing orange; the ceiling was high above him, flickering slowly from the ocean of molten rock. The lava flowed gently, and it would eventually reach a point where it became solid, and Owen would no longer be able to follow the current. However, that was a long time away; this particular river was lazy enough to last him a small portion of the day. Normally a lava’s flow was tumultuous and a bit of a danger to stay in, but the Mystic flow of Hot Spot was much easier on his scales.

It gave him time to think. Decompress. Be alone with his thoughts. As much as he didn’t like what those thoughts were, he had to be with them. It was better than not thinking at all, becoming some mindless beast.

Klent… Did he really kill him? He didn’t remember it, but Klent had no reason to lie. Owen didn’t sense any sort of dishonesty in what Klent was saying. Star didn’t object to it, either. And the spirits within him had gone silent—not that he wanted to ask them. He was afraid that there was even more that Klent didn’t tell him. How did he kill him? Who did he kill first? Did the daughter die first? Who is his daughter? How horrible was…?

Owen shook his head and rolled over. Any tears he made boiled into steam before they had a chance to hit the lava.

Owen? Someone called. Owen, are you there…?

Owen didn’t want to reply. But, without thinking about it, he did. Yeah, I’m here. He recognized the voice as Star’s. She must have returned to the spirit world just to talk to him. He could easily block her again… but he was starting to hate his thoughts in silence. He had to drown it out. Star was a great distraction.

Everyone’s worried. They know you’re going to be fine out in the river, but… they’re worried about how you’re feeling. Don’t you want to go back?

River doesn’t run forever, Owen said, rolling onto his back again. I’ll go back when I reach the end.

That’s a while from now, Star said.

Silence. Owen scooped up a bit of the lava and tossed it behind him. The disturbance caused the lava to bubble and splatter, and then it settled back like the impact hadn’t even happened. An insignificant little outburst in the hot, calm flow.

Owen, Star said softly. Would you like to meditate?

Owen was starting to feel annoyed. He knew that she just wanted him to talk to her more, talk about his problems, how he felt. Star was playing therapist; she was trying to lift his spirits. She was just trying to help… The Charmander’s eyes, glaring at the ceiling, softened. Okay, he said.

He steadied his breathing. He shut his eyes and emptied his mind. There was a lot to empty out; even when he was calm, it was never truly without thought. It was even harder this time. Some of it was fear. If he stopped thinking, would he start seeing his past again? He could feel it prodding at the psychic blocks Star had put on his mind. Just one slip, and…

I want you to meditate… inward again, Star said. As deep as you can go, until… until you feel like you’ll pass out. You can go that far, as a Mystic. And when you do, you’ll wake up in the Orb’s realm again—I’ll be waiting for you there, alright?

You want me… to go into the Grass Orb again? Owen said. I don’t think I want them to see me right now…

You won’t have to face them, Owen, Star said. It’s just for me. They’ll leave you alone if you want.

I… Owen opened his eyes, breaking the trance. I’m not ready for that.

More silence. Owen knew that Star was still thinking of what to say. He could feel her presence. He hated it. She wasn’t going to go away until he felt better. Couldn’t he just spend a bit of time brooding? All he wanted was some peace. If the lava swallowed him up forever, so be it…

Owen, you know I can read minds… Star said. Thanks for not blocking me, at least. I know you’re in a lot of—

Go away! Owen finally snapped. Just… just let me think. I… I thought I could handle all this, but I can’t. Just take it all away again…. Just let me forget…

I can’t do that anymore, Owen, Star said softly. Now that you’re Mystic… I just can’t take those memories away. The seal won’t work anymore. Like gluing paper on a wet bulletin board… It just won’t stick, Owen.

Then… Owen said, then just take it away! Take away my power! I don’t want it anymore. I just… I just want to…!

Owen slammed his fist against the lava, making little splashes. The molten rock popped and splattered over him, hardening into little pebbles. They fell off of his scales, into the lava, and become a part of the river once more.

Owen, you… you don’t mean that, Star said. Think of all the people you’d leave behind. Your parents… Rhys… the other late-evolvers… What about Zena, and the other Guardians?

Just shut up… Owen said. His heart skipped a beat from guilt. He could block her at any time, but at the same time, he couldn’t. He was already regretting being alone. His thoughts haunted him. He needed Star to keep him distracted.

It was another long silence. Owen sniffled a few times, rubbing his eyes. If he could just go back and stop all of this from happening, he’d do it in an instant. Klent didn’t deserve to die. And his daughter…

Owen took a deep breath and held it. The hot air cooled him down. He breathed out. I… I know you’re right, he said. He wanted to say he was sorry, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. I just… I don’t want to hear it right now. I know I can’t just…

I know, Star said softly. I know it’s hard. And it’s not fair. None of this is fair… none of it, for any of you. I’m sorry, Owen…

Don’t… don’t say that, Owen said.

More silence. Owen sat up; his legs barely dipped in the lava like this. It was simply too dense to allow his tiny body to sink. The Charmander finally sighed, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t want to talk aloud. He knew he’d break down if he did. Thoughts were easier.

How did I do it? Owen said. How did they die?

It was… it was fast, Star said. In a way. The… time between the first hit and the finishing blow was… very close together. It’s just, before that, it was a lot of… chasing, and stuff.

Owen knew that Star’s temporary seal was still working, and he was thankful for that. He felt memories pressing against that seal. If he pushed too hard, they might come flooding back… But he still had to know.

Who died first? Owen said.

Klent, Star said. He stayed back so Amelia could run. But she only ran away for a few steps. She turned around and… saw you do it. Really fast, Owen. It was really fast…

Owen shivered, and he couldn’t stop. Even with all the heat around him, there was an icy void in his core. Like a spike was being plunged into his chest. But if he stopped now, it would never go away. He had to keep going. The spike had to go deeper.

What did I do to him? Owen said.

Air Slash to get him on the ground… and then a Flamethrower to finish it off, Star said. You were so strong compared to him that… he was unconscious near the beginning. He didn’t… suffer all that much.

And his daughter? What happened to…? Did she run?

No, Star said. She saw you kill him, and… she just stood there. She didn’t run or fight. Just… stood there. And, Owen, you… were in a state of mind where your only action was to fight. So, once Klent was down, you went right for her… Same moves. Air Slash, Flamethrower, and she died from it.

Owen noticed that Star left out a detail. The spike twisted and twisted. And how long did that take? He said.

It was… still quick, Star said.

There it was. That was as deep as the wound was going to get. Owen wanted to vomit. But the pit in his stomach was too heavy to heave out. Does it still hurt her? Is she still…?

She’s… fine, Star said. I helped her out. Klent and I did. She’s great, a really strong Pokémon. But… she isn’t ready to see you yet. That’s all.

N-no, I get that, Owen said. I get that.

Owen let the lava’s flow fill the air again. He killed Amelia painfully. So painfully that even now, she couldn’t bear to see him the way Klent did. He killed his daughter, and he still took the time to train him. How could he possibly deserve that? He didn’t. He didn’t. But that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. The icy pit was subsiding, even if the thoughts didn’t. He felt he had it in him to ask another question.

Star… Owen said. How old am I?

You’re pretty old, Owen, Star said. But since you’re repeating the same sorts of memories over and over, you aren’t as old, too. Mentally speaking, y’know? And since most of those memories are still all scrambled… I guess you are a kid, in a way, huh?

The pang of irritation Owen felt was a relief compared to everything else. I’m starting to feel really old…

Yeah, getting them back will do that to you, Star said.

What’s my actual age? Owen asked.

Ehh… you, uh… well… probably around three, four hundred years?

Th-that long?! Owen audibly gasped, but kept it together, closing his eyes again. Why didn’t I just shrivel up and die yet?

Synthetic Pokémon like you were made to not… do that, Star said. You’re… a genetic wonder, Owen, and it was Nevren and Rhys’ work that made that happen, you know.

Nevren and Rhys… Owen said. They made Demitri, Mispy, and Gahi, too, huh?

Yeah, Star said.

For some reason, Owen got the impression she was nodding, like she was talking right in front of him. The pit in his stomach, while still present, was starting to fade. His breathing was returning to a slow rhythm.

You guys were meant to be the perfect team. Four in a set, she said. To be honest… you guys are as close to perfect as I’ve ever seen, but…

But, what? Owen said. He thought briefly about the team name that the trio had come up with before he joined them. Team Alloy. A team that could work together to combine their strengths to eliminate their weaknesses. Just like a real alloy, he supposed. Were they designed to be that way? Was all of this… predetermined? What do you mean, Owen asked again, that we were meant to be the perfect team? What went wrong?

I… don’t think you should know yet, she said. I can already feel those memory blocks slipping just mentioning it. Can’t you?

He could, and Owen trusted her judgment. The Charmander nodded and stared ahead at the lava. The wall was coming up; soon, he wouldn’t be able to advance in the river. He sighed and got up, carefully waddling his way across the lava to get to solid ground. When should I remember everything? Owen asked.

That block I put will slow it down so you can handle it, Star said, And I put some on the other three proactively, too. So, when their memories start coming back, it’ll be a little easier than that flood you got.

Good, Owen said. I guess I’ll… just wait and talk to you when they start coming back again. He paused, rubbing his little claws together. Star? If I was created by Mystic power, doesn’t that make me Mystic, too, all this time?

Eh?

I was… created. Doesn’t that mean I’m Mystic? How come you can’t block my memories now compared to before?

Oh, no, Star said. You weren’t Mystic. You were created artificially. Sure, some Mystic stuff contributed, but you were never Mystic. It was… more sciencey stuff for you guys. You can’t just make life that easily, even for powerful Mystics.

Thanks, Star, for… dealing with me, he said.

It’s alright. Owen, I think… I think I owe you an apology, too. And I want to congratulate you for handling this as well as you did.

This counts as well?

It does, Owen. Because even after all this… I still trust you with this power. Because the whole reason you’re behaving this way in the first place is because you hate what you used to be. And with your Mystic power, and with Rhys’ help, and everyone else behind you—you can conquer it! Okay? Are you hearing me?

Yeah. I get that, Owen couldn’t hide his smile. He did have a lot of people rooting for him. And sure, he disappointed them from time to time, but… he felt different, now. His memories were returning. He wasn’t some kid anymore. He had an inkling of what he used to be like. Too bad it wasn’t very different from now. He wondered if he was just young at heart. But Anam was, too. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

Owen continued, And I still haven’t forgotten about what I can do with this power, either. I mean—look at Anam! I bet he wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far in stabilizing the whole world without the help of his Ghost Orb. He founded the Thousand Heart Association. Just think what we can do with even more Orbs!

That’s the spirit, Star said. See, that’s why I want you guys to gather all this up. You all can make a good world, Owen. Make it all better…

Huh?

Oh, sorry. Just rambling. Godly things. Ask Zena about it…

Owen looked ahead. The cave wall was approaching; he’d have to get out of the lava soon. Thanks again, Star, Owen said. I think I feel better about this power. I still have a lot of questions, but… you know, I’m going to try to answer the ones I have now, first.

Star laughed. Go back to the others—they won’t bother you. They just want to know you’re alright.

Owen nodded. The sealed mutant followed the path back to the hidden village. He still felt heavy, like he was sinking into the ground… but at least he knew the others would hold him up.

 

[canisaries]

I call ‘em Mod Pokémon

And they are all strictly h- [USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST]

<><><>

I like this new scene break you're trying out! Looks so nice. Reminds me of a popular candy over here.

Spoiler: mmm... letters

Owen sat up; his legs barely dipped in the lava like this. It was simply too dense to allow his tiny body to sink.

Hmm... now I'm not a lava scientist, but wouldn't him getting up from lying down make him sink deeper? Pressure is force per area, and smaller area with the same force means bigger pressure. It's why after falling in through thin ice and getting out you should roll or crawl rather than walk. Maybe there are some cryptic surface tension mechanics that makes me be wrong here, idk.

So, we know now that artificial Pokémon are things and definitely different from the Hunters, though still similar in ways. I'm curious to find out how one goes about constructing one of these in a pre-industrial (or post-post-post, considering ADAM's alleged origins) setting.

Anyway, good stuff with the Owen chilling HAHA IRONY in the lava and talking with Star. We'll see how the others will react now that the torracat's out of the bag. Well, except for the Alloy trio.

By the way, out of curiosity, how far in this Act are we exactly? A whole lot's happened with a bunch of twists and turns, so it's hard to estimate the overall drama curve. I get if you don't want to answer to avoid spoilers, but at least tell us if we're past the halfway point or not. ;p

 

[namohysip]

Ha, thanks, Canis! Right on time, too! I was just getting ready for the next chapter, after some finishing touches and polishing, heh... The next chapter is pretty much retroactively dedicated to Amby and his constant insistence that this is building up to the ultimate anime.

Hmm... now I'm not a lava scientist, but wouldn't him getting up from lying down make him sink deeper?

Hm, maybe I could have been more clear about this. Owen is *barely* sinking into the lava at this point. Lava is really dense, and Owen's fairly light, especially for a Charmander. Ever see a cannonball in a tub of mercury? So when he sits up, he only sinks a little bit more compared to when he was on his back, at which point he was barely even an inch deep.

By the way, out of curiosity, how far in this Act are we exactly?

No promises on exact numbers, but I'm aiming for each of the three Acts to have around 1 prelude, 3 special episodes, and 40 chapters each. so we're riiiight at the halfway point of Act I! How exciting!

Hope you enjoy chapter 20~

 

[namohysip]

Chapter 20 – Blade and Fist​

Large mounds of dirt moved on their own, floating in the air. Little particles fell to the ground, collecting near the bottom of this forcefield. The evening sun cast long shadows to the trees that surrounded the spire, as well as the mounds of dirt covering the bodies of the mutants. The longest shadow seemed to be from Rhys, staring at the last pit. Unceremonious, thanks to Manny’s careless speed.

“That’ll be enough,” Manny said. “Dunno why you wan’ed ter make individual graves fer ‘em.”

Rhys shook his head. “It was necessary,” he said.

“You could have burned ‘em,” Manny said, looking at Amia.

“O-oh, I wouldn’t…” the Fire Guardian shook her head. “I don’t think that’s… my choice to make.”

“They deserved marked graves,” Rhys said.

“Y’know they’re all still here, right?” Manny said, holding his paw up. A few embers spun furiously around his claws.

“Their lives are still over,” Rhys said. “Just because they are still with us does not mean that a number of doors have closed for them.”

“Not like they had all that many, heh,” Manny said.

“Do not trivialize their lives,” Rhys said, keeping calm. “They had feelings and dreams, just like the rest of us.”

“Yeah, a dream ter fight,” Manny said. “Ain’t got much more than that ‘til y’ fix’m. They’re broken.”

Rhys jerked his head at Manny, eyes firm with light. The other Lucario smirked and held his two paws up as if he intended to avoid an argument he clearly started. For just a moment, Rhys felt his composure wane. Manny showed no respect for the Mods that he controlled. Did he even understand the gravity of the potential that he stole away from them by ending their lives? Or… was it truly not worth it? How much did Manny know about these creatures?

“Hey, c’mon,” he said. “I should know more’n anyone, these guys’re built ter fight an’ nothin’ else. They’re stuck that way, down ter th’ core. Seems like someone made’m that way. Berserk. They’ll fight ‘til they drop. If they weren’t spirits, they’d all be dead anyway.”

“You can turn them back,” Rhys said. “There’s—there’s a key to it if you radiate the proper aura signature. It’s… merely different than the one I know,” he said.

“Oh, yeah?” he said, smirking. “Yeah, yeah, that’s th’ story, ain’t it? Yeh helped design these things. Gahi an’ the rest o’ their lot. They were the originals….”

Amia bit her lower lip and glanced at Anam and James. James was keeping his head down toward the graves in observance; Anam was nibbling nervously on his slimy fingers, gobs of purple slime flowing off of his thighs and onto the ground.

“Rhys…?” Anam said softly. “Does that mean these ones are… even stronger than Owen’s set?”

“Unlikely,” Rhys said. “Even if they are, they are untrained. If we can keep Team Alloy controlled, we still have a chance at outpacing them.”

“Heheh… now yeh got me curious,” Manny said. “Pretty confident in those early models, I take it. Well, if yer their teacher, then yer pretty strong, too.”

“You speak like the other Pokémon you house are lower creatures, yet all you want is a fight, too,” Rhys said, countering with his own smirk.

“Oy, who said I thought they were inferior, eh?” Manny said.

Rhys’ ear twitched irritably. If he didn’t think he was superior, then what was the issue with his attitude?

“They’re fightin’ machines, so they’re perfect fer my whole gimmick! Hah! Jus’ sayin’ it’s a fact that they ain’t set fer living normal lives unless yeh, what was it? Turn ‘em off? Yeah. Ain’t easy without that, an’ I dunno that. So, quit barkin’ at me.”

Indeed, the graves were all filled. Rhys finished placing stones at the top of each one. He looked at Manny, sizing him up, and then snorted. “So, you truly won’t join us without a fight?” Perhaps Manny felt he was the Mods’ teacher, just as he was to Owen and his team. In that sense… perhaps they were more alike than he’d allow himself to admit.

“It’s in my blood, my mind, my soul, Hunter,” Manny said, tapping his claw against the spike on his chest. “You ain’t worth it if I can’t be beaten by yeh. Or at leas’ put up enough o’ a fight ter get a draw er a stalemate, eh? As th’ strongest.”

“Technically, I am not,” Rhys said. “Anam would be the strongest, should he unleash his power to its fullest extent. But it was recommended that I fight you… likely due to my species.”

“Heh, yer coordinators got good taste.” The Fighting Guardian went into a battle stance, one leg forward, one leg back, both arms glowing with aural fire in front of him.

Anam jumped and wobbled to the sidelines with James and Amia. “G-go, Rhys! Beat him!” he said.

“Of course,” Rhys said, mirroring Manny’s battle stance. He looked at the Lucario and shifted awkwardly. This wasn’t a stance he was familiar with; Manny’s guard was completely open. Was it some sort of ruse? Was he taunting him to get up close? The way Manny’s lean muscles tensed against his oddly thin fur, his stance to run straight into battle… Manny was a fighter up close. Rhys could use that to his advantage. He shifted his stance to something more evasive, legs ready to jump back with no delay.

“Oh? Yer gonna go fer that, eh?” Manny said.

Rhys didn’t reply. He was waiting for Manny to make the first move.

Manny stayed still but then vanished from view. Rhys vanished at the very same time. All that they left behind was a small plume of dust where their feet had once been planted.

Anam squeaked and tried to figure out where they went.

James merely closed his eyes. “They’re taunting each other,” the Decidueye said.

“T-taunting?” Amia asked.

They appeared in the middle of the makeshift arena, clashing at each other at high speeds. The impact created a shockwave that blew up even more dirt from all sides; Rhys felt the recently departed spirits within Manny flare up with aggression and fulfillment, entertained by the battle. Rhys felt a bit of their soul in Manny’s eyes. They were watching.

“Heh… so yeh know that move, eh?” he said.

“As do you,” Rhys grunted.

Their fists had hit one another in the same spot, near the base of their ribs. Yet, both of them had tensed enough to resist the blow’s effects.

They jumped away from one another and launched two blue spheres of aura energy in complete sync—the two collided and exploded, sending the two Lucario back even further in the resulting, blue blast. Aura embers swirled and dissipated.

“Peh—” Manny skidded to a stop.

“Ngh—” Rhys stumbled but steadied himself.

“Not bad,” Manny said. “But I figure that’s where our techniques’re gonna stop bein’ th’ same.”

“Oh?” Rhys said. He moved his paws forward, metallic light energy swirling between them.

Anam tilted his head, puzzled. Why would he use such an ineffective attack against Manny?

Manny, meanwhile, rushed toward Rhys at blinding speeds again.

“What—” Rhys had no time to react; he was punched in the gut, but he launched his Flash Cannon at the same time, point-blank. Manny jerked his head sideways and punched Rhys just below the spike on his chest. The blazing light singed the fur on his right cheek, but nothing else.

They both jumped away again, kicked off of the ground, and rushed toward each other again. Rhys formed another ball of steely light in his paws. Manny weaved out of the way and crouched down, flipping his body for a kick in the stomach. Rhys grunted and fired his Flash Cannon on the ground, redirecting himself and his momentum just enough to dodge the kick. Manny’s foot grazed his fur. Rhys immediately formed another Flash Cannon in his paws, aiming it right at Manny’s face again. This time, he didn’t miss, and Manny had to jump back.

“Hah!” Manny said. The fur on his face was singed slightly, but he was ignoring it, or perhaps didn’t notice it. “Bullet Punch versus Flash Cannon! Guess yer a distant attacker! So, what’re you doin’ luggin’ around Extreme Speed?”

“In case I can’t fight from a distance, I suppose,” Rhys growled, pulling away. “I can outpace almost anybody with it. Why would you have Aura Sphere?”

“Aaah, c’mon, what’s a Lucario without Aura Sphere?” Manny said. “Besides, hard ter miss with that one, heh, since it zeroes in on th’ enemy. Heheh… So… what’s yer next technique?” he asked. “Gimme somethin’ good. Yer holdin’ back. I feel it. Who uses Flash Cannon on a Lucario?”

