Chapter 1: Giratina Solve Your Own Goddamn Problems
Chapter Text
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
Pokemon are by nature possessive creatures, capable of acts of grand cruelty and vast kindness both. Even the most outcast of pokemon can form truly unshakable bonds- believe me, I would know. With legendary pokemon, these desires, unfettered, amplified; through their power the effect of their actions spread across the whole of creation.
………
When gods started materializing in her cabin, Sable knew that things were about to go wrong in that particular legendary-brand madness that she wanted nothing to do with. Seriously, her journey had been stressful enough- couldn’t these busybodies just leave well enough alone?
No.
Sighing, she tucked away the fragile pottery in her house as the twisting, slender form of Giratina pulled itself from her mirror (so what, it was a nice mirror. A perfectly normal thing for a zoroark like her to own,) settling into reality in her living room. “Sable? Sable! I need-”
“ What .”
“Oh, there you are! I’m so glad to see you-” the legendary twisted, side brushing across the dresser she’d just removed the vase that one Johto champion had given her- Oak, maybe? Inwardly she bemoaned the fact the troubles of legendaries were common enough that she’d made a procedure for Giratina’s arrival.
At least her vases were spared? “What do you need this time, Giri? No, I’m not going to make your sister stop annoying Dialga, and I’m not going to help you with another ghost problem-”
“Gah! I already said I was sorry for that!” The look on his face still told her he’d hold it over her forever and a bit more. “Look, this is one of those Big Things .”
Sable grimaced, but carefully slung the pouch with her pokeball around her arm, resigning herself to whatever inane task would keep the world running for a few decades more. “Tell me who messed up what.”
“Couldn’t it have been a cosmic accident?”
Her gaze conveyed exactly how much he was convincing her- which was, not one bit . “Nope. I know exactly how you guys work.”
Giratina sheepishly lowered his head, twisting around a bit and almost busting one of the windows. She couldn’t move those, so he better not- “um. Uh, myself. You know about the… thing?”
“The embarrassing temper tantrum that you’ll do everything, up to and including physical assault, to keep your siblings and Volo from telling me about?” Her grin at Giratina’s hesitant nod was far, far more characteristic of her species. The exasperation wasn’t, though. “Don’t tell me…”
“It’s a time travel thing.” Damnit. Giratina wasn’t big on time travel- he could , but from what she knew it tended to… break things. He just didn’t have the same expertise. “Look, there was a rift in Sinnoh, and it accidentally pulled through this guy named Ingo, but the inherent instability caused severe retrograde amnesia, and Father tried to get Dialga to pull back a hero, but his temporal lock-state was frenzied so he defaulted to getting me of now to grab the historian champion woman, but I just grabbed the champion -”
She could see where this was going. “Let me guess. You got the twelve year old human girl who just grabbed the title.”
Giratina bowed his head in shame. “I got the twelve year old human girl who just grabbed the title. Worse, because I suck at this, her spatio-temporal translation was parsed through the same ghost-psychic instability and she too got severe retrograde amnesia. Dad’s going to be so mad if I can’t fix this-”
“Alright, fine.” A panicking Giratina was like watching a cute puppy get kicked by the meanest Infernape around. She wasn’t sure how such a malicious-looking pokemon could appear so adorably nervous , but it did wonders against her resistance to stupid legendary adventures. “Let me tell Metagross that I’m going to be out for a bit, and then we can go.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much .” Arceus, he was so earnest . (It was odd to curse in the name of the creator when she’d met him. He was… very overworked.) “I’ll, just… uh, wait right here-” and, door closed on that conversation. Good friend or not, he could be exhausting.
Her process to pack was much the same as it’d always been for these adventures- put away all the breakable things, lock the doors, drape the vines across the windows to replace the soon-to-fade illusion, and shove all the actually valuable stuff in the vault beneath the basement. So sue her, she’d hoarded a little from her adventures.
Last of all- talk to Metagross. They both thought it was a bit ironic that of all the pokemon on her team to have remained after all this time, it was the one that didn’t need her illusions to communicate with humans.
They were in the same spot they always were, curled beneath the staircase where the warmth of the heater contrasted neatly with the basement’s cool. The moment she stepped into view it perked up, sharp eyes latching onto her form with eerie precision for a psychic-type. “Sable. You are leaving.”
She snorted, dropping down next to him with a faint smile. “Of course you figured it out.”
“Basic pattern recognition suggests that Giratina’s arrival often coincides with extremely stupid and inadvisable adventures. Your abnormal behavior, however, suggests that you are leaving without me.” Metagross had never been the most expressive pokemon, but she knew concern when she heard it. “Requesting explanation, please.”
“You were always the smartest of us.”
“I am an advanced semi-mechanical lifeform dedicated to superfast psychic calculations. This was never in question. Flattery is not capable of distracting me from my inquiry,” said Metagross as flattery distracted him from his inquiry.
She stifled a giggle. Silly metal minds. “It’s one of the Big Things, and it involves a ghost-psychic instability that’s been giving people retrograde amnesia. I’d rather-”
“Understandable. Legendary-grade disturbances are likely beyond my abilities. Furthermore, my unique position as a relatively fragile superposition of four separate minds places me in a position of weakness to significantly strong mental attacks.”
Sable blinked, then nodded. “...yeah, that.” Whatever he’d said. Damn, she was going to miss having someone intelligent with her on this journey. “Hey… I just wanted you to have this before I left. Just in case.” Gently, she laid an orange and black pokeball on the ground in front of him. His pokeball. “Just… just in case.” She never came back.
“My processes are currently unanimously expressing surprise. I have extreme confidence in your abilities, trainer Sable. You will come back. For the us.”
“For the us.” She rapped a knuckle against his head, giggling as she dodged out of the way out of his counterstrike. How many times they’d done this exact thing… smiling, she marched up the stairs to where Giratina had completed enough rotations to have knocked anything fragile off her drawers, eyes locking worriedly onto hers as soon as she entered. “Kay, bastard! Let's get this show on the road!”
“Of course… finally. I do not want to get struck with another judgment. That Ash kid was one time too many…” every reflection, each little gleam of light- the mirror on her wall, the shine of the pots and the oven’s glint, the glasswork’s light behind hanging vines blurred. Crimson and red so bloody scarlet, the deep violet infinity of distortion rippling in reflections of impossible ends, untethered-
The world folded out beneath her as she fell into fathomless black, Giratina undulating beside her as she plummeted. “Okay! One last thing! Uh, sorry about this, you’re going to the standard long-term time traveler amnesia-”
“What? This whole thing was about not getting amnesia! Damnit, I want a refund!”
The king of the distortion world chuckled sheepishly, and Sable thought his face looked really punchable right about then. “You’ll still be far more functioning than those two poor sods- uh, it’s just enough so you don’t break the timeline! I’ve even allowed you your illusions- no, bad Sable, put away the hyper beam… uh, have a fun time, goodbye!” He blinked out of existence just as her hyper beam cut the dark in its brilliance-
And then there was nothing.
………
In the Obsidian Feildlands, a zoroark woke with three things- her name, a strength settled neatly beneath her skin with the silent ease of long practice, and a mission: protect the girl who’d fallen.
………
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
Mortality is already fragile in the eye of evolution’s ascension; beneath the weight of a legendary’s purest desire it is far too easy for it to fall through the cracks entirely.
It is not a blessing.
Chapter 2: Liminal Wandering
Summary:
To her immense satisfaction she stumbled across the girl before she’d even managed to find the nearest town, which- honestly, at least whoever’d thrown her here had been courteous enough to at least put her next to her ward. Protectee? Very important person she couldn’t just stuff in a pokeball and run?
Notes:
I've put the pokemon speech in italics to distinguish it from human language.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
Instinct and higher thought; a fundamental difference written into the self. For all pokemon, this inherent dichotomy of ourselves is what makes us, what moves us.
………
Sable was no stranger to extremely odd situations. Why she apparently had experience in esoteric tasks was something to figure out later, but at the very least she had some mission- find a girl who’s fallen… young, with darker hair, she thought. Odd, but helpful.
She was going to pummel whoever did this to her- huh, that was an oddly comforting thought. Well, no use waiting around. At least she hadn’t been thrown down on top of Mt. Coronet… that was another thing. She was relatively certain the shrouded peak in the far edge of her vision as it rose to the skies was Mt. Coronet, which meant she was in… sinnoh? Sinnoh sounded right.
Stupid amnesia. Okay, step one- find someone to bully- politely ask - into spilling some information about the situation. There was a flock of Starly beside one of the streams, but they had that flighty look to them, so she didn’t even bother. Hm… a few Bidoof were grazing nearby, but she highly doubted they had anything interesting to talk about…
There. An Eevee. Illusion wrapped around her in the gentle whisper of dark-type energy, obscuring her form as everything shifted half a step to the right- being small was much more strenuous than being large , and she couldn’t quite manage an Eevee- a leafeon was about as good as she’d get.
She approached cautiously- one never knew with wild pokemon, but the ball of fluff had either been recently hatched or was a little oblivious as he didn’t notice her presence until she was practically right on top of him. “ Hello? Hi! Who’re you?” Recently hatched, then. Even she could admit that she was acting suspiciously as distortion.
“ Do you know where we are? ”
“ Uh… here? We’re by the river, in the field with those little pond things… ” Arceus damnit, it was one of those pokemon, the ones who knew nothing.
Humans were always so awed about being able to talk to pokemon that they forgot how awkward it was to walk up to random people and ask them questions. Battling was so much simpler. “ No- just, do you know what the humans call it? ” There, that should get her some frame of reference-
“ Oh! Ooh! I know this one- its, uh, the horseshoe plains, in the, the- obsidian fieldlands! Because of all the little lakes, I think. ” That was… not somewhere she remembered from her travels. Not that she really remembered those travels, but she was pretty sure Sinnoh didn’t have anywhere… well, Sinnoh didn’t have a massive tear in the space above Mt. Coronet either, so who knew.
Right, she wasn’t going to find out anything important from this kid. At least she could ask for directions. “Can you direct me to the nearest route? ”
“ What’s a route? ” Please, please let him be joking.
A few seconds passed, and he clearly wasn’t joking. She revised his age downwards from young to practically newborn , and glanced around for an eeveelution just in case one decided she was looking maulable right about then. “ Just tell me where the nearest humans are. ”
“ Uh, sure… they’re just over that way!” The terrain grew hilly towards where the Eevee was pointing, rugged terrain a bit more closed off than the open expanse of the fields around them. “ Don’t know why you’d need to know that- those humans are evil . ” Okay, her memories might have been a bit shot, but she was pretty sure most wild pokemon didn’t think humans were evil . Annoying, oft cruel, yes- but not evil.
Something was very wrong about this. Ignoring the faintly disconcerted feeling that flickered within herself she bounded away, transforming back into her own- far more comfortable- skin as soon as she was out of sight. No more contorted crushing for her, thank you very much . Not every pokemon could crush something to a psychic pulp…
Who? It was something on the tip of her mind, something important -
It slipped free like ephemeral mists and she huffed, putting it to the side. How annoying . Stupid amnesia, stupid worm dragon-
Ah. She’d just acquired a target for her punches. Perfect .
She laughed in the braying bark of a zoroark’s mirth as she slipped deeper into the rugged landscape- she had humans to hunt.
………
To her immense satisfaction she stumbled across the girl before she’d even managed to find the nearest town, which- honestly, at least whoever’d thrown her here had been courteous enough to at least put her next to her ward. Protectee? Very important person she couldn’t just stuff in a pokeball and run?
Meh. She was currently trying- and failing to capture a Shinx, and not a very high leveled one by the looks of things. Some of her skills were damn next to perfect- her aim with a pokeball was pretty sharp, and she seemed adept in releasing her pokemon to battle, but there was a- disconnect. A lack of confidence that reflected on the Oshawott before her.
The sparking light of thunder shock raced across the Shinx’s fur, flicking out to Oshawott and rebounding off the girl with a painful hiss, and Sable decided that that was enough . Illusion altered her form with an almost pernatural ease- the sign of a form well used - as she assembled her human form- a tall woman with long black hair tied into a loose ponytail, clad in a neat suit.
Seriously, if she got to make illusions she could make illusions that looked nice. What was the point of wearing dumb looking clothes if comfort didn’t matter? Breathing deeply and fixing a non-confrontational smile onto her face she stepped out from the grasses, striding the length of the field to where the Shinx had bypassed Oshawott entirely in their effort to inflict severe bodily harm onto the girl. “That’s enough.” Her voice, so very human , carried through the field like a crack of thunder. “Shinx, leave Dawn alone-” she paused-
Dawn.
“Dawn… that sounds right… Oshawott, dodge, then tail whip! Come in from the side-” a stunning blow slammed off Shinx’s flank, followed by a perfectly arched pokeball that trapped Shinx within it just moments before another thunder shock could slam into Oshawott. “Great job, Oshawott… uh, sorry for earlier…”
“You did well.” That had been what she remembered… Memory. What a fickle thing. She knew Dawn- knew of her at least, but nothing more than a name and the faint inkling that she’d been a very strong trainer. Watching her fumble a fight with a Shinx… she wouldn’t have been able to tell. “Are you well?”
Dawn perked up, eyes glancing over to her form with little recognition. “Oh! Sorry, Miss…”
“Sable.” At least she knew that with complete certainty. “I’ve been sent here to… well, help you, I suppose. Protect you from whatever that was. Battling requires confidence . You need to believe in yourself and in your pokemon.”
“Yeah… yeah, that makes sense. Um, did you fall out of the sky too?” The sky ? She knew that rift was familiar. Distortion , she wanted to punch something. She hated amnesia. “I can bring you back to the settlement- professor Laventon’s really nice, and he’ll know what to do…”
Well, she’d been meaning to find the nearest town anyways, so… good enough?
Clad in humanity like silent expectation, she followed Dawn back- to her home that wasn’t.
To a place called, in name unfamiliar yet scratching impossibly at memories she didn’t have- Jubilife .
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Humanity is an abnormality- creatures of instinct alone, blessed with higher thought. A dichotomy wound tighter than any other, capable of vast cruelty, great wonders in their nature. To bloom like mushrooms after rain; they have done amazing things.
In this, they think themselves superior- and history is fraught with the monumentality of their mistakes.
Notes:
Poor Sable, having to deal with Giratina's mission to help Dawn :( At least she still has her illusions to help.
(This chapter's a bit short, but the next one will be longer, promise).
Chapter 3: Jubilife Catastrophes
Summary:
They just stared awkwardly at one another until Dawn threw open the door from the other room, cheery smile affixed to her face as she stepped into the room. “I got the potato mochi, guys! It’s the best thing…” she eyed the stunned professor, glanced to Sable’s exasperated slouch, then looked back at the professor (he was still stunned). “Um. Is this a bad time?”
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
Thought to action, action to stories, stories to tales, tales to folklore to legends, legends to myth, and myth to nothing at all. We like to imagine that we’ve never forgotten as much as humans, but in the end we’ve remembered near nothing at all.
………
Night came quickly, a gentle silence beneath clear skies, beautiful in the suddenness of its chill, in the way the grass rustled and the echoes of nature stood eminent even behind the canvas walls of their tent.
Dawn didn’t even have to wait to flip open her pokeballs, releasing Shinx and Oshawott into the tent’s small confines. “Okay, everyone, let’s see how you’re feeling. I don’t have much, but let's see if we can’t get those wounds looked at…”
Oshawott leaned into Dawn’s careful ministration, cuts almost visibly closing as the potion healed them. “ What about Starly and Bidoof? ”
“Oh? You want more? No… the other captures!” She chuckled slightly at the water pokemon’s disgruntled expression before elaborating. “I released them- we didn’t really need to hold onto them after we went back to the village that one time, and it would be a bit cruel keeping them contained if I wasn’t going to partner with them, don’t you think?”
“ What!” Electricity crackled across the Shinx’s form as she started, looking up at Dawn with shocked eyes so wide- “ You just- let them go? What about me? ”
Dawn furrowed her brow at Shinx’s outburst, even as Oshawott placed himself protectively between the two. “Um… do you want to be released too? I can-”
Outrage briefly crossed Shinx’s face before she dropped back with a huffed growl. “ No! I just- explain, Arceus damnit! ”
“I, I’m sorry. I’m… I think I might have been better at this in the past, but I can’t really understand what you mean. My memory hasn’t been working well recently…”
“ You’re crippled, and you still managed to beat me? Unfair- ”
“That’s enough, Shinx.” Ignoring the struggling pokemon’s weak shocks, she nodded briefly to dawn as she stepped to the tent’s entrance in a single stride. “Dawn, if you don’t mind I’m going to talk with her outside.”
Dawn blinked, freed from her momentary fugue. “Good luck! Don’t hurt her!” She sent a smile back as she slipped beneath the canvas’s bind, bounding away from the encampment to the shade of a nearby tree where she gently settled the squirming Shinx onto the ground.
A weak stream of electricity leapt out at her, scattering harmlessly across her fur. “That was unimpressive.”
Another electric attack shattered on her illusion- seriously, they were really weak- before Shinx dropped to the ground with a pout. “Unfair! That would have totally worked on the weak girl!”
“I’m not Dawn, though, so you’re just going to have to deal with it. Yes , I can understand you.” The amount of times she’d had to explain that… before… at the end of her memories, where the faintest remnants of habit unraveled to the void where there’d once been- she shook her head. She’d come here to protect Dawn, and that she would. “Give her a chance. She’s one of the best trainers out there.”
“ You’re not my mom . I don’t have to listen to you .”
Sable snorted, reaching out to ruffle the fur on Shinx’s head. “ Right . Do you actually want to work with a trainer? Trust me, having someone call our your moves is really helpful, especially at lower levels.”
“ What would you know about that? ”
“I’m still a bit of a klutz in battle. My pokemon are…” something, bitter with echoes of sorrow. “Sorry. I’m better off than Dawn, but my memories aren’t all in the right place either. She could really use the help, though.”
“ You’re a human. I’m pretty sure humans don’t battle. ”
She let her illusion fall for a fraction of a second, grinning foxily at the stunned Shinx. “ I’m a zoroark .” The illusion of her humanity settled back onto shoulders easily, a mantle of normality so perfectly complete. “I know exactly how difficult it can be to give a bit of trust, but it’s all about finding the right people. If you want, she’ll release you- but she saw something in you. A trainer like her wouldn’t have chosen you for no reason.”
“ Or- or, I could go with you!” Sable reeled back- there was something about that felt so wrong - sickly grief, ageless in the way it was written into herself so deeply she hadn’t even realized it until Shinx pointed it out. No new pokemon. No new friends to make-
No new friends to lose . Flickers of memory… she shook her head, silently settling. “Sorry. I’m not looking for a team myself. Not anymore.”
“ Aww… fine, then. I’ll give her a chance, but she better not let me down!”
“Nobody's demanding anything of you- just remember that. In its truest form, this is a partnership. For the us, Shinx.” That phrase… she could almost remember snippets of home. How cruel a fate Dawn must have, to be bereft of even that. “C’mon. Let's get back to the tent…”
She wondered, once and again- as she walked the fine lines of the actions she knew so well and the memories that danced on tattered winds- who’d done this to her. The rest of the night was simple enough, if fun- Shinx made up with Dawn, got in a tussle with Oshawott and lost (again), and eventually as the fire burnt low and the chill of night snuggled in around them, one by one they fell asleep.
As the domain of unconsciousness stole across her, a single thought- last, terrifying and yet intimately, undoubtedly true- it wasn’t who. It was why had she done this to herself .
………
Jubilife Village was… frankly, disappointing. She’d been expecting a city, or at least a large town- what she got was a run down settlement hidden by tall walls, clearly built recently. Humans bustled around the entrances as guards- honest to goodness guards - stood watch over the entrance as though they expected random pokemon to attack them at any time.
Honestly, given how much the pokemon she’d talked to seemed to hate humans, that wasn’t even all that far out of the realm of possibility.
Dawn’s return seemed to be somewhat of a big deal- either that, or people were really bored around here. A few of the guards gave her semi-stunned waves as a trader with blond hair excitedly greeted- “Wait. Volo ?”
The man jumped in surprise for a moment before turning to face her with a soft chuckle. “Ah… who are you? I think I would have remembered meeting someone as foreign as you.”
“Sable. I… huh. I actually can’t remember anything about you. I feel like we’ve met before, though.” There was something about him- some echo of memory… he just felt trustworthy. “You’re a trader, then?”
“Aha, indeed! I’m honored my name’s spread far enough that even someone such as you has heard of me! Where did you come from? I’m an avid historian myself, see, and I’d love to know-”
She frowned. Goddamn amnesia. “I’m… I’m not actually entirely sure. I appear to be missing a few of my memories.”
Dawn stepped up beside her, faint frown on her face. “Leave her alone, Volo. She fell from the sky, just like me.”
The trader’s gaze sharpened at that, faint interest blooming into a fierce attention as he scanned her with his amicable smile. “How fascinating. This is the perfect opportunity for a pokemon battle- to test your mettle and see just how well you stand in a fight! Little Akari-”
“Dawn. My name is Dawn .”
Volo blinked in surprise at that before plastering his grin back across his face. “I’m glad to see you’ve remembered your name, Dawn- it fits you perfectly . Ah, I was just saying, our little Dawn here had quite the hand for battling- how much more would you? ”
“I’ll have to decline.” A moment of shock passed across his face, as though he’d not even expected the possibility. Idiot. Even back… back wherever, where the memories grew to dim, she remembered that she didn’t battle often. “I don’t have any pokemon on me right now, and I’d rather not fight your togetic myself .”
Volo blushed sheepishly, offering apologies made all the more hilarious in his ignorance of her reasoning. It wasn’t that she’d lose - frankly, his poor Togetic did not deserve a hyper beam to the face.
After a few seconds of Dawn quietly laughing beside her a man wearing the most Arceus-damned awful looking hat she’d ever seen stumbled out the gate, brilliant smile affixed to his face. “Akari! I’m so glad you made it back!” His accent was odd- Galarian , a faint part of her mind told her- “Cyllene’s going to be apoplectic when she sees you’ve returned from your survey a day and a half early entirely not dead. And who’s this? They’re dressed almost as oddly as you were, and that’s not a mite bit brain-breaking, then I don’t know what is.”
“Her name is Sable. Uh… I also found her in the obsidian fieldlands.” She paused for a second, looking to her- for permission or guidance, but her curt not was enough for her to speak. “She also fell through the rift. I think she’s my mother.” What. No. That wasn’t true- that didn’t even make sense - “or… I’m not sure, but she came here for me .” Damn dragons of creation and cute young champions for their adorable puppy eyes. She was not going to get roped into this. Nope. Not a chance.
“Amazing… I’ll have to bring you to Captain Cyllene. She’ll want to hear of this immediately.” Laventon mused on about opportunities and pokemon as though Dawn hadn’t just thrown groudon-sized problems into her face two and half seconds ago.
Not the time. Calm- like a battle. Breathe. Settle - she had a mission . Keep Dawn safe, and nothing more. As much as with pokemon, she didn’t need to collect little humans who would go off and die . “Enough, please . Take me to the captain.” Laventon nodded- and didn’t stop talking , even as he started walking them into the settlement.
If Dawn shared an exasperated smile with the guards as they entered the settlement, then the man never needed to know. Illusions were great for hiding that sort of thing- but she was fairly certain that the man wouldn’t have noticed anyways.
Humans .
………
“ Another one?” Everything about Cyllene screamed- not a good time . Where Laventon was bubbly and energetic, the captain had a grim, exhausted look to her as she glared at the small group that had just barged into her office. “Laventon- we cannot accept two strangers into Jubilife- one is suspicious enough. Kamado won’t allow it.”
“Alas, Captain, Miss Sable seems to have be related to young Dawn- and she completed the challenge. ”
The blue haired woman’s eyes raised in shock, the first motion of true interest she’d shown in the conversation. “Truly? I would have thought she’d have come back begging for mercy. Well, then that changes things. Dawn can stay- she’s proven her worth. Sable, on the other hand… come back in a bit. I’ll have a task for you then. You’re old enough to care for yourself- I won’t be as lenient as I was with Dawn.”
The professor chuckled softly, gently grasping her shoulder and tugging her out of the room. “Ah, I’m sure it won’t be anything too much, Miss Sable-” the strained cheer wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all her. “Come, let's meet up with Dawn in my lab.” It was just so incredibly obvious , as she moved through the settlement- she was outsider , and an outsider was to be distrusted.
It felt… familiar, almost. Familiar and so very odd- she was a human. Her illusion was perfect - which meant that they were this distrusting toward other humans . Something about that just struck her as… different, distinct- notable when compared to those memories she didn’t quite have.
It was almost a relief to duck into the clutter of the professor’s lab, away from the curious, judging stares of the Jubilife citizenry. Laventon, at the very least, was almost exceedingly nice- perhaps it was the Galarian? The others seemed to be a mix of… Johto and Kanto, whatever those were. “Sorry about the captain, she can be…”
“ A right proper git, sometimes. Honestly, the nerve of these humans. ” Blinking in surprise she turned just in time to see a small Rowlet trundle past underfoot. “ No respect, these Galaxy folk.” Right. She’d touch back with that later. With a ten foot pole.
“Rowlet can be a bit much sometimes, but he’s a nice enough bird.” The professor leaned in close, slipping a block of… something into her hand as he dropped his voice to a whisper. Just make sure to feed him his favorite treat.”
“Thanks…. at least this place has someone nice. I swear, the amount of suspicion I’m getting is unreal .” She got the impression that she knew exactly how much suspicion was normal which- kinda odd, actually. “I appreciate you standing up for me, really.”
“It’s a joy to be of service. Don’t say anything about it. Like, really, I don’t think I could survive the embarrassment.” The man shivered. Theatrically . “How Kamado can stand to lead the settlement I’ll never know. People are just a bit antsy around here with all the danger- with how you showed up there’s no doubt going to be whispers of zoroark . Dreadful rumors, really.”
Sable blinked in sudden shock . That- what the hell ? “How did you figure it out so fast? I could have sworn this illusion was the next best thing to perfect -” she turned to Laventon with a wry smile, foxy in that way that humans rarely were, only to freeze at the professor's expression of pure horror.
Not normal - those memories reverberated through her head in crashing discordancy. The zorua evolutionary line had a bit of a… reputation as tricksters, but Laventon looked like she’d personally murdered his entire family. “You’re- you’re … don’t come any closer. Please- I don’t have anything you want- I- I can tell you about the other pokemon in the region-”
She rolled her eyes in exasperation- crossing her arms and petulantly thinking through every little ripple on the fabric. Her illusions were supposed to be masterful , distortion damnit, and they’d just been picked apart by random humans . So sue her if she felt a little professionally insulted. “Relax, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here for Dawn.”
It was only after she’d said it she realized how her words might have been… misinterpreted. Just slightly… she winced a bit as the Professor straightened, grabbing a pokeball from his waist as he met her eyes with a fierceness he’d lacked but moments before. “I- I won’t allow you to hurt her. Rowlet- go!”
An annoyed squawk echoed through the cluttered room as Rowlet dematerialized into the ball before landing on the battlefield in a puff of smoke. It might have been funny if Rowlet wasn’t glaring at her. “ Right, mate- we’re gonna do this the hard way, or the way in which you leave and never come back-”
Sable let her illusion slide off her before the professor could burst it, true form settling onto herself in a moment of such deadly, perfect grace. Trainer she might have been in most her battles- but live for as long as she had, and even her battling power wasn’t insignificant in the slightest. Rowlet glanced once at her before squeaking in alarm and looking at Laventon with a please return me right fucking now sort of look.
She sighed, dropping her hands to the side and leaning against one of the tables in- she hoped was- a non-threatening slough. “Look, professor- I’m not going to hurt you, and I’m not going to hurt Dawn. I’m literally here to protect her, or at least help her until the worst effects of her amnesia pass.” If hers was so bad, then she could only shudder to think what Dawn’s was like.
“You’re- you’re talking .” The poor man looked like someone had taken a poleax to the rational thought portions of his brain.
“Yes. Obviously.”
“You’re a pokemon.”
She sighed, throwing her illusion back over herself. “Yes. Obviously . I just showed you this. Really, all pokemon can talk- I’ve just put in the extra effort to speak human . Now, can we please get over this whole incarnate of death and evil thing?” That was- a vague memory, a person once known. An oddly puntable ‘mon, judging by her memories. “Really. I’m not going to hurt-”
“O- oh, by the darkest day, does this mean Dawn is a zoroark?”
“No.”
The professor sighed in visible relief, hysterical laughter bubbling out of him as he slumped in sudden exhaustion. “Thank all the heroes for small mercies. You… really don’t mean any harm?”
“If I was going to hurt you, you would have been tasting hyper beam a long time ago.” Given the way Laventon seemed to pale at that, perhaps that wasn’t the most… tactful way of putting it.
“Huh.” The professor chuckled softly, almost brokenly beneath the sheer adrenaline of the situation. Sable just got the feeling that she’d gone through these motions before. “I just… it’s very odd to think of a zoroark that doesn't want to cause some sort of catastrophic trouble. You don’t have a very good reputation, you see.” Yeah, but it wasn’t that bad either.
They just stared awkwardly at one another until Dawn threw open the door from the other room, cheery smile affixed to her face as she stepped into the room. “I got the potato mochi, guys! It’s the best thing…” she eyed the stunned professor, glanced to Sable’s exasperated slouch, then looked back at the professor (he was still stunned). “Um. Is this a bad time?”
………
The potato mochi was actually pretty good- of all the things Dawn had forgotten, her taste in food didn’t seem to be one of them. It was actually somewhat remarkable how good it was given the carnivorous leaning tendencies of zoroark. “So. Let me get this right.” Dawn pointed at Sable- “you’re a zoroark, and you -” her hand drifted over to Laventon- “have something against zoroark.”
“ It’d be pretty cool to be a zoroark. I don’t get why he dislikes Sable so much .” Shinx leapt up to one of the tables, sending a couple sheafs of paper fluttering off to the ground. “ Hey! Stop being mean to Sable! ”
“I don’t think they can understand you, Shinx.” The electric pokemon winced, curling up a bit in embarrassment. “ Thanks for trying, though .” Speaking in the pokemon dialect was decidedly odd when around humans, but it was worth it for the way Shinx preened a bit. What a cute kid.
“Right. So… uh, the crux of this is… why? I mean, I don’t… don’t remember much-” her voice was almost a whisper, yet so starkly audible in the sudden audience- “but… just, why? Sable… Sable isn’t hurting anyone. She’s a pokemon, but pokemon aren’t evil.” that- that was the attitude, the remnants of remnants of engraved belief that let her complete her task despite near total amnesia. The conviction of a champion.
Sable smiled in amusement at the professor’s shocked, contemplative face. She’d say it was a talent to have so thoroughly befuddled someone that quickly, but from what she’d seen of the professor so far…
The man just stood there for a long second, sputtering through the start of a response. “I- I guess I don’t particularly have a reason to hold fast to any antagonism against Miss Sable. It’s just odd- I suppose I shouldn’t trust folklore after all. That’s why I’m making my pokedex- to defeat this exact thing… how fascinating…”
Rowlet fluffed his feathers in exasperation from where he’d been sitting on the ground all the while. “ He’s lost it again, chap. Give him some time to process things, and he’ll snap out of it .”
Shinx pulled a face as she jumped down to stand beside the bird. “ Is he always like this? ”
“ Yes.” The amount of exasperation folded into that single word, amplified all the more by Shinx’s laughter. It wasn’t that funny.
Well, it was a bit amusing, actually. “If we’ve gotten over this, then I still have to talk to the captain about whatever task she has for me, so…”
“Absolutely not!” Sable stifled an urge to sigh- she’d thought she was getting somewhere… “you need a better disguise- you stand out far too much in this- if we’re to keep this a secret from those who would wish you harm-” to those who would harm Dawn was left unsaid- “then we must get you into normal clothes immediately. Your current outfit is too suspicious, you see…”
Sable smiled, a deep, foxy grin. She hadn’t exactly been expecting that … but given Dawn’s smug grin and the way Rowlet seemed to have adopted an exasperated grin, she was the only one who hadn’t . It fit his gregarious personality, at least… “Well, then… let's see what you have.”
The professor opened a chest, practically throwing a bundle of survey uniforms at her. “While you look through those, I have a few questions if you don’t mind. What’s your diet, how do the illusions work- do you feel strain…” oh. He was one of those .
She really should have expected that.
Joy. At least it was better than blind fear? Sending a look to Shinx who’d backed up at the imminent threat of overenthusiastic professor, she got the impression that not everyone agreed.
………
Cyllene’s test was to slap a satchel of ‘very important supplies’ which almost certainly weren’t important at all into her hands and told to deliver them to the diamond clan.
The diamond clan that was on the opposite side of the region .
Well. It would certainly be interesting .
………
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
To those of us who have lived to see the endless wheel of seasons, of time- greatest is the sorrow of memory, and seeing it forgotten.
Notes:
Dawn got pity points for being a cute kid completely lost, without memories, and also great at battling. Sable... not so much. Dawn's mission was difficult, but for her it was doable. Sable's? ...not so mutch.
Chapter 4: Chaos
Summary:
Oshawott and Shinx- who just cheered- gave her a final wave- and then she was off in a bounding run, slipping away into the foothills of creation’s origin in her species' loping gait.
If all went well, she’d make this quick…
………
All did not go well.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
Having been involved in many incidents myself, I know more than most the unusual power of legendaries; any domain can be bent and broken to their whim. Pokemon already stretch the limits of believability- with legendries, even the impossible is only a small barrier.
………
Dawn saw her to the edge of the obsidian fieldlands, where the train grew rugged in the first remnant echoes of Mt. Coronet’s imposing height, hills to foothills sweeping up into the ascension of sky. “I’m not allowed to go any further than this. I’d lend you some of my pokemon, but I need them for my own survey work… here-” she shoved a crystal in her hand- a revive. “You’ll need it more than me if you intend to go through the Coronet highlands.”
A hand brushed against the pokeball tucked away neatly in her mane. A memory long since reduced to rote action- her most important possession, a gift and shield- “thanks. Be safe while I’m not here, alright?”
“Worry about yourself!” Despite it all she smiled- it was just too endearing. “Do you have everything?”
“Yep.” A satchel of medicinal leeks to deliver to the Diamond Clan settlement. Her own pouch, a few potions tucked away neatly where they wouldn’t break, Dawn’s revive gently laid at the bottom, one or two pokeballs- for some reason it just felt wrong going out without them- nestled above. A handful of mushroom cakes lay wrapped in rough cloth, because she’d need to eat something . “Everything’s ready.”
She released her illusion, digging claws into the earth loam beneath her. Arceus above, that felt so much better than her transformed shoes- she felt like she could run forever. At the very least, she could climb the frankly far too common cliffs in the highlands.
Dawn stood silent for a moment, before throwing herself at her. “Come back, okay? I… I don’t want to be alone again.” Damn… she pulled a bitter face without even really knowing why even as she shifted just slightly, settling an arm around her ward. She’d really fall for this again … it never ended, did it?
What an odd thought… “I’ll be fine. Don’t get in too much trouble while I’m gone.”
“ I’ll make sure she doesn't. Farewell, Sable.” Oshawott and Shinx- who just cheered- gave her a final wave- and then she was off in a bounding run, slipping away into the foothills of creation’s origin in her species' loping gait.
If all went well, she’d make this quick…
………
All did not go well. Her first night in the highlands was to the crash of thunder and pouring rain, bitterly cold water sloughing off her fur as lightning broke the skies asunder. That… sucked. Sure, her illusions were generally robust enough to keep off the rain, but it was still cold- and by the time she settled down for the night she was soaked anyways.
Her mushroom cakes had gotten soaked too. By the time she’d finished eating she was practically itching to punch the wormy guy who’d sent her here. Either that or turn around and trek through the crimson mirelands instead.
Still, it wasn’t that bad. Beside the territorial alphas she hadn’t run across any pokemon quite daring enough to challenge her, and none of those had been willing to wander far enough from their haunts to sniff out her illusions.
After the storm her days settled into a mostly unremarkable pattern- wake up with the sun, carefully clamber through the decrepit paths and crumbling remnants of ruins through the day, stop for a mushroom cake and whatever berries she managed to scavenge for a lunch, then continue forward. She avoided alphas, and definitely avoided groups of oddly hostile pokemon, occasionally disguising herself to sneak past particularly obstinate obstacles.
Complete with settling in small caves and- once- beneath a fallen tree for the night, illusions neatly cloaking her hiding place, her days were more or less peaceful in the highlands. Peaceful enough that it didn’t really surprise her when the sky shattered above the field of boulders she was picking though, swirling in impossible violet unreality as space shifted around her.
“Distortion damnit Giratina !” She leapt out of the way of a bunch of feathers as they sliced into the ground beside her before firing a night daze back at the blasted bird, wondering all the while who in distortion Giratina even was . If he was responsible for this, she was going to punt his-
Wings erupted from her back as she transformed into a staraptor, two identical copies of herself banking away in opposite directions only to be mowed down by another attack. She’d seen the alphas- combat with them would have been hard, but she could have probably made it through. This thing, though? What in distortion was something this strong doing just waiting around to beat her up-
Cursing again she tumbled behind a boulder, illusions breaking beneath the force of her impact. Another ridiculously powerful pokemon leapt skyward to bat the decidueye out of the air, which- nice, but she still had no idea what was going on-
A blast of psychic energy splashed harmlessly off her pelt, breaking her from her thoughts as she turned a baleful glare against the disk-like pokemon who’d attacked her. “If you do that again, they’re going to notice we’re in here, and then we’re both toast.”
A bronzor floated back sheepishly- though how she could tell that with its… inexpressive face was somewhat a mystery. (The answer was somewhat obvious, if borning: stupid amnesia.) “ Apologies. I assumed that you were one of the distorted pokemon, given your unusual appearance. It has been many years since I’ve seen a zoroark not resurrected by the bitter malice of their sorrowful extinction.”
What. That- okay, she was going to stay one and a half million miles away from that statement for now. “Can you tell me what’s going on right now?”
“ We’re currently in a space-time distortion. Many of my kin have woken from the disturbances they have wrought across the lands of the Celestica. ” Great, at least one of them knew what was going on. “ I usually remain sheltered within a defensible location such as this .”
“My illusion should keep…” a blast of thunder from a Jolteon shattered the boulder they were hiding behind, scattered shards of rock digging hard into her flank as Bronzor quickly shifted between her and the bunt of the blast.
“ I do not believe your illusion accounted for the total destruction of our surroundings- perhaps we should run? ” Sable glanced into a storm of sparking electricity, and nodded faintly. “ If we’re able to leave the distortion- duck! ”
Sable cursed as she dashed away from the blinding attack with agility, a handful of illusions of herself and Bronzor scattering in a handful of different directions. Then she had to doge a handful of electro balls and another blast of lightning before she realized they wouldn’t make it to the edge of the distortion at this rate. “Bronzor, we’re going to have to fight-”
“ I do not know if you’ve realized, but fighting such a powerful Jolteon would be suicidal! ”
“No, I’ve got this. You just need to buy me a bit of time.” Bronzor floated out of her hands as she skidded to a stop behind a boulder, those precious few seconds waiting for the jolteon to catch up to them enough for her to ready herself. “Use confusion the moment they’re in range, then just stay safe for a moment-” and then it was too late to plan as Jolteon skidded around the corner to a facefull of psychic energy, electricity crackling back in turn-
Her hyper beam slammed into the already somewhat exhausted eeveelution’s face, sending it flipping head over heel off a nearby cliff. Gasping for breath Sable clawed her way to the edge, sighing in silent relief as she saw Jolteon unconscious on the rocks below.
Bronzor floated over to her side, glancing down to their defeated enemy below. “ Incredible . I’ll admit that I am somewhat surprised that actually worked. Quickly, now- to the edge of the distortion lest we be stuck in another encounter far above our level. ”
Sable pulled back from the edge sheepishly, exhaustively setting off in a loping run towards the edge of the distortion. “They won’t follow us once we leave, right?”
“ The aggressive pokemon are bound to the space-time distortions except in the most extenuating of circumstances- they seem to be unable to perceive that there is anything beyond the borders of the shattered space. ” Good enough, that-
The earth shattered beneath them as the decidueye she’d been running from earlier crashed to the ground in front of her, the bastiodon they’d been fighting crumpling to the ground in bloody exhaustion just to its side. Sable glanced once at the sheer presence of the red-feathered bird, and chuckled in weak panic. “No chance you can just… let us go?”
“ No- never- it hurts! Make it stop make it stop! ” Gleaming eyes in madness locked onto her own as Decidueye leapt into the air with a pained cry.
Bronzor glanced skyward in silence for a long second as Sable hastily wove illusions around them. “ I have collected a great many expletives over the eons of my existence, and I am rapidly exhausting them right now. ”
“Yeah, me too.” She dashed to the left with agility as Bronzor threw a confusion skyward in desperate precision, stifling her shout of pain as a leaf storm shredded through her illusions. Only a couple hundred feet more with wild abandon- she could make it there-
Three arrows sliced neatly through the illusions she’d sent out to distract Decidueye, the closest shattering the delicate weave that made them appear a few feet to the right of where they actually were. Cursing in frustration she lobbed a night daze skywards and ducked away from the wild leaf storm sent back in response as she sprinted towards the looming edge of the distortion. “Please tell me that did something .”
“ I can only assume you don’t want to hear a blatant falsehood right now.” Arceus damn it all! She was not going to get slaughtered by a bird in the middle of Mt Coronet ! What in distortion was- her mind faltered over a memory she didn’t have as she prepared a hyper beam. Something about this- this distorion, this impossible space felt… it felt almost unbearably familiar.
For a moment she felt eyes- endless and infinite- echoes of smokey wings and faint reminiscence of a presence magnificent- maleficent , an anger that felt more foreign than anything she’d stumbled across in this strange land. Something in her mind felt like brittle glass-
Hyper beam cut the air apart in furious power as it missed , dodged neatly by Decidueye as the brilliant light of brave bird began to envelop their form-
“Alakazam! Psychic!” Decidueye keened as they aborted their attack, tumbling through the sky to crash to the ground on the cliffs above them. Sable fumbled into her human illusion mere seconds before the trainer turned to face them, face locked into a grim frown despite the exuberance of his words. “Are you well? I couldn’t help but observe a disturbance in the distortion- I hope I’m not too late to have prevented a derailment! Let me conduct us to a safer destination- all aboard!”
Two sharp blasts of a whistle echoed out as a… sneasel? Large sneasel leapt over to them from where she’d been clinging to one of the cliffs. “ Forgive his absentmindedness, but we need to go right now .” She fought back a startled yip as the sneasler picked her up , carefully depositing her in a basket alongside-
Ingo.
Ingo. Ingo, master of- something - for a long second her head hurt beneath the strained weave of crimson-black and gold- but she shoved aside the thought to focus on maintaining her illusion through Sneasler’s rough stride as they sprinted out of the distortion.
As the sky returned to the azure expanse of silent reality, she wondered- Bronzor still clutched tightly to herself as they fled- she just… breathed.
That was too close. If only she had…
Had-
Memory of came to nothing, and she let it drip from tenuous grasp with a short growl of frustration. At least they were safe. That would have to be enough…
………
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
As much as their awesome power can devastate the fabric of our world, even the divinity of the legendary is feeble against true conviction. Such is the nature of tragedy.
Notes:
I was actually going to wait a lot longer for Sable to get her Bronzor, but I decided that things would be interminably boring if she kept getting blocked from doing anything by whatever random character wants to challenge the MC to a pokemon battle to advance the plot + I wanted to integrate him into the story early.
Ingo makes an appearance! This is the second trainer that Sable recognizes despite her amnesia... seriously, though, writing a character with amnesia is hard. You have to remember what they do and don't remember, and it gets really confusing, really fast.
If any of the battles are like... super wrong, uh... sorry? :L
Chapter 5: A Moment of Shattered Recollection
Summary:
“Trainer Sable! It is invigorating to see our lines cross again!” The man she knew was Ingo, the memory of an illusion that felt incomplete, leapt into the cave beside a singularly exhausted-looking Sneasler. “Apologies for making you wait at your stop- the kits needed the attention of my Lady here before we could continue on our tracks.”
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
I did not have any particular reason to start as a pokemon trainer as a zorua- a desire to learn new things, to see sights and perfect my illusions played a part, but ultimately I believe it was simply because I wanted to.
………
Sneasler dropped them off at a small cave nestled deep within the highlands, surrounded on all sides by cliffs that must have been brutal to scale. She at least had the ability to bind herself into a form that could fly- Sneasler had to actually climb all the way up here.
Ingo wandered off to do something with the Sneasel kits he could hear in the back of the cavern, leaving her alone with the echoes of his exuberant train metaphors and Bronzor. “That was… exciting.”
“ Terrifying . Exhilarating, I must admit that I was never much one for battling but that was something else. ”
Sable chuckled slightly, slumping to the ground in exhaustion as she weakly tugged her potions from her satchel. “I’ve been doing battles for a long time, but I’m usually not the one actually fighting. ” The potion was really relaxing as she spread it softly across her cuts and bruises, sighing in contentment as the everpresent aches faded away. “That was far too frenetic for my tastes.”
“ Indeed. Fun, though. ”
“Of course. Battles can get intense .” She gently held out some of the potion for Bronzor, who looked at her until she rolled her eyes and applied it herself.
“ Thank you. I agree, though- perhaps it is time I quested for my evolution. I’ve sat on the cusp for far too long.” There was a moment of silence between them, broken only by the echoes of Ingo’s efforts to corral Sneasler’s kids. “ If… I remember the celestica used to battle with pokemon as companions. By your tales, I suppose this is what you do? I wouldn’t mind, myself…”
Sable waited for the intrinsic flash of disgust to rear its head at the mere idea of catching another partner, but none came. Odd. Somewhat concerning, too… she wondered what the criteria was. “I’d be honored.” She pulled one of the pokeballs from her bag and held it out, a sense of deja vu wrapped around her as tightly as her illusions- “for the us, Bronzor.”
He tilted forward in confidence she’d seen echoed before in memories she didn’t have, and was caught. For a long moment there was only the pokeball in front of her before Bronzor managed to free himself, bobbing a little in disorientation. “ That was decidedly odd. Comfortable, but odd. ”
“Yeah, pokeballs are like that-”
“Trainer Sable! It is invigorating to see our lines cross again!” The man she knew was Ingo, the memory of an illusion that felt incomplete , leapt into the cave beside a singularly exhausted-looking Sneasler. “Apologies for making you wait at your stop- the kits needed the attention of my Lady here before we could continue on our tracks.”
“It’s fine. I hope I’m not imposing.”
“No matter! It is one of my many tasks as Lady Sneasler’s Warden to escort passengers safely through the Coronet highlands. We’re perfectly happy to have you rest at our station.” He rested a hand on one of his pokeballs, glancing over his shoulder to a blank wall. “Have you come for a rematch, I remember your… hm, I appear to have forgotten the team….”
It was honestly a little bit embarrassing that it’d taken her this long to realize she hadn’t given Ingo her name to start out with. They’d known each other, then- the fact she’d battled him at all in the past was news to her. “I honestly can’t remember either. I’ve recently gotten lost on Very Serious Business that I can’t even remember -” idiotic worm-dragon, whoever he was- “and I’ve appeared to have forgotten much.