Rhys smirked slightly. “I suppose it was quite obvious. As it was for you, Manny. Bullet Punch? Really?”

James’ feathers abruptly puffed out. “Are we really doing this right now?” he said, raising his wings in exasperation. “Truly, you were toying with one another?! Rhys, I thought better of you.”

Rhys flinched. Perhaps he got carried away. Manny’s fighting spirit was infectious, even for him. And he could feel the many spirits inside of the opposing Lucario roaring for a good fight. He felt a small bit of Team Alloy in that. He had to entertain them, at least in some small way. Tiny joys to satiate their sad lives. Or, that was what Rhys told himself. He worried that perhaps Owen and his ilk were rubbing off on him after all…

“I wasn’t going to do the dishonorable move and fight him at my best when he’s simply grappling,” Rhys said, figuring that was a noble enough excuse.

“Hah, that’s th’ spirit,” Manny said, holding out his paw. “Then let’s shake on it! We’ll go all-out, an’ see who wins, eh?”

Rhys hesitated. “I… cannot fight at my best,” he said. “I made a Promise to not attempt to kill another Guardian. A Divine one.”

“Well, ain’t you confident,” Manny said. “So sure you’ll beat me. Aah, so what’ll happen if yeh try?” he asked. “If y’come close, will yer power get taken away?”

“Not necessarily,” said Rhys. “The last time this happened, before I launched my final strike, my paw glowed with divine power leaving me—as if it was a threat that proceeding would revoke my status as a Hunter, or at least the power that came with it.”

“Well, how ‘bout this, then,” Manny said. “Yer paw glows, that counts as a win. Sound fair teh you?”

“Hmm… Very well,” Rhys said.

“Then let’s go all out,” Manny said, stomping his foot on the ground.

This single motion created a crater in the dirt larger than Manny. He remained floating in place; the ground beneath him vanished, compressing into the earth. The Lucario’s body bulked up, muscles toning his legs and arms, followed by the spikes along his paws and chest vanishing. Rhys recognized this as a subtle change, but an important one—he was now fully Fighting Type, in his Guardian form. Aura Sphere would hold no advantage against him. More worrying was that a single punch would end Rhys. Three, four, perhaps all of his ribs?

“Well?” Manny asked Rhys. “As a Hunter, I know you’ve got somethin’ ter show!”

“Hmph,” Rhys said, slowly entering a neutral stance.

“Eh?” Manny rose up, entering one as well, standing on an invisible platform created by his Mystic power. “What, y’done? Forfeit?”

“Far from it,” Rhys said, looking at the opposing Lucario. “But I believe that if I go, as you call it, all out, this battle won’t last very long at all.” He looked at the spectators. “Anam!”

Manny looked genuinely insulted, face screwed up in a scowl. He crossed his bulging arms.

“Y-yes!” the Goodra said, straightening.

“We have a few Reviver Seeds, do we not?” he said.

“Yer jus’ tryin’ ter get me mad, ain’t yeh?” Manny hissed.

“We do, um…!”

“Give one to Manny. Then I can fight without holding back or worry of losing my power to my Divine Promise.”

“O-oh!”

“Oy, I take offense ter that!” Manny waved his fist in the air. “What’re you playin’ at?”

“Just take it and if it is used up, it’s the same as being defeated, hm?” Rhys said. “You don’t want me holding back. I have a Promise to keep. This is the compromise.”

Manny glared like he’d been tapped on the nose as a punishment. He snorted. “Ehh… Fine.”

Anam wobbled over and gave the Mystic his Reviver Seed. Manny didn’t seem very pleased with this perceived handicap, but he shrugged it off. Anam gave him a small bag to tie around his neck to keep it safe without encumbering his fighting. “Thanks,” Manny said. “Heh… y’got a strong aura.”

“O-oh, I guess so…!” the slimy Goodra replied. He wobbled back to the sidelines and watched.

“Let’s get it on already!” Manny said. “My muscles’re achin’ fer a good punch!” He slammed his fist toward Rhys; the resultant gust of wind nearly knocked away Rhys’ breath.

“Ngh—Of course.” He closed his eyes and tensed his body for a split-second.

His two paws glowed with a bright, blue flame—and then, with a sudden flurry of power, that flame spread up his arms, over his shoulders, over his head, and then down his torso and legs, ending only when his feet were engulfed in a great fire. Rhys opened his eyes, breathing deeply. He brought his left arm forward and bent, his right arm back and ready to strike, his legs poised to jump back or leap forward as the situation called.

“Now we’re talkin’!” Manny said, entering a similar stance. He made the first move again, dashing with an Extreme Speed, but then transitioned into what Rhys could only guess was his opponent’s personal favorite move. With a flurry of punches and kicks, leaving his defenses completely open, the Fighting Guardian traded his defenses for a complete, unmitigated offense. Rhys took every single hit. Every blow cratered the ground beneath him; the shockwaves were deafening. The nearest tree trembled, dropping a few apples onto the ground.

Anam covered his mouth at the onslaught, but the flame of Rhys’ aura made everything obscured. Manny laughed maniacally with every strike, knowing that every single one was connecting. He felt the impact of every punch. His spirits roared, pressing him to fight harder. Rhys could almost sense their restless souls lashing against his fur.

“Haaaaa!” Manny finished it with a punch to the gut that bent the light around them in a ring-shaped pulse; Rhys grunted and bent over by only a few degrees. Manny panted, fist numb. “H-had enough?” he asked; he was completely open. His Close Combat never failed! Rhys was probably passed out upright.

“You expected me to fall from that strike…” Rhys said, strained. “So, you pushed yourself to guarantee your win… But you didn’t expect this… did you?”

The aura flare that surrounded Rhys was dying down. The embers danced and mingled with his blue and black fur, sinking inside like a dying candle. But some of it remained. The fire around Rhys obscured it at first, but now that they died down, it was clear: a thin, cyan layer of solid aura—the same sort that Rhys had used to deflect Zena’s Hydro Pump—coated him from his ears to his toes. Every move Rhys made, the armor followed, bending at the joints just as his bones did.

Manny’s eyes widened. “Armor?”

While the strikes indeed connected, they were dulled by this strange barrier.

“You wanted to know my final technique,” Rhys said.

Manny realized too late what was coming. His legs bent to jump away, but Rhys already struck in return—a single, precise thrust, squarely in Manny’s chest. The strike wasn’t with Rhys’ paw or even an Aura Sphere—no, instead, it was an extension of his paw, made of that same armor, that elongated and tapered off into a single, fine, and flat point. It went right through Manny, splitting his chest open where it sliced. More aura energy rushed through Manny, spreading through his whole body explosively. He couldn’t even grunt.

Then, Rhys jumped away. The Fighting Guardian collapsed to the ground.

Anam stared, wide-eyed. Amia reacted similarly, trembling. They both knew how strong Rhys was, but they thought he wouldn’t actually go all-out. But by some twisted honor of the Fighting Orb, Rhys granted Manny his wish.

The blessed seed inside of Manny’s small bag healed him of his injuries in a wash of golden light. Manny gasped for air and rolled onto his back, huffing with strained breaths. He raised his hand—it was shaking—and held at where he still felt the lingering, yet woundless pain of Rhys’ strike, as if his mind and aura were still adjusting to not being injured.

“S-so that’s yer power…” he said, puffing. “Yer… Mystic desire…”

Rhys nodded. “My specialty is the aura—to the point where I can use what little divine energy I possess to make my flare manifest as a solid object. I… try not to do it too often.” He closed his eyes; the flare became a cloud again, evaporating into nothing. “I hope you are satisfied.”

“Heh… yeah. You win,” Manny said. “Without that Reviver Seed, I’d’ve been down fer a while. Takes a lotta time ter heal from a wound like that. I wouldn’t’a been able ter fight.”

Rhys nodded. “Good. Then you will be coming with us?”

“O’course,” Manny said. “If yer not ev’n th’ strongest… then I gotta see th’ others, an’ how yer students’re doin’.” He held out a paw.

Rhys nodded, smiling with relief. At least Manny had his honor to accept a loss. He held out his paw in return… and then fell backward, straight into the dirt.

“Rh-Rhys?!” Anam said; he and Amia rushed to either side of the Hunter. Amia took the liberty of sitting him up.

Rhys opened his eyes and looked around, ascertaining the time of day. “I—I will be fine,” he said. “What happened? Was I unconscious for only a moment?”

“Yes, dear. Please, don’t strain yourself,” Amia said.

“Ngh… how embarrassing,” Rhys said.

“Oh, sure, no, don’t worry ‘bout me er anythin’,” Manny said, holding his paw in the air to be helped up. James ended up being the one to assist the Guardian to his feet, using his wing as Manny’s anchor.

“That… that technique takes out quite a bit of me,” Rhys said. “I can only use it for a short while before I, well… become unable to fight, too. I prefer to only use it if I know I’ll win quickly.”

“Yeah, sure, rub it in,” Manny muttered, turning away.

Rhys chuckled weakly. He leaned weakly against Amia, dropping any pretenses of dignity. Everything felt numb. “You’re a very strong fighter, Manny,” he said. “But… I may need to be carried back.”

“Aw, I gotcha covered,” Manny said. “But… how ‘bout we jus’ sit an’ rest fer a sec? I think my aura still feels like it’s gotta repair. What’d you do, bust m’ spirit?”

“I may have done some of that,” Rhys admitted. “N-nothing to be alarmed about. You will recover shortly.”

“Feh.” Manny leaned back and then plopped his back against the ground again. The angle seemed awkward, considering he was still partway inside the crater that they’d generated during their fight.

Amia and Anam looked at one another and sat down, too. Amia crossed her legs and adjusted her dress; Anam plopped down with a wet wap and started playing with his little clawless toes, humming quietly to himself. James inspected his feathers, preening where necessary.

“Yeh really managed ter stabilize them?” Manny asked.

“Hm?” Rhys said.

“Gahi seemed fine when I saw’m. But then I saw more like’m, an’ they were all hostile. What’s up with that? Stray mutant Pokémon like’m poppin’ up here an’ there…”

“I’m not sure what caused that to happen,” Rhys said. “I personally would like to know myself. If they’re intentionally being let out to cause chaos… they aren’t doing a very good job. Hmph. But regardless, yes. Team Alloy—the group Gahi is a part of—became unstable after an… incident, and we’ve been repairing the damage ever since. They defaulted to their battle mode, as you call it. And have been in it ever since. They can only stay sane if we suppress their forms in their unevolved states, which haven’t been modified. In a way, it is a means to seal them away in a smaller, safer form.”

“Heheheh…”

“You find that humorous?” Rhys asked, tensing.

“Nah, nah,” Manny said. “Well, that explains it. So, what, yer sayin’ they’re… not at their evolved forms righ’ now?”

“No. If they were, they would be unable to… think beyond their instincts for battle.”

“Well, ain’t that a shame,” Manny said. “Guess yeh’ve got it covered.”

“Mm… I am a bit concerned,” Rhys admitted. “Owen is starting to learn about his past early. When suppressed, their memories are also sealed away. But now that he’s Mystic…”

“Yeah, I spotted that bit when he visited an’ fought Azu, heh,” Manny said. “Y’think he c’n handle it?”

“I think he will,” Amia spoke up. All eyes turned to her, and she shrank down.

“Y-you… you do?” Rhys said.

“It’s different,” she said. “I think the timing is perfect, Rhys. Owen’s having a hard time right now, but… I have faith that he’ll pull through with everyone else by him.”

“Faith…” Rhys said.

“Heh. Faith. That’s a good one,” Manny said, looking away. “Before I got into this Mystic business, I figured all those stories about Mew an’ Arceus were jus’ that. Stories. ‘Cause I work with facts. Solid, tangible facts. Somethin’ I can punch, eh?” He threw his fist weakly in the air. “Even now, I’m gonna work with that.”

Amia gulped, looking down. She didn’t say anything, but James quietly moved closer to try to assure her that Manny was an idiot.

Manny shook his head. “An’ th’ fact is… I agree.” He flashed Amia a genuine grin. “He’s close, th’ way he was fightin’ Azu. A bit o’ him was in there, even when he evolved. Kinda.”

Rhys looked at Amia, then at Manny. “Amia,” he said, “I understand that it was difficult for you to explain what had happened before, but, please, could you tell me what happened?”

The Gardevoir looked at her hands in her lap. “Mm… I suppose it was different than the other times. Closer than ever, Rhys. First, he evolved, yes. But then… ooh… he tore Azu apart.” She shivered.

“L-literally?” Rhys asked.

“Yeah,” Manny said with a dry chuckle. “Heheh… shook Azu up good, that.”

“I find that hardly funny,” Rhys said.

“I dunno, seemed pretty funny,” Manny said.

Rhys rubbed the bridge of his snout. “Amia, please continue. Azu was defeated. Then what?”

“Well,” Amia said, “Owen was, er, he… tried to attack Azu’s spirit next, but that didn’t work out so well. He just fled. Then Willow and I were calling for him to calm down, and, well, that never really worked…” Amia hesitated. “Except, this time, it actually did.”

Rhys blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Owen stopped. He… he stopped. But… but then he turned around, and he walked toward us. Oh—oh, Rhys, his body was shaking. And his eyes… oh, his eyes, I—they were so…”

Anam and James looked at one another. “Angry?” Anam asked.

“Savage, I figure,” Manny said.

Amia shook her head. “Afraid,” she said. “He said… ‘help.’ He said help, Rhys. He was there, Rhys…!” Amia smiled, but then gasped back a sniffle. “He was so close, Rhys…!”

“But… he wasn’t able to be in control,” Rhys said.

“He was hurting,” Amia said. “He said it was in his chest. Like he had to fight, his body was moving like he had to fight, but he wasn’t actually fighting. Too much… energy. I told him to breathe and meditate, and it worked a little, but… oh, if I waited a little longer, maybe he would’ve…!”

“No,” Rhys said. “You did the right thing. I—I had something similar happen to me,” he said. “But rather than continue fighting, after our encounter with Rim, she simply disappeared. Mispy, Demitri, and Gahi all evolved, and then I felt… quite a few vines wrapping around my body. And then I felt energy, and my vision came back, my wounds were healed…” Rhys nodded. “Mispy told me to hurry. Yes. I remember that quite well. So, I returned them to their lowest forms again, but… she was very composed. I honestly think she was just afraid of herself.”

“Composed?” Amia said. “Y-you think—?”

Rhys nodded. “I do,” he said. “It has been centuries, but… I think they’re almost completely healed.”

“Took long enough,” Manny said absently. “Centuries! Hah! That’ll be fun fer them ter sort through.”

Rhys growled to himself. “It isn’t ideal, but it’s better than permanent insanity, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Nah, nah, I get it, I get it,” Manny said.

Rhys was beginning to get second thoughts about inviting this Guardian over. He already demonstrated himself as a bad influence on Gahi. What if they relapse?

“Heh,” Manny went on. “Guess we should head back.”

Manny nodded and stood up, looking refreshed. He held out a paw and released Azu, who happily posed and flexed with a showy shockwave. He leaned forward and hauled Rhys over his shoulder like a log.

“Urf—”

“Ha!” Azu declared. “The challenger Lucario won the battle, and yet he is the one who must be carried!”

“Easy, Azu,” Manny shook his head. “I’d be bleedin’ out if it wasn’t fer that Seed. Oy, Goodra.”

“Y-yes!”

“Lead th’ way back!”

“Okay!” Anam fumbled through his bag, still lodged partway into his chest. With a cheerful grin, he raised the slimy, glistening Badge into the air. “To Hot Spot!”

 

[namohysip]

Chapter 21 – Our Lord​

Demitri and Mispy wandered through the inner caverns of Hot Spot. It was odd not having a forest to walk out of from their old cave; the lack of foliage unnerved Mispy in particular. Back at their old home, they would have gone out of the cave, headed into the nearby forest, helped water Rhys’ garden—

“Mispy, do you think Rhys still checks on his berry garden at our old place?” Demitri said. “We kinda just up and left…”

Mispy frowned, thoughtful. That garden always had the best-tasting berries, possibly because of how fresh they were. Could they find a way to grow them in Hot Spot? Maybe if they went outside and then climbed the hills that were above them.

She missed the sun. The Mystic glow of the mushrooms that coated the red rocks blue just weren’t enough. She absently prodded at one with her foreleg, noting the relative firmness of the otherwise soft fungi, and then glanced at Demitri.

“Mispy, what’re you—”

Mispy wrapped a vine around one of the mushrooms and tugged; the rounded cap was about half the size of her head, and the stem was nearly as thick as her leg. She had to pull harder. It broke near the base, but the glow remained, albeit quickly fading.

“Hungry?” Mispy asked, offering the mushroom.

“Is that even edible?”

Mispy shrugged. “We can try.”

That didn’t comfort the Axew very much, but before he could object, the Chikorita took a nibble from the cap. Bland, but with a hint of an earthy, savory flavor. It wasn’t dry, but it wasn’t exactly dripping wet, either; the insides reminded her of mild cheese. When was the last time they’d gone to Tank of Miltank, anyway? Well, dairy didn’t agree very much with Demitri, but Mispy wouldn’t mind trying some again.

“How is it?” Demitri asked, breaking Mispy from her thoughts.

“Mm.” Mispy offered the other side of the cap to Demitri, bobbing her leaf. “Good.”

Demitri took a nibble next, humming uncertainly after a few chews. “It’s okay,” he half-agreed. “I miss Rhys’ berries, though.”

To that, they could both agree.

All around them were empty homes; they were slightly deeper in Hot Spot, not really trying to chase Owen, but still wanting to at least be, in some small way, closer to where he was moping. Any closer and the heat would’ve gotten to Mispy—her Grass instincts were already telling her to go back. Then again, they had been telling her to get out and get some sun, too.

“I hope Owen’s okay,” Demitri said, frowning.

Sensing that their walk was over, Mispy moved near the wall by a patch of mushrooms and planted her rear next to them decisively. Demitri suppressed a laugh and followed her, brushing his hip against hers. She leaned behind his tusk and gave it a playful nibble.

By the time their first mushroom was halfway eaten, Demitri spoke again. “I can’t even imagine it,” he said. “This whole town used to be filled with villagers. Owen mentioned a few of them. Apparently, there was a Fennekin that had given him, like, courtship advice, or something. And an Arcanine that always gave him rides around the village. And then a bunch of other Pokémon, too. But now it’s so awkward now that the secret’s out that they don’t even show up anymore.”

Mispy tore off another strip of the mushroom stem. “All an act.”

Demitri shuddered. “All fake…”

An uncomfortable silence surrounded them and Demitri pulled his legs closer to his body. “Who would’ve thought that a literal ghost town could feel even worse when the ghosts are gone.”

Mispy almost lost her appetite to empathy. Almost. She grabbed another mushroom beside her and started anew. “Owen…”

Why did they care so much about him? They only remembered meeting him about a moon ago; while it was unfortunate that he had to go through this, it shouldn’t bother her this much to think about how much he was hurting. It tugged at some deeper part of her heart, the same way she would’ve felt if Gahi had gone through the same thing.

Mispy noticed that Demitri was staring at her. She held up the mushroom in offering, but he declined with a polite claw shake.

“Mispy,” Demitri said, “when we lost against that Hunter and we lost the Ground Orb, and Forrest… do you remember what happened?”

Mispy shook her head, slowing her eating.

“Me neither. It’s all a fog before that. And then we just passed out during discussions, too. I hope that Espurr didn’t do some kind of Psychic mind tricks on us.”

“No,” Mispy said.

“No?” Demitri asked. “…Oh, yeah. I don’t think so, either. It feels like this fog goes a lot deeper. There’s a lot that’s similar between us and Owen, and I think maybe that’s why I feel so bad about…”

“…No…” Mispy stopped eating this time. “There’s more.”

Demitri unfolded his legs, picking at his tusks. “More, huh?”

The Chikorita nodded. “Fog… in my head.”

“Exactly!” Demitri shouted, startling Mispy. “Sorry.” When she resumed eating, he continued, “I feel like everyone’s keeping a secret from us, but I don’t get why. Because their minds aren’t in a fog, and they act like they’ve known us forever, but I can’t even remember the specifics on how we got here! When did we even get Heart badges?” Demitri rubbed his eyes. “Argh, I can’t even remember Heart of Hearts Anam giving it to me, and there’s no way I’d forget something like that!”

“Something’s wrong,” Mispy agreed. “But…”

“But we don’t know what to do about it, right?”

Mispy’s leaf drooped and she took another, sad bite out of her second mushroom. “They know,” she said.

“But they won’t say.” Demitri looked down. “Seems like Owen knows, too. Maybe that’s why he got so upset that he had to leave…”

Mispy stiffened. “Did they… make us forget?” she whispered.

An icy chill ran down their spines, and for a while, they sat in complete silence. Far, far away, at the entrance to the cave, some jovial voice announced his presence. It was so far that the echo of his call was unintelligible.

“I think that’s the Fighting Guardian,” Demitri said. “Rhys must be back with him. We see how they’re doing, but what do we…”

“Play dumb.” Mispy got onto her feet.

“Play dumb?” Demitri frowned, unsure. “I—I’m not that good at acting.”