“What an unfortunate derailment. Trainer…” his frown intensified for the briefest shattered fragment of a second- “who were you, again? I’d be grateful to know the name of my passengers. It is one of my many tasks as Lady Sneasler’s Warden…” he trailed off into a confused frown before falling silent, tapping a finger in restless energy against one of his pokeballs as Sneasler gave him a concerned look from beside him.
“ Excuse his absent-mindedness. He’s never quite been normal.” Sneasler gently prodded at his shoulder until he snapped back to awareness.
“ His psychic aura is bleeding like a fresh wound; shattered beyond even my ability to read. I’m astonished he’s alive right now.” Oh, she was talking to Bronzor . That made a whole lot more sense, and she carefully stifled the response she’d almost spoken aloud. No need to make Ingo more suspicious than he already was.
“Apologies for the delay. I seem to come across an obstruction on my tracks. Remember that passenger safety is a priority- I would never take risks without the due safety checks!” It was only then- more by noticing the way Bronzor looked confused enough to have used the move on himself - that she realized she was the only one in the cave who really understood what Ingo was saying. “I have yet to fail my duties as a Warden.”
“I think I knew you.” The bundle at the back of her mind stretched with a moment of almost-pain as she prodded at memories restrained, as Ingo and Lady Sneasler settled a wholly different type of attention onto her, serious and focused . “I don’t remember much before I was displaced, but…” a set. A set. “You seem to be missing someone.”
Ingo blanked for a moment- face rendered impossibly empty, eyes staring out to nothing as his mouth quivered with words unsaid. “I- I… the man in white. I almost remember him, in the best of times… but- but-”
“ Sable, that is enough. His mind is incredibly unstable- you risk further psychic damage to the man if you continue your quest. ”
Wincing at the glare Sneasler sent her way- even if she hadn’t been able to speak pokemon anyone would have been able to recognize that cease and desist or else in the expression. “Perhaps another time, then.” Damn it all to distortion, she’d really wanted to rend whatever had been binding her memories apart . Another time, then. “Bronzor and I will leave as soon as we’re rested. We’ve been tasked with delivering some messages to Diamond Clan by Cyllene.”
She imagined what it would have been like for a human to make the jounrey she had and restrained a wince. Dead. They would be very dead. “Be careful! I would not like to hear of your train being permanently derailed- you still owe me a rematch! Alas- I must return to the kits!” Sneasler’s glare shifted into one of surprised panic as she rushed off to the back of the cave with Ingo, leaving them alone.
Huh. Good dad Ingo. It fit.
She pulled at the illusion she remembered, for a single moment adopting the form of a man dressed in white, so very similar to the Warden before collapsing back into her usual form. “Sorry, Bronzor. It’s just a little frustrating, not remembering…”
“ I would not have known, given that your dark typing rejects so simple an analysis. I can only hope your own memories are not similarly torn apart. ”
“They’re not.” She knew that without a doubt, though why she knew that was… nebulous. Memories recently gained and just as quickly lost in the endless depths of black- the long journey from some vagaries of past to her current station. “C’mon, let’s get going. We still need to make it to the Diamond Clan settlement…”
………
The next few days of her journey went more or less well. She used a particularly robust illusion to fly the few hundred feet from Ingo’s lair and continued the rest of the way on foot. Once in a while they’d stop to battle the odd pokemon by the road- to give Bronzor a bit of a challenge, that extra push to evolve, and to help her get used to commanding a pokemon again.
It came naturally, really- she got the impression that of all the things she’d done, of illusions and long journeys across ageless lands- this had been what she was best at. Commanding into battle, to victory her loyal pokemon, that odd phrase ever on the tip of her tongue as she sent them out- driving forward to a win or loss, for the us.
It was fun . By the time they stumbled out of the Coronet highlands, thoroughly battered and just as exhausted, she’d managed to get Bronzor a fair bit more used to the actual battling part of his strength. He wasn’t even all that bad, either- together they’d even managed to defeat an alpha towards the end.
Fun times. Much better than space time goddamn distortions .
Those sucked .
………
Tongues of flame leapt into the air in minuscule fantasies of fire, dancing in the soft of orange and gentle radiance as long shadows prowled against the vastness of the forest around them. “The journey’s almost over, huh? Feels like it took forever.” It always did. Even if she couldn’t remember her travels, that melancholy feeling at the end of the path… that remained.
“ There is always the return trip, if you’re so dismayed .”
She chuckled softly. “Thanks for ruining the fun.”
“ A pleasure.” According to the map, the Diamond clan settlement should be more than a day away- in all honesty she should have her illusion up here, lest some clan-member decide now was the best time to go foraging and run across the ‘very spooky scary zoroark in the woods.’
Ah, whatever, being in her true form by a campfire was too relaxing to give up. She stretched out languidly, letting the warmth war against the chill of Hisuian nights as the fire burned so cheerfully. It felt… nostalgic.
Like memories undone. “I… really did remember him, you know. It’s at the tip of my tongue-” she closed her eyes, just… thinking-not-thinking, pantomiming a grab to a pokeball she didn’t have- “Subway Boss Ingo- I challenge you! That’s it! Subway…” vague images of vast moving platforms, crowds of humanity that always seemed far too close to breaking her illusion.
Shattered moments. Little snippets of imagery that she could use to make an illusion, but none of the context behind it. Bronzor seemed to notice her discomfort, gently twisting so the light gleaming off her form glinted across her eyes for a single moment. “ I shall advise against worrying yourself overmuch-”
“Again.”
“ Again. Oft I wonder how someone so impulsive can drive herself into such anxiety. ” Yeah, she did too - “your memories shall return to you whenever they shall return. You are not one to cripple yourself with no reason; impulsive though you may be, I do not take you for one to act without great impetus.”
“Right. Fine- I really should have known I wouldn’t leave this alone, though?” Seriously, if she actually had been the one to suppress her own memories then surely she would have realized that she wouldn’t have rested until she regained them. “It’s a shame you can’t help, with the dark-typing and all.”
“ In the time of the Celestica there were legends of spirits whose powers extended over all knowledge, emotion, and willpower; perhaps one day one of them may help right the path of your mind. ” She recognized that- some echo of three colors…
“One day, maybe.” It was tempting , to drop everything and seek out vague myths- she got the strong feeling as if she’d done that exact thing before- but she had her tasks. Take a useless satchel to the Diamond Clan settlement, prove herself - protect Dawn. “For now, we should get some rest.”
Bronzor disappeared into her pokeball as she draped illusions of the campsite, rending it from sight and laying down to the drifting feel of hazy dark-type energy; the nature of unreality…
She slept at the end of a long road, and dreamed of years again-
So long, in exhausted slumber- and darkness.
………
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
After all these long years, a journey stretching forever into the future, I finally did find a reason to keep striving, ever onwards; the pokemon journey is at its base a matter of connection. I have made many friends in my time, and to protect that bond in innocence I developed a conviction implacable and irrevocable.
For the us, for my pokemon, friends and family, for all the world in its myriad existence, I have never failed to continue forward.
Notes:
Yep. Sable's been recognizing random people, so its about time it happened to her.
Ingo gets a brief appearance, and now he's gone. Poor Ingo. Lost his brother and now he's lost his screentime :(
Chapter 6: Diamond Glitters
Summary:
The green haired warden slung the satchel off her shoulder, dragging her over to another unremarkable tent near the encampment’s center. “It’s just paperwork and letters an’ stuff. I’m gonna drop it off on Adaman’s desk and run-”
“Where, Sabi?” The girl squeaked, dropping the satchel in her suprise so suddenly Sable had to use a subtle agility to catch it. “I wanted you here two days ago. The situation with Kleavor has only gotten worse- yes, give me the papers, please.”
The girl shrunk back a bit under Adaman’s stern frown, gently prying the satchel from Sable’s hands to present it to Adaman. “Um. I wasn’t going to go too far-”
“You were going to run away to the alabaster icelands.”
Sabi drooped. “I was going to run away to the alabaster icelands, fine."
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
The perspective of a pokemon is unique amongst trainers- oftentimes I am forced to restrain my mirth at some particularly foolish motions I see shared, yet still sometimes find the most basic of training incredible.
Together, two far surpass the limits of one.
………
Just a bit over a week after she’d left Jubilife, Sable strode through the fields around the Diamond Clan Settlement in the dawning sunlight, smiling faintly as some of the clansmen waved to her as she passed and ignoring the ones who sent her suspicious glares. Apparently that was more of a common train in Hisui than… wherever she’d been.
Bronzor floated alongside her, garnering considerably more attention than her rather nondescript human illusion. A few pokemon were loitered around the edges of the fields, never quite getting too close but still watched warily by the clansmen as they foraged- that same suspicion leveled against them as well.
Somehow that felt… unfair. Another memory, of what she’d sundered-
“Oh! Heya, you’re new . What an interesting form you’ve taken.” Sable blinked, instantly defensive as she turned to face the small girl with almost disturbingly vibrant green hair that’d managed to sneak up on her. That was impressive - sure, she didn’t pay as much attention to her surroundings as a wild pokemon, but between her and Bronzor they should have been able to see her.
Also- form? Surely not- perhaps it was just another one of those overly-suspicious things like how people in Jubilife immediately assumed she was a zoroark. “I’m here on courier business from the Galaxy Expedition Team. It’s nice to meet you…”
“Warden Sabi!” That would explain the uniform, then- it looked far more… official than the clothes that the other Diamond Clan members had been wearing. “And you’re the friend of sunlight and shadow! I’ve been waiting a long time to see if you were coming. This is going to be so much fun!”
“ She shows the ken of a powerful psychic in her aura. Precognitive abilities, perhaps; the Celestica.” Very interesting. Being a dark-type and all, she didn’t understand psychics- but the way that little information pricked at the back of her brain made her think she knew them at least somewhat well. “ Her Noble Pokemon appears to be hiding in the cloud cover above. ”
“Aww, no fun! Braviary!” A screech echoed across the clearing as a massive bird dropped from the sky, hovering above them with the beating rush of air beneath its wings. “I can take that satchel off your hands if you want- I run deliveries for the clan sometimes when I’m not taking people around.”
“Wait-” the fields faded behind them as they entered into the settlement proper, a small scattering of tents and semi-permanent habitations raised in a haphazard circle around a spear of stone jutting from the ground. “You’re telling me you have a giant distortion damned bird , and I had run all the way here from Jubilife? ”
Sabi giggled softly, prancing away into Braviary’s waiting fluff as Sable glared. “Oh, ouch. If it makes you feel any better I’m not usually around the clan grounds- Adaman summoned me back to help with some stuff.”
“I see how it is.” All in good humor, she supposed- but if there was ever confirmation that Cyllene had wanted her gone then this was that. “So, who’re you going to deliver the satchel too?”
The green haired warden slung the satchel off her shoulder, dragging her over to another unremarkable tent near the encampment’s center. “It’s just paperwork and letters an’ stuff. I’m gonna drop it off on Adaman’s desk and run-”
“Where, Sabi?” The girl squeaked, dropping the satchel in her suprise so suddenly Sable had to use a subtle agility to catch it. “I wanted you here two days ago. The situation with Kleavor has only gotten worse- yes, give me the papers, please.”
The girl shrunk back a bit under Adaman’s stern frown, gently prying the satchel from Sable’s hands to present it to Adaman. “Um. I wasn’t going to go too far-”
“You were going to run away to the alabaster icelands.”
Sabi drooped. “I was going to run away to the alabaster icelands, fine . I’ll take you to Jubilife, and then you can go and bicker with Iridia or whatever.”
“Irida and I do not bicker . We have intellectual discussions as I attempt to correct her sadly misinformed view of Sinnoh’s nature-”
“The region?”
That was enough to cause Adaman to break out of his exhausted diatribe, gaze sharpening as he noticed her presence. “No. The deity . You’re Galaxy Team, so I wouldn’t expect you to know this- Sinnoh knows you people have no respect for pokemon with your pokeballs and survey corps, but Sinnoh is the lord of all time, creator of all things and supreme being.”
That felt… very wrong, but she didn’t say anything in response. She got the vague image of a large blue pokemon laughing at her, which- annoying, but not as annoying as whoever the worm was. Sabi just looked plaintively up to Braviary, who gestured pointedly to the basket with his beak. “She knows . C’mon, we’re going to be late!”
“Whose fault is that, Sabi? Adaman vaulted into the basket with surprising deftness, Leafeon beside him, grumbling almost inaudibly about insubordination and crises . “You, Galaxy Team member- get in. We’re going back to Jubilife.”
Recalling Bronzor to his pokeball, she leaped neatly up to the hanging basket, wincing beneath her illusion as Braviary stumbled a bit. It wasn’t her fault that her illusion didn’t give an… accurate depiction of her weight. Humans were just feather-light. Adaman gave her one last glance as Sabi directed them skywards- but, thankfully he didn’t do anything to risk her illusion.
Hisui- Sinnoh, that snarled part of memories undone whispered- was beautiful from the air, colorful in the verdancy of spring, and awash in the glint of light as they soared through the skies. The paths of the Coronet highlands, rugged valleys and craggy cliffs- it was all so very small from their altitude.
It felt familiar.
She had done this before , flown high above something so bitterly similar- a soft whine escaped through her muzzle as the pain almost broke her illusion. The details of what she’d done in her broken past were faint, but the visage of it all… she wrapped a hand around the strange pokeball that she was certain was hers - the faint feeling of claws beneath the illusion cold against the metal, and just breathed.
The pieces were there, in the little fragments of memory tied to her illusions- she was certain, even if to reach for them was to burn herself. They were there in the very nature of the land…
Frowning, she brushed her thoughts over the incongruity of Hisui and Sinnoh , those places were something just felt missing , and wondered…
………
They landed some distance outside Jubilife village, and after Sabi- reluctantly- promised to wait for his return made their way to the settlement. By the identical looks of surprise on the guard’s faces, they hadn’t been expecting her to return.
Then a girl named Irida arrived and Sable decided their arguments were probably going to take far too long. Captain Cyllene still needed to receive a report- and she eagerly awaited the look on her face once she realized she’d survived.
………
“Let me get this straight.” Cyllene nursed a cup of steaming tea, looking as if she really wished she’d been allowed alcohol instead. “Instead of going through the crimson mirelands like a normal person, you trekked through the Coronet highlands , got stuck in a space-time distortion, made friends with a Bronzor of all things, and got rescued by Pearl Clan’s Warden before walking the rest of the way to the settlement.”
The abra lazily floating in the corner blinked open an eye, in half hearted incredulity. “ I don’t need to read your mind to know how crazy you are. All you dark-types are insane. ”
Sable bit back a chuckle at how thoroughly done Cyllene looked. “That’s about correct.”
“Right, fine, you’re obviously survey corps material.” Read the rules, don’t bother me unless it's for a really damn important deal, and you’re set. The Commander’s going to want to see you. Don’t make him wait.” Sable nodded, stepping out of the room- “and-” she froze, looking back to Cyllene as a small smile flicked across her face and was gone, as ephemeral as dusk- “between us, I’m glad you made it back. I’ll give you this warning- Kamado is exceedingly distrusting of outsiders.”
“Thanks.” Kamado… she was not looking forward to meeting him.
“Put your beast away, Sable.” Oh no, one of these . What those were (other than people like Kamado) she wasn’t entirely certain, but she got a general impression that she’d disliked them quite a lot. “Jubilife village is a place where people can be free from fear of pokemon, and I will not have an outsider ruin that careful work.” Ah… she could get Laventon’s adamant insistence she did not reveal her nature made sense now.
Inwardly gritting her teeth, she sent an apologetic glance to Bronzor before snapping him back into his pokeball. “Trainer Sable, reporting a successful mission to the Diamond Clan settlement.”
“Hm. Good.” The man stood, carefully moving to place himself between her and the desk he’d just been sitting behind. “You’ve made quite the stir, leaving to cross the continent without a single pokemon beside you and returning unharmed with a rare beast. So then, show me your strength!”
“Um, okay?”
Sable let her hand drift down to Bronzor’s pokeball, only to freeze as Kamado firmly held up a hand. “Not a pokemon battle; face me in a match of strength; your strength of arms against my own.” He dropped down into a combat stance as Sable stared incredulously at the man. As if he actually expected anyone but the greatest aura guardians to be able to fight a pokemon and win.
She had no idea what an aura guardian was, but she was pretty sure Kamado wasn’t one. Well… she glanced at Kamado before flashing forward in a burst of agility, stepping neatly to the side of his grab and kicking out his legs. An incorporeal illusion manifested in images of her human around her as she swept the man off his legs,disguising the brief moment where her form flickered from human to zoroark and back again. “That enough?”
“You…” he grunted as he picked himself off the ground, rubbing a bit at his shins through his voluminous robes. She’d intended to hit there- he wouldn’t feel fur if the clothes insulated it, but perhaps she’d… overestimated the durability of humans. “Magnificent. You battle like a true expert. I approve. Go bother Cyllene or that damnable professor. I need to-” the commander winced a bit as he stumbled over to sit in his chair- “do some… paperwork.”
Right.
She really hoped this didn’t spark a grudge. She did not want to have to take Dawn with her when she left- caring for herself would be difficult enough.
Sable Foxx left Commander Kamado’s office an official member of the Expedition Team, and the first zoroark ever hired in Hisui, all the weight of unknown past’s echoes finally weighing on her, unexpected burdens the lot of them.
Her mission burned foremost in her mind like endless iterations of smokey wings- more than anything- protect the girl who fell.
………
Excerpt from Sable Foxx’s personal journal:
I see again and again, like clockwork, constellations and seasons, the same tragic ideals; to laugh at foolishness is to weep for the sake of those who fell beneath ideals’ immortal form.
Ever always is emotion, and emotion that drives us- I see again and again conviction to follow even the darkest folly to ruin, yet in equal turn wrest us free.
Chapter 7: Crises That Need Kids To Solve Them
Summary:
Adaman nodded, quickly speaking over Irida. “As I was saying! Lord Kleavor has succumbed to a frenzy caused by the apostate god behind the space-time rift over Mt. Coronet. Diamond Clan cannot get involved personally, but your Expedition Team could surely assist?’ Wow. Least subtle jab ever made- Irida was literally in the room with them.
It wasn’t so much going behind her back if they were just going to do it anyways, with or without permission. Sighing, she rested a hand on her forehead, careful not to press too hard in sheer frustration and break the illusion. Did she always have to be the voice of reason in these affairs?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
The first time _------- asked me to help resolve a conflict between two groups of warring pokemon, I was terrified. The second time _------- asked me to deal with a group of humans encroaching on the sacred hollow of some ghosts, it was much the same.
The twelfth time, I started to get exasperated. One can only deal so much with the troubles of legendaries before realizing they have as great a capacity for stupid as we do.
………
It didn’t take her that long to get used to being a member of the survey corps. For the most part she stayed in the village- with Rei and Dawn both out completing the pokedex for the Professor, they didn’t really need anyone more to go out, especially someone who wouldn’t fill out their team a bit more.
Laventon had her help around the lab, which was actually a lot more fun than she’d expected. Rowlet always had something to say about the professor or whatever human had come to bother them during the day, and her position gave her easy access to all sorts of information that would have been awful to work out by herself.
The professor was even considerate enough to prepare her food more fit for a zoroark once she told him her diet. There was an unfortunate lack of meat with most of the cattle left for easier commodities back in the other regions, but the man was amazing with berries.
It was nice. Relaxing. A bit more focused on pokemon rather than the myths she so desperately wanted to look into, but all would come in good time. Bronzor bumped against her side, bringing her back to the pokemon she was politely asking- interrogating - about their diet. “So… that, and river fish… that should be all.”
“ Can I please go now? ” The buizel looked plaintively up at her with wide eyes, not so subtly glancing over to the mushroom cakes stacked set aside as treats for the participating pokemon.
It was a wonder how far a little bit of bribery could go with wild pokemon unused to consistent food sources. “Sure. Take two.” A faint smile crossed her muzzle as she heard the buizel hiss a faint exclamation of victory before grabbing the offered cakes and dashing out the door. “So. That’s all of them for today. Anything new on the search?”
“ Alas, I have already told you all I remember about the ancient legends .” Bronzor helped her drag out the maps they’d been working on, a bit of a to-do list of ruins they’d like to visit. “ One of the traders from pearl clan referenced an ancient structure in the alabaster icelands supposedly home to a titanic monster. Whatever it might be, I remember that temple complex as a forgotten ruin even in my day. ”
“Titanic monster doesn't really seem to fit the idea of those fey sprites… they likely don’t live there, but it wouldn’t hurt to check out. I’ll put it down on the list-” the door creaking open behind her echoed faintly through Laventon’s cluttered rooms as she hastily threw on her human illusion, dismissing the illusions over the maps-
“ Oh, you’re back! ” A bundle of black and blue fur bowled into her with enough force to toss a human to the ground twice over, and definitely enough force to break her illusion. “ Look, look, I did it! I evolved! ” Shinx, now Luxio pranced across the professor’s poor floor, proudly stretching out to the fullest extent of her new size. “ It was really hard, but kept focusing on the inner sparky-ness and just… grew that. It was so much fun! ”
She reached out to ruffle her hair-tuft, grinning as Luxio batted at her claws in mock-offense. “I’m glad to see you’re back. You too, Dawn.”
The girl in question slumped down into one of the free chairs, exhaustion written clearly over her face. “Sinnoh above, I’m glad to see you . Kamado needs me to go up to the office in a bit, but I was so sure you were going to just… not come back from the Coronet highlands.”
“It was a bit close when I got stuck in a space-time distortion, but I found Bronzor out of it.” She nodded over to the floating disk, who bobbed a bit in polite greeting. “He’s been helping me look into some ancient records of pokemon who could help us with our memory problem.”
“Oh! Thanks, Bronzor! Find anything interesting?”
“ Unfortunately, we’ve yet-” he paused, faint agitation evident in the way he drooped midair. " She can’t hear me. Oft have I wished I was psychic enough to communicate with humans, yet never have I been more disappointed in my inability.”
“ You’ll figure it out .” Switching back to the human tongue she sent a sheepish smile to Dawn, ears pressed back against her head. “Sorry about that- he was saying we were looking into a trio of legendary pokemon with dominion over the mind, but we’ve not made any progress. Unless you…”
Dawn furrowed her brow in concentration for a second before shrugging, a faintly bitter smile on her face. “Sorry. I have nothing. I wouldn’t even have a name if it wasn’t for you, so don’t expect me to be much use with your research.”
“Don’t fret about it. I could show you what we’ve been doing so far, if you want?” Dawn nodded interest and and she pulled out the scrolls, detailing the locations of the different ruins great and small they’d marked onto their map as potential points of interest.
It was useless- really, Dawn’s prediction about not being much help had been more than accurate- but it was a fun few hours. A shame that that kid- Rei - had to come and ruin it with a summons to Kamado’s office. Dawn spent a few more minutes with her tidying up the lab before bidding her farewell, recalling Luxio from her argument with Bronzor and darting out the door.
Sable gave a single glance at Bronzor, then followed in turn. She had the feeling that absolutely nothing good would come out of this meeting…
………
Walking into the commander’s office… well, she hadn’t been wrong.“...wasting almighty Sinnoh’s space! This is an internal clan matter- Diamond Clan has no right to stick its head where it doesn't belong!” It was a young woman’s voice- Irida, from what she heard of the intonation. A voice wasn’t something easily forgotten for a master of illusions.
“ You’re wasting Sinnoh’s time with your insane rambling!” Adaman. At least she’d been right that their arguments weren’t worth the trouble. “ We’ve waited for days for this mysterious survey corps member to arrive, and now you find yourself reticent to-”
“ Enough! Speak your request, clan leader Adaman.” Kamado. The man shot her a glare as she stepped up beside Dawn, but the way the young girl relaxed with her present was enough for her to ignore the man entirely. “We don’t have the time-” the scowl line on the commander’s face deepened as Adaman smirked- “ or space for this argument again .”
Adaman nodded, quickly speaking over Irida. “As I was saying! Lord Kleavor has succumbed to a frenzy caused by the apostate god behind the space-time rift over Mt. Coronet. Diamond Clan cannot get involved personally, but your Expedition Team could surely assist?’ Wow. Least subtle jab ever made- Irida was literally in the room with them .
It wasn’t so much going behind her back if they were just going to do it anyways, with or without permission. Sighing, she rested a hand on her forehead, careful not to press too hard in sheer frustration and break the illusion. Did she always have to be the voice of reason in these affairs? “Leader Irida- perhaps you should take Kleavor’s opinion into account?”
Everyone’s attention was on her now, especially Irida’s, whose suspicious glare matched her Glaceon’s almost perfectly. “What would an outsider know of the ways of pokemon? You galaxy team members wouldn’t be able to tell a braviary from a staraptor-”
“Clan leader Irida. Please, enough . Listen to the woman- much like Dawn here, Sable also fell through the space-time rift, and demonstrated an unusual acuity when it came to cooperating with pokemon in her work with Professor Laventon.” Irida looked contemplative at that, even if Kamado looked like he’d bitten into a particularly sour lapapa berry. It sounded impressive, until one realized that she’d used the advanced tactic of asking politely to get the results Laventon had gushed over.
“Fine- if Sable can defeat me in battle-” all too quick not to fall behind, Adaman was already propositioning an equivalent match against Dawn, which ouch for his team- “then I will allow her to investigate Lord Kleavor’s frenzy.” Kamado- grudgingly- nodded his agreement, and that was all the permissions Irida needed to just about drag her out to the nearest open field. “Test your mettle against Glaceon!”
The azure pokemon bounded forward, glancing warily at Bronzor as he entered the field. “ Any chance you… like, won’t totally steamroll me? This is a bad matchup…”
“ My trainer shall be the ultimate judge of your fate; know only that she will not let Dawn come to harm. Should that see you crushed utterly in battle, so be it .” Sable winced, sending an apologetic glance to Glaceon before settling down to battle-
“For the us, Bronzor! Let’s do this!” They began- and the battle flowed .
Bronzor was clearly stronger than Glaceon and it showed in the way he poked at power just beyond his ken, but the way she just- stepped into the role of commander, neatly ordering each move in perfect precision to the last… It was natural .
This is what she’d done, most of all- and she was good at it. Glaceon didn’t even stand a chance- it was clear from the start of the battle as she neatly led Bronzor away from Glaceon’s attacks, safeguarding against her ice attacks. In the way they withstood the scattering of swift stars, retaliating with a brutal gyro ball that sent Glaceon flying .
By the time the ice-type had managed to stand it was already being hit by another gyro ball. “That’s enough. Glaceon, come over here.” She gave a small smile to Glaceon as she fed it some berries, slathering a bit of potion onto her wounds. “You’ve proven yourself to me, I suppose.” She tossed the last super potion to her , which… she didn’t know why she’d been expecting something else, but this was good enough. “Go and calm Kleavor, please? Don’t die, either.”
“I’ll try my best.” So she swore, so she would . Striding through the gently bustling streets of Jubilife, feeling the gazes- interested, this time. Some were excited, a fair bit still trepidatious- and from the few who’d seen her battle with Irida, respect .
The town was feeling more and more like a home … she shook off the flash of putrid bitterness, focusing on where Dawn waited at the gates ahead of her, halfheartedly consoling a somewhat defeated-looking Adaman.
They had a noble to quell.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Still, I find myself remembering the trepidation of setting off on a dangerous task every time. I have never stopped fearing.
In the end, it is only that I have gained the will to continue.
Notes:
Yep. Sable has a different position in the survey corps than Dawn. Turns out being able to talk to Pokémon is really useful after all.
Chapter 8: Lord of Madness
Summary:
The Warden narrowed his eyes at the implicit threat, sending forward his goomy… slowly. “All the same, I cannot allow you to pass. Lord Kleavor has been especially upset since the lightning from the rift struck him- it is dangerous to continue further into the woods.”
“So, if we beat you in a pokemon battle, then you’ll let us go?”
Lian nodded in affirmation. “You would have proved your strength. I’m only making sure that Irida didn’t send someone into the woods just to have them die.”
“What if I told you we just beat Irida and Adaman in battle?” Lian glanced at his goomy, who was looking markedly nervous. “Not even a few hours ago, we emerged victorious over an alpha floatzel.”
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
I have seen great and terrible things, and met the few of my kind.
………
A grim cast of clouds hung low over the obsidian fieldlands as they set out, the dull rumble of faraway thunder the only echo of the storms to come. Wild pokemon scurried carefully through the bushes, seeking shelter against the oncoming downpour as they trekked ever onwards.
The flutter of wings was all the warning she got as Staravia, Dawn’s newest teammate, braked hard as she flew back, landing neatly on the girl’s shoulder. “ Found it! You have to pass an alpha floatzel, though… ”
Unfortunately- she’d prefer not to fight any of the large creatures, especially when she was sure someone was following them. “Is there another route?”
“ Sorry, boss, not a chance. You could probably make it up the cliffs, but Dawn definitely wouldn’t.”
Unfortunate… she relayed the information to Dawn, who just smiled almost scarily wide. “An alpha floatzel shouldn’t be a problem. Between Luxio’s electricity and your Bronzor’s strength we should be able to scare if off easily enough.”
Well, worth a try. It was better than walking across what felt like the entire obsidian fieldlands to find another place to cross the river. They approached the bridge carefully, slipping past the small pack of buizel sleeping peacefully at the edge of the water, carefully avoiding the rocks that could be geodudes- as much as they could drive away a single pokemon, dealing with the packs of the smaller kin would have been beyond troublesome.
Drawing a breath, she stood beside Dawn, pokeball in hand as they approached Floatzel’s haunt. It felt… unusual, but still next to natural, to be lockstep beside another trainer. Like Ingo… she frowned, stepping forward just a fraction to make Floatzel focus on her . “Let us pass in peace, and we will disturb nothing-”
“ Intruders. You are intruders! I shall rend you apart! ” Stifling a sigh she stepped back, throwing out Bronzor’s pokeball at the same time Dawn released Luxio. The cat shot a scowl at Bronzor before settling her glare on Floatzel, lightning crackling through her fur.
The very air spiked electric, the faint scent of ozone redoubling in the air. “ I can do this! Stand back, Bronzor!” A bolt of electricity crashed down on Floatzel, who keened in sudden pain at the shock. “ Take that!”
Floatzel reared up, digging her claws into the ground as normal-type energy bloomed around him. “Bronzor! Block.” He drifted forward just in time to deflect the quick attack aimed at Luxio- “now- confusion .” Psychic energy crushed down, kicking the floatzel back from where he’d stumbled to a stop.
“ That’s not impressive. Watch this! ” Another bolt of thunder crashed down against Floatzel, sending him reeling into unconsciousness beneath the blow’s strength. “ Take that, Bronzor, I did like twice as much as you did. ”
Bronzor, for his part, only looked somewhat annoyed. “ You are an electric-type. There was never a doubt that you would perform adequately against a water-type opponent. ”
“ Just you watch!” Luxio retreated to her pokeball as Bronzor sent the cat a confused look. It wasn’t like Sable had much more of an idea of what was going on, but it probably didn’t matter.
Probably. Faint memories danced on illusion’s edge- but they had a task to complete, so it could wait for later. Hopefully. They set off a at a brisk pace to where they were supposed to meet with the Pearl Clan Warden, and if she checked behind them every so often to try and find who was following them, then Dawn (and certainly whoever was following them- her illusions were really put through the wringer to keep themselves subtle enough to dodge attention) never had to know.
She caught a few glimpses of faint yellowish-gold, but it wasn’t enough to distinguish it from a pokemon before they reached where Lian was… blocking their entry.
This again.
She had the feeling that stuff like this had been distressingly common even back where she’d come from, wherever that was. Sighing, she gently stepped up beside Dawn, making sure her Bronzor was very visible. “We’re here to help - we received permission from Irida to investigate-”
The Warden narrowed his eyes at the implicit threat, sending forward his goomy… slowly. “All the same, I cannot allow you to pass. Lord Kleavor has been especially upset since the lightning from the rift struck him- it is dangerous to continue further into the woods.”
“So, if we beat you in a pokemon battle, then you’ll let us go?”
Lian nodded in affirmation. “You would have proved your strength. I’m only making sure that Irida didn’t send someone into the woods just to have them die.”
“What if I told you we just beat Irida and Adaman in battle?” Lian glanced at his goomy, who was looking markedly nervous. “Not even a few hours ago, we emerged victorious over an alpha floatzel .”
“ Um, Warden, perhaps I… shouldn’t fight that bronzor? He looks scary… ”
Lian seemed to get the gist of his pokemon’s trepidation, even if he didn’t exactly understand the speech perfectly as he sighed, stepping aside. “Fine. Follow me- I’ve been doing some work on figuring out the Lord’s frenzy. He seems to be suffused with a brilliant golden energy that empowers his form, yet reduces him to base instinct.”
The term frenzy made a lot more sense, now. Something felt… not familiar about the situation itself, more the general idea of it. Legends from ancient history wrapped in the idea of illusions filtered through her mind as Lian described his efforts so far, a conclusion almost… “Did Lord Kleavor have a blessing beforehand?”
“How’d you…” Lian looked momentarily shocked before he regained his composure. “Yes, though less noticeable than the ride pokemon, the Lord is blessed with a strength far beyond his species typical ability that he uses to assist the other pokemon of the fieldlands in their disputes. He also helps the clans when they move camp.”
“Interesting… It’s possible that-” her mind drew a blank and she growled in frustration, only realizing how inhuman it sounded as Lian flinched back in fear. “Sorry… I just had something, some memory, and now I don’t.”
“Perhaps you’ve dealt with this in the past! Maybe almighty Sinnoh sent you specifically to help with this!” Definitely wrong, if only by her mission that told her exactly what she’d been sent to do- protect Dawn.
“Sorry, I’m still not remembering anything.” Staravia leaned in a bit closer, his presence erasing Dawn’s bitter frown. “Allright, allright. Do you know how to dispel Kleavor’s frenzy?”
“I have a plan.” Their short walk ended near an open clearing, an immense tree looming over the open forest floor. A pile of small bags were stacked in a basket, carefully hidden beneath in a makeshift structure of sticks and earth. “I’ve been collecting Lord Kleavor’s favorite food, as his frenzy seems to abate only when he eats. I believe the presence of his favorite food makes him think more logically.”
“And your idea is…” Sable had the bad idea she wasn’t going to like where this was going-
“I’ve made balms for you to throw at Lord Kleavor! It should work. Theoretically.” She’d been right. She’d been so right.
Dawn stepped forward, hefting a bag of beans into her hand. “Um. I’m pretty sure I can do… if this is what it takes to free Lord Kleavor from his frenzy then I will do this.” She took a step forward, only to be pulled back by Sable’s hand on her shoulder. “Yes? We can start anytime…”
“Not you.” She gently plucked the bag from her hands, ignoring her protests as she pushed her away from the arena- away from Lian’s prying ears as Bronzor dutifully floated off to make sure whoever was following them wouldn’t overhear. “Dawn. I may not be a champion level trainer, but I am a zoroark. Let me throw things at the angry pokemon, please .”
For a long moment Dawn looked like she’d go and fistfight Kleavor anyways before she drooped- and grabbed a pokeball from her belt, holding it out to her. “Fine. Take Oshawott, though- he has a type advantage against Kleavor, and you’ll need all the help you can get.”
Grimly, ignoring the bitter ache she felt as the pokeball settled into her hand with silent weight, she nodded before drawing Dawn into a moment’s embrace. “I’ll come back.” Damn it all, she was getting attached.
Sorrow in her chest, she stepped away from Dawn and wondered if she could keep her promise. Her promises .
To fight a Lord.
For memory…
………
Lian had set up the balms in a far more accessible location as she returned, a pokeball in each hand- a breath. Steady, calm as battle- “alright.” She stepped into the arena, and flicked the two pokeballs open, allowing Oshawott and Bronzor to materialize in a puff of smoke. “For the us.” Then Kleavor stepped down into the arena, and it was chaos .
Bronzor and Oshowott worked side by side to slam attacks into Kleavor as Sable pelted him with the balms, the sweet smell of beans competing with the salt of seawater and the impossible sensation of Bronzor’s psychic attacks. Kleavor was fast - but more than that each of his blows rent the earth, each miss almost breaking her illusion. She did not want to be hit by one of those axes.
“Bronzor! Confusion again, to give some space for- now, Oshwott!” Kleavor reeled back as a powerful water gun slammed into him, giving her the opening she needed to throw some of the balms in the frenzied lord’s face. She could see a few spectators out of the corner of her eye- Dawn and Lian, watching from behind a ridge as agility allowed her to dance between attacks with speed that would have been impossible for a regular human- and Volo , tucked in a hidden corner, fascination writ across his face.
So that was the man that’d been following them… dodging out of the way of one of Kleavor’s scything blows and quickly ordering a retaliation, she realized it didn’t much matter-
A blue and black blur erupted from where Dawn was standing, leaping onto Kleavor’s back and sending the bug reeling out of the way of Oshawott’s water gun. Sable cursed softly beneath her breath as Luxio drove arcs of electricity into the momentarily stunned Lord, shooting a Dawn a glare to not follow her pokemon in. “Luxio! Not now! Get behind Bronzor!”
“ I don’t need help from him! ” Gah, she’d been hoping to avoid this until after they were finished with Kleavor. “ I’m gonna- whoa! ” Kleavor bucked wildly, sending Luxio to the ground before spinning around, scything down with his axes-
Not.
Happening .
Sable through a momentary illusion of Kleavor flaring blindingly bright into Lian and Volo’s eyes as she threw out a powerful night daze, motioning for Bronzor to attack with confusion in the moment Kleavor stumbled back.
The metallic pokemon hit Kleavor with psychic energy- and kept hitting, extrasensory delivering a punishing blow that drove the frenzied lord away from Luxio’s prone form. “ Ah.” Bronzor sounded incredibly pleased with himself as he faced Kleavor. “ I seem to have gotten that move working.” Then Kleavor was in a lot of pain as she directed Oshawott to help him beat the frenzied lord back into a corner.
Sable knelt down beside Luxio as she unsteadily pulled herself to her feet, a grim scowl on her face. “What were you thinking ? You almost got seriously wounded.”
“ I’m- I- ” she hung her head, electricity crackling around her feet in petulant frustration. “ Sorry. You just like Bronzor so much more than me … It’s just not fair!” Oh. Oh - that made so much more sense. She was jealous .
“Luxio- believe me… I have a very select criteria for my pokemon, and if just liking them was enough then I wouldn’t feel so bad whenever I think about asking you to come to my team. I- I’m not even sure what it is myself. Don’t beat yourself up about it- and certainly don’t beat up Bronzor .” She smiled, quickly throwing some potion onto her wounds- just enough so she could fight . “For the us, Luxio- just this once, let’s get this Kleavor. Use spark .”
“ Okay… okay. I can do that .” A brilliant sheen of electricity shone in a corona around her form as she darted forward, biting down onto Kleavor’s arm to open the way for Oshawott as he darted forward. A fierce whirlwind erupted around the otter pokemon’s form as he leapt across the length of the arena, and Dewott landed a razor shell powerful enough to lay Kleavor out on his back.
A couple more balms- and the golden glow fled from Lord Kleavor, leaving the battered pokemon to pull himself up into an exhausted slump. “ Thank you for freeing me. That insanity… I cannot help but fear the one whose madness is far greater than my own. The world is unbalanced… ” something solidified out of his aura, shimmering chitin-green, and when the slab- plate - was placed into her hands Sable could feel the unimaginable power quiescent beneath its shell of reality. “ Keep it safe. ”
Sable held the true plate- veneration , for all the memories she didn’t have looked on in terrified awe at the fragment of divinity she held and knew that it deserved all of emotion and more- and intoned, from quiet memory, from the words on the plate before her: “Where all creation was born, that is the being’s place of origin.”
“Marvelous!” She would not admit that she’d jumped in surprise at Volo’s exclamation. “I’ve heard of the plates before; mystic artifacts of great significance that boost the power of a typing. I never thought I’d actually get to see one…”
“Um. I have one too.” Dawn skidded down into the arena, pulling out the mind plate from her bag. “I got it from Wyrdeer, and it’s… pink.” Volo gaped at her for a second before rushing forward, running his fingers over the plate’s cool surface. Clearly whatever terrible force she could feel, the power that made her want to cast the plate into the sea and part with it forever, wasn’t felt by humans .
Volo was treating them like little trinkets, fragments of history- he knew not they held fragments of a god . “Enough, Volo- leave Dawn alone.”
The blond haired man backed off, sheepish smile plastered across his face. “Sorry, sorry. I’m a bit of an historian myself, so seeing such integral parts of history makes me giddy with excitement!”
Dawn perked up at that. “Oh, Sable! If he’s a historian, then he can help you search for the spirits!” Which… that was actually a pretty good point.
“Spirits?”
Sable nodded at Volo. “I heard some myths about a pokemon that binds knowledge-”
“Along with its fellows which control emotion and willpower!” The trader’s grin was back in full force. “I’ve heard that rumor- I never gave it particularly much thought, but if you think it’s credible then perhaps… oh! You’re trying to find the bringer of knowledge to cure your amnesia!”
“Bringer of knowledge?”
“Ah, right… that’s what its called in some of the legends. A few suggest that they’re related to the lakes, while others say they’re actually sky spirits…” he rambled about the differences between the legends, and Sable couldn’t bring herself to shut him up even as Lian came over to congratulate them- this was the valuable sort of information they needed.
“Volo-” the man paused in his dissertation, focusing his attention onto Sable. “Perhaps you could travel with me to investigate some of these ruins?”
The man looked like she’d hung the moon and stars. “ Yes . Ginter’s going to be so mad, but this is an opportunity like little else! This is going to be amazing .” Huh… it did actually sound a bit fun, and if Volo carried none of that bitter feeling the others did, then that was all the better.
After all, Volo was trustworthy . She was sure of it.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
A few of them had particularly rough starts. _--- in particular shares an inside joke with _------- about their past transgressions. They are adamant, though, that nobody else find out- the number of times I have seen them threaten _-------’s siblings with bodily harm to protect their secrets… it has become something of a joke by now.
Notes:
Luxio resolves her conflict with Sable/Bronzor, and Sable beats up Kleavor. Fun times all around.
Chapter 9: That's the Whole Point of Snow
Summary:
A small object flew through the air towards her, and some instinct long forgotten saw her diving aside, letting the object crash to the snow a good six feet away from her. Cautious, she pulled it from the drift-
It was a pokeball.
The simple, wooden type that the survey corps used, though why she’d been expecting something else… perhaps it tied to wherever her pokeball had come from. “Should I…”
“Yeah! He’s yours now!” Ominous- the bitter feeling- sorrow was already echoing in her gut for some unknown reason.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the journal of Sable Foxx:
Humanity exists in patterns- again and again, the looping repetition of society, of growth and derelict decay.
………
Flurries of snow whipped through the air around them, icy cold settling onto her even through her fur as they trudged through the snowstorm. Volo looked miserable, and even the appearance of their target only seemed to cheer him up a bit-
Monumental. Pillars of stone, carved by ancient hand into the cliff face, grim masonry stark against the alabaster gifts of white around them. Sundered pillars stood sentinel over a buried path, each monolithic pillar a lonely reminder of time’s endless ravages; shadows on a world of white rising together to lift the weight of earth above the temple entrance.
“H-here it is. Snowpoint temple.” Volo tried to smile, but with how cold he looked it turned out more a grimace than anything else. Sable took in the landscape as they approached, matching the worn rock to shreds of memory, little fragments of illusions she almost knew, but didn’t. “T-there’s some puzzles, b-but I k-know the answer to them already.”
“Let’s get you inside.” Bronzor had long since retreated to his pokeball, leaving Sable alone wishing she was able to do the same. It was pretty brutal in the open- Volo sighed in abject relief the moment they entered the cavernous vastness of the temple, the bite of the wind left behind them. Finally, though- they were here .
Turns out that making herself so useful as a research assistant to Laventon had made Captain Cyllene extremely disinclined to letting her wander. It had taken a few days, a load of tasks she never wanted to have to go through again, and Zisu’s recommendation to get her out the gates, and she was pretty sure that was because people wanted Volo gone more than they wanted Sable there .
The trek north had been relatively uneventful- she’d battled a fair bit with Volo’s pokemon- a talented Togepi that didn’t have a single normally effective move against Bronzor, and a Gible who’d thought his bulldoze was the best thing ever until Bronzor just… floated up. They were both weaker than Bronzor, but together their teamwork was on point , and Bronzor had lost plenty of times.
It had been a fun week, until the snowstorms, but they’d pushed through to here, the cold certainty of stone hanging above them… a silent promise, echoes of immensity- memories, not remembered. Something vast, white and colorful… it slipped her mind, and she discarded the thought to watch Volo quietly noted down the symbols held in the statues’ eternal grip.
“It’s simple, really-” he walked over to the door, rearranging some small stones. “Ingenious, though- Sabi told me off for trying to look at the mechanism, but it’s incredible- she can get Braviary to arrange the statues, then somehow she changes the mechanism so the puzzles match up.” The door rumbled open to the visage of a similar room, if a more complicated puzzle. “The motif here seems to be some sort of golem theme- and I can’t read the inscriptions, they’re not in any language I know, but- ah here!”
He swept aside some dust and rubble from a hidden door, three equidistant slots in a semicircle from the door. Each of them had a symbol, just as the last puzzle- rock. Steel. Ice. Something… she pushed at the memory, then pushed , pulling the wisps of illusion together and crafting a small sprite in the palm of her hand. A golem with eyes that burned and a lustrous body… “The Regi.”
“Ah, yes, that’s what they’re called in the most ancient myths. You can see here that there seems to be a theme relating to the three elements associated with the legendary golems- though, my travels have led me to believe the golems lie in a different region entirely…”
“Perhaps this gate needs the golems to open them.”
“Yes. Yes! That could-” Volo vaulted from exuberantly excited in an instant to crestfallen. “Ah, one issue. To travel and recruit the legendary titans … Hisui has always been a remote region- it would be a journey of years.”
“We have another, far greater source of elemental affinity.” So infinite … her mind wandered to the insect plate, and she shivered at the memory of such impossible power. “The plates are exceedingly powerful- we could use them to substitute for the golems.”
“A good idea. We’d have to get the plates, though…” Volo sighed, quietly restoring the stone rubble to its original position. “Again, that would take quite some time, and I highly doubt whatever lies beyond this gate would help us with our main goal.”
“I didn’t realize you had a goal.”
Volo blushed sheepishly, glancing away. “Eh… yeah, right. I didn’t- but right now our main goal is returning your, Dawn’s, and Ingo’s memories- and to do that we need to find the spirit of knowledge. I hoped that… nevermind.”