“Then be me.” It wasn’t like she could talk all that easily. It was only because she was talking to Demitri, alone, that she wasn’t constantly stumbling over her words. If Demitri just kept quiet and played dumb, maybe they could uncover some memories.

Maybe that’s what Owen was doing, too.

<><><>​

Star, a floating, pink haze, bounced in the air to get the attention of the others. It was hard to tell what gestures the pink cloud was trying to make, but they had the impression she was waving her arms around.

“Guys! He’s coming back now! Just—just keep it cool, alright? Don’t ask him anything, but don’t try to ignore it either, okay? Like, just make sure he feels… like how we all think about him, right?”

“Pretty much,” Gahi said, looking refreshed after his nap. He flicked his huge head in the air. “I mean, c’mon, he’s Owen! Wouldn’t hurt anyone, guy wants even outlaws ter get a second chance and get back on their feet! He’s the ideal Heart!”

The rest of Team Alloy nodded. Demitri, who seemed winded from rushing back to the central caverns, said, “We’ll be there to support him no matter what!”

“Exactly!” Star said. “Yes! Good! Keep that up.”

Gahi clicked his jaws at Demitri. “And what’re you doing all pantin’ like that?” he said. “You an’ Mispy were gone fer a long time. You two weren’t—”

“N-no! No, nothing like that!” Demitri said. “We were just—”

“Yes,” Mispy confessed, lowering her head.

Gahi reeled in faux-disgust.

Owen could hear the tail-end of their conversation, but he didn’t want to admit it. They thought that he was an ideal Heart? He killed someone! No—he killed two Pokémon! At least! But… it was like Star said. He wasn’t truly that person anymore. That was just… how others wanted him to be. Right? Well, not anymore! He puffed out his chest.

“Hello?” Owen called.

“Hey, Owen,” Demitri said. He nodded, though it was a bit shaky. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just needed to… cool off… in the lava.”

Mispy frowned, disappointed at Owen’s sense of humor.

“That, uh, that’s an interesting way to cool down,” Demitri said.

“I’m… I’m just really tired,” Owen said. It was plainly obvious in his lethargic body language. He looked like he could lose all control and sleep on the ground. “I’m sorry that I ran off like that.”

“It’s okay,” Mispy said. The Chikorita saw his aura—the flare was weak and jittery. Tired after a stressful day. Owen wasn’t going to be in the mood for much.

“Yeah,” Demitri said. “I mean… to be honest, we’re still kinda trying to figure out what’s going on, too. Because… apparently, we have… we have a lot of missing memories, huh?”

Owen hesitated. Did they know more than he did? No. If they did… they would’ve been screaming. He knew it. But they were definitely nervous about what they could find out.

“I just want to sleep,” Owen finally said. “I’ll… I’ll talk about all this later. Tomorrow. Okay?”

“Yeah, totally,” Demitri said. “And then maybe we can train and fight tomorrow?”

Owen’s tail flickered brighter at the offer. But then it waned. That feeling of joy at fighting… Was that his emotion, or was that his instinct? Was that his choice… or was that how he was supposed to react? Who was he, really?

The Charmander shook the thoughts away. He’d never sleep like this.

“Hey, Owen,” Star said. “Don’t forget.”

Owen could’ve broken down right there. Instead, he took a deep breath and nodded. Ideal Heart… If he could give off that impression, then there was still hope.

Mispy’s leaf wiggled. “Hm?” She turned around. “They’re back.”

Taking the lead were the two Lucario; the lithe one they recognized as Rhys and deduced that the bulkier one was Manny. “Wow, that’s pretty interesting,” Demitri said. “Two Lucario, huh?”

“Yeah, kinda cool,” Gahi agreed. “Ehh… the Fighting Guardian…” He stared at the Lucario, clicking his jaws. “He seems real… familiar… doesn’e?”

“Oy, that Gahi an’ th’ others?” Manny said.

Demitri blinked. “Hey, he talks the same way you do, Gahi. Almost exactly the same, actually…”

“Uh, about that…” Star said. “Uh… you remember him at all? Gahi? Guys?”

“I mean, he’s a Lucario, so maybe I have it kinda mixed up with Rhys and stuff,” Demitri said. “Don’t you think? I mean—how would we’ve met him? He’s super old!”

“Aw hey, I ain’t gray-furred yet,” Manny said. “But I guess I’ll jus’ go an’ tell yeh, I remember yeh guys. But back then, yeh guys were fully evolved an’ in yer, eh… modified forms, compared ter how yer species usually looks. Gahi told me ‘bout it, th’ guy looked real shiny.”

“W-wait, you mean…?” Demitri said. “So—it’s really true? We’re like Owen?”

Mispy tensed, glaring at Demitri; what ever happened to keeping quiet about getting wise? Then again, Star was Psychic.

“Yeah,” Star said, gently waving a flash of Mystic energy to keep the memories from spilling over for the three. “I guess now that Owen is a Mystic, it isn’t exactly going to be easy to keep this all hidden forever. And besides—you guys are getting a lot better! But… ugh… fine. Anam?” She spotted the Goodra licking his slimy fingers of the remainder of an Aspear Berry.

“Mgg—Yeah?” he asked, mouth half-full.

“How about you head back to Kilo Village and tell Nevren to head back here? We’re gonna need him and Rhys to… explain everything. Because in a way, they’re the ones that are responsible for… all of this.”

“The Hunters, right?” Owen said. “I mean… I do feel like this should all be out in the open, but…” Owen rubbed his head. “Can it wait? Please? I just… I can’t deal with this right now. I already know what’s going on, mostly, and I don’t know if they can handle it yet. I’m Mystic, and it’s still hard.” He looked at the Chikorita, Axew, and Trapinch.

Team Alloy nodded. “If Owen thinks it’s too much for us,” said Demitri, “then we’ll wait, too.”

“You’re sure?” Star said. The cloud floated closer. “I mean, maybe this will help put you at ease, right?”

Owen smiled slightly. “I think finding out will make it worse,” he said. “Just… tomorrow. Tomorrow morning. Guys? What do you think?”

Demitri, Mispy, and Gahi looked at one another.

“Yeah,” Demitri said.

“Eh, sure. Ain’t gonna matter ter me. I don’t get any o’ this yet, heh.”

Mispy nodded. “You’re the smartest,” she said to Owen.

“A-aw, thanks…” Owen scratched behind his head. He still missed his horn.

Manny looked the four over, crossing his arms. He leaned toward Rhys, “Their auras…”

“Quite a bit calmer, hm?” Rhys said.

“Yeah. Whatever yer doin’, it’s workin’. Not quite there yet… eh… but it’s almos’ there. They migh’ ev’n make it next time.” The two Lucario nodded at one another, but after that, they let the group disband. It was a long day of training for them, and recruiting for Rhys’ team. Anam left for Kilo Village—He could at least tell Nevren about the situation.

Owen was about to leave for his home, but he paused on the way. He glanced to his right. This was the same cavern that he would normally use to walk to the lava river. At his usual walking pace as a Charmander, it would take him twenty seconds just to walk across from wall to wall. He saw someone shifting around inside, and some latent, buried part of his memories urged him to move forward.

“Hello?” Owen called, stepping inside. He didn’t see anybody, but he did spot a pool of water in the middle of this tiny home. “Huh. That’s weird.” He figured there was nothing inside and turned around, but the feeling returned. He couldn’t leave. But what was the point? He didn’t like water anyway. He rolled his eyes. His mind was just scrambled. He shouldn’t be trusting his feelings at a time like this. He could barely remember a few days ago. But, still…

Owen glanced back, expecting to see an empty pool again. Instead, he saw a Milotic’s upper half sticking out of the water, her lower half blending in with it. “AUGH!”

Zena jumped. “I—I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to—”

“N-no, no, it’s okay! I—I just thought—”

“I was resting. I didn’t realize you returned. Are—are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Owen said, clutching his chest. “I’m sorry I ran off like that. I shouldn’t have blamed you for any of this, either, too. I get it. You guys were just trying to help.”

“More like Star forced us to,” Zena said.

“She was right,” Owen said quickly, earning raised brows from the Milotic. Massive brows. Owen was briefly distracted by how huge they were. He shook the thought away. “If that block wasn’t put in my mind, I think I’d’ve gone insane. I need it. F-for now.”

Zena didn’t respond immediately. She just looked away, nodding.

“Anyway, um, I guess I came here to make sure you were alright. So, you are?”

“I am.”

“Good. That’s good.” Owen stood there. He shifted on his feet. “You’ll be fine?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Owen turned around but then hesitated again. As a Charmander, his senses were still dulled. He had a vague idea that they used to be much sharper. He also had a vague idea that Zena was tense. His heart sank. He was the killer of the very Guardian that used to hold the Orb he now possessed. She didn’t want him around. And why would she?

“Okay,” he said again, stepping outside.

Now that he thought about it, he wondered if this was something that he’d gone through time and time again before. His parents raised him for so long. Weren’t they sick of him? Not to mention, what others did he forget about? But still, this was it. He was almost ready, wasn’t he? Maybe next time, he’ll really stay evolved. And he’ll get all his memories back. And then…

And then what?

“Owen,” Zena said.

Owen stopped, halfway out of Zena’s home. He shook his head, forgetting his train of thought.

“No matter what happens,” she said, “I… want to be there for you. Okay?”

Owen turned around, taken aback. His mouth opened just slightly, but no words came.

Zena smiled. “You’re my friend, Owen.”

Light returned to Owen’s eyes.

<><><>​

The sealed Charmander rolled onto his Rawst bed, skipping dinner. He wasn’t hungry. Maybe he didn’t need to eat anymore, as a Mystic? Either way, he wasn’t in much of a mood for a meal. He let out a steady sigh; he felt like the last day was actually ten, and he hadn’t slept for any of it. This seemed like the first instance of a real, calm, quiet moment to himself. Star wasn’t giving him a pep talk—though he’d’ve appreciated another—and it was just him in the darkness and his fire. The chat with Zena lifted his mood somewhat, but now that he was alone with his thoughts, everything still bothered him. He even felt the thoughts of the day leave him for a few blissful instances. The crackle of the embers in the middle of the room lulled him halfway to sleep.

“Owen,” Amia said softly.

A pang of irritation. Owen curled up, but he didn’t say anything.

“Owen, I’m… I’m sorry.”

Owen didn’t reply. Couldn’t he just sleep?

“We shouldn’t have kept this all from you, and… we know that it’s just going to make getting all of those memories back really painful, and confusing, and scary, and… and I’m so sorry. If I could just undo it, I’d… I mean… I don’t know.”

Alex spoke next, just behind Amia. Owen heard the nervous grinding of the Magmortar’s two cannons bumping against each other. “I’m sorry that you had to go through this, but if we didn’t seal your memories, we never would have been able to calm you down. Calm you from… how you were before.”

“Alex,” Amia said quietly.

Owen knew it was right, but it hurt to hear. He was a monster—and he could become one again, couldn’t he? When he evolved—those memories he still couldn’t recall. What happened then? Did he go berserk again? How badly did he defeat Azu—and in what way? It’s all a mystery—and even with Azu, within Manny, a few houses away, he couldn’t bear to ask. All he had to know was that he did it, and it was enough to terrify Willow into not speaking to him.

“Owen, if there’s anything you want me to do that can help,” Amia said.

“I just want—” Owen choked up. He felt like everything was collapsing around him—or that it already did, trapping him under the rubble. There wasn’t a way out, was there? Short of dying, he was stuck in this life for who knows how long. “I just want…” He trailed off again. “I just want to help everyone…!”

Amia sat down next to Owen. The leaves brushed against one another and her dress. Alex stepped over next; his heavy footsteps disturbed the bed. He sat on the opposite side of Owen, looking down at him.

“We’re here for you, Owen,” Amia said, finally placing a hand on his back. Owen flinched but didn’t resist. “It’s okay. Come on, c’mere…”

Owen trembled and sniffled. He uncurled a bit. Amia leaned over and picked him up, pulling him until he was against her chest. He sniffled and pressed his head against her; finally, the tears began to flow, pouring out of his eyes in thin streams. Alex brought his head down, but let Amia handle it for now. Owen could barely keep it together, releasing himself through little tremors and gasps.

“It’s too much,” Owen said. “It’s too much…!”

“I know, Owen, I know,” Amia said. “It’s so much… but you’re so strong, Owen. We’re here, too. Ohh, it’s okay, let it out… let it out…”

Owen blubbered, coughing and shaking. No matter how old he was, he only had a child’s handful of memories to work with. Amia was still his mother, and Alex, his father. He wrapped his arms around Amia, but then glanced at Alex. The Magmortar gave him a little smile with his huge lips.

“M-Mom… did… did I kill anybody else?”

“You didn’t, dear,” Amia said gently. “You were unstable… but Klent and Amelia—those were the only two that died. I promise.”

Owen sniffled. “And what about spirits? Did I hurt any of…?”

“They don’t blame you, Owen,” Amia said. “They all understand what’s going on. They still do. And they’re so proud, Owen… And so am I, and your father.”

Alex nodded. “Keep it up,” he said. “I know you can do this. I’ve known you for so long, and I know you can handle everything the world and beyond throws at you.”

Owen sobbed for quite a while, letting it all out into Amia’s chest. He bumped his head against the flat, fin-like horn in the middle of it—it always comforted him, and Amia gently rubbed at the scales on his shoulders. “You’re just fine, Owen,” she said. “You’re a kind soul, and no instinct will change that with us around. We’ll conquer it. You, Rhys, Star, and us… we’ll handle it together. Because that talent you have, the talents all of Rhys’ students have? Imagine how many others you can help!”

“M-mhm.” Owen sniffed.

“And,” Alex said, “then you’ll be even stronger, don’t you think? Great power and complete control over it.”

“Y-yeah… And you really think I can control it?”

“Owen, that last time you fully evolved, against Azu?”

Owen winced.

“You almost had it. You almost had it, Owen. You’re closer than ever.”

Owen sniffled. Was he really that close, after all this time? How many tries did it take? How many more? The way Amia spoke, it sounded like the very next time would be the last. He was so close.

Amia rubbed his back. “Are you hungry, Owen?”

“No… I don’t think I… need to eat…”

“Oh?” Amia said. “Goodness. I didn’t think you got to that point already.”

Owen laughed through his sniffles, but then said, “Y-yeah. I’m getting strong… maybe getting beat half to death by Azu boosted my Mystic aura again.” He laughed, coughed, and sniffled. The weight felt lighter.

Amia finally pulled away. “Want to sleep in our room, dear?” she said. “It’s okay, just for tonight, if you want.”

Owen hesitated, looking at his bed. “Just tonight…”

Alex leaned forward and wrapped his huge arms over the network of Rawst leaves. He headed over to their room in the other part of the cave; Owen’s tail-fire lit the way in along with his father’s flaming upper half. He stared at the ceiling as it moved past him. He remembered this sight. He used to be afraid of the dark when his tail didn’t quite light the whole way. How long ago was that? It was before the cave had mushrooms—before Amia made them to keep the area well-lit for him. She did that for him…

What was he, a horrible monster, doing being afraid of the dark? What would try to hurt him? If anything, he was the creature in the dark that others feared. Owen sniffed again, looking at the rocky walls and the mushrooms that embedded them. They really did care about him. They all did.

If they weren’t giving up on him, then he’d keep going, too.

Amia and Alex’s room was somewhat larger than Owen’s, but looked similar, with a single, large bed at the back edge of the cave wall. It, too, was made from Rawst berries—mainly due to Alex, and also because, sometimes, Amia had sleep-fights and set herself on fire in the middle of the night. Many beds were lost to this until they decided to get a Rawst one.

Owen… Klent called.

Owen jolted. Amia looked down, concerned, but he shook his head. O-oh, hi, Klent.

Klent was quiet.

Klent?

...We’re here for you, too. Star wanted me to… remind you about that.

Owen gulped, sniffling again. Thanks, Klent…

Alex pushed Owen’s leaves into their own, and they settled in with the Charmander between them.

Snuggled between his parents, he fell asleep in seconds.

<><><>​

…Charmander Owen… conqueror of instincts…

Uhh, hello?

Owen… follow my voice… reach out to me.

Mom said not to talk to cosmic strangers.

I am hardly a stranger. Come, Owen. I mean you no harm. I also doubt your mother told you that specifically.

Well, I bet she would if I asked.

Silence followed.

…Owen…

You’re not gonna stop bothering me, are you? Is this a dream?

This is hardly a dream. Come, Owen. My name is Arceus.

Owen stood on a black floor in the middle of a void. “Uh—what?” Which direction he looked didn’t matter. The only thing he could see was the flame of his tail. “Is this another one of those weird dreams?”

A blinding light shined in front and above him. Owen shut his eyes and covered them with his right hand. “Ugh—turn that out!” he shouted. Even with cover from his claws and his eyelids, he still saw the light. It slowly faded to a dimmer glow; Owen took the chance to peek. His jaw fell.

It was an incredible sight—one he thought didn’t exist for quite a while, at least until he met Star. A creature with four legs and golden hooves, a grey underbelly, and white fur. Just as the descriptions went, and how the artists had depicted him. He had green eyes and red irises, and a gold, wheel-like decoration around his abdomen, tipped with emerald-green jewels.

“A-A… A… Arceus…?” Owen said, feeling his knees shake. “Oh, Mew, this is the craziest dream yet.”

Arceus, while he didn’t have a mouth, was still able to speak, simply staring at Owen. “This is not a dream, Grass Guardian. I am Arceus. I have summoned your aura to speak with me. Do you not remember my calling your name?”

“Uhh—I think? I was probably, like, half-asleep… Wait. You—you’re the Arceus? Not—not some… figment or fragment or something that you sent down, or anything like that? You’re the…”

“I am.”

Owen’s heart skipped a beat. It had been dawning on him in the back of his mind that if Star was real, then Arceus probably was, too. She mentioned the deity, after all. Apparently, he had a temper, but he looked as serene as ever here. Wait. Arceus—shouldn’t he be showing some form of respect?! As much as he hadn’t believed in him at first, this was pretty clearly proof. He quickly got to his knees. “I—it’s an honor for me to see You!” he said. “Wh-what can I do f-for You?”

“…Grass Guardian Charmander Owen,” Arceus said. “Do you feel that this Mystic power has become overwhelming to you? That you think you cannot uphold the responsibilities that the world is forcing upon you?”

He flinched. Owen wondered if Arceus was watching him this entire time. It was a lot. He would have agreed in the afternoon. But now, tonight? He wasn’t done. It was all going so quickly that he needed a few seconds to process it. Arceus waited, unmoving, unblinking. He remembered to breathe—wait, did he need to breathe here? This felt like some part of the spirit world.

Was he so important that even Arceus was watching him, personally? There was a pang in his gut, even as an aura, that didn’t go away. Owen didn’t consider himself to be at that level of importance yet. Especially now, being among the lower tier of Guardians. He decided to play along, wondering if Arceus could read minds the way Star could, or if he had to allow him that privilege. Just in case, Owen decided to keep his thoughts private, preemptively blocking Arceus’ advance, in case that was what he was doing.

“W-well, I mean, it’s pretty hard,” Owen admitted. “And I’ve been going through a pretty rough patch right now since I found out about… You know… You do know, right?”

“I do.”

“Yeah, that,” Owen said. “So, I guess it’s…”

“Would you like things to go back to normal?”

Owen hesitated. Normally, he would just say, yes, he certainly would. He’d love to live a normal life. But could…? Arceus… could He do that? Just… make it normal?

“What do You mean?” Owen asked. And he still had that pang in his stomach. Even stronger, now.

The temptation of everything going back to normal, even after all that talking from the others? He’d be letting them all down! Klent, Star, his parents, his mentors, the Hearts, Zena…

“If you wish,” Arceus said, “I can undo it all. I can take your power away and wipe your memories of ever acquiring that Mystic power—and then make the others forget you ever did, too. It will be as if this all never happened. Is that not precisely what you wished for?”

Owen’s mouth felt dry. He gulped and looked down. He was still on his knees. It didn’t feel right. “I…”

“I’ll even use some of my power further, to rid you of your tainted instincts. I will fix you.”

Owen’s heart skipped another beat. Or did it stop entirely? As an aura, it probably didn’t even matter.

They wouldn’t be let down if they didn’t know it even happened. And without his instincts to get in the way, he could finally evolve. His dream was always to evolve—and stay that way.

Arceus continued. “You will evolve into a Charizard, pure, unmodified, unmutated. You will live, age, and die as one. Everybody else will accept it. They will think this was how it has always been.” Arceus held out one of his hooves. It glowed slightly. “Let me relieve you of your burden, Owen,” he said, “so that you can enjoy life again.”

The Charmander stared at Arceus—part of him still couldn’t believe it. But the other part… even if it was a dream…

It was Arceus, after all. He could do anything. But did Owen want that? A normal life. What was a normal life? He was never normal. Would he have even gotten into the Thousand Hearts as a normal Charmander? And what about the others?

“What about Demitri, Mispy, and Gahi?” Owen asked. “Can You fix them?”

“Not immediately,” Arceus admitted. “They are too far away from my influence. But after I help you… I believe I will be able to assist them, too, in time.”