“ The type of amnesia is different for each of the three.” Icy winds long past them, Bronzor released himself from his pokeball, Sable dutifully translating for her human friend. “ Ingo is… damaged. A mind shredded, running in illogical loops and stumbling across memories it is unable to process. Dawn’s is locked tight- perhaps just as destroyed, but held together by an incredibly powerful binding. Perhaps only a legendary could restore those memories… and yours- beyond being dark-type and thus theoretically immune to the type of damage you received, your memories seem to have been purposely tampered with. ”
Volo quickly finished the second puzzle, casting open the second of three doors. “Fascinating… you receive flashes of memory, though, right? Are you able to remember what caused it? If we know the source, then we can attempt to reverse it somewhat- or at least have a basis of what to do-”
“Yeah.” She did - a vague sense of outrage, echoes of humor and annoyance… “I can’t remember why, or even what happened leading up to it, but I remember…” a dark void. Infinitely falling in a place where gravity shouldn’t exist in consistent measure- “a… worm like figure. Black and red- stripes I think, with gold highlights and a wreath like smoke. Powerful- potentially legendary …”
“Um.” Volo was looking at her with the most stunned expression- which, odd . “I, um, don’t recognise a pokemon by that description. Can’t say I’ve ever seen it, and no legendaries match… I’ll be sure to look!” He was unusually quiet for the rest of their journey through the temple, but they made quick enough progress-
They opened the last door to the brilliant gleam of the sunlight off snow, heavenly radiance dancing in incandescent sparks over the vast landscape of the Alabaster icelands. A silhouette of an immense bird sat at the ledge’s terminus, imposing- a lord over the vast expanse of frozen wasteland- and the small, green haired girl twisted around to wave at them. “I knew it! I was thinking it was going to be Dawn, but she’s not ready yet, is she?”
Elegantly and with great tact, Sable stumbled out a single word- “ Sabi? ”
“I had to go all the way to Jubilife to get one of your fancy pokeballs for this! You better be grateful!” She was very lost in this conversation- she glanced over to Bronzor, but he seemed just about equally uncertain of what was going in. “Sorry, this isn’t the one that can read the inscriptions… um, I’m not sure about that one, but the shattering equinox ties with the explorers of sky, and you should look around the crimson mirelands when the barriers thin. Here.”
A small object flew through the air towards her, and some instinct long forgotten saw her diving aside, letting the object crash to the snow a good six feet away from her. Cautious, she pulled it from the drift-
It was a pokeball.
The simple, wooden type that the survey corps used, though why she’d been expecting something else… perhaps it tied to wherever her pokeball had come from. “Should I…”
“Yeah! He’s yours now!” Ominous- the bitter feeling- sorrow was already echoing in her gut for some unknown reason.
Breathing deeply, she flipped the latch on the pokeball and threw it to the ground before her, and when the puff of smoke faded a small white pokemon sat on the snow before her. It was… roughly vulpine, wispy- a tired, defeated look on its face- “ Hello? ” Oh. Oh no. Beneath its speech she heard its name - “ You’re not meema. Meema… left. You are interim meema. Goodnight.”
Without further ado the zorua fell unconscious onto the snow beneath him. Sable whirled to face Sabi, a… fury- yes , this emotion was fury in her eyes. “What is the meaning of this?” Braviary fluffed up his feathers in defense at the implied threat, standing between his confused Warden and Sable . “I don’t know what you were trying-”
“Um…. there was another part to it, but it was all depressing so I was going to skip it… uh- what was it again…” Sabi glanced away from the cowering Volo and the two furious pokemon (though they only thought there was one pokemon, by the grace of illusion), thoughtful expression on her face. “Aha! I remember! They’re already dead, so they won’t die again!”
The bitterness faded like it’d never even been there in the first place.
It was so shocking that she barely managed to keep ahold of her illusion, stumbling a foot through the snow- why that . It… it made no sense! Why was there an entire fragment of her personality about avoiding people who can die ? Bronzor, the ghostly Zorua…
Immortality is a hard burden .
The thought faded as soon as it came, leaving only tired echoes of a bitter headache. “...alright. I’ll keep Zorua.” The fox looked up in sleepy joy before tottering back over to his pokeball and returning himself. Cute kid. “Your precognition is… admirable.”
“Wowow! You’re the first to find it out! I mean, the others know, but- I’m not good at it. Maybe when I’m older…” she leapt into Braviary’s basket, waving one final time. “Oh, by the way! Quell Lord Avalugg’s Frenzy! Bye!”
That- “Get back here!” She started to charge a hyper beam, thought better of it, and dropped to the snow with a defeated sigh. “What an absolute brat .”
Volo looked out towards where Sabi was rapidly disappearing into the distance. “Um. Is it too late to back out?”
Right, he’d seen what she’d done against Lord Kleavor… a foxy smirk spread across her face. “ Yes .”
Volo whimpered.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
I think, no matter how long I walk the earth, that I will never get old of finding something new, some hidden piece of our history that is so perfectly unique in its repetition- those parts of ourselves we have left behind to tell the story of our fleeting existence.
Notes:
Have a zorua in these trying times. Also, now we know why Sable rejected Luxio so throughly...
The second work in the series is a companion fic to this chapter, so if you want some zorua backstory then there's that.
Chapter 10: A Good Taste in Ice
Summary:
“Nope. I can do this.” If she dropped the illusion on her hands to dig her claws into the ice, then that was between her and the glacier.
It was to smug smiles (hers) and stunned incredulity (Volo and Gaeric) she returned, a pack full of eternal ice on her back and a glacier scaled. She was pretty sure Gaeric was a bit scared of her by the end of it all.
Whatever. All’s well that ends well.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
A friend once told me that of all the typings, ghost is the one tied most closely to emotion. An aspect of distortion; in emotion and will and knowledge, twisted along the axis of their dominion.
………
Avalugg was frenzied. Most people would, in fact, consider this a bad thing - the noble was amongst the largest of his kind, great enough to cause untold devastation should he begin to rampage throughout the Hisui. To their great fortune, however, Avalugg was… kind of trapped. He hadn’t left his home in a long time, and even the frenzy drove him to do little but stay there… extra hard.
Nobody knew how long that would last.
Nobody wanted to find out how long that would last.
The snowy wastes spread expansive in intricate nothingness around them as they trekked forward, driving through the snow with single minded determination. For once Volo was the one setting the pace- he’d made deliveries to Gaeric before to explore the alabaster icelands, and, theoretically, he should be able to find him.
If they stopped by a few ruins along the way, then nobody had to know.
Drifts of snow began to settle around them as the sun settled into the west of the world, tangerine orange hues mixing iridescent with the glittering snow, faint rainbows dancing, glittering minutes passing all too quick as the storm intensified. Gentle winds harshened to bitter gusts flinging snow against them as they moved, each further step a struggle-
Not even halfway there, and they had to stop. Damn, she hated weather… sighing, she recalled Bronzor into his pokeball, calling sharply to the trader’s silhouette- they needed to stop. Traveling further through this weather was… possible- for someone with fur and pokemon biology, especially- but her illusion was already a strain to keep up and she did not want Volo to get frostbite.
She got a bit of a wave in response, which she sure hoped was a yes- eventually they found a bit of an outcropping to huddle behind, a shadow against stone just warm enough. Togepi huddled up beside Volo as they quickly fell asleep, leaving Sable alone-
Exhausted, yet unable to sleep. Sighing, she shuffled away a bit from the campsite and thumbed the latch on one of her pokeballs, releasing Zorua and Bronzor into the dawning chill of a night snowstorm. “So…”
“ We learnt much; Warden Sabi, despite her annoying nature, has moments of extremely clear sight. ” She hated when people made sense - still, she was going to punch Sabi the next time she saw her. “ Though we’ve made remarkably little progress on restoring your memories. All we know are pieces. ” Sinnoh. Instinctive aversion to the mortal . A worm-like pokemon. Falling- and a thousand snippets of things not quite remembered.
“ Fine. We need to talk about Zorua, though. I’m… a really bad parent .” She wasn’t actually sure about that- nothing in her memories said whether or not she would make a good guardian- just that… it wasn’t something she’d really expected in the middle of the wrong region.
Zorua perked up a bit as he heard the zoroark tongue, glancing up at Sable with an earnest expression. “ You are a… zoroark? How? You are not dead- I know that… ”
“Different kind of zoroark, apparently.” She brushed a hand through the kid’s fur, feeling the ethereal nature of the wisps as it diffused perfectly around her hand. Zorua gently leaned into the touch, nestling against her side as she dropped her illusion. “I’m from… somewhere else-”
“ Once, the zorua of these lands were akin to Sable’s form. Yet- as the legends state- the malice of the immigrant clans, who saw the illusions of the zorua as a deception too evil, was imbued into their strikes as they massacred the zorua of Hisui. Yet they rose again as ghosts of bitter malice, and assumed the forms they now hold. ”
Zorua blinked slowly. “ That’s… interesting. I don’t feel very bitter. Or malicious. Is that wrong? ”
“The element of anger is the mind, and you’ve never had a reason to be bitter. Or, rather, you’ve chosen not to.” Zorua considered her words for a long moment before nodding slowly. “You don’t have to not be bitter, but never let it consume you.” So many terrible tragedies… she shivered in memory unfounded. “Nevermind such grim topics. How do you feel like practicing your illusion?”
“ Yes! I would really like that.” Wide awake- Zorua tumbled away from her in an excited roll, excitedly focusing- “ watch , I learnt this from meema before… ” ghost -type energy flickered around it in the telltale bleed of a novice illusion, rising up to form the silhouette of an immense metal form- four legs, burning eyes- spiked and familiar -
Sable looked on to the visage of a friend she only barely remembered, and breathed in awe, holding back a groan of pain at the splitting headache lancing through her head. “E-enough, Zorua. That was very good, but, please…”
“ Sorry! Sorry… I didn’t mean to… oh. That was very tiring .”
“That’s fine.” She gently scooped up the wispy fox, smiling softly as he began to nod off. “You did good. We have a long day tomorrow, anyway- just… sleep.” As the stars above wheeled in celestial infinity, as the her mind strained to remember-
She curled on the snow beside Zorua and dreamed .
………
She woke before the first gleam of the sun, glittering light off icy snow piercing her rest like the brilliance of judgment, bidding her to rise . It was a good thing she did- her illusion had slipped in the night and it would have been really embarrassing to have been found out by Volo . The man couldn’t hide a thing.
They only had what they’d packed- a few final boxes of dried berries, honey and mushroom cakes for their pokemon- and Sable, those things were distortion damned delicious- but it was enough for a simple breakfast- and then they set out, again.
Off, to ice. To the legacy’s frenzy.
Zorua was much more energetic than he’d been previously, scampering over the ice and scaring Volo witless whenever he could (why that felt like comeuppance to her, she had no idea), and generally making a menace of himself. He was a pretty good listener when it came to it, though- Bronzor coached him through some of the basic strategies while Sable worked with his illusions.
It was a good journey- short, full of torment for Volo, and productive on Zorua and Bronzor’s part. Fun, too-
The last of the alabaster icelands quickly faded behind them as they arrived, at last- to where Avalugg lay.
………
Zorua was working on controlling his illusions- harder, with ghost-type energy, but not impossible- when they found Gaeric near his Noble, angrily pacing across the frigid ice. “ You’re here.” Not the… best, introduction- “I don’t need your help.”
“Sabi told us Lord Avalugg was frenzied. Sable was able to free lord Kleavor-”
“That meddling child -” For a moment Gaeric looked as though he was going to attack them, before he settled back. Volo still stepped back nervously, eyes carefully locked onto the powerful looking Glalie floating there. Menacingly . “Lord Avalugg doesn't leave his retreat. You know that- there’s no reason to remove the blessing of almighty Sinnoh. I will have to ask you to leave.”
To just- leave Avalugg, cursed ? Not a chance . “Kleavor was very grateful when we banished his frenzy. Avalugg is likely in similar distress from the curse .”
“I will not let you pass.” So it came to this.
Sable sighed. Violence sure did solve a lot of problems, didn’t it? “Bronzor-”
“ Wait!.” Zorua tumbled forward, standing between her and Gaeric in a pose more intimidating than adorable- though by the way Gaeric stumbled back, his natural zorua-ness was intimidating enough. “ I can do it! ”
“You’re too young.”
“ I've been working really hard on that new move… please? I think I can do something…” sighing, she motioned quietly for Bronzor to return. As he wished- it would be a good learning experience, at the least. The amount of times she… well, she didn’t actually remember the amount of times she got punted around by a high-level pokemon, but she was pretty sure the answer was lots .
“Alright. Zorua, you’re up.” Glalie looked back to his trainer, who nodded a bit shakily and motioned for the ice-tye onto the field. “For the us-” and if Zorua echoing back her words wasn’t adorable, then she didn’t know what was. “Keep nimble- start with leer.”
“Glalie, crunch. ” Dark-type- Galie rushed forward, catching one of Zorua’s legs in the move- the fox just wasn’t fast enough to put enough distance between them, and the wound was already slowing him down. “Again-”
“Torment. Shadow sneak.” Glalie reeled as dark-type energy unraveled around him, giving an opening for Zorua to slip behind him and slam down. “Scratch.”
“Don’t panic, Glalie! Try an icicle crash!”
“Dodge it, Zorua. Illusion, like we practiced.” Zorua’s form shifted as Glalie gathered ice-type energy, blooming outwards into the waverly image of a… froslass? Whatever the reason (ghost types were weird) Glalie almost aborted the attack, and when the storm of icicles did crash down it peirce the illusion- and missed Zorua within it. “Again-”
“Leer. Shadow sneak .” Glalie floundered a bit beneath the blow before as the ice-type energy failed- allowing another blow to crash against Glalie, who’d started to look a bit worse for wear.
“Crunch! Swap the moves!” Ah, Gaeric had figured it out. Well, she supposed he wasn’t a warden for nothing.
The second crunch attack was just as devastatingly powerful as the first, sending Zorua skidding across the snow with a keening cry of pain. “ I… I won’t let you… I’m exhausted. ”
“That’s enough, Zorua. Return. Bronzor, your turn.” She swapped the pokeballs in a single deft movement, casting out Bronzor’s and letting Zorua stumble back to her side. “You did very well- much better than I was expecting. Do you want to watch the rest?”
“ No… ima… sleep.” She quietly returned him to his pokeball, echoes of a soft smile-
Then it was time to fight with Bronzor . They shared a weakness to dark-type moves, but Bronzor had been training with her far longer than Zorua. “Like we practiced. Try hypnosis.”
“Ice shard, quickly - stop that move!” Glalie rushed forward as Bronzor wove his net of psychic impulse, slowly drifting waves of energy across the charging pokemon until, inevitably, it crumpled- asleep. “Wake up! Wake up , Glalie-”
“Gyro ball.” Then Glalie was really unconscious. “Are you going to continue with your froslass?”
“...no. She’s not ready to battle against your Bronzor. You sure know your strategy- that move… torment- it caught Glalie off guard! I think I need to cool down.” Sable looked around at the snowy wasteland incredulously- cool down? The man wasn’t even wearing a shirt - she was practically freezing, and she had fur . “By the way, for the balms- Avalugg’s favorite food is a special type of ice. You’ll find it atop the cliffs.”
The greater than ninety degree sloped cliffs.
Amazing.
………
Volo looked up at the towering glacial outcropping with no little bit of trepidation. “Are you sure… we should call Warden Sabi. She’d be able to take us to the top, easily… climbing up that would require inhuman strength.”
“Nope. I can do this.” If she dropped the illusion on her hands to dig her claws into the ice, then that was between her and the glacier.
It was to smug smiles (hers) and stunned incredulity (Volo and Gaeric) she returned, a pack full of eternal ice on her back and a glacier scaled. She was pretty sure Gaeric was a bit scared of her by the end of it all.
Whatever. All’s well that ends well.
………
Sable stepped out to the outcropping of ice above Avalugg, the weight of the sky pressing down on her. It was time . The balms were stacked in a neat pile behind her, and before her- the immensity of Lord Avalugg, greatest of his kind-
Blessed by Sinnoh. Cursed by Sinnoh. Glowing golden with the brilliant light of frenzy, power seething through the air in vicious ice-type, could enough to pierce right through the warmth of her fur. Two pokeballs flipped open as Avalugg ponderously raised his head, Bronzor and Zorua steadying themselves-
It began with gryo ball, crashing into Avalugg with shattering force. It began with torment, twisting the noble’s energy in agonizing echoes-
It began with a hailstorm of glacial boulders the size of small houses, plummeting down like meteors towards them- a force to crush a lesser pokemon in an instant if they couldn’t dodge. Agility lent her the speed to doge closer , to deftly throw the balms through the gaps in his attacks.
Leer slashed through the Avalugg’s defense just in type for Bronzor to slam another steel-type attack into enraged pokemon- and Avalugg barely looked hindered . The ground shook beneath them as fissures opened out beneath them, ground-type energy catching Zorua in the blast and sending the little pokemon flying.
Bronzor tried hypnosis, but the sheer energy of the frenzy rendered it null- Sable had to dodge out of the way of furious attacks as she threw her sole revive at Zorua and recalled him to her pokeball. At least he’d managed to get off some good effects beforehand-
A beam of energy nearly blasted in the face, and she decided that she really needed to keep on top of things. “Bronzor! Gyro ball, again!” Steel-type energy should be super effective against Avalugg- why wasn’t it working -
Regeneration.
Cursing in frustration- of course it was regeneration. What else would it be- all it had to do was fuse the damage in the plates back together… suffering a sigh, she chucked a balm into Avalugg’s face. Again. “Keep at it with gyro ball and confusion. I’m going to get closer .” A breath- as battle, as calm- then she sprinted , pouring almost all her strength into agility as she ran and leapt from the ledge.
Behind her she might have heard Volo shout in panic- but the man clearly didn’t know just how far a zoroark with agility could go. She sailed through the air in a… not very graceful arc, crashing onto Avalugg’s back hard enough to break her illusion for a second. Zorua’s pokeball flicked open, releasing the ghostly fox with a leer already destabilizing the ice type energy- the frenzy energy around them. “ Look! Meema, I’m doing it!”
“Good job. Time to end this .” Each step forward was to dodge blows of ice as they materialized around her, crashing down, divine spears rending apart the immense avalugg’s icy back more effectively than Bronzor’s doubly effective steel moves ever could. It was working- but not fast enough . They were getting exhausted- they couldn’t keep this up forever.
She leapt onto the slab of steely rock and stared into Avalugg’s massive eye. “Bronzor! Your hardest steel type-blow! Now or never .” She raised the two balms she’d taken with her as a blast of energy rocked out from where Bronzor had jumped at Avalugg-
A sonorous echo in double. One, the sound of heavy slam sundering Avalugg’s defense apart. Two, the sound of Bronzong landing atop Avalugg in the ringing peal of victory .
She threw the balms, and Avalugg’s frenzy fled him
It was over . The immense pokemon linked lethargically, rising to the fullness of its immensity as it looked down at the three small pokemon who’d freed him. “ Thank… you. For… this… I bless you. May… Arceus… light your… way. ” A plate, infinite depth of ice, the cold of all winter materialized from aura before her.
All she had to do was reach up and take it.
Grasp-
The depth of deity.
A moment, an eternity- she clutched the artifact to her chest as Bronzong gently lifted her and Zorua to the top of the cliff where Volo had run out after the end of the battle. “That was-”
“No offense, Sable- but you’re terrifying.” She was far too tired not to laugh at Gaeric, and it was a fox’s laugh, so she was pretty sure that didn’t help her any. “You- you leapt onto Avalugg’s back. At the end there I thought you were going to fist fight him.” Yeah, that wouldn’t have worked. She could beat Bronzong in a fight, but Avalugg would have flattened her.
Volo leaned in close, eyes locked onto the icicle plate in her hand. “What does it say?”
“Two beings of time and space, set free from the Original One.”
Gaeric groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “Oh. Distortion - Irida’s going to be so mad when she hears this. Her fight with Adaman is going to be legendary .” It was a pretty strong argument against both of them… she frowned softly, as memory burned- she had known that. Two…
It was familiar. Far past familiar, but the memories didn’t quite click. Something felt… off about it all… sighing, she banished the thought for another time, merely making a note that wherever she’d come from knew more about Sinnoh than the people in Hisui did. Interesting, but probably inconsequential.
More importantly- she really wanted to go to sleep just about then. Her memories could wait for another time.
………
Her memories could not, in fact, wait for another time. Volo and Bronzong had begun to leave with Gaeric, but a deep, rumbled voice had stopped her- a call in ancient tongue from Lord Avalugg. “. Friend to pokemon, come. ”
She didn’t have to leap across the gap this time- Avalugg dragged himself up to the ledge, each ponderous step shattering the ice beneath him.
For a long moment he was silent- as if thinking . “ You… remember. Some things… can you… tell… me their… names?” Of course not- this was more or less the first time (discounting amnesia-related shenaniganry) that she’d even heard there were two…
A fragment of memory brushed across in snippets of illusions- laughter. Pretending to imitate a friend, then one of his relatives. Getting knocked around because Palkia thought she was actually Dialga. “ Palkia. Dialga .”
“You are… knowledgeable. More… than the humans. You… aren’t, are you?” Perceptive. She dropped her illusion, revealing her true form. “Zoroark. How very… fitting. That one shunned as you… would save us… all. From… their… wrath. Listen… to… my tale. I was a child… when… the first ten were ennobled… myself amongst them. I have lived… for a… long time. Not once… have I seen Uxie.” The name rang like pain in her mind. “She… is the one… you seek.”
“Do you know where…”
“ No… I was never… told. ” Sable fought back the disappointment threatening to burble up within her. “ The tales of the divine… are many… and so many… are false. I cannot… tell you. Seek them out… remember… for me. Chosen. ” The last word had a weight to it in her mind- bitter but not, a gentle sort- resolve, and the desire- to protect . To keep safe the us . Damn. This would probably make a lot more sense if she had her memories …
Sighing, she bowed once more to the Lord of the alabaster icelands, and left into the vast wastelands of snow with another small piece of herself restored.
………
“Are you well?” When she caught up to Volo and Bronzong on the long road back to Jubilife, both of them wore identical expressions of concern (or as close as a bronzong could get). “You look out of it.”
“Yeah.”
She’d never been better.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
I do not know whether to believe them or not; oft have I heard the same from many others of various types. Yet, in the distortion of reality he speaks naught but truth- such is the base of those who linger.
Notes:
I tried to put a little more detail into the actual battling. It probably isn't any good, but- well, it exists.
Chapter 11: Scary Kids
Summary:
“Are we going to do more training meema? Can we get that extra move working- I was really close that last time…”
“It is training-” Zorua perked up- “say, have you ever heard of this advanced thing called literacy?” Zorua, in fact, had not. A devious smirk worked its way onto Sable’s muzzle. She’d had to learn this stuff by herself- surely it’d be less boring if Zorua had someone to teach him?
Yeah, he wished.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
When I was young I was told fantastical stories of zorua who drew the wrath of humans and were killed, and killed again after they rose up to protect themselves from the tyranny of their murderers. Their forms were imprisoned and torn asunder, and their homes transformed by the grandeur of human habitation.
I suppose the moral of that story for a young kit should have been to stay away from humans- but on the contrary, I was fascinated.
………
Life in Jubilife resumed, as ever. Laventon bodily threw her at his misbehaving herd of random pokemon, letting the bribes flow freely for that sweet, sweet information. Cyllene looked at the amount of money Laventon’s work had drawn in from overseas investors and more or less threatened her at swordpoint to stay in the village.
Dawn came and went, completing small tasks for villagers and filling out Laventon’s pokedex at a remarkable speed. Bronzong and Zorua trained- mostly against each other, though Zisu always seemed up for a battle.
Luxio eventually evolved into a Luxray, and wouldn’t stop bragging about it for weeks . Dewott purchased an everstone from Ginter and kept it hidden for days, until Dawn pulled him aside to worry about his health. That had been one awkward conversation to translate for…
A ralts managed to get into her food on an expedition, and Dawn found her fourth teammate. Demure guy, but happy enough with absolutely pounding Luxio once he evolved into a kirlia. That had been a training session she wasn’t going to forget anytime soon.
The months passed long and quickly, spring to summer fading to fall- routine. Enjoyable- but the more Jubilife felt like home, the more she wanted to just… leave. Only Dawn kept her there, working day after day…
Eventually, she’d get a mission outside the village. For now… she’d just enjoy the peace while it lasted.