“And—and what about the other Mystics?” Owen said. “Their lives are all so hard, too. And some of them are in danger right now! The ones we can’t find. A-and… and some of them were killed already. The Ground and Flying Guardians… Cara was one. She was so scared, even after it was all over. A-and Forrest… Star said that he didn’t even want to show up.” Owen gulped. “Can You help the other Guardians, too?”

“Certainly,” Arceus said. “I will free them of their Mystic responsibilities, too.” He held out his hoof again. “Do you accept, Owen?”

Owen stared at the hoof. His right hand twitched. A small part of him was telling him to just accept it. Abandon this entire mess, put it in the hands of the Creator Himself. This divine power wasn’t meant for him, after all. It came from Arceus! And now it would return to Him, just as it should.

No. They were strong thoughts. They were selfish and shortsighted. Owen knew better. There were other thoughts that whispered to him in his mind. One part was rational; another was instinctual. And as much as he hated his instincts… there were times when even the worst power was useful.

Why was Arceus approaching him now, of all times? Star, his parents, the Guardians, and even his fellow artificial students. All of them were behind him. He had a lot of uncertainty, sure, but between Zena, his parents, and how tantalizingly close he was to stability… And now, Arceus was coming to take that power away? Talk about bad timing. It didn’t make sense to him. Why didn’t Arceus make this offer to Zena and the others, too? He wasn’t anything special compared to them, right? Aside from… Well, perhaps he was a little special.

But there was more to it, too. Something less logical. Something in Owen’s core that hissed savagely. Owen wanted to hiss at the Creator. But he held back. But why would he feel that impulse? That defiance against Him, of all Pokémon? Owen usually only felt this way when he was in front of someone being tense, as if anxious, waiting for some kind of opening in battle. But… Arceus? No. Arceus would be the last Pokémon to behave in such a way. Owen ignored his instincts.

But he couldn’t ignore his mind. He had to ask more questions. It was a big decision, after all.

“I… I don’t know,” he said. “This… this power. I feel like I can do a lot of good with it.”

Perhaps just a day ago, he would have accepted this offer. But this night, he wasn’t so sure. Maybe he could handle it, with everyone else’s help.

“And I don’t know if right now’s a good time anyway, y’know, when all my friends are trying to defend themselves against the Hunters, y’know?”

“Mm,” Arceus said.

Owen tilted his head. Did He have more to say?

Arceus went on. “That’s very noble of you, Owen. You wish to use your power to keep the Orbs out of the Hunters’ hands. And I am aware that you wish to follow in Anam’s footsteps, and make the entire world a better place. If that’s the case… Hmm. I must admit that the Hunters, created by Star, are beyond my influence. I cannot easily stop them. I will happily allow you to retain your power if, instead, you pledge to do it under my command.”

“U-under the command of Arceus himself?!” Owen said, rising to his feet. “I’d—I’d…! That’s awesome!”

Owen spoke before his mind could stop him. Even after he said it, he had a doubt. Arceus still didn’t answer his question. But perhaps he could make an exception? Surely, he had a grand scheme of some kind. It would probably take too long to explain. Arceus was probably a very busy Pokémon. Did he get paperwork?

Arceus beamed with his eyes alone. He even glowed brighter; that warm light made Owen want to just curl up and sleep in His fur. It looked so fluffy!

“Perfect, Owen. I’m proud of you,” He said. “Now, please, hold out your hand.”

Without thinking, Owen obeyed. But then he jerked it back. Bad move—how rude! He glanced up at Arceus.

“There is no need to be shy,” Arceus said.

Owen recognized this pose. It was the same one that Zena and Rhys had made to one another. A Divine Promise--something that made even Nevren flinch. At the very least, Owen could listen to what the terms of this Promise would be. He reached out. Arceus’ hoof felt like solid gold. It was hot, even to his fiery self.

“Owen, do you hereby Promise to use your Mysticism under my orders?”

Owen was lost in his eyes. Instincts paralyzed his throat. His lungs refused to let out a breath. Even his thoughts froze from thinking anything affirmative. He was entranced by the glory of this Pokémon. And yet… And yet, and yet, and yet. What was this doubt? What was this feeling? It almost hurt, how it kept him from saying yes, just entrust himself to Arceus, let Him do the important thinking. Easy! But his mind still didn’t understand the full terms. It was such a broad Promise.

“I… I can’t,” the Charmander said. He let go of his hoof. He lowered his tail with his arms.

“…Excuse me?” The hoof remained.

“I—I need to… Can I think about it?” he said. He was starting to recognize the gut feeling—Arceus… was He…? “What would your commands be, and stuff?”

“To carry out my missions in the mortal realm. To eradicate the Hunters and liberate the Guardians. To restore my power. You trust me with such a thing, don’t you?”

If Arceus needed his power back, what took it away in the first place? Was he not the ultimate being? “A-about that, I had a few questions. I’m very sorry, Your Greatness, but You know how I am as a personality, right? I’m kinda really… curious, about how something isn’t adding up. I used to not even believe you existed, or anything about the spirit world. How come You’re asking me all this stuff now? Did You ask the other Guardians, too? I bet they’d really like to give up their power the same way. Zena was really unhappy for hundreds of years. How come You didn’t help her? That… doesn’t seem right, Arceus. If You’re relieving me of that… how come You didn’t for her?”

The more he vocalized it, the more it didn’t make sense. Why him, and not her? There was more to it. Arceus wouldn’t make these decisions arbitrarily.

“That isn’t really your concern, is it?” Arceus said. “I created this world with my thousand arms. Surely you can trust me to direct your power. I will train you and hone your skills beyond anything you could have imagined. It is all part of my divine plan.”

“Y-yeah, but… what for? What is the divine plan?” Owen said. “I—I mean, you definitely know that I’m kinda nervous about being directed to use my power a certain way, right? You know, being artificial, being designed…”

“I do understand your apprehension,” Arceus said. “I will assure you that my orders will be just, and you will be perfectly content with what I request.”

“Okay,” Owen said, “but how come You’re asking me, then? Oh—and, um, Arceus, Your Greatness, you still didn’t answer my question. Why didn’t You ask Zena the same thing, or the other Guardians? You’d be able to do that, right? Or…? Or can’t You? Is it because—”

Owen nearly choked on his own gasp. If the Hunters were beyond Arceus’ control, what about the other Guardians? Would they be beyond his control, too? What kept him from…

Star…

Owen had to test something. And when he spoke next, he made himself very aware of the deity’s body language. If there was one thing his instincts were good for… it’d be this. This was what his instincts were hissing at. They were dull against Zena, so he had to focus a lot harder this time.

“Your... Holiness. Where is Creator Mew Star?”

He saw it. It was an instant. The smallest twitch. It wasn’t his instincts; he didn’t need them after all. It was obvious enough from the little flicker of light that Arceus gave off, that wavering in his expression. Anger. Arceus reacted negatively to Star’s name. He stared into those red pupils.

Arceus had a temper. Star had said as much.

“Is it okay,” Owen said, “if we invite her here?”

“You…” Arceus’ voice deepened, “shall listen to me. Understood?”

“N-no, not understood,” Owen said. Realizing he had just outright said ‘no’ to the topmost being of the universe, he quickly amended himself. But his trust was already gone, and so was any reverence that he may have held. It wasn’t too hard to discard, considering he didn’t believe in him for very long—and since Star already tarnished his idea of what it meant to be a deity. “I—I mean, Arceus, I know that you know everything, but can you maybe give me some of that omniscience? It kinda feels like I don’t have the full picture here…”

With nothing in this black void but the two of them—no visible ground, no rocks, no plants, no movement… the silence that followed felt like an eternity. Owen couldn’t even hear his heart. Maybe it did stop.

“No,” Arceus said. Suddenly, the divine being’s back glowed with a soft, white light. Owen saw tiny, filament-like tendrils, like long bits of thick fur. It radiated an incredible amount of power—Owen felt like he’d collapse just from standing before it. “You will choose, now,” he said, “to either follow me… or be rid of your power completely.”

“Th-that’s… that’s not right!” Owen said.

“Choose.”

The tendrils of light floated like seaweed in still water; gently, they pointed toward Owen and glowed brighter. Owen gulped. Star… help…! “What… what happens if I don’t accept?”

“So, you refuse me?”

Owen knew that he’d regret it—but he had no choice. His instincts were screaming at him. Arceus was obviously hiding something, and it wasn’t for his own good. Owen didn’t want to believe it, but every fiber of his deepest being was screaming at him—this was indeed Arceus… and he was indeed lying.

No turning back now. “I refuse.”

And just like that, the many tendrils rushed right for Owen. He shut his eyes tight—this was it, wasn’t it? For a split-second, he wondered if he should have said yes. Because either way, it was going to end. Would this hurt? Would he even remember this? Or was it another stress-induced dream? Oh, please, let it be a dream—he missed worrying about his own sanity. That was much better than facing divine retribution.

But then, he heard a collision—many, many collisions, with strange, ethereal echoes. He didn’t feel anything—no pain from the strike, no loss of power. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes.

“S… Star?”

It was the Mew, but she was glowing—and her back had the same, white filaments from her back, like wings. Each one blocked one or two of Arceus’ filaments, neutralizing his attack.

“You’ve got guts, Owen,” Star said. “But you bit off more than you could chew this time.”

“Star,” Arceus said, staring down.

“Yo, Barky.” Star smirked.

“You shall not use such a name,” Arceus said.

“Trying to pluck away another one?” Star asked. “You didn’t even give your usual compromise this time. You must be real scared, huh?”

The sight of Arceus’ angry expression made Owen want to throw up. What little breath he had left exited his throat. “St-Star…!” Scared? Was that the answer? But he was weak! Anam was a much bigger threat to Arceus if they were going by strength.

The Mew gave a little wink at Owen. Owen realized it then—if he was going to get answers, it was going to be from Star.

“I’m going,” Star said. Facing Arceus, she continued, “Follow me, and you know you’ll be in trouble. C’mon, Owen. Let’s go.”

“Wait, wha—”

And they vanished.

In the silence of the void, Arceus hissed. “Star,” he said. “you really mean it this time… don’t you?” Many seconds of silence filled the void. He closed his eyes, sending a thought her way. I hope you have the resolve to follow through, Star.

And Star replied. Bite me.

 

[canisaries]

Right? Well, not anymore! He puffed out his chest

“H-hello?” Owen called.

Paragraph cuts off mid-sentence.

body language. e looked like he could lose all

Missing H.

Ideal heart… If he could give off that impression, then there was still hope.

Was "heart" meant to be capitalized here? It was before, but I guess lowercase also works in a way.

“So—it’s really true? We… like Owen…?”

"We weren't just hanging out with him from pity?"

Light returned to Owen’s eyes.



The sealed

Story break symbol thingamajig missing here.

“You didn’t, dear,” Amia said gently. “You were unstable… but Klent and Amelia—those were the only two that died. I promise.”

(x) Doubt

Snuggled between his parents, the Charmander fell asleep in seconds.,

Aww. Stray comma though.

Arceus beamed with his eyes alone. He even glowed a bit brighter; that warm light made Owen want to just curl up and sleep in His fur. It looked so fluffy!

FLUFFY GOD you see this is where star is screwing up

On a less wholesome note, this whole thing smells of subconscious manipulation and that is creepy o-o

“That isn’t really your concern, is it?” Arceus said. “I created this world with my thousand Hands. Surely you can trust me to direct your power. I will train you and hone your skills beyond anything you could have imagined. It is all part of my divine plan.”

"i'm god, i ain't gotta explain shit"

“No,” Arceus said. Suddenly, the divine being’s back glowed with a soft, white light. Owen saw tiny, filament-like tendrils, like long bits of thick fur. It radiated an incredible amount of power—Owen felt like he’d collapse just from standing before it.

whoa i cant believe [HOLLOW KNIGHT SPOILER] is in this fic

“I refuse.”

DAGA KOTOWARU

crosses "jojo reference" off list

“Yo, Barky.” Star smirked.

“You shall not use such a name,” Arceus said.

Well, at least she didn't call you Arse-eus.

Alright! This time I definitely had more thoughts than of the previous chapter, where I couldn't really come up with anything. Not gonna lie that I was starting to feel like the story was dragging a bit, but this Arceus biz came in just at the right time. Already I wanna know what he's hiding. Looking forward to the continuation!

 

[namohysip]

Thanks for the feedback, @canisaries ! I can't specifically quote anything because I have like 10 quotes for Amby's fic in my stockpile that I don't want to get rid of, but there was only one bit that I had to say anything about anyway:

"Not gonna lie that I was starting to feel like the story was dragging a bit, but this Arceus biz came in just at the right time. "

Yeah, things were getting a little angsty for a little too long, eh? Hopefully that slows down soon, now that we have a bit of a stir in the pot. Things are still moving quickly, but I guess relative to the first ten chapters, the second ten take things a bit more gradually due to how much is going on. Still! We've got some interesting stuff to come. Hope it pays off! Just need a little more time to get things all edited...

 

[namohysip]

Chapter 22 – The Endless Forest​

“Wh-what’s going on?” Owen said.

He was weightless – nothing was around him except a swirling, blue-black void in all directions. He looked up; he saw blackness with a flickering, cyan mist. But then, when he squinted, he saw that this mist also had brighter spots in it. “Are those…” They reminded him of Rhys’ paws when he was meditating or fighting. “Are those auras?”

“Yep,” Star said.

“W-wah!” Owen jumped, losing his balance in the void. “Where’d you come from?” He was stuck rotating laterally.

“Oh! Sorry. I got distracted along the way; nearly lost you, ha!” The Mew chuckled, patting him on the back. She grasped him gently by the shoulders to halt the spinning.

Owen sighed. “Don’t—don’t do that! Just tell me where we are!” Owen pointed at the mist but then noticed his arm. It looked blurry. “What’s…?” He brought his left hand on his right arm; it passed right through. The scales flew off like dust in the wind—along with everything else in him. His hand went first, the little fingers washing away like a wad of mud in a river. There was no pain—and for some reason, that made it worse. “What’s happening?!”

“D-don’t panic, Owen! You’re fine!” Star said, holding his right shoulder. “Uh—oops.” When Star pat him, his entire arm fell away, floating in front of him. It dissolved into a fine, cyan mist. Owen stared helplessly as his body faded into light. While it didn’t hurt it didn’t feel good, either. He lost all sensation. He tried to move his arm—but he no longer had an arm to move.

After the arm, everything else advanced much more rapidly. His claws and tail, then the legs. Did he have a head? He couldn’t use his arms to feel for his head, because those were already long gone. His torso floated past his vision like smoke. He tried to gasp with the lungs he no longer had.

He tried to talk, but it didn’t work. He didn’t even know how he was seeing anything—he had no eyes. No eyelids to blink with—no mouth to speak with, nothing. Nothing.

“Just—just talk with your thoughts, Owen. It’s okay,” Star eased. “You’re in the aura sea right now, Owen. You’re pressed up against the edge of, uh… the living world.”

Owen struggled to work with this new sort of communication. It felt like it was all he had left. What do you mean, the edge? Isn’t that just the Grass Orb, and the other Orbs?

“Yes and no,” Star said, rubbing her head. “C’mon, stay by me, okay? Or you’ll get caught up in the flow.”

Flow… right… Owen reflexively tried to look down at his hands. Not only did he not have hands, but he also didn’t have a head to look down with, or a neck. He didn’t know what nothing felt like, but this was as close as he’d ever gotten to it.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. This’ll all go back to normal soon. It’s just, weaker auras don’t last very long here. They dissolve into their most basic component, the flare, which encapsulates their spirit.”

Owen adjusted. He looked at the many others who looked exactly like him. They were moving in the opposite direction that he and Star were, toward some other void. Where are… they going?

“Oh, just the spirit world,” Star said. “This is sorta the passageway from the point when an aura passes on, to the spirit world.”

So this is… I heard legends about this…

“Legends? Huh. Once a mortal gets here, there’s no going back, usually. I guess some of them just guessed correctly.”

Something else was floating ahead. A hulking creature, to be sure, with a gray body with yellow stripes and a single, glowing, red eye. Dusknoir. Owen hesitated on advancing, but when he fell too far behind Star, he felt a strange force pulling him toward the void that the other auras were heading. He tried to call out to Star with his nonexistent mouth.

“Don’t be afraid,” Star said, reaching over to keep Owen from slipping away. The mere gesture of her hand created a force that drew Owen closer. “That’s just Hecto.”

Hecto?

“Well, one of him.”

They were going right toward him. Eventually, they were right in front, and the Dusknoir stopped whatever he was doing. “Star,” Hecto greeted. “Hello. I didn’t expect to see you here. Are you not with my others?”

“Oh, I was, but I had to grab Owen.” Star pointed at the flare. Owen felt himself shrink.

“…He has perished? Already?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Star said. “Barky summoned his aura when he was asleep, and now I’m taking him back on the down-low so the Alpha can cool off.”

Wait, Barky? What? Huh? Oh, you mean….

“She means Arceus,” the Dusknoir said. “It is a nickname developed by Star, specifically because, as you put it, he barks a lot.”

“Barks orders, more like,” Star muttered. “I could’ve called him RC instead, because he’s a pain in the—” Owen caught an amused glint in Hecto’s eye. Star, perhaps in response to this, balled up her tiny paws. “Look just because he has a few more Hands than I do doesn’t mean he’s the strongest in the pantheon. I’m important, too!”

“You certainly are,” Hecto said. Except for that brief glint, he was quite expressionless. Owen had no idea if his statement was sarcastic or genuine. “Would you like me to create a fast route to your home, then?”

“Nah, I could’ve done that myself. I just wanted to take the scenic route so Barks can cool down.”

If I call Arceus that… will he kill me? Owen said.

“Probably.” Star shrugged. “But hey, do what you want. I’ve got you protected.”

Okay, actually, hang on, Owen said. Why am I protected? Compared to the other Guardians? What’s so important about me? I’m not even that strong compared to some of the others.

“Hm. So you haven’t explained this to him?” Hecto said.

“I mean, I explained most of it. But now that Barky’s in the picture. I guess I should give him more of the story. Did your others tell you about what happened?”

“Of his memories returning? Yes.”

Star nodded. “Owen… I think it’s time that we explain to you why you’re so important in all this. I mean—I don’t think we can tell it… tell it all just yet, but at least what sets you apart from the others.”

You mean aside from the fact that I’m a freak of nature, Owen said.

“Yeah, actually,” Star said. “There’s more to it. Want to come along, Hec?”

“My others will be there. I am still watching the flow.”

…What do you do here? Owen asked.

“I watch,” Hecto said. “There is a lot to learn… if you just watch.”

Watch? Owen turned his focus on the flowing auras. All he saw were a bunch of cyan flames in a thin stream. Each cyan aura had a small, golden glow in the center. Was that their spirit?

Star sensed his concentration and chuckled. “Sure, let’s spend a bit of time doing this.”

Owen stared, and stared, and stared…. And then, he started to hear something. Little whispers, voices. Confused voices, mostly. Some sounded sad. Others were relieved. And others still, angry. Desperate. Eager. Worried. But he couldn’t make out what they were saying—it was a cacophony. He heard words, but he couldn’t make it all out. There was too much to hear—a thousand words a second, a million… He had to break away.

U-ugh…

“Pretty overwhelming, huh?” Star said. “Don’t worry. Let’s get going, huh?”

Y-yeah. I’ll leave that stuff to Hecto.

Owen appreciated that the rest of the trip through the aura sea was quiet. Star didn’t ask any questions, but she did give him a little, reassuring smile when she sensed he was feeling uneasy. Somehow, it helped. He knew he was still experiencing some sort of shock from having the very creator of reality try to kill him. How deep into this mess was he? Still, Star had his back. And she seemed to be able to fend him off, at the very least.

Star eventually broke the silence. “Oh, we’re almost there. It’s gonna get bright.”

Just then, Owen’s surroundings lit up—he was still an ember, but now he was floating in a brown, rocky cave. Directly ahead of him was the mouth of the cave. He couldn’t see anything from where he was standing, but it appeared to be overlooking a cliff. Behind him, further inside, was a complex network of tunnels and corridors, and even some furniture. Owen was unnerved at how… normal it all seemed, after what he had just gone through.

“Welcome to my hangout,” Star said. “Oh, uh, sorry. Forgot that your body dissolved. So, just focus, and you’ll form it back.”

Just focus? Owen said.

“Yeah, like, imagine that you have a body again, and you’ll become what you’re thinking about.”

Owen bobbed in the air and concentrated. First, he felt his legs return to him, and then his tail and waist. Then came his belly, and then his arms, and finally his head; next, from his back, two large wings sprouted, followed by two horns on the back of his head.

Star blinked, but then smiled sadly at him. “Oh, Owen…”

“H-huh?” Owen said but then gasped, clutching at his long muzzle. He didn’t expect his voice to be so deep. “Oh, I… I guess I…”

Star chuckled. “You really want to evolve, huh?”

Owen looked back at his massive tail, swinging it a few times, and tried to outstretch his wings. It felt… strange, having two new limbs, yet familiar. “Did I… look like this?” the Charizard asked.

“Mn… no,” Star said. “You… didn’t look like a normal Charizard. But, you know—just work with this! I think you look good in whatever you’re comfortable with, Owen. Just, uh, walk carefully. Your balance is going to feel different.”