………
Zisu tracked her down a few days after she returned from her expedition to the icelands, an uncharacteristically grim look on her face as she dragged her to her dojo. Maybe she wanted to train? She never took her pokeballs off her, so as long as Bronzong and Zorua were amenable…
“Sable, thank the storm’s end you’re okay. I heard what Sabi pulled on you- a cruel trick indeed. I need you to answer a question for me.” Her gaze was heavy- “are you completely and totally dedicated to training the Zorua she gave you?”
“...yes?” She’d had her hangups at first, but he was an endearing child- and already he’d proved himself a valuable member of her team in his battle with Glalie- and later, Lord Avalugg. She flipped open Zorua’s pokeball, allowing the little guy to leap out onto the dojo floor.
“Right.” Zisu heaved a sigh, pulling a pokeball off her belt. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this, but you and Dawn are insane . I should have expected this…” she tossed it forward, and when the smoke faded a Hisuian Zoroark stood in the center of the room. “It seems I’m going to have to teach you about how to take care of the most difficult species of pokemon- zoroark. They’re naturally evil- it takes a lot of work to temper their instincts.”
“ Don’t listen to Zisu, little Zorua. You should be with the pack? Do you need me to rend this human limb from limb?”
“ Don’t hurt meema! I won’t allow you !” Gah, too cute. Also, apparently she’d been upgrated from interim meema to just- the kid’s distortion damned mother. She would have liked to have been told that before it came up in a conversation!
“ What in distortion? I hate to break it to you, kit, but your trainer isn’t your meema. She’s a human .”
“No- ” he looked at Sable, saw the subtle shake of her head, and bit back his words. “ I know. Former meema left me. The green-haired warden found me and brought me to meema. ”
“ Ah. You’re outcast then, like me. Listen close, kit- you’re gonna need a Zoroark to teach you illusions. Let me give you some tips…” The tips were actually pretty interesting, focusing on the ways the ghost-type zorua of Hisui had built their illusionary art.
Meanwhile, Zisu, completely ignorant to the illuminating conversation happening right in front of her, continued on with her zoroarks-are-bad-news diatribe. “...will imitate the form of loved ones and family members before they strike. Always be careful around your zorua- you never know what they’re up to.” Huh. That would explain what Zorua had disguised himself as that one time… “It can be difficult, but try and keep your zorua from using illusion too much.”
“ Use illusion as much as you can ,” refuted Zisu’s zoroark immediately , and Sable stifled a laugh, nodding with as much certainty as she could muster.
“...and that’s all.” Zisu finally returned Zoroark, much to Zorua’s disappointment. Distortion, that speech had been… wrong. Just, wrong in like every aspect of how to train a Zorua. No doubt her Zoroark was powerful … but without illusion it was lacking the aspect that made zoroark truly terrifying opponents.
Sable bit the captain farewell, retreating from the dojo with Zorua held in her arms. Time to do just about exactly the opposite of what Zisu had told her…
………
Bronzong was out for a day of training with Volo, and with the crimson mirelands in the middle of an springtime bloom, Dawn had been sent out to try and catch a few new pokemon for the professor. It’d been a few days of hard work with all the work Rei and Dawn had thrown at her beforehand, but she’d finally finished.
A few days of free time. Just her and Zorua… well, it was long past time she’d started on the most important thing any pokemon could learn- but, more than that, the most important thing a zorua could learn.
“Zorua! C’mon over here.” The little scamp looked up from where he’d been tussling with one of the buizel who’d stuck around the village (free food was, after all, free food) an interested spark in his eyes.
“ Are we going to do more training meema? Can we get that extra move working- I was really close that last time… ”
“It is training-” Zorua perked up- “say, have you ever heard of this advanced thing called literacy ?” Zorua, in fact, had not. A devious smirk worked its way onto Sable’s muzzle. She’d had to learn this stuff by herself- surely it’d be less boring if Zorua had someone to teach him?
Yeah, he wished .
………
“Sable. Is your Zorua…” Laventon watched as Zorua carefully dipped one of his claws into a bottle of ink, shakily drawing the letters of Galarian script onto a piece of blank parchment.
“Yes? He has to learn some time.”
“Right.” The man visibly tore himself away from his staring. “My colleagues will never believe me if I put this in a paper…”
“Give it some time. Then he’ll be writing your papers.” Laventon looked like he was having a midlife crisis at that particular revelation. Eh. He’d react even better for some of the stuff she had planned….
………
Sable (and co.) watched from the roof of the Galaxy hall as Zorua approached Zisu with a scroll securely tied around his waist, pen clutched in his mouth. It was lucky Zisu had a Zoroark of her own- she was probably the only person in Jubilife who wouldn’t run away from him. As it was, she was almost certainly going to be hearing from Kamado about this later.
Eh, worth it. “Is he…” Dawn looked out at the security corps captain with barely restrained glee, as Rei looked on with… well, he was certainly nervous . From what she’d heard, the kid had gotten in trouble with Zisu more than once before he’d joined the security corps.
Sable cackled softly. “ Absolutely .” Zisu paused, looking down in bewilderment as Zorua slipped off the scroll, rolling it out- then faint incredulity as the fox slowly wrote out ‘see zoroark please.’
“Zora…” it was faint from where they were hidden, but they each leaned forward in anticipation- “I can’t read Galarian.”
Damnit. Rei groaned as Dawn and Sable shared sheepish glances. Perhaps this hadn’t been thought out quite enough…
………
She did, in fact, get called in by Kamado.
She sent Zorua. And unlike Zisu, the commander could read Galarian. Just because she’d been banished to the construction crops for a week didn’t mean it wasn’t worth it.
………
“ How do you do this, meema? It just - won’t work. I can’t get the pronunciation right.” Zorua breathed out in exhaustion, quietly curling up into a pose Sable remembered well from her youth.
Sable laughed, plucking Zorua off Laventon’s precious (and very scribbled on) papers. “No ball of shame, kit. Hey, how about this- let’s give you a name .”
“ Why? I’m not… doubting you, but I just don’t see why it's necessary.”
“Humans are a bit… well, they don’t have the part of them that lets them understand all the different pokemon dialects. They can't tell Zorua apart from Zorua - but they’ve managed to develop their own languages nonetheless. I’ve been teaching you Galarian.”
“ Oh .” Zorua looked contemplative for a moment. “ That makes sense. What’s my name, then? ”
“You have to decide that for yourself.”
“ Okay. How did you choose your name? ”
Sable pressed her ears back against her head sheepishly, glancing away. “It’s… I wasn’t very creative. I was a bit less philosophical about it- I needed a name to become a trainer, so I just chose the first thing I thought of- Sable, for the fur, and Foxx, because… well, I’m a fox.” She got the impression that there’d been no shortage of embarrassment for her choice, but- well, she’d stuck it out, and it was her name now. More than Zoroark, at least.
“ Um. Would you be okay if I chose… Frost Foxx? For… much the same reason, I guess. ”
“Usually, in Galarian, having the same last name as someone means you’re related.”
Zorua smiled softly. “ Well that’s better, isn’t it? You’re meema, after all .”
“Yeah.” She pulled Frost into an embrace, banishing the last of that putrid echo of memories- she wouldn’t be bitter for this. “It is.”
………
“ It fits you both. Given your predisposition against… this sort of thing… I hadn’t expected you to reciprocate. ” Bronzong- carefully- scratched at the space behind Frost’s ears, reaching out for hers before she knocked his limb away.
Dawn nodded quietly from where she was holding Frost. “What he said.”
“Thanks. I’m pretty sure I was always a sucker for a cute face, though.”
“That’s what we are to you? Cute faces?” Dawn scowled , as hard as she could- it was still pretty adorable though.
“Yep. Adorable little cuddlies that I just had to get attached to. Damn you all for your cuteness.” She laughed, just a bit hysterically as Bronzong tried to use her battle training to drag them all into a group hug.
It wasn’t her fault Laventon’s lab got hit with a heavy slam and subsequently destroyed. Why’d Kamado have to put her on the construction crops again?
Totally unfair.
………
“He’s a fast learner. Just watch.” Frost trotted proudly up to Zisu, primly pawing at her leg. Sable had to admit- it was a bit funny when some of the villagers would run at the sight of him- Zisu wouldn’t but that was the whole point of this, wasn’t it?
She was so getting punishment detail for this, but it was worth it. Rei peeked out from between her and Dawn, a confused frown marring his face. “What are we watching for, exactly? Dawn wouldn’t tell me-”
“ Shh .” Dawn clamped a hand over Rei’s mouth, ignoring his weak struggles. “I want to hear.”
Zisu looked down, sighing in soft frustration. “What do you want this time?”
“Zoro-ark please.” Frost looked incredibly pleased with himself getting the sentence right, and the look on Zisu’s face- just complete and utter incredulity. Sable could barely restrain her laughter, and Dawn was busy snickering at Rei’s identical awe.
She’d just- stopped. If she’d been carrying anything, it likely would have been scattered out across the road now with the fall leaves. “Did you just- talk ?”
Frost nodded, screwing up his face in concentration for a few moments as he searched for the right word. “...yes.”
“I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming, and I’m going to wake up soon.” Nevertheless, she plucked a pokeball off her belt, tossing it out to release Zoroark. It was probably also coincidental that the street cleared incredibly quickly after that. “Here. Have fun.”
“...thank. You.”
Zoroark stared for a bit, before kneeling beside Frost with a huff. “ Alright, kit, that’s pretty impressive. How did you talk like that?” Sable smirked- for a Zoroark he really wasn’t perceptive to others of his kind.
Laventon did actually end up writing a paper about Frost’s development. His publisher rejected it on the grounds of it being ‘too fantastical. ’
How they wished they knew the depths of mystery… if that was what astonished them…
Perhaps, one day, they would see the true depths of impossibility.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
I did, eventually, learn just how cruel humans could be. But first I learnt their kindness, and that made all the difference.
Notes:
This is my favorite chapter so far. Frost is adorable, and Sable really can't resist making friends. I put a break in the frenzies to give Frost some time to get used to battling/integrate into the team, and to really show some shenanigans. (Pokemon are fast learners, but even basic literacy would take more than a week or two)
Also, this is just about exactly halfway through the fic, so enjoy! I see the final word count ending out around ~57k
Chapter 12: Shattering Equinox of Sky
Summary:
“We’re just about halfway there. C’mon, be patient.” Huh, now that she thought of it, it was the equinox. Shame- she’d been intending to visit the Diamond Clan settlement to join in with their festival. For… somewhat obvious reasons, she was pretty good at costumes.
A shame, she supposed… Bronzong eventually managed to cajole Frost into working on his illusions, and Sable pressed him into using human speech (the way he butchered the sentences might be a… little… amusing-) and the miles fled beneath their feet as they strode, ever onwards.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
More recently, _-- has managed to become a good friend of mine. His assistance has been invaluable.
………
The days grew shorter as the summer warmth fled Hisui on the wings of fell winds, the gentle fieldlands breeze turning biting under the oncoming chill. The deciduous trees had begun to lose their leaves by the time Cyllene started sending her out for more tasks- Hisuian winters could be harsh, and the village wanted to stock up on food.
It didn’t hurt that, between her own vulpine sense of smell and Frost’s assistance, they were pretty efficient when it came to foraging. None of the wild pokemon posed much of a challenge beside the alphas, and Sable rarely had to intervene personally anymore- her team was getting strong .
Between Luxray’s brutal electric attacks and Staravia’s harsh regime, they’d gotten pretty good at working as a team. Dark-type was a weakness they shared, but they were working on it- torment helped, and if worse came to worse it wasn’t one of her weaknesses.
As it was, she’d been sent out on a mission to the crimson mirelands to gather some of the berries that grew there. Bronzong had elected to stay in his pokeball for the journey through the more… miserable parts of the mirelands, and Frost had decided to make a menace of himself, constantly running out of her sight. It was good he was feeling more lively, but distortion it would be nice if he could stay beside her.
The number of times she’d had to save him from an alpha…
“I wish Luxray was here.” There he was. The little scamp had either finally gotten tired of his antics- or he’d come to complain about something. Which, honestly, she already knew which one it was. “Next time we do this, can Dawn come with us?”
“We can try , but she’s busy-” standing guard over a bunch of farmers, all because some pokemon from the highlands had been acting up. There were plenty of times when Sable had wished she’d gone after a similar position as the girl- roving explorer, undefeatable in battle even by the fiercest alphas- but this was not one of them. Turns out being known as Jubilife’s best battler means everyone wants you to guard everything .
Bronzor had laughed when she’d been pulled away to guard duties. It was somewhat funny, actually…
“ We shall likely be left much to our own devices during the winter. Simply wait until then and we can spend much more time with Luxray and Dawn. ”
“Yeah, what Bronzong said.” He’d always been the more forward thinking of them… something about that felt familiar - echoes of a different… she shook her head free of such thoughts. This wasn’t the sort of mission to get lost in memories half remembered- she could save that for when Volo came back with stories of crumbling ruins and cold nights with only the plates for company.
Frost pouted, dragging his feet for a bit until he realized he was only making himself more muddy. “ That’s so long from now, though! ”
“We’re just about halfway there. C’mon, be patient.” Huh, now that she thought of it, it was the equinox. Shame- she’d been intending to visit the Diamond Clan settlement to join in with their festival. For… somewhat obvious reasons, she was pretty good at costumes.
A shame, she supposed… Bronzong eventually managed to cajole Frost into working on his illusions, and Sable pressed him into using human speech (the way he butchered the sentences might be a… little… amusing-) and the miles fled beneath their feet as they strode, ever onwards.
………
Crepuscular light suffused the horizon as they tucked themselves into a small grove of trees, dry land amidst the muddy plains. None of them had a fire-type attack, so Frost and Bronzong had fun using the larger pokemon as the steel to their flint, clumsily fumbling to light a fire.
By the time they’d gotten a spark to set the tinder ablaze the stars gleamed, above them seas of glimmering silver radiance, and the gentle wash of dappled moonlight through shifting canopies. Sable had set up the whole camp, and it was to a pair of very sheepish pokemon that she used the flint and steel they’d packed to fix their fire in like thirty seconds flat.
It was… peaceful. She felt as though… it was so close to what she’d been - the lonely silence not quite, companionship that dripped bitter echoes still, yet she did not understand -
“ Are you- ” Frost paused, making a face- “Are you okay?”
He really was getting better at human speech. Half a year wasn’t quite long enough to learn it- she was not a bad teacher, no matter how… well, maybe. Just a little. “I’m fine. Just… remembering things. I have a lot, now…” legendary pokemon, visages of friends, odd habits- an aversion to mortal pokemon, of all things…”I just don’t know how it all fits together.” A different Hisui. Sinnoh .
Frost hummed, just pressing a bit closer to her as the fire banished the cold. “ You’ll figure it out eventually. I believe in you .”
“ Indeed. I would be astonished if you did not manage to recover your memories. ”
“Thanks.” As the warmth waned further, as the night breeze echoed in endless susurrations of chill omens- it was enough. She thought of Ingo, broken- of Dawn, almost her entire sense of self erased … “I had it lucky, didn’t I?”
Bronzong nodded softly “ I believe so, given your self-diagnosis. You’ve done admirably even so. ” She sure hoped… it had been so long, with so little progress… sometimes she doubted.
The conversation petered out after that- they were tired after a long day spent trekking through the mud, and the tents right there called for rest. Letting her human illusion shatter under the weight of her exhaustion, she climbed into the special sleeping bag Laventon had made for her and-
Fell, infinite-
Into unconscious blackness.
………
Two eyes, glowing with impossible weight. Something that transcended- golden brilliant existence, power to sunder - she tossed in her sleep, on the edge of waking yet still so very tired. Nightmares were no fun- a phantom veil of smoke, the alignment-
Something cracked above her, far too loud- she woke in an instant, throwing herself out from the binding constraints of her sleeping bag and kicking free from her tent to the sight of the sky rent apart, swirling purple distortion replacing the firmament of stars. “Frost! Bronzong!”
“ This is- very bad. Keep close, Frost.” The zorua nodded, jumping atop Bronzong as they fell lockstep into a defensive position. “ Have you seen one of these before? ”
“ Yeah, first meema and I got caught in one while we were traveling once. It was scary .”
“Sable and I have been in a few of these, but we’re in the middle of this one. That’s extremely bad- we need to get out of the distortion. Some extremely strong, aggressive pokemon appear in these.” Somewhere east of them a massive flare of fire exploded out across the mirelands, billowing upwards into the sky.
“ Like that? ”
Sable cursed softly under her breath, throwing an illusion over the campsite and quietly kicking out the last of the fire. “Yes, exactly like that. Bronzong, can you include us in a-” the silent weight of safeguard settled over them before she’d even finished asking. “Thanks. Frost, we’re going to need to be careful .”
Easier said than done. Pokemon were good at a lot of things, and awareness- especially when it came to easily spooked, half mad distortion pokemon- was pretty high up on the list. A frankly ridiculously powerful Lopunny had been trading blows with a pair of Luxio when the sheer magnitude of the electric attacks they’d released had torn right through their illusions, drawing them into the brawl.
They’d come far from the time she’d found a Bronzor hiding behind a boulder, terrified of the powerful pokemon before them. Bronzong had opened with extrasensory on the Lopunny while Sable threw a night daze at the Luxio, opening the way for a shadow ball from Frost.
Neat. Effective, too- the Luxio turned tail and fled, while the Lopunny whirled around to fight them- but between the illusions of two zorua-linke mons to keep her bewildered and Bronzong’s psychic attacks, they managed to beat her off after only a few hard blows.
They were better, together, than the maddened pokemon around them.
The only question was if it’d be enough . Several of the other brawling pokemon had already noticed the fleeing Luxio, and their fight with Lopunny had been anything but subtle. Bronzong and Sable shared a look- it was time to run .
A floatzel tried to attack them, but Sable held it off long enough for Frost to inflict it with torment and flee. The flareon from earlier was next, despite them running in the exact opposite direction- it was powerful . Brutal fire-type attacks Frost and Sable had to protect Bronzong from, and by the time they’d knocked the bastard unconscious the copse of trees around them had turned into a hellscape of burning wood and crumbling trees.
By the time they made it halfway, Sable had used up most of her potions, and had almost had to use one of her precious revives after she got hit by a particularly nasty bug-type attack from a heracross who’d made the poor life decision of challenging her team.
“This isn’t working.” Bronzor shook in grim understanding and Frost glanced around, faint panic only betrayed by the way he glanced around as Sable threw a particularly robust- and exhausting - illusion over them. “We need a new strategy.”
“ This distortion is unusually large. As far as I can tell, it is over three times the size of the one you found me in .” Damn - she sucked in a deep breath- for calm. Keep calm . “ I do not believe we will be able to fight our way through to the edge of the distortion. ”
Sable checked the contents of her bag and grimaced. “You’re not wrong. If we’re not going to make it through the distortion, then we need to hide.”
“ I noticed a good spot! There was a little stream, and a hollow -”
“Good job, Frost.” Sable carefully rewound the illusion around them, feeling at the edge of her perception as Frost’s ghost-type energy clumsily followed her example, draggin it forward with them as they crept to the hollow. It was only when they’d found themselves pressed into the back of the divot, just out of sight of the battling pokemon above, that she allowed herself to relax.
Big mistake .
It felt like it was working for a few minutes- and that was when the umbreon decided to just go ahead and explode the entire area. Sable was sent reeling from the immense dark pulse- and Bronzong was knocked out entirely from where he’d shielded Frost.
Not good.
So not good. “Damnit Giratina, what the hell are you doing in the reverse world?” She had no idea what she was saying. The stress was getting to her… biting back a growl, she recalled Frost and Bronzong. With their weaknesses… they wouldn’t be able to fight this.
Umbreon pawed the ground, growling- in anger, in pain as dark-type energy soaked the very air around them. This was a powerful battler- far more powerful than she was.
She was a trainer. Not a battler- but for Bronzong, for Frost- “for the us.” A breath. Perfect calm-
She leapt through the air, night slash burning on her claws as she dragged them down Umbreon’s side, only to be met with a dark pulse point blank. Snarling, she hit back with a night daze- she would not let Umbreon win.
Umbreon threw another dark pulse in her face, struggling to free himself from her desperate grasp-
Sable released a hyper beam, point blank- and the world turned to light and sound.
………
Eternity, stumbling- a daze of sounds and echoes reverberations. A few seconds, forever- a faint white shape burst from something around her waist, pressing a bottle… a potion? Yes, a potion into her hands before it stood against some faint enemy- not an Umbreon. Umbreon was gone .
She’d made sure of that…
Something pulsed around her form, pulling her- in, binding. Warm.
Comfortable.
It felt like an eternity and no time and all before she realized Frost had stuffed her into her pokeball . Which meant- he was out there. Alone . She clawed at the internal latch, throwing herself out into reality just in time to take the brunt of an electric attack that would have knocked Frost unconscious- that might have killed him. “What were… you thinking?”
“ I just had to keep you safe until the end! I didn’t know you had a pokeball! Plus, we have help- Bronzong made psychic connection with a pokemon that wants to save us!”
“Of course I have-” Bronzong? “Did you use my revives?”
“ I’m not sorry .”
“No, you did the right thing.” Night daze pounded down on Luxray, and with that one move she felt as though she could fall asleep. Distortion damn, she was in a worse shape than she’d thought. “Fine- how long until they show up?”
“ Um- ”
“Targeting. Lock on. Tri attack .” Luxray barely had the time to notice the incoming attack before three beams of energy slammed into its side, blasting it away. “Search and rescue protocol: establishing safe perimeter. Please wait. Searching… several potential dangers identified. Attempting species-specific deterrence… memory corrupted. Utilizing generalized deterrence. Tri attack.” Three more beams sliced through the air, sending a few nearby pokemon fleeing. “Hello. Are you well?”
Sable sighed in relief, slumping with the effort of keeping herself awake. Oh how she wished she could just fall asleep. “Yeah. Thanks to you- you have our gratitude. Are you well? You’re-” not from here, certainly- “a distortion pokemon. Those tend to be… aggressive.”
“All systems nominal, barring significant memory corruption via outside influence.” The duck like pokemon shifted, geometry arranging itself into a far less defensive form. “Hello. This unit’s name is PORYGON Z, an emancipated self-sustaining code module dedicated to combat strategy and miscellaneous computational assistance, registered under Prime User ASH KETCHUM. My current objective is to assist: new Prime User SABLE FOXX. Prime User identified: greetings. I am yours to command.”
Sabe blinked, then gripped her head as a brutal headache ripped through her mind, memories seething on the cusp of remembrance and pulling back again as they settled. Someone had sent her a pokemon - from her home, wherever that was. “Do- do you know where I’m from?”
“Yes.” A long pause, silent but for the sounds of battle behind them. “Correction: no. My memory appears to have suffered significant corruption. I do not remember almost anything aside from non-context significant strategies prior to my appearance in this distorted space. Apologies. I will now catch myself.” Porygon Z then proceeded to catch herself, and Sable couldn’t help but laugh… Sabi had told her about this- now she remembered…
Everything was going to be alright.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
I doubt he understands the true gravity of his situation- but, as always, I cannot doubt his determination to be the best…
Notes:
Bet you guys weren't expecting that. I was always planning on having a porygon be one of her party members, but the whole bit about them coming from the future anyways gave me the perfect opportunity to have someone send one.
Chapter 13: The Consequences of Logical Processing
Summary:
Z looked troubled as she processed the information. “I believe I have identified the issue. Question: you have been having difficulty drawing a conclusion due to snippets of extraneous information?”
“Yeah, actually.” Sable blinked. That was a… surprisingly accurate description of the issue’s she’d been having.