Owen rubbed the back of his neck. That was strange, too. It felt so much longer now.

“Actually, this might turn out to be useful,” the Mew said. “See, I want to go down there.” She pointed to the mouth of the cave and floated to the entrance. Owen followed, wobbling for the first few, heavy steps, but had to stop just to admire the view.

“Whoa,” Owen breathed. “It’s… it goes on forever!”

Below him was a sea of green leaves atop tall trees. There was a bluish tinge to them, vaguely reminding Owen of the auras of the sea he was just a part of. There was certainly something mystical about it—it must have been the glow. And indeed, it went on endlessly, blending into the purple horizon like a lumpy field of aether.

“This is Aether Forest,” Star said. “It’s kinda where I go if I want to think—I made it myself a long time ago.” She jerked her head to the side, motioning for him to follow, and floated down to the forest floor. Owen hopped and stretched his wings—by instinct, he knew how to glide and descend to the bottom.

His heavy body felt like air for that brief moment; a stupid grin spread across his face halfway down. He broke through the trees and landed on dark, blue grass, where the leaves blocked most of the sun. Instead, the plants underneath glowed, similar to the mushrooms of Hot Spot Cave. The same went for the black tree trunks. Owen kicked over a pebble and saw a fine, cyan mist puff out and dissipate. Entertained, he kicked over another, and another; he accidentally crushed one, and it, too, burst into little blue lights.

Owen suppressed his smile to address Star. “Um, so, why did you want to come here?” Owen asked.

“To talk,” Star said. “This is my turf. Barky can’t bother us here. So… I just wanted to tell you about… what makes you so special. And not in the stupid way where everyone is special. I mean like, on a practical level, you’ve got something that sets you apart from the other Guardians. And also, you’re synthetic, but that’s beside the point—okay, so… are you still with me?”

“Halfway.”

Star sighed. They continued through Aether Forest. Owen took some time to admire the blueness of the leaves, and then at the seemingly infinite web of trunks ahead, behind, and all around him. He ran his hand along the trunk. The wood was hard, but it wasn’t dry. He’d have to really put forth an effort to knock one down.

“Let’s just put it this way,” Star said. “Yeah, you’ve got special powers, and maybe a few perks from being genetically crafted by crazy aura-bio science, but… the main difference that you have between all the other Guardians with us? It’s that you aren’t… aligned with Barky yet.”

“What? You mean the Guardians all made a Divine Promise to him?”

“Yes,” Star said. “But Barky didn’t see them as a threat. He made them Promise… to never gather the Orbs together into one person. I guess that’s why he’s not complaining about them joining up with you to fight the Hunters, because even if they win, they still can’t overpower him.”

“Wh—I mean, yeah, isn’t that what we’re trying to avoid?” Owen said. “That’d usurp Arceus! And I feel like that’d be really, really bad news.”

Star was quiet. Owen stopped walking through the infinite forest; Star floated a few more feet ahead.

“Star?” Owen said. “What… what are you getting at with this?”

Star stared at the treetops, flicking her tail. For just a second, her tail split in two, akin to an Espeon’s, and the two ends swatted at one another.

“Owen,” Star said. “Times… change. And leaders… that are in power for too long… can lose touch with the world they rule. Don’t you think?”

This time, Owen was quiet.

“There’s… a lot that I don’t know if I’m ready to tell you, or anyone,” Star admitted. “But… you saw how Arceus was to you. That wasn’t some exception. He’s just like that, now. High and mighty, forgetting that he works for mortals, not the other way around.”

“Wh-what do you mean? Aren’t… aren’t we supposed to be thankful to Arceus for all he’s done for us? Maybe he’s a little worried or—” Owen shook his head. What was he saying? He tried to kill him!

Star laughed weakly. Owen never heard a laugh so bitter. “Maybe that’s the opinion you were taught,” she said, “but come on. I know you weren’t the sort to believe in either of us until recently. But you know what? I think we can do better than sit in our kingdom and stare down at the world. If you guys are forgetting about us, we aren’t doing a good job, are we? I know we can do better.”

Owen shifted from his left foot to his right, shuffling his wings awkwardly.

“I know you aren’t ready to decide or anything, Owen,” Star said, “but… you want all this to end, right? You want to stop the Hunters from trying to gather the Orbs, and you want to stop Arceus from being… well, the way he is?”

“I—I do,” Owen said. “I just want everyone to be happy, and I don’t want anybody to feel afraid.” He felt like he’d said this a thousand times, but he said it again. “Just like Anam.”

Star nodded. “Well, I’ll… help you, okay? We’ll stop Arceus and the Hunters, together.” She stopped floating ahead and turned around. “Hey, Owen. Would it be okay if…?” Star looked right in the Charizard’s uncertain, blue eyes.

Owen gulped. He got that feeling again, even from Star. An icy pit formed in his chest, already flashing back to that warmth that Arceus radiated while coercing him to make a Promise. He didn’t feel that from Star. But knew the question was coming. She was going to ask him the very same question all over again. She just rescued him to get his’s loyalty for herself…

Star smiled slightly. “…No. It’d be wrong of me to ask you that now, of all times, huh? Okay. No Divine Promise from you. But… can you just give me a regular promise that… you’ll hear me out when the time comes?”

The icy pit subsided, but only slightly. No Promise? His pulse slowly lowered, but that didn’t free him completely of his lingering doubt. He just got through denying one deity a Promise, and he felt like he had just gone into round two. “What’s a regular promise to you?”

“The ones you can break… if… I dunno, if you need to,” Star said. “Won’t take your power away or anything. Just a normal one.”

Owen shuffled uncomfortably where they had stopped walking, admiring, again, the dark trees and dim glow. It distracted him. If Star could just vanish for a while, that’d be lovely. Unfortunately, Star seemed adamant about staying by Owen. “I guess so,” he said. “I’m just not comfortable making promises to a god right now, okay?”

Star winced. “Y-yeah, I’m really sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think it through. I shouldn’t have hinted like that. Bad taste. Too soon.”

“I mean, you were planning to ask me this some time anyway, right? To pledge… loyalty to you, or something.” Owen looked down. “I’m just not comfortable doing that, Star. To anybody. Because that’s not what it means to be a Heart.”

“Not what it means to…?”

Owen shook his head. “Hearts aren’t loyal to Anam. We fight for the world and everybody in it. We’re supposed to keep them safe.”

Star stared at Owen for five seconds. Owen maintained his eye contact. If anything, his gaze, while neutral, intensified. And then she smiled, breaking the stare, laughing.

“What’s so funny?!”

Star shook her head, covering her mouth with her left paw. “Your eyes looked just like Anam’s for a second,” she said. “I mean, yours are blue, and his are green, but they were so full of light! I don’t know, Owen. I just felt really happy for a second, if that makes any sense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Owen frowned.

“I should expect it. That’s the sort of personality that Anam likes to recruit. Bright-eyed.”

Owen sighed, settling down. Star slowly did, too, lowering her altitude until she was at eye-level again. A slight tension returned. Aftershocks from meeting Arceus, he was sure. Owen clenched his claws and breathed deeply. He wondered if meditating worked in the spirit realm.

“Star,” Owen said. “I’m… I’m sorry, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to make a Promise to you. Ever.”

“Oh.” Star quieted down. She curled her tail around her floating body. “H-how come?”

Owen rubbed his right arm with his left. “I know that you saved my life a little while ago, and I know you’ve been going out of your way to try to get as many Guardians together as you can, but… after what happened back there… How do I know you aren’t doing the same thing to me?”

“Well… I’m not trying to kill you right now, aren’t I?” Star said.

Owen flinched. “I guess,” he said. “But—”

“Owen, do you seriously think I’d try to kill you? I’ve been trying to help you guys this whole time!”

Owen wondered how much he should press when in Star’s ‘turf.’ But he still had the smallest bit of trust in Star, at least enough to believe that she wouldn’t kill him. It was a low bar of trust.

“How do I know you aren’t just doing it to eventually turn on us or something? Gather up the Orbs to steal from us all at the same time…” he trailed off.

Star crossed her arms. The Charizard gulped, realizing the flaw in his idea. “Go on,” Star said.

Owen sighed. “You could’ve just killed us one by one if you could’ve done it to all of us at once.”

“Uh-huh. Also, if Barky’s worried about gathering the Orbs together, then you’re technically a threat to me, too. Just pointing that out.”

“R-right. Right.” Owen nodded. “Okay.”

“But,” Star said, “I’m glad you’re being careful, Owen. To be honest, I think a lot of the other Guardians are kinda indifferent about me.” She rubbed the back of her neck thoughtfully. “And Zena’s… uh… I need to try to patch things up with her in particular. And the others… They’re just going along with it because it’s better than how they were before. It’s not like they… trust me, either. I know what I did to them.”

Owen briefly thought back to Zena, alone in her home just that night. His heart hurt just thinking about it.

“I just want to make things right, Owen,” she said. Owen looked up, hearing her voice, just barely, strain. “I’m sorry that I’m not ready to tell you guys about all the mistakes I’ve made. But I will, okay? I will. Then I’ll… let everyone judge me. For everything. I’m… I’m just not ready yet. I thought I was, but then, the way Zena reacted…”

“Rightfully,” Owen said automatically but regretted doing so moments later.

Star shook her head. Owen was ready to vocalize an apology, but Star held her paw up. “Y-yeah. I just—I need time. I’m sorry. I’ll feel better about it after I actually fix everything I broke. Okay? Do we have a deal?”

Owen tensed.

“Sorry, bad phrasing,” Star tittered nervously. “I mean, are you okay with that?”

The Charizard relaxed, puffing a small plume of smoke from his nostrils. He nodded. If anything, he sensed no malice from Star the same way he did from Arceus. He supposed that, deep down, he trusted Star for him to question her so openly in the first place.

There was still one question nagging at him. “So,” he said, “how about why you can’t tell me about my issues?”

He caught a twinge of annoyance in the way Star’s left eye twitched.

“Listen,” she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her tiny snout. “Think for a second. What happened when you found out that you killed Klent? All the memories started flooding back, right? And why I told you not to try to jog Gahi’s memory. Because that’d make him get the same panic attack, yeah? You were losing it. Now, imagine that, times, like, fifty. That’s why I can’t tell you yet.”

“Oh.” Those memories were overwhelming. “But—does that mean I have to never remember at all?”

Star shook her head. “They have to come slowly, and when you can control yourself when you’re totally… unsealed. If you can fully evolve, and stay sane—that’s gonna be the best time you can handle it. Your brain won’t… break, trying to reconcile all the craziness of remembering being a Charizard when you’re still a Charmander.”

Just listening to that statement gave Owen a sharp headache near his right temple. He grumbled and grasped at the area just above his right eye.

“That,” Star pointed at him, “is my proof. Believe me now?”

“O-okay.” If just knowing a little about his past made him panic, he can only imagine what would happen if he knew the trigger.

Star sighed again, shaking her arms and legs as if getting the last of her vulnerability away. “Are you satisfied, now?” she asked. “Your memory seal is teetering, and if too many come at once, it’ll scramble all over again. Don’t make me do that again.”

Owen felt the tension leave his chest. He nodded, but then said, “No promises.” He smirked.

“Not funny.” Star smirked back.

They spent a few seconds just staring at one another, and Owen finally had the sense to continue walking. But then, he heard something off to the side; his tail-fire lit up bright and he swung in the direction of the noise, ready for some disciple of Arceus to come to take his soul. It was a strange, canid creature with a black body and green, hexagon-like markings all over, with white, hexagon eyes. “W-wait, isn’t that a…?” Owen trailed off. “That’s—that’s a tenth of a Zygarde!”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Star said quickly. “That’s just another Hecto! Yo! Hecto! Were you eavesdropping again?!”

“I apologize.” He stepped out from the bushes and bowed to Owen. “You already met my Dusknoir manifestation, yes? I monitor the flow of the spirits transitioning into the spirit world, but most of my copies are dedicated toward observing the living realm. I suppose you can call me Star’s eyes.”

“And my better half.” Star winked at Hecto.

The Zygarde, expressionless, said to Owen, “Yes. That as well.”

Owen had to stare between the two. He shook his head. “You guys are weird,” he said. “I don’t think all this cosmic stuff is good for my head. Got me all confused and… I dunno. I feel like I should focus on simpler stuff.”

“Hah!” Star said. “You’re my kind of guy, Owen. Glad that you can keep a down-to-Kilo head even after becoming Mystic and stuff. You’ll need that.”

“Y-yeah.” Owen tittered. “So, uh… where does this forest go, anyway?”

“It goes to where you wish for it to go,” Hecto said. “I mean this literally. Moving forward is all that is required to reach a place you desire, so long as it is within the spirit realm. It takes some time, but you will indeed arrive.”

“Wow,” Owen said. “That’s crazy. And why does it work like that?”

“Just because,” Star said. “It’s the spirit world. I mean, it’s my realm. I kinda make the rules.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

It only took a few steps before Star saw what appeared to be a forest that was paler and greener than her blue, ethereal one.

“Oh, so you wanna go to your Orb’s realm?” Star noted.

“Yeah,” Owen said. “Just… I think I’m ready to talk to them. And see Amelia. Like how you wanted me to at the lava river.”

“O-oh.”

“I want to apologize, even if… I know that’s not enough.”

Star nodded. “I think it’ll go okay,” she said. “Not great, but… okay.”

Owen smiled slightly. “Thanks.”

Eventually, they were halfway toward the Grass Realm. Owen found himself focusing on how the sounds of his footsteps were louder like this. He was starting to grow self-conscious of it. Was that loud sound annoying the other two? Hecto walked softly, and Star simply floated. “Star,” Owen said. “In the memories I have right now, I… have really vague memories when I was a Charizard, or—the synthetic version. I felt… fine. Felt normal. I didn’t really… go crazy.”

“You weren’t in your battle mode,” Star said. “That’s when you go crazy. Synthetics like you have two modes—controlled by your masters. Or, well… that’s how it was supposed to be. Something went wrong with you guys, and you couldn’t get out of that mode. Manny figured out how to sorta grind it away for the spirits he has, but it’s not as easy for you guys. You’re unstable.”

“I mean… we were the first of our kind, right?” Owen said. “I guess that’s part of the reason.” He looked at Star again. “What caused it to go wrong for me? Do you know? What’s the trigger that made us go crazy and couldn’t get… not-crazy without resetting us?”

Star hesitated. “Didn’t we go over this already?” she said. “Please, Owen. Not this line of questions.”

“…Oh, is that one of the things that might make me lose it?”

“It’s probably the single worst thing I can make you remember.”

Owen’s jaw clenched, frowning with worry.

“You’re close to suppressing it already,” Star said. “You almost pulled through at that fight with Azu, but we lost you. Amia had to reset you—Rhys taught her how, since we had to keep you with her so you were away from the other three. Rhys could handle them.”

“Not me?” Owen said.

“Ohh, no.” Star chuckled. “Of the quartet, you’re the brains. Rhys saw you as a real threat if you had enough resources. That was your specialty—being resourceful. Your head… it was just so good at using everything at perfect efficiency. That’s your special move, Owen. Fire Trap. A trace of your true abilities…. But… I don’t want to trigger the memories yet. It might mess with you even in your current state,” she said. “So… I’ll just tell you this. If you ever see Demitri, Mispy, or Gahi evolve to their synthetic forms…” The Mew stopped floating to look right at Owen. “Run. Okay? Get as far from them as possible.”

The forest stood still, and Owen gulped. He nodded.

“Good!” Star grinned. She turned around and advanced. “C’mon! The Grass Realm is just this way!”

Hecto and Owen watched her. Then, the Zygarde turned his head, looking up at Owen with his blank, hexagon eyes. “She is very proud of you,” he said. “It isn’t often that she puts so much trust in a mortal to handle something this large.”

“Oh, really?” Owen said. Then, not saying it, he thought, Do I even count as mortal?

Hecto nodded. “You have potential,” he said. “She wishes to harness that potential for the good of the world. I do hope you can align with her one day.”

“I—I don’t think I’m at that level,” Owen said. “I just want to help everyone…. And no alliances! Not until she tells me everything. I already had Arceus try to trick me onto his side, and don’t think Star’s getting any favors, either! As far as I’m concerned… they’re just trying to use me for their own war. And I’m not having any of that.”

“Mm,” Hecto said.

Owen tried to push his powers into overdrive to sense any sort of twitch from the Zygarde. Now that he knew this was part of his synthetic, weaponized talent, he had even more confidence than before that he’d be able to use it. And yet… nothing. From Hecto, Owen couldn’t sense anything. No positive or negative reaction. Could he be hiding it? Even from him? Hecto was listening, and that was all Owen knew for sure.

“U-uh, anyway,” Owen said, unnerved, “what’s your story? With Star?”

“Hm? My story?” Hecto said. They finally resumed their walk. “Star and I are partners on the cosmic scale. While I am native to the world she created, I suppose I caught her heart, long ago.”

“…Huh?”

“We have a history,” Hecto said.

“I mean, sure, I figured that much,” Owen said. “You… caught her heart?”

Hecto stared at Owen. “Hm.” The Zygarde walked on.

“W-wait! What does that mean?!”

Soon, they exited the ethereal forest.

 

[canisaries]

Owen sighed. “Don’t—don’t do that! Just tell me where we are!” Owen pointed at the mist but then noticed his arm. It looked… blurry. “What’s…?” He brought his left hand on his right arm; it passed right through. The scales were flying off like dust in the wind—along with everything else in him. His hand went first, the little fingers washing away like a wad of mud in a river. There was no pain—and for some reason, that made it worse. “Wh-what’s happening?!”

Miss Star I don't feel so good

He tried to talk, but it didn’t work. He didn’t even know how he was seeing anything—he had no eyes. No eyelids to blink with—no mouth to speak with, nothing. Nothing.

No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering. Born of God and Void. You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams. You are the Vessel. You are the --

What, you'd think I'd go with I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream? I'm not that predictable.

And not in the stupid way where everyone is special.

Hey my mom tells me I'm special and I take her word over yours.

The wood was hard,

hehe

“Ohh, no,” Star chuckled. “Of the quartet, you’re the brains.

"Your friends are dumbasses, Owen"

“I just want to help everyone…. And no alliances!

Four periods instead of three. Also PSMD btfo.

Well, we do have a bit more angst now again, but with this new plot development I feel like there's more weight to it. I also really liked the trippy descriptions and environments of the spirit dimension or whatsit. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the Hecto guy's related to the mystery creature in the Special Episode, but that's about all I can piece together about him right now.

 

[namohysip]

Thanks for the feedback, Canis~ Hopefully the next chapter will satisfy some non-angst as we wind down this arc of the story and move on to the next, kinda. It's all a blend, really.

Well, we do have a bit more angst now again, but with this new plot development I feel like there's more weight to it.

Yeah, Owen's definitely in the middle of some sort of divine feud far out of his league. I don't blame the guy for wanting to just take a moment to step back.

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the Hecto guy's related to the mystery creature in the Special Episode, but that's about all I can piece together about him right now.

Y'know, I'll give you this one. I didn't really intend for it to be a huge mystery (especially since I plan on making it a little more obvious in the next Special Episode) but yes, the "strange creature" in SE1 was a Zygarde 10%.

Anyway, the next chapter is incoming! Once I do my usual tweaks, since I can't stop myself.

 

[namohysip]

Chapter 23 – Past and Present​

“Hello?” Owen called. “Klent? Everyone…?”

It was like what had happened when he had first arrived. A clear, bright glade without any sign of Pokémon life. But Owen could sense them this time. He figured it was because his aura was getting stronger and more tuned to his Mystic energy, or perhaps as a Charizard, his natural perception abilities were heightened. He could sense Klent specifically, as one of the strongest spirits of this realm.

He turned to his right. “Hey, what’re you so shy for?”

Silencce at first, and then the Jumpluff emerged with his eyes downcast, somewhere between apprehension and, oddly enough, guilt. “I, er… I wasn’t sure if you were still upset or not,” Klent said. “Are you…?”

“Don’t worry, guys,” Star said. “He’s fine. And Barky didn’t get him, either.”

Klent deflated with relief. “When I felt him leave for his realm, I thought it was over,” he said. “Owen, you’re still free to… choose what to do?”

“I, uh, yes?” Owen said. “Free to choose what?”

“What to do with your power, compared to just following what Arceus says,” Star said.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, I can,” Owen said. “And I’m not with Star, either. I’m just me. Actually, about that, um, about power, and stuff. Klent, I… I’m really sorry about what I did to you, y’know, when…”

“It’s okay, Owen.” Klent shook his head. “I… suppose I’ve also been holding a grudge. You weren’t in control of yourself. But… well. It’s hard to shake the image. But I’ll move through it. You’ve changed… and you’re in control, now.” He spoke as if it was rehearsed, but Owen chose to believe that it was coming from the right place. He was the one who killed Klent and his daughter, after all. Even after a few centuries, that might still sting. He wondered if it was true that spirits held grudges for much longer than mortals.

Owen shook his head. Just a moon ago, he wouldn’t have even entertained thoughts about spirits, and now he was thinking about them like they were common theory. “How—how in control was I against Azu?” Owen asked.