“I have a theory. I do not like my theory.”
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Legendary pokemon can be extremely meticulous about the smallest of details, eons of care crafted into a single moment of perfection. In their ancience, the greatest of them are as gods in the simplest of actions.
………
To say that Professor Laventon had been ecstatic about Z’s presence would be like saying a munchlax was feeling a mite hungry- from the moment Sable released her into the room the man was all over her capabilities. “ ... and you’re able to quickly compile lists, and cross reference, and perform advanced calculations at near-instantaneous speeds due to… quantum superposition?”
“Yes. I can perform nearly every function a modern supercomputer can perform. Compiling lists is one of my simpler abilities.”
“Really… and your capabilities- you have such a unique moveset… do you think you could help me in the lab? I’d dearly appreciate the assistance…”
“Affirmative.” Laventon looked like Z’d hung the stars, and Rei was silently celebrating with Dawn over all the duties she’d just freed up. “So long as Prime User Sable does not object, I would be greatly interested in helping… drawing conclusions based on the placement of corrupted files in my databases suggests I once participated at least tangentially in some form of research. I do not remember what, exactly.”
“Marvelous!” The professor jotted down a few notes before turning back to Z. “So, on translation- Sable’s been helping where she can, but she can’t be everywhere…” whatever Laventon’s reaserch was, Z evidently found it fascinating, and the quiet conversation between the filled their little nerd corner with inscrutable jargon.
Fun. Now there were two of them.
Dawn and Rei spared one glance towards the professor before fleeing . Sable liked him, she really did- but after the events of the last few days, she really just wanted some rest.
Surely she could have that.
………
She slept, and woke, and worked- and a week passed in silent monotony. Rei had taken to challenging her to battles (maybe out of some misguided desire to see her safe? She had no idea-) but Bronzong always beat his team into the ground, and the less said about Z’s battle the better. She didn’t think the kid had emotionally recovered from the smackdown that was lock on at range.
Kamado had more or less given up about making her keep her pokemon with her at all times, and Z didn’t look harmful, so she got implied blanket permission to wander so long as she didn’t cause trouble. Being able to speak really helped her with that- Frost complained about it bitterly, and Z dragged him into speech lessons.
Frost didn't dare to complain about it again-
So sue her, maybe she had been avoiding a conversation with Z about memory . That still didn’t mean it was necessary for Bronzong to physically drag her back to her room, with Z just hovering there meanacingly to keep her from running.
It’d been a long time since she’d been bullied into something for her own good by pokemon stronger than she was. True battling pokemon…
It felt… familiar. Very, so very familiar…
Well. They were going to talk about memory anyways, so it wasn’t as though random echoes of things not understood weren’t going to be part of the conversation. “Rude. You could have just-” Bronzong chucked her onto the bed, breaking her illusion in the process. He was a whole lot stronger than he’d been when he first evolved, and he’d been strong even then. Laughing, she splayed out over the bed. “Traitors, the lot of you.”
“You may be Prime User, but I retain the self-autonomy for highest-level decisions.” Z paused, contorting in non-euclidean shapes. “This feels very important: I do not understand exactly why, but fragments of salvaged memory suggest an important figure crucial in character development I no longer have the memories to support.” She made a frustrated sound, like electronics dancing on the edge of annihilation- unnatural, but very much what Sable would expect living code to sound like. “This is frustrating.”
“Ash.” The name had stood out to her immediately- to even speak it aloud sent paint lancing through her mind. “Who is Ash? He sent you to me, didn’t he?”
“Unknown. However, logical analysis places that as the most likely postulation: his directive to transfer Prime User position to you suggests an active decision to displace me.” There was a long moment of silence as Z twisted in alien facsimiles of life, geometries rearranging, yet still so recognizably pokemon . “Conclusion: I likely played a significant role in sending myself here. It is hard to understand my reasoning whilst I cannot remember my own logic.”
“ True. Sable has been remembering a lot of small snippets here and there- perhaps you should compile what you two remember and try to figure some things out? ”
Z bobbed up and down in excitement. “Good idea! Compiling memory… performing limited analysis… locating all instances of recoverable memory… recovering. Please stand by.” Porygon Z stilled for a long moment, just- processing internally, and not moving at all. It was somehow far more unnerving than the oddity of their earlier geometries. “Complete: I remember some small things. Analysis of repeated patterns suggested I was part of a large team. I was sent here by former Prime User Ash Ketchum, who was likely concerned on your behalf. I have extremely extensive databases relating to battle, yet almost all context for my strategies has been removed.”
“Allright.” Sable drew a deep breath, mirth long since fled her small dormitory. “I remember… a lot of things. I know that the person who sent me was a worm-like pokemon with red, black and gold coloring, and smokey wings. I am certain that I did this to myself. I won’t catch pokemon who can die of old age. I remember that I was on friendly terms with Dialga and Palka and maybe one more? I knew a fair bit about other legendaries too, I think… I remember a visage of a Hisui named Sinnoh, which looked different. ”
Z looked troubled as she processed the information. “I believe I have identified the issue. Question: you have been having difficulty drawing a conclusion due to snippets of extraneous information?”
“Yeah, actually.” Sable blinked. That was a… surprisingly accurate description of the issue’s she’d been having.
“I have a theory. I do not like my theory.” Ominous- but finally , answers. “We were both displaced from some alternate location. We were both given significant amnesia. You remember an alternate version of Hisui, which suggests either an alternate universe, in which the amnesia would be entirely unhelpful, or… time travel.” It fit. It fit - and how she wanted it not to.
“That’s… bad.” For returning home- for the world itself, for nothing short of a catastrophe would have sent her back to Hisui… probably. Gah, lacking memory was such an annoying thing when it came to understanding things . “We will not be speaking about this to anyone .” This was one existential crisis too many. Bronzong silently bobbed in assent, struck as silent as the rest of them.
Damn it all. Restoring her memories was supposed to be the hard part- not deciding whether she even wanted to restore them in the first place!
Sighing, she just- tucked herself into the bed she’d already laid down on. She could deal with this when she was less distortion-damned tired…
………
Not even a week later she was summoned to Kamado’s office, and told that Ursaluna had been frenzied.
No rest for the weary…
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
In the end, though- it is far too easy to underestimate the wiles of the truly mortal mind. Give an inch to desperation, and I have seen them take miles.
Notes:
This is a bit of an interlude before we get back into the action…
Rei’s acting sus. Wonder what’s up with that (well, I know because I already wrote out the rest of the story, and you guys get to suffer >:)
Chapter 14: Past and Battles Furious
Summary:
“Irregardless of the matter, your survey agent- Dawn- was also given access to the ride pokemon, something exclusive even amongst clan members. Surely that is payment enough?”
“...fine. Sable was paid nothing, however, and I’ve been led to believe that she’s done most of the work.” Adaman looked a bit sheepish at that, but honestly, Sable could care less. Helping the nobles was more important than these petty arguments.
Anything that involved such terrifying artifacts as the plates was a big deal.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the journal of Sable Foxx:
We are never immune to fear. To hate, to love- take away everything and those remain. The world can never be truly logical- there will always be those who just want to break things.
………
The look of sheer frustration on Kamado’s face as Sable stumbled into his office was just- she barely kept herself from snickering as the poor man was forced to listen to Adaman and Irida bicker about whose theology was correct. (Neither, obviously.) “Alright. Now that everyone has arrived, we can get to the topic at hand .”
“This conversation was a wasting Sinnoh’s space, anyways-”
“Indeed. Let’s stop wasting time.” Sable fought to keep herself from laughing as Kamado’s eye twitched- the man looked as though he was seconds away from the sumo throwing the two clan leaders out the window. “One of the Ginkgo guild reported to leader Irida that Pearl Clan’s noble, Lord Usalana was frenzied.”
Kamado sighed long-sufferingly. “Again? How have the clans not solved this problem already? It’s been several months.”
Irida scowled back in equal measure, and Sable could see Rei checking out of the conversation. “We don’t know what the problem is to start out with. Shouldn’t that be the job of the Galaxy Team to find out? We’re not hiring you for nothing at all.”
“You literally are.”
“The safety of the lands you send your agents to forage in is both payment enough, and important for everyone who lives in Hisui.” Adaman smiled smugly at Kamado, continuing before the man could come up with a counterpoint. “Irregardless of the matter, your survey agent- Dawn- was also given access to the ride pokemon, something exclusive even amongst clan members. Surely that is payment enough?”
“...fine. Sable was paid nothing, however, and I’ve been led to believe that she’s done most of the work.” Adaman looked a bit sheepish at that, but honestly, Sable could care less. Helping the nobles was more important than these petty arguments.
Anything that involved such terrifying artifacts as the plates was a big deal .
Porygon Z folded out of the liminal space between Sable’s true form and illusion, unfolding with a faint chime as she projected a map of Hisui shamelessly copied from Laventon’s archives onto Kamado’s desk. “Hello. Please detail all significant information about the location and habits of Lord Ursaluna.”
Adaman blinked before dutifully detailing some of the basic information on Ursaluna, while Iridia just stared . “What is this?”
“A pokemon, obviously,” remarked Sable. It wasn’t hard to figure that out, certainly.
Even Adaman paused where he’d been working with Z to mark down the Solaceon ruins on her map. “A pokemon ? But she can speak .”
“Correction: all pokemon are generally capable of speech. Humans are merely bad at understanding language.” Kamado scowled, but the others in the room looked thoughtful. “Translating to idiosyncratic human language is difficult, but not impossible.”
“O-okay.” Sable chuckled softly at the two clan leader’s expressions. Jubilife had gotten that from Frost and his antics with Zisu, but this was entirely new for them. “Either way, I’ve given the appropriate information to…” right, he’d never seen a porygon- which, of course, begged the question of when she had… the future, right. At least she could relate with Adaman, even if her existential crisis was so much worse .
“You may call me by my unit name Porygon Z, or by the abbreviation Z.”
“Right. I gave Z some information as to where you can find Lord Ursaluna, the Lord’s favorite food for the balms, and where Warden Calaba should be.”
Kamado nodded, frustration long since smoothed back into his imperious calm. “That should be enough. Return after the noble is quelled, and we shall discuss further remuneration. Dawn, you’re in charge of the expedition. Sable will be responsible for quelling the noble, if the reports of her combat abilities are not exaggerated.”
“Yes sir-”
“Wait, commander Kamado! Can I go too?” Rei looked so earnest with his smile- Kamado really didn’t stand a chance. It wasn’t like there was much reason to keep him at Jubilife anyways, when they had a crisis to take care of.
The three of them set off together, to the mirelands, to quell another frenzy-
To fix whatever she’d left to the past for.
………
Sable released her pokemon the moment they left Jubilife’s constraining bounds, watching with faint satisfaction as Dawn did the same. Rei released his pikachu and staravia, who got along with Dawn’s staraptor exactly not at all .
“ Sable! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you!” Luxray leapt her way, only remembering at the last moment that she was by and far large enough to break her illusion before Sable neatly sidestepped her lunge, letting the big cat tumble to the ground behind her. “ Sorry! I’m just excited. Is Frost here? ”
Frost stepped up from where he’d landed, shaking out the wisps of his mane to dispel the last of his tiredness. “ I’m here. ”
“ Yes! I’ve gotta show you this thing Kirila and I were working on- ” Frost looked at Sable pleadingly as the cat dragged him away, but Sable merely smiled her cruel, foxy smile and let his friends attempt to get him to play. It was so easy, sometimes, to forget how young they all were… for someone as old as she-
She blinked, momentarily nonplussed- that was… new. Hopefully… she shook free of those thoughts as Rei’s pikachu ran away from Z, for all the good that’d do. She wasn’t a barbarian- Z wouldn’t attack him now . Probably.
Hopefully.
“Sable! I hope I’m not too late-” Sable grinned as the person she’d been waiting for finally arrived. There was no way Volo, world’s least successful merchant, would miss a proper adventure. “I heard that some of the nobles were frenzied, and I made my way to Jubilife immediately. I’m glad I didn’t miss your leave- catching up to you would have been hard .”
“You just would’ve tracked us down with Togepi. Again , you stalker.”
“Not quite.” Volo smugly flipped four pokeballs into his hands, casting them out with an explosion of smoke. “Meet the new team- Togetic, Gabite, Riolu, and Budew.”
Sable leaned in to ruffle Togetic’s feathers, though she very much did not try the same with Gabite. She wanted her illusion to hold , thank you very much. “Congratulations on the evolution, Togetic. You too, Gabite.”
“ Thanks! Volo’s just- he’s so kind, even when he’s all mopey and gruff! I couldn’t have done it without him! ” She was pretty sure Volo would be blushing if he could understand this. Gabite just huffed, but he looked pleased nonetheless- probably looking forward to fighting with Bronzong again now that he could fly, even a little. What a shame that Bronzong had been practicing too.
“Ah! Yes, that’s what I wanted to tell you about- I stumbled across a lead in the coronet highlands!” Volo pulled out a small notebook from- somewhere, the man was an expert at hiding things beneath his uniform- flipping open to what counted for Volo as an expertful rendition (and for everyone else as a scribble) of three figures above a mountain. “I found this in the Coronet highlands- I’m pretty sure they’re the spirits we’ve been looking for.”
Beneath it a set of symbols were written in harsh lines, surrounded by scribbles that must have been Volo’s attempt at deciphering them. The image itself depicted the three spirits, tails entwined in a circle above the peak of Mt. Coronet, a chain circling the world. It felt familiar- but the thrill of finally finding something was undeniable. “Does this mean that they’re…”
“No. They’re not at the temple of Sinnoh. I checked.”
“You climbed all the way to the top of Mt . Coronet to try and find the spirits?” That was- right, there were things that were impressive, and then there were things that were simply insane. “ Why? I’m astonished you haven’t been struck dead for your sheer gumption yet.”
Volo shrunk back from Sable’s glare. “It wasn’t that bad… I had help!”
“ It was super fun! There were times in which I felt as though I would surely perish, yet Volo saw us safely through! ”
Volo looked at Riolu with an expression of stricken betrayal before nervously turning back to Sable. “Whatever he said, um, go easy….” Sable gave him her best unimpressed glare- “oh, did you ever find the person who Sabi said could translate the inscriptions? I have one right here- maybe it says where the spirits are!”
“...fine. You get away this time. Z!” The artificial pokemon shot through the air to them, leaving a very relieved pikachu behind with Rei. “Can you translate this?”
“Scanning… yes. Basic cryptography and linguistics have not been eliminated from my functions by spatio-temporal displacement. Please stand by for analysis.” Z pressed themselves up against the notebook, ringed eye flicking across each character in abrupt analysis. “Language identified. Additional details have been corrupted. The inscription reads: ‘the chain is made to bind the very nature of the world.’” A sudden, intense feeling of dread shot through Sable, almost enough to make her feel sick.
“Interesting. So the spirits have a purpose beyond merely serving as the foundation to emotion…” somewhere in the distance Rei’s pikachu tried to pick a fight with Luxio, which worked about as well as could be expected of a pokemon who’d forgotten Z was still locked onto their every movement.
That was, tri attack to the face. “Please excuse this unit. I must… complete pest control.”
Volo laughed weakly. “Any chance you’ll forget about my adventure to the top of Mt. Coronet?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
………
The Solaceon ruins stood derelict, a remnant of times long gone past. A few small animals rustled beneath the vines and verdant overgrowth, yet even that faded behind them to quiet stillness as they entered the ruins themselves. Ancient grandeur, the heavy feeling of the one left behind- echoes of history…
She didn’t like this place. The ruins felt… something bad had happened here. Something bad would happen here. Gah, she hoped she didn’t break time at this rate- or worse, write a self-fulfilling prophecy. Volo’s presence alone kept her from just- leaving- the way he poured over the ruins with Z, explaining each bit as best as he was able to get even Rei interested, and that was a miracle in and of itself.
They found Calaba staring up at a shattered inscription, a thoroughly disgruntled look on her face. “Oh. Hello. Come to take the rest of it, then?”
“...what?” Dawn squinted at her in confusion for a second before snapping back to her normal self. “We’re Galaxy Team trainers here on behalf of Irida to help quell Lord Ursaluna’s frenzy.”
“Ursaluna is recovering on their own. They just need a bit of rest and for pesky meddlers like Volo of the Ginkgo guild -” Volo crossed his arms with a soft huff, but did look away a bit under the heat of Calaba’s glare- “to stay away from them.”
Dawn frowned softly, to match Sable’s equal concern. “A frenzy is not so easily cured. Lord Ursaluna is a powerful pokemon- with the Diamond Clan settlement so close by it could be catastrophic if he went on a rampage. We’re here to help.”
“If you want to do something to help, then go and find the damned fools who stole a part of my wall !” So… that both made sense and didn’t.
Volo was the one who voiced their thoughts. “Who even does that? They didn’t even take the whole wall!”
“Miscreants, the lot of them. They call themselves the Miss Fortune Sisters- I’ve seen nothing fortunate myself, just a lot of trouble from a band of outcasts.” Calaba sighed, shooing them from the ruins. “Just- bring it back, or don’t- I could care what you Galaxy Team folk get up to. Volo, I already told you not to poke around in here- it’s a sacred site- either way, don’t seek our lord Ursaluna. I’ll know .” By the scary glint in her eye, Sable believed her.
Well. Time to beat up some petty bandits.
………
The bandits were so far beneath their level that it wasn’t even funny to see them beat. The hard part had been tracking them down- they were actually pretty good at not leaving a trail- but they had been dragging a giant rock behind them. Idiots, the lot…
When they’d finally caught up to the Miss Fortune Sisters there had been a lot of bluster on their side, but in the end they were outnumbered a lot to one. Coin’s toxicroak had gotten to experience the wonder that was Bronzong’s extrasensory, while the gengar who’d tried to run with the fragment learned just how unfair lock on could be when Z’s shock cannon sent them through two trees and a foot of ground from a hundred yards.
After they returned to the ruins- Volo had insisted on writing down the inscription on the fragment before he was forced to remain outside, Calaba carefully fitted the piece back into the slab, muttering about idiotic thieves all the while. “There. Now shoo.”
“What about Ursaluna? We…” Dawn quailed beneath Calaba’s glare.
“You don’t need to deal with Lord Ursaluna. He is recovering . That means absolutely no sneaking around. Just as bad as Azeru, you folk. Go and run on back to your fancy walled village.” Unfortunate.
But also- as if .
………
Of course, that led to them sneaking into Lord Ursaluna’s cove, a handful of balms clutched at the ready. Rei paused beside her, last to leave her to the quelling- Volo, the coward, had split off first, even if his Riolu stuck around to help. Well, he would have it worst if Calaba found them there… Ginter was already going to be all over him for coming to the Solaceon ruins.
A hand gently rested on her shoulder, and when she turned to see the source it was Rei. Good luck. Uh, stay safe. Frost would be sad if you don’t.” Huh. Rei must have been unusually worried if he was being this touchy-feely. Odd…
“Hey. I’m uniquely qualified for this. Don’t worry.” With that she motioned forward Riolu and Z- and frost, if sitting on Riolu’s head really counted. “For the us, everyone. Give it your all.” Time to quell a noble- she stepped into the clearing, and noticed immediately that Ursaluna wasn’t frenzied. Angry and irrational, but missing the distinctive sense of wrongness , the brilliant golden glow of frenzy. “Lord Ursaluna-”
The huge bear whirled around, pawing angrily at the ground. “ Who are you! Where- what are you doing here? I- what? ”
Sable leaned over to the side, whispering quiet enough for Ursaluna not to hear. “Z, give me an analysis of what’s going on here-” before she raised her voice, calling out to the noble before her. “Lord Ursaluna! My name is Sable Foxx of the Galaxy Team- we were told you were frenzied, but that seems inaccurate.”
“ Yes- yes? I… that sounds right. I was… going- went to find Azeru, because I heard- heard the flute? Yes… the flute. I heard its call, but a golden being… Lady Lilligant! She was enraged, and poisoned me dreadfully. I must go find Azeru! ”
“Analysis- subject: Lord Ursaluna is experiencing severe poisoning and several minor physical symptoms. Treatment is recommended before strenuous activity is undertaken.” Ursaluna turned to the voice, growling low- uncertainly as it’s gaze met Z’s.
“I might have some pecha berries…” Sable dug through her satchel, pulling out a small bottle of pecha jam with a satisfied smirk. “Right, here you go. Can you point towards where Azeru was? Bronzong and Kirila should be able to find her psychic imprint.”
“Thank you, kind pokemon… she was near Brava arena, but that was days ago. Perhaps the Lady has already slain her. Please, go quickly.” Well, this whole thing was turning into a right mess. “And… take this. Undeserved, but deserved a thousand times over, carrier of divinity.” Aura spiked ans she almost wanted to run- just leave this for someone else, but she swallowed back the instinctual pear as the earth plate settled in her hands.
“We’re going. Change of plans, everyone! We’re going to Brava arena to rescue Warden Azeru and Lady Lilligant!” A chorus of affirmations rolled out of the forest behind her- and one shout of indignation from Warden Calaba as she stormed into Ursaluna’s hollow, shaking her fist in anger.
Sable glanced at Riolu, who’d looked once at the furious warden before subtly backing away.
Yep.
Time to run.
………
Kirlia sat pernaturally still atop Bronzong as he floated forward, frown affixed on his face as he searched for Azeru’s presence. “Um. I believe I have located… a human? A human and an extremely powerful pokemon. They feel… wrong, terrifying…. The human feels healthy, though? And uh, male.”
“ You’ve likely found Lady Lilligant and… hm, look deeper into the mind of the male. What do you see? ”
“ Um. Surface level- stress, frustration with someone, a feeling of great responsibility… ”
Bronzong shifted slightly, just enough to disrupt Kirlia before he could delve too deep. “ I think you’ve found the Diamond Clan leader. Z, if you would? ”
“Acknowledged. I will retrieve Adaman. Keep searching.” A few minutes passed in nervous silence as the psychic types combed the land before Adaman arrived, looking haggard. “Note: leader Adaman was unaware of Azeru’s potential injury, and was also unaware of Lilligant’s frenzy.”
“Gah, I can never get used to that.” Adaman sloughed against Staraptor, who’d landed to give him the support that his eeveelutions were a bit too small to help with. “You have the weirdest team, you know. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a trainer encourage their zorua to use illusions. Or teach them to speak . Sinnoh above, I hadn’t even known that was possible .”
Frost huffed, leaping off Riolu’s head to stride up to Adaman. “I’m very good! At. Speaking!”
Adaman ruffled the wispy tuft of his hair, laughing softly in the delirious intoxication of exhaustion. “Course you are, Frost. You’re cute, for a Zorua…” Adaman was pretty good about that- the clans were even worse than Jubilife when it came to hating the zorua line. For all her youth, Irida had never really eased up on Frost like Adaman had. “Damn, I’m tired- I came all the way over here as soon as I heard. It’s such a shame I can’t play the celestica flutes… so, Liligant. As soon as we make sure Azeru’s safe I’m going to need you to quell her rage, Sable.”
“Of course.” Adaman sighed in relief, shooting her a grateful smile as if it’d ever even been a question of whether or not she’d allow such an abomination of a blessing corrupted to remain. She’d been doing this for a long time, and she wasn’t going to abandon her duties now…
How long was long? She didn’t know … memory. Such an annoying thing…
What was the future like?
Who was she…
“ Guys! I found something! Uh- over there, there’s a distressed Bronzor! I think- um, there’s also a human there? ” The whole group perked up as Z relayed the information, running after Bronzing and Kirlia. “ There! In the vale- ” not a critical wound, thank Arceus .
She’d been expecting a warden on the verge of death, and this was better, if only tangentially… she could smell the acrid taste of blood on the wind, see the way her eyes opened in panicked relief as they crested the ridge. “Adaman! I- I thought… I…”
“Azeru. Why didn’t you tell me Lady Lilligant was frenzied! You should have come to me immediately!”