Klent rubbed his pom-poms together. “A bit ruthless, yes. You used the same attacks that we’re… familiar with. But Amia was able to calm you down enough to reset your form.”

“Calm me down?”

“That was impossible before,” Klent said. “That shows just how much progress you made. And I have… more faith in you, now, in controlling yourself when you evolve again. Perhaps if we can do it in a less stressful situation, you’ll have a better chance at controlling yourself. But for that to happen, we’re going to have to keep training you—in the mind, body, and aura—to make sure you’re ready for what’s to come with the Hunters.”

“Y-yeah. We’re fighting them, huh?” Owen said.

Sta shrugged noncommittally. “Unless we find some way to make a compromise, yep.”

Owen nodded, but then gently shuffled his wings, grabbing his right one to pick between the scales. “Klent… where’s Amelia?”

The Jumpluff’s gaze darkened slightly. “I—er, she’s… she’s nearby.”

A little gust of wind blew through the otherwise still forest. Owen wondered if he should drop the subject, but his mouth moved on its own.

“Should I turn to my Grass form?”

More silence filled the air. The gust of wind had passed, leaving the forest in complete silence.

“No,” Klent said. “Stay… stay in that form.”

“As—as a Charizard?” Owen stuttered. “Is—isn’t that the form that—”

“Not that Charizard,” Klent said. “This will do. I’m sure of it. You look… a bit cuter that way.”

Owen’s flame crackled. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“Well, you’re shorter, less muscular, a little chubby… much less intimidating than how you normally look.”

“I—I’m not chubby!” Owen protested, clutching at his round belly. “Th-that’s the natural look for my species! It’s—it’s healthy!”

“I’m sure it is, Owen.” Klent chuckled, hiding behind one of his pompoms. “but that doesn’t hide the fact that it’s cuter.”

Owen whined and looked at Star helplessly.

The Mew giggled. “Well, I did design you guys to look like chubby bipedal fire-dragons.”

“Would it’ve hurt to give us the actual Dragon type?” Owen mumbled.

Klent and Star both chuckled.

Owen pouted again. “Well… if you think Amelia is ready, and she’s fine with me looking like this, then I’ll… be here.”

“I’ll see.” Klent nodded. “It won’t be long. I’ll be back.” The Jumpluff floated into the forest.

Owen had a few seconds to himself. Star was chatting with the other Grass spirits. Hecto was silently gazing upon the field nearby. The Charizard rubbed the back of his head, startled at the two horns that sprouted in the back. Did he have horns in his true form, too? They felt so foreign, somehow. Perhaps they were different. He vaguely recalled having horns of some kind. He hoped they looked cooler.

“Hey, Hecto,” Owen said.

“Yes?”

“Are there other Legendary Pokémon like you around?” Owen asked. “I never see them. You only read about them.”

“Mm. There is one more.”

“Oh. Just one, huh?” But before he could ask, he heard the bushes shuffling, and the thought left him.

Klent returned after only a few seconds, nodding. “Just don’t make any sudden movements.”

“Y-yeah, totally.”

The bushes breathed out a whisper. Owen gulped, wondering if this would trigger any memories, but held strong. He kept himself as neutral as possible, but couldn’t keep his eyes from locking onto the movement. His heartbeat quickened.

Finally, she revealed herself—a Lilligant. Her orange eyes were fearful, and she, like a nervous tic, adjusted the flower atop her head to keep herself calm. She froze once she was halfway to Owen, and it didn’t look like she’d take another step forward.

Owen slowly lifted his hand to wave, showing as few threatening gestures as he possibly could as a Fire in a forest; Amelia flinched but held steady. “Hey,” Owen said. “Um… you’re Amelia?”

The Lilligant nodded. “A-and… you’re… Owen?”

“Yeah,” Owen said.

Star and Klent both stood to the side and didn’t interfere. Others were watching from the outskirts of the clearing—it seemed that everybody knew their history. Unsurprising—many of them probably witnessed it from within Klent.

“I’m sorry,” Owen said. “I… I wish I could’ve stopped myself back then.” He felt a pit in his stomach when he didn’t get any new memories from seeing her. He wanted to know what happened, and not knowing somehow made it worse.

Amelia nodded. “But… but you’re better, now,” she said. “Th-that’s good… I… I’m glad that…” The Lilligant shook slightly. “I’m glad that they aren’t using you anymore.”

“Yeah.” Owen shifted where he stood. “I hope I didn’t scare you when I attacked Azu. I don’t remember… what happened yet, but I know it scared Willow a lot.”

“I didn’t watch,” Amelia said.

There was a tense silence between them. Owen took in a breath, as if he was about to say something, but then breathed out.

Amelia spoke instead. “Are you… going to be like that again?”

“N-no,” Owen said automatically. “I’m going to—I’m going to keep myself from doing that. I don’t want to lose control of myself at all, and I almost made it last time, right?” He looked at Star.

She nodded. “Almost there.”

“Then I’ll do my best, okay?” Owen said. “That way you won’t have to be afraid anymore. And even if I look big and scary, I’ll… still be in control. Right? There’s lots of scary Pokémon that are actually really nice.”

“Yeah, like Alex,” Star said. “Magmortar look pretty scary, but he’s as gentle as you can get. You saw him, right? The scary fire Pokémon that’s with Amia?”

“Yeah!” Amelia said. “I like him, even if I probably can’t get too close to his body…”

Owen grinned. “I’ll be just like that.”

Klent’s eyes lit up imperceptibly. “Amelia, would you like to do anything else?” he asked. “Owen probably has to wake up soon, but we still have some time.”

Amelia hesitated, her flower drooping.

“It’s okay,” Owen said. “I think I’m gonna wake up sooner than soon. I kinda feel it, you know? But maybe tomorrow night, we can do something. How’s that?”

Amelia nodded.

“Alright,” Star said. “See you, Owen. We’re gonna do some training today, maybe, or maybe tomorrow, before we go after the other Mystics. I’m gonna have Hecto try to monitor the Hunters and see if those mutants are going anywhere else. Until then, we need to hope that the Association’s scouting turns something up.”

“Right,” Owen said, but then looked down. It felt like his body was being pulled away somewhere, little golden pieces of light rising from him. “I think I’m waking up.”

“Yep! See you, Owen!”

And then the Charizard vanished in a mist of orange and white.

Klent watched the mist dissipate. Amelia collapsed where she stood, alarming half of the silent audience in the trees and bushes, who finally revealed themselves when he left.

Star floated toward her and helped her up. “Hey, hey, that was really good,” she assured her. “How are you feeling, Amelia?”

The spirit nodded. “That was scary… but… he’s totally different. He’s…” She looked at Klent. “His eyes were sad.”

“Of course they were, Amelia,” Klent said. “Owen’s… sapient, right now. And hopefully forever. I guess Star was right after all. Maybe this is the real Owen, and everything before was just… his instincts.”

“The line is pretty blurred,” Star said, “but if you want my opinion, I like this Owen better.”

<><><>​

“Ugh… my head,” Owen said, sitting up. He was in the middle of the fire in the middle of his room. Wait, his room? His parents must have carried him back while he was asleep. And, he must have rolled into it in his sleep again. He groaned. The Charmander tried to stretch out the wings he didn’t have. “Ngh… that’s right,” he mumbled, disappointed.

“Owen! You’re awake?” Amia asked.

“Yeah!” Owen called.

“Star told me everything,” the Gardevoir said, rushing into his room.

Alex was somehow faster, and he scooped him up and pressed him tightly against his chest. He frantically mumbled something, asking if he was okay and if he was in one piece. Owen tried his best to look dignified. It wasn’t working.

“Ohhh, you were so brave, Owen! I’m so proud!” Amia said from the side.

“Nng—thanks…!” Owen said, kicking his legs helplessly.

Alex set him down. “I’m so sorry that you had to go through all that,” he said. “I didn’t think it would be that scary. Ooh, to say no to Arceus…”

“S-so, Mom said yes?”

Amia nodded. “A long time ago. It was a basic Promise, though—nothing like what he was asking of you. I just Promised to never have more than one Orb within me. I had no intention to, and, well, at the time… it was Arceus! I think a lot of Pokémon here would tell you a similar story.”

“Mm.” Owen looked down. “Well, I don’t plan to gather the Orbs, either. That would mean killing you guys. I doubt that’s what Star wants.” Owen paused. “Wait. But Barky—I mean, Arceus—I mean—ugh. What he told me was that he wanted me to just… give up my power. And when that didn’t work, to work under him. Not to Promise to not gather the Orbs or anything!” Owen shuddered. “Was he going to make me kill you guys?!”

“I doubt he’d do something like that,” Alex said, flinching. “I—I hope not. Star never said he was an evil person…” He looked to Amia, who shrank uncertainly.

“I’d hope not!” Owen said. “He’s Arceus! He can’t be evil!” Right? Star, you there?

No answer.

“Guess she’s busy,” Owen said.

“What was that?” Amia asked.

“Oh, sorry—I was trying to call for Star. Anyway, what were we doing?”

“Well, we were thinking about doing some meditation,” Amia said.

Owen instantly deflated.

“But,” Amia amended, “we were also thinking about heading into Kilo Village to get some supplies for Team Alloy, since they still need to eat. But it’s a bit dangerous, considering Eon might be waiting for us if we left. We were going to split into two groups—half of us would go to Kilo Village for supplies for the rest of Team Alloy, and the rest would stay back here. That way, Eon can’t split us up.”

“Right, okay,” Owen said. “So, can I go to Kilo Village, then?”

“If you want, dear. Rhys was also going to go, and Anam to check on the Hearts with Nevren. He’s still at the village keeping the paperwork flowing. Your friends are going to be meditating, though. They need it more than you do.”

“How about you?” Owen asked.

“Your mother will need to stay back to keep Kilo Village safe,” Alex said, shaking his head. “With Rhys and Anam gone, she’s the strongest Mystic here.”

“Oh, yeah,” Owen said. “How strong… are you? Wait—and what about Manny? Isn’t he stronger?”

Amia giggled. “Well, he’s definitely a better fighter.”

Owen gulped.

Hey, yo! Yes? Hello? You called?

Oh! Hi, Star! What took you?

“Owen?” Alex asked nervously. “Is Arceus trying to…?”

“Oh—sorry. No. Star.”

I was searching the spirit realm. Takes a bit of time to make my way back to the Grass Orb.

Oh, okay.

So, what’s up?

Is, uh, I was just wondering, is Arceus evil?

A pause. That, uh, she said. That’s a loaded question.

I mean, yes or no, is he evil? Owen said.

You can’t just… call someone evil. It’s… I mean… c’mon. He’s my cosmic roommate. I know the guy. He isn’t all bad; he’s just… warped.

Warped, huh? Owen replied, crossing his arms. What was he gonna make me do, Star? If I followed his orders?

I dunno. What, you think I can read his mind?

…Yes?

Well, I can’t. Can barely read you guys; what makes you think I can read him?

Right…

Anyway, that all? I want to find the next Orb asap.

N-no, that’s all. Thanks, Star. Sorry for bothering you.

No prob. Gonna go now.

Mm.

Owen noticed that his parents were staring at him. “Uh—sorry. Star says Arceus isn’t evil, just warped.”

“I don’t know if that’s any better.” Alex frowned, the flames on his shoulders dimming.

Owen sighed. “I need to take a walk, I think. I’m definitely going to Kilo Village.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “…Can Zena come, too?”

Amia and Alex blinked, exchanging looks. “Zena?” Amia asked.

Owen closed his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said. “Just a feeling.”

“Well, you’d have to ask her,” Alex said after an uncertain pause. “But if not, bring ADAM instead. He’s about as strong as Zena is, from what we can tell by his aura.”

“Okay, sure,” Owen said.

He ran straight across their dividing cavern and knocked at her home’s entryway.

“Zena?” he called. “Are you—oh.”

“Do you like it?” Zena asked. The Milotic wore a bag tied around her horn, resting comfortably on her neck. “I’m not sure who made it for me, but it was too lovely to pass up. I found it in front of my home.”

Owen squinted. “Huh. That looks like Rhys’ handiwork.”

Zena’s bright expression dampened slightly. “Oh? Rhys?”

“Yeah. It looks great!”

“Mm. Well, if you say so, I’ll gladly use it. Now, what did you want?”

“Want to come with me to Kilo Village?”

Zena flinched. “W-with you?” She rose with hope. “Just you?”

“Yeah! Oh, no. You, me, Rhys, and Anam.”

Zena’s stance lowered.

“Hey, I know you don’t care a whole lot about Rhys, I think, but…”

“No, it’s fine,” Zena said, nodding. “I’ll come. Certainly.”

<><><>​

He couldn’t find his bag.

The little Charmander searched high and low, increasingly more frantic, for his trusty and sturdy and constantly replaced Heart-approved exploration bag. Even with his blocked memories, the apparent wear and tear of his bag was frequent enough that he knew, in his very core, that it happened too often to be acceptable.

“No, no, how did I misplace it? Again, maybe?” Owen whispered, but then stopped himself. No talking to himself. Bad. He was trying to break that habit, wasn’t he? Worried chirps left his throat instead; soon, he looked and sounded more like a feral searching for a lost scrap of food. He had even come across a hidden stash of Roseli Berries, which only made him let out a perplexed and frustrated whimper. Who even needed those things here? Nobody was weak to Amia’s Fairy aura, and—

“Uh.”

Owen let out a loud chirp in response and spun around. “Ah! Demitri! Don’t do that!”

Demitri blinked. “Were you just talking like a feral?”

“No, I, uh, I was just searching for my bag.”

“Y’know, down south there’s a place where a ton of Fires settled and made it a lava field,” Gahi remarked, waddling into Owen’s room. “Saw some Charmander there. Made the same sounds.”

“I wasn’t—I was just panicking! Who loses their bag?!”

“Who chirps like a feral?” Gahi quipped back, clicking his jaws.

Mispy, rolling her eyes, squeezed past Demitri and looked around the room.

“Mispy’s got the right idea,” Demitri said. “Let’s help Owen find his bag.”

In less than ten seconds, Mispy cleared her throat wordlessly and raised Owen’s bag with a vine, tossing it over to the immensely relieved Heart.

“Where’d you—”

Mispy curled a vine under Owen’s leafy bed an raised it, revealing a hidden stash of comic books, a half-full bag of Tamato jerky, and a rock with several claw marks on it.

“How did you find that so quickly?” Owen said.

Mispy shrugged. “I’m smart.”

“Heh-heh-hey,” Gahi said, eyes sparkling with mischief. He skittered toward the bed and nipped at one of the paperbacks, pulling it away. “Books under yer bed? Ain’t you got a dark side.”

Owen, helpless and paralyzed, could only gasp and say, “No, no! That’s not at ALL what I—”

“Ho-Oh’s Absurd Escapades?” Gahi read out, tapping his jaw on the cover as if that would give him a better idea off what it was trying to convey. “Part seven?”

“It’s the best part, okay?” Owen seethed, snatching the comic away before shoving it back under his bed. “I think. Why else would I keep it?”

“What, you don’t remember?” Gahi said.

“No.” Owen’s flame dimmed slightly at that, and Gahi growled, perhaps realizing that he’d just sucked the mood out of the room. “And thanks for the bag, Mispy. I don’t like leaving without basic supplies.”

“Yeah, eh, glad she found it,” Gahi mumbled. He said something else, too, but it was so soft that Owen didn’t hear him. But he had a guess.

“How are you feeling, Gahi? Guys?” Owen said. “Er, I know yesterday was pretty stressful… And—and to be honest, I’m still a little out of it, so I’m not really to talk about…”

“Nah, nah, it’s fine.” Gahi waved his head dismissively.

Demitri and Mispy exchanged uncertain looks, and then the Axew asked, “Um… about that. Those things about you… and how it might apply to us. Do you think we’d be able to, you know…”

Owen tensed. He wasn’t supposed to tell them. He could practically feel the Grass spirits in him, quietly urging him to hold off. “It’s probably a bad idea for now,” he said. “Maybe when we know we’re more stable.”

Demitri poked his claws together. The crestfallen look was nearly enough to make Owen spill anyway, but not enough.

Mispy, meanwhile, nodded and said, “I trust you.”

“Yeah, whatever yeh say,” Gahi said. “Jus’, y’know, when they finally let us, let’s go on a mission t’gether. Sure, just the three o’ us as Team Alloy feels more familiar… but yer our leader, now, so, eh—”

“Second in command,” Mispy said, raising her leaf a little higher.

Gahi snapped his jaws in Mispy’s general direction.

“A-and besides,” Demitri said quickly, standing between the two of them. “With you on the team, maybe we can actually take on Ice-heavy missions.”

That one, for some reason, got a laugh out of Owen. “Maybe,” he said, thought his tail brightened. “How about when I get back home, if we have time, I meditate with you guys instead?”

Their expressions brightened in kind.

<><><>​

The enthusiastic Charmander took a deep breath, exhaling a plume of fire. “Ahhh, light! Sunlight!” He spread his tiny arms. “I hope I went out often in the past. I did, right, Rhys?”

“Mm, I believe so. You went on small-scale missions quite often.” Rhys looked down at Owen. “Do you remember any of that?”

“Not yet,” Owen said. “What sorts of missions did I take?”

“Simple ones. Lost item recovery, a thief here and there, troubled Pokémon, and the sort. But they were typically only for Provisionary-approved Dungeons.”

“Provisionary?” Zena repeated.

“Pre-Hearts, kinda. Kinda like an apprenticeship!” Owen said. “For… four hundred years… now that I think about it.”

“Hmm. Sounds like quite the career path,” Zena said absently.

“…Was… was that a joke?”

“Hey!” Anam suddenly said. “Look! It’s Nev-Nev! I’m gonna go catch up on Heart stuff with Jam-Jam!”

And just like that, the Goodra and Decidueye were off to the Alakazam, leaving Rhys and Zena with Owen.

Zena watched. “Does it ever bother you that your leader is an adult hatchling?”

“Yes,” Rhys grunted.

“I dunno, I think it’s kinda cute,” Owen countered.

Rhys sighed. “So long as Nevren and James can handle the complicated work, I do not mind Anam as a figurehead. I won’t deny his positive effect on Kilo’s morale, let alone Kilo Village itself.”

“Mm.” Zena nodded. “That, I suppose, is fair. Well, Lucario. You know your team more than any of us. What do they want for food?”

“Ah, I know just the place.” Rhys inspected his bag of Poké to be sure they had enough funds.

Owen heard the jingle of coins, but then had a brief moment of panic, like he couldn’t see.

“Hm?” Rhys glanced at Owen. “Are you okay?”

“Uh—I don’t know,” Owen said, holding his chest. “I…”

Rhys stared worriedly, as did Zena. But then the Lucario’s eyes flashed with recognition. “Ah,” he said. “Not to worry, Owen. You might be reacting to your senses being so dull as a Charmander. Perhaps the jingle of coins made you curious how many there are inside. Would you like to see?”

“Yeah, please,” Owen said, reaching out to grab it. “Sorry,” he mumbled, avoiding Zena’s confused stare. He looked into the bag and fiddled with its contents for a while—a mixture of silver, gold, and shimmering coins. He made sure to get a glance at the very bottom, every small circle. Satisfied, he closed the bag and returned it to Rhys. “Thanks.”

“…Owen?” Zena said.

Rhys explained. “Owen has impressive perceptive senses, but they aren’t their best as a Charmander.”

“They were a lot stronger in the spirit world,” Owen said. “But I think out here…”

Rhys nodded. “It must feel like he’s blind, or walking in the dark,” he explained. “Are you sure you’re fine, Owen? I can let you hold our funds, if you wish.”

“No, it’s okay. Let’s go!” By some miracle, he remembered the name of one of his favorite stores. “And maybe after, we can stop by Sugar ‘n Spice?”

Rhys chuckled. “Of course.”

<><><>​

Shopping was surprisingly easy. First, they headed down the road from the main Waypoint and advanced north. They went past the multicolored, old buildings that sold Dungeon equipment—some shops were now closed for an early-noon break while Heart traffic was at its lowest—and continued further down the paved roads. The further they went, the more developed the buildings became, transitioning from stones and mortar to bricks, and later to what seemed to be carved and colored stone of some kind. They only passed by a few Pokémon on the way. Kilo Village was eerily quiet, but it was only expected thanks to their odd time to visit.

They went into a general store for their main supplies, with foods of all kinds stocked on shelves almost as tall as Zena. The middle shelves immediately in front of them held things like berries, vegetables, and fruits. The outer-middle shelves had things like sugar, breads, and oils. The walls had strange, large tubs that contained meats, juices, and other perishables. A Froslass patrolled these tubs, radiating freezing air over them one by one in a routine cycle.

Near the front, a Tangrowth oversaw the shoppers, counting coins and bagging items in little, leafy pouches for customers to take home. He glanced worriedly at Owen, who gave a nervous wave back. His tail always made shopkeepers nervous. He had a pang of guilt whenever he looked at the Froslass. Based on how she hovered protectively over the produce… he had an idea why.

“No sneezing,” Rhys mumbled to Owen. He then headed to the produce section.

To Owen’s retroactive relief, nothing befell them in the market. Owen didn’t sneeze once; he kept his tail in check; and best of all, he convinced the others to buy a few Berry Pops from the frozen section to try later. Owen glanced back to see the Froslass and Tangrowth collectively sigh when he left. Pushing that to the back of his mind, he followed Rhys and Zena to Sugar ‘n Spice next.

“Such interesting architecture,” Zena said, looking at the buildings. She had been politely silent while they went shopping, but Owen knew that she was trying her best to take it all in, and had been careful not to touch anything the whole time. “Why do the buildings change so much? These seem so much more… refined than what is near the Waypoint.”

“As the population grows, so does Kilo Village’s size. Thankfully, the crater of Kilo Mountain is quite accommodating. The outer buildings are more advanced because they were made with better technology.”

“Mm. A crater…” Zena eyed the distant, black hills. “And what if it floods?”

“We have runoff systems.” Rhys motioned to the dips in the roadsides. “Among other precautions.”

Owen walked ahead, eager to get to their last stop. His mind filled with fuzzy, vague memories and strong, precise feelings. There was something there that he really liked. Something heavenly that they always sold. He had no idea what it was. He’d just have to look at everything until the feeling struck him again.

“Eh?” Owen blinked, realizing that he was already there. “Wow, I walked fast,” he mumbled. The building was pink on the outside and a pure white on the inside. Shelves were lined with samples to pick from, though Owen was a bit too short to see most of them. Thankfully, a menu had been commissioned by some Smeargle long ago to illustrate most of the items.

It hit him. That was it! He stepped inside, his little feet making scaly taps on the marble floor.

“Hey, there,” greeted a Salazzle at the front desk, behind a white counter. There was a little tag on her chest that said ‘Sugar’ on it.

“Hi!” Owen said. “Um—give me a second.”

“No problem.”

A second Salazzle peered out from the back-room’s curtains. Owen did his best not to gawk or flinch, but it was hard to ignore the gigantic, explosive scar that tore across her chest like lightning. She had ‘Spice’ written on her name tag in the same spot Sugar’s was.

Owen averted his eyes to be polite and said, “Uh, those. The cinnamon Pecha bonbons.”

“You got it,” Sugar said, giving Spice a nod. She headed into the backroom again. When Sugar looked back at Owen, she blinked, as if startled. “Oh! And how about your brother?”

“…What?” Owen asked, but then looked back. “Wh—"

A Charmander stood behind Owen, identical to him in height and build. The only difference was that this one had a green scarf wrapped tightly around his eyes, blindfolding him. “Oh, we’re not brothers. And I’d like ten of those, too,” the Charmander said. “Do you guys still sell Cheri chocolate?”

“Oh, sure, but it’s spicy,” Sugar warned.

“I know.”

“Cheri chocolate? Spicy?” Owen asked.

“It’s very good,” the other Charmander said.

“Oh.” Owen paused. Where were Rhys and Zena? He was sure they were right behind him… “Uh—hang on,” Owen said. “I need to check something. I think I lost the rest of my group.”

Owen walked around the other Charmander, but couldn’t keep his eyes away from him. That nagging feeling got to him, but even without that, how could he react any other way? Another Charmander! This was amazing! He never got to—well, then again… perhaps he had before, and he just didn’t remember it.

Nothing was waiting for Owen outside. The town was completely still in midday. Not even the clouds moved, and there wasn’t even a hint of wind. Owen sighed, spinning around. “How’d I…?” he mumbled, nervous.

“Something wrong?” Charmander asked.

“Um, my folks. A Lucario and Milotic. Did you see them around?”

“Mm, can’t say I have,” Charmander said. “Hey, if you’re waiting for them, how about I stay by you, huh?”

“That’d be great.”

“Something wrong, kids?” Sugar asked. “Lost your parents?”

“We’re not kids,” they both said.

Owen flinched, looking at Charmander. “Hey, uh…”

Sugar shrugged and looked back to Spice, who came out with their orders.

Charmander walked over and paid for his piece, and then Owen realized he didn’t have money on him. He should have volunteered to take the bag after all. “Uh—hang on,” Owen said. “When my folks find me, they’ll pay. They have the money.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I’ll pay,” Charmander said.

“N-no, you shouldn’t.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve got lots to spend. Besides.” The blinded Charmander turned back, “I feel like we should look out for each other, y’know? Same species and all that.”

“Oh, you two are adorable,” Sugar said. “Spice! Come here and look at how adorable these two are!”

Spice giggled, weaving out of the back-room. “I wouldn’t mind inviting both of them over to our place some time, Sugar.”

“N-no, thank you,” they both said.

The two Salazzle giggled.

“Say, uh, Charmander,” Owen said.

“Deca.”

“Deca, where are you from? I’ve never seen you before!”

“You haven’t?” Deca said coyly. “I think I’ve seen you around. You’re a Heart, right? Charmander Owen?”

“Yes! But, only recently.”

“Yeah, but I saw the ceremony. You looked awesome, actually!”

“R-really?! Aw, c’mon, it wasn’t that grand…”

“Yeah, but you stood out the most,” Deca said. “Hard to miss that tail-fire, eh? We’re naturally pretty easy to spot.”

Owen tittered nervously. “Yeah, I guess.”

An awkward silence followed.

“Say,” Deca said. “Your folks, you said. A Milotic and Lucario?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m not actually… sure where they went. I hope they get here soon.”

“Well, you couldn’t have gone that far ahead. They should be here soon,” Deca said.

Spice walked over with two stools for the pair to sit on. “You two seem familiar,” she remarked. “Have we met before?”

“Have we?” Owen said. “I’m not… sure… H-ha, sorry. I have really bad memory.”

“No, we definitely met before,” Spice said. “Ahhh…” She tapped her chest thoughtfully. “Now I remember. You little bright-eyed idiot…”

“Idiot?!” Owen said; Deca giggled.

“It’s no wonder Anam let you in after that stunt,” Spice said, wiggling a claw. “Aw, good on you, little guy.”

Deca adjusted the blindfold around his head. “Bad memory?”

“Yeah, but it’s getting better,” Owen said. “I guess I had some past trauma, but thanks to my friends, I’ve been slowly getting it back. It’s kinda a long story.”

“Your friends, your friends, right,” Deca said. “How many friends?”

“Oh, lots! We’ve actually been making a sort of mini-Heart team, kinda.”

“And they’re all your friends?” Deca asked.

Owen nodded. “Yeah. I only met a lot of them recently, but they feel like family to me. It’s kinda funny how that works, huh?”

“It is, it is.” Deca nodded. “It sounds like you care a lot about them.”

“Yeah,” Owen said, but then caught himself. Why was he being so open with this random stranger? Even though he was a fellow Charmander, he shouldn’t be giving out this kind of information! But… why did it feel like he still wanted to talk? “Hey, Deca. Have we met before?” He wondered why he was being so coy about it, if that was the case, unless he already knew he had memory problems. Was Deca an old friend, too?

“We have,” Deca said. “I was just playing along because you mentioned you had bad memory.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Owen said. “Ugh, wow. That sucks. I have no idea who you are. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Deca said, tilting his head down as if to stare at his hands with his blinded eyes. “We didn’t know each other for very long. Maybe a few times we crossed paths, y’know?” He stood up. “I think your folks will be coming back soon. Can you hear them?”

“No,” Owen said.

“Oh. I guess those sharp senses of yours aren’t that good right now, huh?”

“I—I told you about that?”

Deca nodded. “Hey, it’s alright. I’m not mad. Actually, I’m really happy I got to see you again, Owen. Glad you’ve got a lot of new friends. But… you seem worried about them.”

Owen winced. “I mean, kinda,” he said. “We’re in a dangerous business, you know?”

“You’re telling me,” Spice murmured, tracing the scar along her chest.

“Mm. I understand,” Deca said. “But I wouldn’t worry. If you’re with them, they’re bound to be safe!” He laughed. “…I’ll see you around, Owen.” He walked toward the exit.

“Wait,” Owen said desperately.

Deca stopped, turning back. Even with the blindfold, it still felt like he was staring at him.

“S-sorry,” Owen said, shaking his head. “Sorry. Don’t know what came over me there.” He laughed again, trying to shake away that tightness in his chest. “My head’s all kinds of messed up. I think I just like being by another Charmander, is all.”

Deca sighed. “It’s okay, Owen. Take care. Tell your friends I said hi.”

“You don’t want to meet them?” Owen asked.

“Can’t. I already gotta rush back home.”

“Oh. Okay. See you,” Owen said, but Deca was already gone.

Owen remained there, on his stool with his bonbons, for fifteen silent seconds. Did that just happen? Who was he? Why did he ask all those questions? No, why did Owen answer all those questions?

“You know,” Spice said, “if I didn’t know any better, I’d’ve called him your long-lost twin. Who was that?”

Owen glanced at Spice, then at Sugar. “I have… no idea.”

“He’s a lot like you,” Sugar said.

“Don’t be like that, Sugar. Just because they’re both Charmander doesn’t mean they’re alike. Look at us! A Heart and a confectioner!”

“OWEN!”

The Charmander nearly fell out of his seat. “Zena!” Owen said. “Hi?!”

The Milotic barged into Sugar ‘n Spice, staring desperately at him. “H-how did you—”

“Uh—I just walked?”

Rhys entered next, quick to scan the room with fierce eyes. Sugar and Spice both tensed.

“Is—is something wrong?” Sugar asked.

Rhys was silent for some time but then shook his head. “No. I apologize.”

“You practically vanished from us,” Zena said. “One moment, Rhys and I were looking at one another to chat—it’s polite, after all—and I look back to see you, and you’re gone!”

“M-maybe it was a lapse in memory? Like, I get those all the time, apparently, so, I mean—”

“That’s hardly a normal thing to happen,” Zena said, and Owen tried to ignore how unintentionally hurtful that sounded.

Rhys growled. “Owen, was there anybody with you?”

“Yeah, actually,” Owen said. “Another Charmander! Oh, Mew, he sounded just like me, too! It was surreal! But he looked so cool! He had a blindfold on, and it made him look totally awesome! Like—like if he stood in the wind, it would be all flowy behind him and…” Owen paused. “And, uh, I mean, it was nice to talk to him.”

“I see,” Rhys said. “Well. It looks like he bought you your sweets.”

“Y-yeah. He offered. Seemed rude to say no. I’ll pay him back next time I see him! Promise!”

Rhys sighed. “Of course.”

“Oh, and he told me to tell you guys hi.”

“Oh, that was nice,” Zena said. “You must have talked now and then in the past. Perhaps you crossed paths during missions?”

“I think so,” Owen said. “He knew me. I just have to remember him. He didn’t seem all that mad about it, but…” Owen paused, rubbing his head. “Actually, hang on. This is starting to add up in a really weird way. I guess he’s just really eccentric…”

Rhys nodded, holding the spike on his chest thoughtfully. He sighed. “Well. My pulse is back to normal, at least. I thought you were in actual danger when we lost you. Thankfully… none of that happened. But I’m too nervous to stay here any longer, Owen—let’s return to Hot Spot.”

Owen nodded. “Sure,” he said, stepping outside. Just then, a gust of wind blew past him, and he had to keep his eyes closed so dust didn’t get in his eyes.

“Let’s be fast,” Rhys said. “The wind has been relentless ever since we left the market.”

 

[canisaries]

“A bit… ruthless, yes. Your same attacks in that state.

Is a word or two missing from the second sentence? It doesn't seem to make sense.

“I—I’m not chubby!” Owen protested, clutching at his round belly. “Th-that’s the natural look for my species! It’s—it’s healthy!”

real *clap* charizard *clap* have *clap* curves

Klent’s eyes warmed up imperceptibly.

Sooooo they heated?

“We have,” Deca said. “I was just playing along because you mentioned you had bad memory.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Owen said. “Ugh, wow. That sucks. I have no idea who you are. I’m really sorry.”

man I wish this wasn't so relatable

“Let’s be fast,” Rhys said. “The wind has been relentless ever since we left the market.”

but then who wAS PHONE

Well, Deca returns, probably sniping a couple of fan theories. Gotta wonder what's up with all that spooky discontinuity in events. Maybe he's a glitchy bootleg of Owen's model? Who knows. Anyway, looking forward to the continuation!

 

[namohysip]

Thanks as usual, Canis! I worked on that one sentence you brought up since it does look kinda weird.

Well, Deca returns, probably sniping a couple of fan theories. Gotta wonder what's up with all that spooky discontinuity in events. Maybe he's a glitchy bootleg of Owen's model? Who knows. Anyway, looking forward to the continuation!

Yep, Deca shows up again, and leaves just as quickly. Gotta love those one-scene wonders. I love how his introduction here has snuffed out some theories while giving rise to new ones! Guess we'll have to wait for his next appearance to see if even more answers come along, eh?

I'm going some final touches as usual. After that, the next chapter will arrive.

 

[namohysip]

Chapter 24 – To Death and Back​

After the unnerving encounter with Deca in town, Owen had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t be a good idea to go out again for a while. Hindsight—after the thrill of meeting a fellow Charmander—suggested that even if Deca was someone he could trust, he wouldn’t want to endanger him with this Guardian business. He sighed at the thought. Just when he thought he’d be reuniting with a normal friend…

Why did that not settle right? Deca didn’t seem like a normal friend. He knew that for sure. He shook his head. It was a memory still locked away.

A few days passed after that where they went back to their usual routine of meditating and training—for Team Alloy, it was to calm their auras for their inevitable evolution. For the Guardians, it was to continue their everlasting struggle to tune their auras with their Mystic spirits.

Owen fell into a routine on the third day and meditated with Zena the most often. Each day they greeted one another, sat nearby—or in Zena’s case, coiled up—and closed their eyes. Zena mentioned that this was what she did on most days when she was in her cave, but that it was much better now that she had company. Owen couldn’t understand how lonely it must have felt before.

On the fourth day, right when he was leaving his room, Amia approached.

“Owen, everybody else is gathering together for some training. The scouts at Kilo Village didn’t turn anything up yet and, apparently, Star hasn’t been able to find anything good in the spirit world, either.”

“Oh, okay,” Owen said. “What kind of training? Meditating again? Why’d you tell me if…”

“Umm…” Amia rubbed the back of her head. “We’re going to be pairing off, actually. An advanced Mystic training a junior Mystic, so to speak.”

“And I’m… a junior Mystic? So, you’ll be training me?” Owen said, perking up. “That sounds awesome!”

“Actually,” Amia said. “I am going to be training Willow.”

“Oh,” Owen said. “So… Zena?”

“Zena’s going to be trained by Anam, actually,” Amia said.

“…ADAM?” Owen said.

“ADAM and Valle are going to be sparring one another as fellow mid-tier Mystics.”

“W-wait, then who’s left?” Owen asked, mentally going over everyone in his head. A spark of hope: “Wait! Am I gonna be trained by—by Rhys?!”

“No.” Amia sighed. “Rhys is going to train the other three.” Owen counted on his claws, trying to recall who was left. “Owen… Manny personally asked to be the one to train you.”

Owen felt the ice in his stomach return, this time from dread. “Y-you mean… the Fighting Guardian?” he said. “B-but I barely beat Azu…”

Amia shrugged, though she was clearly trying to be delicate. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m sure Manny will… do something helpful.”

“C-can’t you ask him to maybe… not?”

“Believe me, I tried,” Amia apologized, “but everybody else was in favor of it, dear. I… I couldn’t go against the majority. And they did have a point. Of all of us, you have the most potential to grow—and Manny knows how to do that. He specializes in training your… you know. Your kind. S-so, er… Let’s go!” She headed out.

“W-wait! Don’t I have to eat breakfast?”

Amia paused in her exit. “Do you?”

“I,” Owen paused, feeling his stomach. “…I guess not. Huh.”

Amia smiled and led the way out.

<><><>​

“Hah! Th’ sleepyhead’s finally awake,” Manny said, clapping his paws together, making a muffled, furry pat. “Took long enough! Oy, did yer mom fill yeh in?”

Owen stood straight, tail trying to look as tall as his head. “Y-yes! Um… but I kind of don’t want to die.”

“Aaah, you’ll be fine,” Manny waved his paw. “C’mon! We’re gonna start with Azu like befer. Don’t worry, he ain’t gonna be scared this time.”

“Scared? I scared him?”

“Yep! I hyped ‘im up, though. He’s good.”

Owen sighed, looking at Amia helplessly as if expecting her to change her mind.

But she just smiled and shook her head. “Good luck, dear.”

“Heheheh…” Manny walked down the rocky caves, deeper into the complex. It was cooler where he was heading; Owen figured it would be easier for him to fight there. The Charmander hesitantly followed, wondering if Manny wanted to train him to help… or to get back at him.

“Owen!”

Loud skittering and tiny pebbles bouncing signaled Gahi’s rapid approach. By the time he turned around, the Trapinch’s massive head was already a split-second away from slamming into his chest. Owen didn’t have time to bring up his Protect barrier; The slam, wreathed in the dark aura of a Feint Attack, sent Owen skidding and stumbling back. Gahi then jumped out of the way; across the hall, Mispy’s leaf glowed bright.

“Oh no.”

This time, Owen had time to react; crossing his arms, a golden barrier formed in front of him and deflected the barrier toward Manny, who shouted in surprised and crossed his arms. No barrier formed. “Aw, c—”

They all winced when the small explosion deafened the team. When the light finally faded, Manny brought his arms down to inspect his scorched fur, then laughed. “Hah! Feelin’ rowdy?”

Demitri, who had been behind Mispy, uncovered his eyes to inspect the damage. He sighed with relief when he saw that it was minimal, and Amia, who had been startled enough to mimic Manny’s movements, formed her own cyan Protect barrier, though it was useless.

“Rhys said we can’t train with Owen,” Gahi said. “So, we just wanted to get a cheap shot in so it counts as a fight!”

Owen smirked. “Well, it only half-worked,” he said.

“Bah!” Gahi snapped his jaws in Owen’s general direction. “That Protect’s cheating! Dumb gold shield…”

A shrug was all Owen gave in reply, at this point toying with Gahi’s aggressive mood. “Hey, Mom did it, too, so I guess it was reasonable.”

Amia tittered. “Well, I saw you doing it, and you’re always good at knowing when to use those…”

“Erm, Gahi, we should go see Rhys now,” Demitri said. “You know, so he doesn’t start to worry.”

All Demitri got in response was a growl, but he eventually shuffled away, though he stopped to look back. “Oy, Owen,” he said. “Think we can hang out after the training? Y’know, just… I dunno.”

To that, Owen’s expression softened, a warmth spreading through his chest. “Totally. We’re Team Alloy, after all.” He tried to ignore the bittersweet feeling that nudged away the warmth. “So, we should do stuff as a team every so often.”

“Exactly,” Gahi said, a sad glint in his eyes. “Well, I, eh… yeah. Gonna go train.”

Demitri and Mispy exchanged a look, and Demitri asked for them both, “Gahi? Are you okay?”

“What’s that supposed ter mean?” Gahi growled, speeding off. “Let’s go already!”

Mispy rolled her eyes and bobbed her leaf toward Owen.

“Guess Gahi’s just a little miffed that we can’t train together still,” Demitri translated for the departing Trapinch. “I miss it, too, y’know. But it’s fine. You need to do your special Mystic training, right?” he asked.

And Owen saw a knowing look in Mispy’s eyes, too—because they still couldn’t risk training together with what little they knew about their true forms. “Right,” Owen said. “One day. Maybe we can, I dunno, cook together sometime?”

Demitri’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! Actually, I wanted to get back into cooking more. It’s hard to compete with Rhys, but I don’t want him doing all the cooking anyway, and, er… And Mispy likes it, too, so…”

She giggled and bumped her hip against his. With a final leaf-bob to Owen, Mispy left and guided Demitri with her.

Owen watched fondly, a new resolve bubbling in his mind. The sooner he perfected his training and prepared himself for his Charizard form, whatever it was, the sooner he could be with them as a proper team again.

“Alright, I’m ready,” he said to Manny, and then gave his mother a confident smile.

<><><>​

“Um… Auntie Amia?” asked Willow, watching the Charmander leave with the rowdy Guardian.

“Auntie?” Amia repeated, looking down at the tiny Joltik. “When did I get that title?”

“I dunno…” Willow said.

Amia smiled. “Well, what did you want to ask, Willow? Before we get to training.”

“Is Owen gonna be okay?”

“Oh, Willow.” Amia sighed. “Yes. Owen will be fine.”

Willow hopped on one of the glowing, blue mushrooms, then another, and then stopped on top of a large one. She wobbled when the stem broke, the cap hitting the floor on its corner. “You didn’t send Manny to assassinate him?!”

“O-of course not!” Amia said. “Why would—no! That’s not it at all! I trust Manny. He knows that Owen is stable as a Charmander. He won’t have to do anything like that.”

Willow sparked uncomfortably. “Owen’s scary when he…”

“I know, Willow. You were so shaken up.” The thought alone “I’m sorry you had to see him like that. But he’s nice now, right?”

Willow hopped off the mushroom, mumbling to herself.

“What was that, dear?”

“…Which one’s the real Owen?” Willow asked.

“The real…?” Amia repeated, but then went quiet.

“If this way that Owen is now is just… him being suppressed… and sealing away his memories and stuff… and in the end, when he evolves, he becomes… that… then who’s the real Owen? His suppressed form, or his…”

It was as if Willow was pulling from Amia’s deepest fears. The Gardevoir was frozen in place.

Willow, oblivious, kept talking while staring at the mushroom’s dimming glow. “It’s like we’re only seeing a tiny part of him, and there’s this… this huge monster that’s waiting to break out. And… and when that part comes… what’ll happen to this tiny Owen? If you’re tiny… you’ll just get squished. Who’s… who’s really Owen?”

The Gardevoir finally came to her senses. “The one we know, of course,” she said. “Owen used to be in control of himself all the time—but something happened that made him—all four of them, actually—unstable. Like something didn’t… quite go right. So maybe the Owen you saw wasn’t the real Owen, either.”

“What happened?” Willow asked.

“I wasn’t around to see it myself,” Amia said evasively. “So, I’m not sure. But—Rhys could tell you!” She nodded. “We… we aren’t supposed to talk about it. They might overhear, and that might trigger the memories. It’s too risky.”

Willow buzzed irritably. “Is Owen evil?”

“No! No, nothing like that. I promise,” Amia said, nodding.

Willow’s big, blue eyes stared at Amia. She huffed. “Fine,” she said. “Let’s train.”

<><><>​

Owen sputtered and coughed, feeling something crack in the back of his head. He slammed against the rocks and felt the entire world go dark. In what felt like an instant to him, his eyes shot open, gasping for air. He panted and felt the back of his head—no wounds, but he felt something crusted and caked on. He pulled his hand forward; dried blood fell from his scaly palms. “What—”

An Aura Sphere slammed into his chest, smashing him against the rocks again, dislocating his arm. He yelped and tried to find the source frantically, spotting Manny. “W-wait! That’s not fair!” he shouted. “I—I was fighting Az—”

A blue fist slammed into Owen’s stomach, pushing him even further into the wall. He was positive that a few of his organs had flattened against the back of his body from that one. “W-wait… t-time out…!”

Azu punched him near the center of his forehead, and he blacked out again.

Another instant in Owen’s mind passed, and he opened his eyes.

He saw a fist going right toward him. Owen held his arms up in a cross—he blocked it in a shield of light. “Ng—” Even with the Protect barrier, the shockwave knocked the wind out of him.

“Eh?” Azu said. “Hey, look! The little guy blocked it!”

“Hah!” Manny said.

“Y-yeah… I did!” Owen said, thrilled. “I blo—”

Azu’s second fist slammed into Owen’s chest, rupturing his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. The Charmander’s eyes bulged out—vision fading… He fell to the ground. He saw Azu’s tail swing toward him, slamming him into the opposite wall across the training grounds. Then, he blacked out completely.

And again, Owen’s eyes shot open. But this time, only slightly. He didn’t want to look awake yet. Through the thin sliver he opened, he saw two blue figures sitting nearby. Azu and Manny. They were staring at something on the ground. He focused… They were playing some sort of game with rounded pebbles. Owen breathed a bit too loudly, and the two looked at him. They both stood up.

“W-wait, p-please—” Owen begged.

Manny casually fired an Aura Sphere from his right paw. Owen reflexively opened his mouth and blasted a plume of flames. It slowed the attack but didn’t stop it, and Owen flew across the ground in a messy, rocky twirl, losing some scales in the process. He flicked his tail to alter his angular momentum just enough to get his footing. Using his good arm to stabilize, he miraculously found his footing. Azu rushed toward him with a firm punch. He dodged to the left and countered with another Ember.

“Gah—” Azu turned around and swiped at Owen with his tail. Owen jumped and turned green, opening his mouth again. A huge vine shot from his throat, wrapping around Azu; he swung his head and slammed him on the ground. Azu grunted and broke free, but Owen turned orange again and the vines became flames, burning the Feraligatr. He chomped down, snapping the burning vine away to extend the burn even longer while Azu tried to pull free.

Azu struggled to his feet, panting. “W-well… that ain’t so bad,” he said. “Heh… the Charmander’s much better this time. It only took a few mortal blows.”

“C-can’t you tone it down a little?!” Owen begged, seizing the opportunity. “You could’ve killed me!”

“Ha-haaa!” Azu declared. “But we did kill you, Charmander! Quite a few times! In a technical sense.”

“Well, if yeh were a normal Charmander,” Manny said, “we totally would’ve killed yeh fer real. We were doing some real strong attacks, not holding back at all, heh. But yer Mystic. Amia said yeh weren’t eating. That’s th’ sign.”

“The sign?” Owen asked. “Not eating? Wait,” Owen said. “When was the last time that I ate…?”

Manny looked at Azu, but then flicked his head back. Azu nodded and disintegrated into a blue ember, returning to Manny. The Lucario motioned for Owen to sit down; he obeyed and, thankfully, Manny did as well.

“It’s like Star said,” Manny said. “Mystics… don’t get strong th’ same way normal Pokémon do. Eh… they do, but their Mysticism, heh… it’s trained in another way.”

Owen hesitated. It wasn’t his perception talking, just general intuition. Was he about to get an important lesson from Manny about Mysticism? He gulped. “Um, Manny.”

“Eh?”

“You’re gonna explain to me a lot of stuff, right? You’re giving me a lesson?”

“Yeh.”

Owen shifted where he stood. “I… can’t understand what you’re saying half the time.”

Manny flinched. “E-eh, yeh, I figure.”

“I’m—I mean, I hear it from Gahi, but for you, it’s—”

“Nah, nah, I get it.” Manny shifted awkwardly. “Feh…”

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to understand! It’s just, I’m apologizing in advance if I have trouble with what you’re saying.”

“Nah, nah,” Manny said. “I got an idea. Hang on.” He shut his eyes, breathing deeply. For a split-second, Manny jostled where he sat as if he thought he was falling. Then, his eyes shot open. He stared at Owen, then at his paws, and then at Owen again. “Hello.”

“…Hi.” Owen knew this was someone different. “Did Manny just… switch places with one of his spirits? You can do that?”

“Mm, yes. My name is Yen. It takes a lot of energy to do this, but I suppose this would be easier for a lesson. I always was the better teacher, ironically.”

“Ironically?”

Yen chuckled. “Ah, just thinking. You’d expect Manny, as Guardian, to be better than me. In any case, you wished for an explanation on Mysticism?”

“Just a little. I’ve been going through the motions, but I don’t know what the motions are for. Does that make sense?”

Yen held his paw forward, creating a small Aura Sphere. Owen reflexively flinched and brought his arms in a cross, forming another Protect shield.

“Now, now, there’s no need to worry,” he assured him. “This is only for visual aid.”

“O-oh, okay.” He lowered his battle stance, but only halfway. His muscles twitched, ready for anything.

The Lucario resumed. He held the sphere forward, and then faced his paw upward, like a stage. “Now. Let’s say this is the aura for the average inhabitant of Kilo. Not just Kilo Village—the whole world. Most Hearts reside in the crater, so that skews the average quite a bit.”

“Okay,” Owen said. It was about the size of a small apple, and about as bright as one of the mushrooms in his room, barely enough to illuminate it in the dark to see the walls. “Hey, is this like Nevren and Rhys’ whole theory on aura efficiency?”

Yen stared at Owen with an odd look. “Aura efficiency?” he said. “You’re aware of that?”

“What? Uh… I mean… kinda. Rhys is kinda pioneering the theory. And Nevren has this scanner that measures our… aura efficiency, or something, based on how much power we can dish out, and how fatigued we feel after. Last I was scanned, I scored—er—really high! For my species. Pretty high.”

“Hm. How interesting. Very well. We shall call it that, aura efficiency.” Yen continued with his explanation. “The more you use your techniques to fight others, or to simply train in other ways, the more you…” Yen watched Owen. “Your eyes are glossing over.”

“H-huh? No!”

“Hm. A book-smart Charmander. How interesting.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Owen frowned.

“Well, I imagine Charmander would struggle to use books. The burning,” Yen said evasively. “Er, well, Owen. Tell me what you know, first. I can build off of your understanding. Does that sound fine?”

“Oh! Y-yeah, Rhys taught us this!” Owen said. “Basically… every technique that we do is actually channeling from the aura’s inner energy. The same energy that helps some Pokémon evolve, when our aura becomes strong enough. It’s like… a little bit of power that helps us do what we want it to do. Breathing fire, or weakening the enemy, or even making it rain! It’s all because of that power in our aura cores. We use that same power to resist what others are doing to us. So weaker Ember attacks, for example, hurt less… because our auras deflect a lot of it.” Owen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I guess that means I still have a long way to go, if your host is getting me in just a few hits. I can’t deflect those attacks at all.”

Yen nodded. “Very good,” he said. “Efficiency is indeed how rapidly you can draw from that aura core.” The aura in his paw glowed brighter. “So… how does Mysticism come in?” He nodded. “Everyone’s core’s output is fixed. Once at full efficiency, you can go no further.”

“Yeah. That makes sense. Once you’re fully efficient, you can’t really draw more than everything!”

Yen’s brow raised slightly.

“Y… you can’t, right?”

“Well, yes,” Yen said. “If you have ten apples, and your arms are large enough to carry twenty, you can only carry ten apples regardless.”

“…Why big arms?” Owen asked.

Yen waved his paw dismissively. “But what if,” he said, “you made more apples? Different apples?”

“Uh—”

Yen brought his second paw forward and created something else—it wasn’t another sphere. It looked more like a blue, bright flame. It reminded him of the spirits in the aura sea that Hecto oversaw. “Hunters, Guardians, and the Creators all possess Mystic Energy. It’s similar to what you know, but it provides so much more.” He combined his two paws into a bowl-like shape, and the flare enveloped the sphere, creating something that Owen had to squint at to see. “Now, there’s more to get.”

“But it looks different,” Owen said. “It’s not just more power. There’s… it doesn’t…” Owen knew that much. The moment he had become a Guardian, he already did something that no ordinary Pokémon could do—become a Grassy Charmander, humiliating as it was. Not to mention drown and survive. And apparently, in a little while, he was going to learn how to fly, too, just like his mother. “That power doesn’t feel… solid, like our aura powers normally.”

“Mm. So, you mean it isn’t defined?”

Owen nodded.

“That’s because it isn’t. Not quite. Normal energy is defined. You can only do certain things with it. Flamethrower… Aura Sphere… they’re defined techniques, crafted by Star, I imagine, for mortals to access controlled versions of the divine power inherent in all Pokémon. But Mystic Energy? Quite broader. Yes, it may be easier to perform certain actions—for example, become an embodiment of your Orb’s Type—but then… because it is not defined, you can get creative, with enough skill and power. Indeed, after enough time training, you practically become a spirit in the flesh.”

“A spirit… in the flesh,” Owen said, pinching his arm thoughtfully. The scales held their pinched shape slightly along his elbows. Owen made a mental note to drink some water later.

Yen nodded. “Guardians can bend reality just a slight bit more… dynamically, harnessing the same power that the Creators used to craft the world.”

Owen gulped. “That’s… not what my power feels like at all.”

“You’re still weak,” Yen said. “And it’s not as if we have any significant portion of that power on our own.” He shrugged. “At most, you can easily change things about yourself, and perhaps the area immediately around you. With the little amount of undefined energy provided by a single Orb, you cannot go beyond that sphere of influence. Still, you can certainly hone its intensity…”

Owen blinked. “How?”

Yen went on. “As Star said, Mysticism is not strengthened the same way the traditional aura is. You must connect with your core directly by performing actions that affect your flare—powerful emotions, deep meditation, and, ah… almost dying.”

“A-almost…?”

Yen chuckled. “Well. Once you reach a certain point, nearly dying does not become viable. Diminishing returns. Still, so long as we don’t hit you too hard, it’s a very effective method for weaker Mystics to become stronger. So, we can ‘kill’ you all we want,” Yen smiled apologetically, “and you’ll come back. Consider it… an at-death experience. Right up to Dusknoir’s Door, hm? But then you turn around and return to the living. But every time that happens…”

Yen showed the flare dying down and rising up, dying down, rising up, stronger and stronger each time. “You tap into that power a little more. Make your arms bigger to grab hold of those apples.”

“Again, with the arms… Do you guys have a thing for arms?”

Yen cleared his throat. “Once you have full access to your Mystic power through this method, you can meditate to hone the specifics and refine it. That is what most of the mid-level Mystics, like ADAM and Zena, are doing at this point. You are still catching up.”

“So, at first, to get full access to my power as a Mystic, I need to… die. A lot. And after that, I can work on actually improving it?”

“Yes! Well, to get there the fastest,” Yen said. “Still, I recommend you fight back. Mysticism is strongly tied to desires, and the desire to fight back can accelerate the process further.”

“But why do I need to die for that? How come all of those things with emotions, and dying, and meditating—that’s all with the aura, too, right?”

“There is a key difference,” Yen said. “Normal training. That’s how the body and the mind connect to the aura, which itself channels the defined power, provided by Star.” Yen closed his eyes. “Mysticism, you can’t rely on that defined connection. It is not your body to your aura. Mysticism is tied to something deeper than the aura—to the very source of your power. This training is for the connection between your aura and your spirit. Something normally untouchable. The body and the mind are the outermost layer. Then, there is the aura. And within the aura is your spirit. That is the true source of power. The aura is just a filter on what that power can do. Mysticism… weakens that filter.”

“The… spirit,” Owen said. He hadn’t realized it until just then, but without any fighting in this part of Hot Spot Cave, everything was silent. He could hear his own little heart struggling to beat. He hadn’t realized how broken his body still was. “Sorry,” Owen said, realizing he’d been silent for too long. “Before all this Guardian stuff, I didn’t even think Star was real, forget the soul, or the spirit, or whatever. I guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

“I understand,” Yen said. “Manny and I were the same way. Take your time.”

Owen nodded, but then gathered his bearings. “What’s… the difference? The aura and this… spirit thing.”

“Ahh…” Yen’s tail wagged twice in a slow, rhythmic motion. “How nostalgic, that question.”

Owen waited patiently. His eyes were bright with curiosity—but, more importantly, the longer he could stall, the longer he could catch his breath.

“The spirit… it’s an interesting concept. It’s something that I learned about a long time ago. Old, old culture. Something you can’t quite see. Something you can only feel.” Yen looked up. “The inner aura. The source. Where you are. What stays when everything else goes. That… is the spirit.”

“Isn’t that just the brain?” Owen mumbled. “I read books on this. All that stuff is just the brain.”

“Well, er, I suppose, physically,” Yen said, his momentum completely interrupted. “But it isn’t as if you’re carrying your brain with you in the aura sea, hm?”

“…Good point,” Owen mumbled. “What stays when everything else…” He thought about the aura sea. His body had dissolved there. In the spirit world, like the Grass Orb’s realm, or the ethereal forest, he had been an aura—a spiritual form that looked like his body. But in that strange void, even that body had dissolved away. He had been nothing but his aura flare. Yet he had still been there.

Owen looked at his hands again, as if they weren’t real. He sighed. He should have become an academic. Or maybe it wasn’t too late to become a farmer as his father had suggested.

“The connection…” Owen said again. What could that mean? It didn’t sound like Yen knew the full extent of this ‘spirit’ business. Perhaps Star did, but Yen just saw its effects. Still, one thing was clear: Yen, and by extension, Manny, were looking for results, and what he was doing supposedly made Owen’s Mysticism stronger.

“So, you’ve been ‘killing’ me all this time to… make my aura closer to my spirit? Or to make my Mystic power connect to it better. So, by dying, and meditating, and having these emotions, that speaks to my spirit, which the power of the Orb can let me… harness?” He paused. “Wait. This sounds more like you’re just making my aura unstable so more ‘Mystic’ leaks through!”

“Yessir.”

Owen flinched. It was Manny again. Based on the smirk the Lucario gave him, Yen must have either lost hold of his control or relinquished it upon completing his explanation. Owen missed him already.

“…Couldn’t you have told me that?!”

“Nah, bein’ scared an’ fightin’ fer yer life? That builds th’ spirit, too.”

“That’s…!”

“Well, enough talkin’,” Manny said, cracking his neck. “Y’know what I’m doin’.”

“W-wait, bring Yen back, please, I—”

“Nope!”

Manny fired the Aura Sphere he was preparing straight at Owen, and the helpless Charmander hit the wall once again.

<><><>​

Willow screamed in the blue flames that surrounded her. In an instant, they died down; the smoldering Joltik twitched and opened one eye. “What?” She coughed.

“Y-you were screaming,” Amia said, shivering.

“And you stopped?!” Willow said, hobbling to her feet. The very tip of the fur on her tiny body was still on fire; she shook, ridding herself of most of the ash, and the flame went out.

“Yes!” Amia said. “Because it… it looked like it hurt!”

“Of course it hurt!” Willow screeched. “But we’re training! Don’t stop!”

“B-but, Willow, you’re half-ash at this point!”

“But I didn’t pass out, so let’s keep going!”

“I—I can’t do this,” Amia said, voice hitching. “I’m sorry, I just—ow!”

Willow zapped Amia with a bolt of electricity. She sped toward her. “Don’t you dare stop now! You’re way stronger than me, and I want to get to that level, too!”

“B-but, I can’t, Willow, I just…!”

“What kind of Fire user are you? You can’t even go full-force!”

“I—I’m just… I’m just not a fighter, Willow. I’m strong, yes, but… But this is too much! It’s torture! I can’t—”

“Keep fighting!”

“B-but you’ll die!”

“I won’t die!” Willow shouted. “So… stop being so weak!”

“I—I…” Amia gulped.

“DO IT!”

The Gardevoir shut her eyes and blasted Willow with another flurry of flames. She tried to dodge, but the blast radius was simply too large. She screamed and collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

“I—I can’t do that! I can’t!” Amia covered her eyes.

“Wh-huh? Did I pass out?” Willow coughed a cloud of ash.

Amia was trembling and had to sit down. “It’s too hard to hurt friends! This kind of training is… is too much!”

Willow shook away the soot from her body and skittered toward the Gardevoir. “Mnngh…! I can’t believe you! All that power and you’re afraid to use it!”

Amia couldn’t look at her. “I know, I know…”

Frustrated, the Joltik shook her fur and started creating little sparks. Eventually, however, she settled down in a huff.

It was a quiet part of the cave. Manny was still beating Owen to a pulp a few corridors down. Owen was screaming for help. Manny just laughed.

“Scared of your own power,” Willow repeated. “Maybe that’s where he gets it from.”

Amia watched Willow with concern; the Joltik could barely climb her dress, but she managed it. She sat atop her lap.

“If someone like you raised Owen…” She trailed off. “…and if he took on even the littlest fraction of how you are…. I see why you think he can overcome that battle instinct he’s stuck in.”

Amia flinched. She bit at her lower lip and tried to stay calm. At least this was giving Willow some time to look less charred. “Yes,” she said. “I’ve shown Owen… a lot of love. And he’s been so gentle… So, he’d surely be able to overcome it.”

“I think he can, too,” Willow said. “He’s too nice.”

“Y-you think so?”

Willow nodded. “…So… you aren’t gonna beat me up?”

“I… I don’t think I have it in me,” she said, lowering her head. “I’m sorry,”

Disappointed, the Joltik turned around. “Then I guess I’ll train with them, instead,” she said, turning to look down the large cavern. In the open area, the group was locked in combat.

ADAM and Valle were sparring with one another. At similar strength, they grew together almost as rapidly as the weaker ones who were trying to catch up. While the Porygon-Z was not able to have much of an effect with his Normal attacks against Valle, the rocky Shiftry was not quite able to hit ADAM as easily due to his lack of movement.

“Well, um… okay,” Amia said. “I’m sorry that I can’t…”

“It’s okay,” Willow said. “At least we have someone who can tell us to not get so angry, right?”

Amia gently touched her chest. “Oh,” she said softly. “…Thank you, Willow.”

And with that, Willow dashed toward ADAM and Valle. She hopped in front of a Hyper Beam, blocking most of it, but screamed nonetheless.

 

[canisaries]

Willow sparked uncomfortably. “Owen’s scary when he…”

You know he's gotta be terrifying when even Miss Psycho over here is scared.

And again, Owen’s eyes shot open.

THE THIRD BOMB

“That’s because it isn’t. Not quite. Core energy is defined. You can only do certain things with it. Flamethrower… Aura Sphere… they’re defined techniques, crafted by Star, I imagine, for mortals to access controlled versions of the divine power inherent in all Pokémon. But Mystic Energy? Quite broader. Yes, it may be easier to perform certain actions—for example, become an embodiment of your Orb’s Type—but then… because it is not defined, you can get creative, with enough skill and power. Indeed, after enough time training, you practically become a spirit in the flesh.”

Ah, so mortals have to deal with an annoyingly restrictive OOP interface while Mystics can actually code from scratch. Gotcha.

“Isn’t that just the brain?” Owen mumbled. “I read books on this. All that stuff is just the brain.”

Charmander Owen DESTROYS spiritual mumbo jumbo man with FACTS and LOGIC

This one was kind of an exposition dump, but kudos to you for actually defining things well. A lot of times magic mechanics are described with pretty vague terms and limits.