Azeru winced back at his sharp tone, hissing in pain as the movement jostled her leg. “I- I needed to take responsibility for my noble- I… I tried making the balms myself. Lilligant was just too fast . I couldn’t do anything- she just struck me down and left before I could take a step.”
“You should have left this to Sable. Our relationship with Pearl Clan might be permanently strained because of the stunt you pulled.” Adaman breathed , a deep inhalation so weary as he gently placed a hand on Azeru’s shoulder in lieu of an embrace. “Still, I’m glad you’re alright.”
“I- I’m sorry… just, lady Lilligant. Will she be okay?”
Adaman nodded as he bandaged her wounds- but not as confidently as he had before they’d found Azeru. “Sable is the best trainer for the job, and she had plenty of pokemon to help her.” She was- none of the others were pokemon. None of the others would survive even a single hit from a frenzied noble moving with the intent to kill.
To quell noble rage- she steeled herself. The future held no significance- now was the time to be the perfect battler she’d never been. Lilligant. Grass-fighting, so her attacks were going to hurt if she got hit. Theoretically just barely slower than her, but she knew exactly how little that held up when she’d be fighting not just a noble, but an empowered noble . Weak to flying-types…known for her poison, so Bronzong…
Z helped her make a strategy. Dawn lent Staraptor, who fit perfectly into such a strict battle plan. Bronzor rested to center himself for the battle ahead. Two and a half hours later, and she was as ready as she’d get.
Rei was again the last to see her off as she climbed the steps to the Brava arena. “Good luck! Are you sure you’re able to do this alone? It’s going to be… a lot, organizing Staraptor, Z, and Bronzor, with the balms too…”
“I’m a pretty capable person.”
“That’s practically inhuman.” Sable flinched, just so minutely, but Rei just smiled and waved as he turned back. “Seriously- don’t die.”
“I won’t.” She paused at the top of the stairs, the existence of Lady Lilligant’s frenzy reverberating against the plates. Their very presence felt like a weight on the world, and for a long moment Sable felt the truth of fear -
She banished it.
Memories or not- she was Sable Foxx , trainer, zoroark - and she would not let a noble defeat her.
She set the balms in the arena, and met Lilligant’s eyes as her attention settled fully onto her. “For the us! Bronzor, heavy slam. Z, strategy one.”
“Acknowledged. Please stand by.” Staraptor took to the air as Lilligant screeched, the steel-type energy of heavy slam momentarily undoing Lilligant's careful rhythm. “Target acquired. Activating: conversion 2. Reformatting.” Z’s appearance shifted , unfolding and sliding back together with a silvery gleam over accents of harsh red. “Conversion complete. Diverging fire-” and then Z was involved.
Lilligant was fast . Even as Z and Staraptor worked on tripping her up it was still incredibly difficult to hit her with the balms. Agility pushed the edge of her speed until she practically blurred , half a thread of attention on her illusion at all times to make sure it didn’t break with her movement . “Porygon! Strategy 2!”
“Affirmative. Warning: do not get hit.”
“I’m using agility , I think I’m fine-”
“ Target acquired. Activating: conversion two.” Her form sharpened to brutal spies ans sweeping wings as she shifted from steel to flying, sweeping up into the air. “Lock on initializing… zap cannon .” A bolt of lightning stuck from the skies, sending the exhausted Lilligant tumbling stumbling-
Bronzong slammed down an extrasensory which sprawled her on the ground, and Staraptor sent her flying with an aerial ace- right into Sable’s balms.
The golden light of frenzy faded as if it’d never been there.
Lilligant groaned as she sat up, rubbing at her- actually somewhat severe- injuries. “I feel like I’ve been hit by Avalugg… ugh, what’s the big deal? Why’s boss Adaman here?”
“You were frenzied.”
The grass-type blinked, the froze in horror as the faint memories of rampage set in. “ Uh… oh, oh no- I remember- is Azeru alright? ”
“She’s fine.”
“ Thank Arceus .” Lilligant sighed in relief, aura twisting in that familiar, terrifying presence. “ Huh. I guess it’s time to give up this piece of junk .” Sable could hear her relief. She wished she could simply abandon that. It would’ve been nice…
The meadow plate dropped into her hands. “The powers of Plates are shared amongst Pokemon.” No thank you. “You’re free, Lilligant.” From more than the frenzy… she wondered what was so terrible that the very Plates were necessary… Z settled above her shoulder, eyes locked onto the plate in equal trepidation.
The past, the plates… it was almost too much to carry. At least they weren’t alone.
For whatever had sent them to the past… she put the plates out of her mind as the others ran up to congratulate her, react in shock at her speed or some combination of both.
She had the others, Dawn, her team, Z- it would be enough.
She feared what would happen if it wasn’t.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
But what a cruel world it would be, without the vicissitudes of emotion. It is one of my eternal regrets that I was unaware of _----’s scheme until it was too late to intervene- a world without spirit would barely be a world at all.
Notes:
huh wonder who that journal entry could possibly be talking about.
Chapter 15: Broken Rails
Summary:
She shook it off as one of those memory things with a faint frown, binding her illusion tighter to herself in some pale imitation of comfort. “I didn’t realize how much I liked Jubilife until Ingo almost destroyed the life I've made there… I’m terrible at this ‘not getting attached’ thing, aren’t I?”
“...yes.” Sable yipped a short laugh, the sound echoing oddly through the rugged terrain of the Coronet highlands. “It’s not a bad thing. Pokemon were not made for isolation- you need people to support you.”
“Yet, eventually they all die. Such is the nature of…” she trailed off- knowing, not knowing… she could figure out what she was going to say, but didn’t want to think of it.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Rare are those whose Ideal maintains resolute through Truth, yet who do not permit Truth to be disregarded. Ever do we walk the line between ignorance so willful, and determination.
………
Volo’s words about multiple frenzied nobles had, apparently, been entirely correct. Sable hadn’t even gotten a week of rest before Kamado called everyone back to his office, a long-suffering grimace etched deep onto his face. “Adaman. You have something to say?”
“Warden Ingo reported that Lord Electrode has been frenzied from some time. Melli’s been… adamantly against receiving assistance of any kind.”
Sable just sighed. Why did everyone have to make their job hard ? “I assume you want me to go and quell Lord Electrode?” She really should have expected it when everyone looked at her as though she was insane for even asking. Of course they wanted her to do that.
Nothing was ever easy, was it?
Cyllene stepped in, relieving poor Kamado from having to deal with the clan leaders. “We have other missions, too. The security corps have been reporting unusual pokemon activities around the walls, and the Miss Fortune Sisters have been harassing Wardens Iscan and Palina ever since you defeated them in the mirelands.”
“I can take care of the Miss Fortune Sisters! Um, there’s no nobles there, right?”
“Basculegion, but as far as I understand you’ve already struck an agreement with him?” Dawn nodded, and Cyllene quickly continued, barely even looking down at the stack of reports clutched in her hands. “The late Lord Arcanine hasn’t yet received a successor, so we should be fine on that front. Alright, dismissed.”
“Anything else…” Sable slumped as Adaman looked away sheepishly, and Irida laughed . “Huh. So, what exactly am I going to have to do to get to Lord Electrode?”
“Melli can be… confrontational. He’s been feuding with Warden Ingo over proper lighting in the caves since Sneasler adopted him, and the only other way to get his arena would be to climb the cliffs. You don’t have a celestica flute, so we brought Ingo to help you…” It was Irida’s turn to smile sheepishly. “Forgive him for his idiosyncrasies- he really is a capable trainer. Until you and Dawn showed up, I’d have said there was no one better-”
The door to Kamado’s office slammed open, which was impressive given it was already opened . A figure stood there, tattered coak about him, hand outstretched so sharply excited - familiar, yet not. Subway boss Ingo. Pearl Clan Warden Ingo. “All aboard! No delays! Safety checks! Lord Electrode’s rationality has been derailed- we’re on track to bring it back!” A pokeball flashed open on his belt, releasing an Alakazam. (Cyllene’s Abra thunked sleepily onto her head, eliciting a scowl.) “Abra will conduct us to our first stop-”
“Wait!” The rest of the room gave her an odd look, while Ingo just looked confused. “I- I don’t deal well with teleport. If we can take another way…”
“Of course! Safety checks are very important…” Ingo frowned for a moment, before his eyes shot wide. “Of course! I apologize- I should have remembered your condition, trainer Sable! As a-” he paused as Sable motioned very clearly to not say what he’d been about to carelessly reveal to the entirety of everyone important in Hisui. “Let’s go, then. No use waiting around!”
Irida sent her a questioning glance, then backed down as Ingo shifted eagerly. “May Sinnoh make your space safe as you travel.”
“Wait! I’m going too!” Rei exhaustedly stumbled into Kamado’s office, catching his breath for a moment before he composed himself, grim determination written over his face. “Dawn doesn’t need the help, but Sable could use it, right?” No, no she really did not want to take care of the kid again- he was nice, but this was important.
It wasn’t her decision, though. Rei was on the team- Kamado’s orders, and those were final. They made their final preparations- Rei readied his pokemon while Sable carefully slipped the sole max revive she’d been able to obtain into her bag alongside the brace of super potions, and then they were ready.
Off to the highlands it was.
………
A merry fire burned at the edge of a forlorn campsite, long since quiet under the weight of dreams. Rei and Pikachu snuggled together against the cold, for all the world content, and Ingo… Ingo muttered of things a broken mind could not know, endless agonies… sighing, she released Bronzong from his pokeball. “Can you help Ingo with Hypnotise?”
“He needs calm mind. Hypnotise would simply further damage his psyche.” She’d expected that, somewhat. Unfortunate. “I don’t think even calm mind would help much. Perhaps only Uxie will be able to heal him.”
“There are other psychic type legendaries that could help…” she frowned. What psychic type legendaries? She knew a grand total of absolutely none … she shook it off as one of those memory things with a faint frown, binding her illusion tighter to herself in some pale imitation of comfort. “I didn’t realize how much I liked Jubilife until Ingo almost destroyed the life I've made there… I’m terrible at this ‘not getting attached’ thing, aren’t I?”
“... yes .” Sable yipped a short laugh, the sound echoing oddly through the rugged terrain of the Coronet highlands. “ It’s not a bad thing. Pokemon were not made for isolation- you need people to support you .”
“Yet, eventually they all die. Such is the nature of…” she trailed off- knowing, not knowing… she could figure out what she was going to say, but didn’t want to think of it. “How do you deal with it? You’ve been alive since the time of the Celestica…”
“ It is a sorrow on my soul for those people long past. I never interacted much beyond my species- so, a great deal of the Bronzor I knew in the past are alive somewhere in Hisui, just… sleeping. ” To know, to have that implacable uncertain certainty… Sable was almost jealous. “ I… it is different, as a Bronzong.”
“How so?”
“ Coming back to Mt. Coronet… Bronzong were those in positions of great significance, religious leaders and those who interacted most with the Celestica. There is a cautionary tale from before my time, passed down through the generations, of a great traitor and their foolishly loyal Bronzong who almost killed the Original One. ” She… she recognized that- someone…
Someone had told her once. The thunder beast of Michina… a boy with spiky black hair and a pikachu with the strength to rival _-------. The name eluded him. “You’re different now, and it feels odd returning.”
“ Indeed… I got very used to my size as a Bronzor, over the years I slept and wandered. To see these ancient lands… I keep thinking that I should be more like the elders. Undefeatable, titans of strength to young Bronzor- and then I realize I’m likely stronger than they ever were. ”
“You got it, Bronzong.” Bronzong chuckled softly, the sound so sonorous an echo. “We… when I get back my memory, know that no matter what I’ll stick by you.”
“ ...thank you .” Bronzong returned to his pokeball with no further fanfare, leaving Sable alone- with the infinite night, the quiet infinity of the plates as they thrummed at the back of her awareness…
She fell asleep to dreams of a distorted world, and the silence of her own mind.
………
Rei woke her up the following morning, sticking close by her the entire day. It had been endearing, but by the time they were approaching the caves it had long since become frustrating . “ Stop that!”
“Passenger safety is paramount! Please keep disturbances to a minimum young-” Ingo faltered for a moment, and Sneasler took the chance to glare at both of them. “Ah, apologies- it seems my mind derailed for a moment there. Please do not further antagonize trainer Sable.”
“I- uh…” Rei gave her a look somewhere between a confused pikachu and a scowl. “Um, I didn’t mean anything! I’m just… concerned.”
Ingo paused, and Sneasler dropped her basket- maybe a bit roughly- on the ground as they paused. “It is important to perform adequate safety checks before departure. Rei, what is your grievance with trainer Sable?”
“I don’t have a grievance!” Rei’s eyes widened in panic before he settled down, looking at Ingo’s serious expression and being… comforted, maybe? It was honestly a little odd, given that she was right here . It wasn’t as though she hadn’t spent hundreds of hours with the kid, right? “Um- I was just noticing… oddities. You understand pokemon. You’re unnaturally fast. You can just do things- when I met Gaeric the man was terrified of you for climbing a glacier that lady Sneasler would have trouble with bringing a passenger up. I’m just… concerned.”
“Oh!” Ingo’s face brightened considerably, which as far as Ingo went wasn’t all that much at all. “You are concerned that trainer Sable was replaced with a zoroark!” Oh no. She knew where this was going- she desperately motioned for him to stop, but sneasler gave her a glare , and he just wasn’t- even putting an illusion in front of him didn’t work. One track mind, really- “you have no need to be concerned! Trainer Sable has always been a zoroark!”
“ What .”
“Um. Yes.” Distortion damn it all, Ingo… she felt like laughing. It was familiar - not from Ingo, but… the worm pokemon, maybe? They seemed to be a bit… clumsy. “That.” She dropped her illusion, watching as Rei stumbled back in shock. “I’m a zoroark.”
“How… I trusted you. I trusted you.” His pokemon exploded out in front of him, immediately defensive- sparks crackling along pikachu’s form as Lady Sneasler dropped into a battling position. “You brought yourself into our home, deceived us all- let Dawn keep believing you were family -”
“Dawn-”
“I don’t want to hear it!” A blast of lightning crackled in a nimbus of energy around them, and when it faded Rei was nowhere to be seen.
Ingo flicked open one of his pokeballs just as Sable did her own. Z and Alakazam shared a glance, then turned back to their trainers- Ingo had deferred to Sable in a glance, which she appreciated. “Z, locate and non-violently incapacitate Rei. Alakazam, teleport him back to us. Go.” A single minute. That was all it took for the two hyper-intelligent pokemon to find Rei, identify a gap in his team’s defense, and kidnap him back to them. “Relax. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“You- let me go! Sabl- Zoroark, please!”
This was a right pain. Why did people have to have working brains when it came to disguises? Also, Ingo . “My name is Sable. I’ve been Sable for years . I never meant you or Jubilife any harm, and Dawn has known I’m a Zoroark for months . Since my first day in Jubilife, actually.”
“I… I don’t trust you.” She knew this. The- I’m going to behave, but just wait until I’m in a position to totally backstab you, damn zoroark- sort of behavior…
She could not deal with this right now. Sighing, she let her face fall to that perfect, unnerving blankness of complete seriousness- “Rei. I am not going to let you interfere with our mission. If I have to leave you on top of a cliff, I will leave you on top of a cliff. That said- I won’t hurt you. You’re very important to Dawn and Professor Laventon, and you’re important to me. Dawn will be devastated if I have to leave Jubilife, but I’d do that over hurting you.” That finally got a reaction out of Rei. “Keep that in mind. Alakazam, please put him on top of the nearest cliff.”
“Wait I thought you were-” Alakazam proceeded to put him on top of the nearest cliff.
“Apologies, Sable. I did not know that I would cause such distress!” Something about that… as though there was another, opposite…
Sighing, Sable climbed wearily back into Sneasler’s basket. “Let’s just go. It’s not your fault, Ingo- Volo and I are working on a way to recover our memories, but our search for Uxie is… going. That’s about as good as it’ll get.”
“Bravo!” The noise of his sudden shout scared a flock of birds into the air. “You have found a method to return our memories! None of the clan members have come anywhere close- though none of them thought to enlist the world’s most arrogant merchant!”
“Volo? Arrogant?”
“He can be very forceful in his sales tactics.” Yeah… yeah, she could imagine that. “Demanding a pokemon battle after several weeks of absence without leave is not a good way to market rare items.”
“He’s silly, but in the end he’s got a good heart.” She wound her illusion back around herself as they passed the last corner to where Melli was waiting for them. “Are you…”
“Melli is entirely unreasonable. His stubbornness makes him an excellent fit as Lord Electrode’s Warden, but also makes it very hard to work-”
“Hey!” Melli met Sneasler’s gaze from where he was standing, scowling furiously at them. “I heard that! What are you doing here, Warden Ingo? I specifically told you that Lord Electrode doesn’t need to be quelled. He’s been blessed by Sinnoh themselves!”
What . Sable slipped out of Sneasler’s basket, making sure Melli could see the absolute incredulity on her illusioned face. “The frenzies are extremely harmful. Every single Noble I’ve freed has been incredibly grateful to not be frenzied.”
“What would a Galaxy Team member know about the blessings of almighty Sinnoh?” She got the distinct feeling that dealing with Melli was not going to be fun.
“Warden Melli! Please cease attempting to derail our mission! Clan Leaders Irida and Adaman both decided that Lord Electrode must be quelled. Unruly passengers will be removed from the train.” Melli paled considerably as Ingo thumbed his pokeballs. Sable could understand- she was pretty sure Z was stronger than any of his fighters, but not by much- and neither of her other pokemon were anywhere close. She would get stomped by any of his pokemon.
In a straight battle, she didn’t think she could win against Ingo without some intense strategizing. Melli? Not a chance in distortion .
“Ah, Ingo! I’d never stop you from passing- um, alas, with the natural habitat of the pokemon in the caves I had to-” Alakazam emerged from his pokeball- and not even an instant later stood behind Melli- “remove-all-the-torches-” his voice had gotten admirably high pitched towards the end there.
“That is not up to proper safety standards. Please replace the torches in their rightful places.”
Melli laughed sheepishly, which was always a bad sign. “I, um. Burned the. Completely, because it wasn’t like we were going to need them anyways-” Sable growled as she stepped forward, and Melli shrieked, flailing back into his Skuntank. “I can, uh, lead you through the caves! It will be very dangerous, but if you’re so determined to remove almighty Sinnoh’s blessing-”
“Yes. Please.” Melli just whimpered softly as she bit out the words, retreating into the darkness of the cave. It took forever to move through the winding tunnels, and she was entirely certain that Melli wasn’t taking them on the most direct path (the many times he asked them if they wanted to turn back was proof enough) and when they finally emerged into Electrode’s arena he challenged her to a pokemon battle to see if she was strong enough to take on Lord Electrode.
She was honestly considering dropping her illusion and drop kicking his Skuntank into the wall- that’s how annoying Melli had managed to be. Instead, his poor pokemon got the exclusive privilege of battling Z .
Skuntank was first, and he was very confused when his poison moves splashed ineffectively off a a poison-type Porygon Z. “Um. Excuse me… can you tell me how you're doing that please? ”
“No.” Sable had to keep herself from laughing. Skuntank was… so much more polite than Melli it was almost comical. “Executable strategy: suffer. Lock on.”
“ Oh no… ”
“Zap cannon.” Skuntank suffered. Rinse and repeat for the rest of Melli’s team- who were actually pretty good at battling- until they were defeated.
Sable scowled at Melli, who- to his credit- scowled back with only his puny human strength to defend him. “I am very capable of fighting Lord Electrode. I have quelled three other nobles- now, we need to make balms, and then I can fight your noble.”
“Hmp. I will simply refuse to tell you his favorite food, then. It is barbarous to think that standing against the blessings of almighty Sinnoh-”
Ingo cheerily released his Alakazam again, and the diamond-clan Warden flinched . “Melli! Let me explain our route from here. You will tell us what Lord Electrode’s favorite food is, or we will truss you up, stuff you in Lady Sneasler’s basket, and drag you before the Clan Leaders to be publicly reprimanded for ignoring orders . Your choice.” There was a long moment of silence as Melli contemplated the worth of further resistance. “I will take your route through the caves!”
“ Fine . It’s crunchy salt.” Quelling Lord Electrode from there was… routine. With proper training behind them it wasn’t nearly as hard as Avalugg, and nowhere close to Lilligant’s speed…
She walked away from the Electrode’s arena with a noble quelled and the zap plate sparking beneath her hands, terrifying and magnificent, like all thunder held within her hands.
Hopefully… hopefully it was over.
………
Sable heaved herself over the cliffside, gently lounging beside him- ignoring Pikachu’s angry sparks and Staravia’s bristling feathers. “Hey, Rei. I… was a bit curt with you, I guess. I didn’t want to hurt Dawn, but I don’t want to hurt you .”
“You’re a zoroark.”
Sable flicked her head, sending her mane right into Rei’s face and snickering softly at his cries of indignation. “I dunno. What gave it away? Maybe the looking like a zoroark part?”
Rei furrowed his brow in through, grinning nonetheless- “You could be… uh, an Alalkazam psychically tricking everyone to make them believe you’re a human? No, they’d be too lazy to pull something like that, and the dark-types would totally attack you in an instant… I’m, it’s just I feel betrayed .”
“I’m sorry. It was never my intention to make you suffer.”
“I know .” Rei groaned in frustration- and flopped onto her lap, startling her enough that she almost chucked him off the cliff. “I… it's incongruent. I want to be mad, but everything… you’re just so reasonable. You’re Sable, but you’re also the pokemon species that my dad warned me about as we sailed to Jubilife. You’re- you’re just so not like what I expected.”
“I very much doubt I’m normal for a zoroark. But…” she sighed, running her claws through Rei’s hair and just… enjoying the way that even as they struggled to speak it, they already knew- “just keep in mind pokemon are people . I… I may not remember, but I’m me- Sable Foxx, not some archetype of malice.”
“Yeah… yeah. I’ll remember that.” It felt…
Peaceful.
Bitter. So very bitter, echoes of sorrow weighing on her soul… but for now, just this once-
She drew Rei into an embrace, an illusion of warmth so impossibly real wrapped around them both. In the end… in the end, she’d gotten to keep a friend, and that was worth it all.
………
Two days after she returned to Jubilife, Dawn came back slightly- worryingly- singed, excitedly telling stories of a frankly ridiculous chase across the sea to Firespit island, where Growlith had evolved into Lord Arcanine, gotten struck by lightning immediately , and had to be quelled by her . Apparently she’d managed to survive- somehow (pokemon, probably).
Laventon had swept in halfway through, heard like a fourth of the important details out of context and immediately grabbed potato mochi for the lot of them. “Looks like you had a busy mission, Dawn!”
Dawn snorted- because, yeah, that was an understatement- stuffing mochi into her mouth. How these were so good was a mystery . “Yeah, but at least all of the Wardens on my mission were actually helpful. Warden Melli sounds like a real character.”
“He was no match for the Z’s impeccable aim.”
Dawn groaned, laughing all the while, then- once her mouth was empty of mochi- tried to imitate Z’s soft monotone. “Lock on. Zap cannon. Target eliminated. Team destroyed. Hopes and dreams crushed.”
“Correction: there is no correction. This is an accurate depiction of events.” The whole room erupted in uproarious laughter as Z pecked at some mochi- how she was even able to eat that was beyond her, but apparently it just worked. Everyone was just-
Happy.
For once… it’d worked. They were done. The nobles were quelled, the ride pokemon cooperative- with Dawn at least. If defeating Lord Arcanine had given her six plates to her four, then good riddance. She’d love to have none … the faint edge of fear bled away in the festive atmosphere- she didn’t remember the last time she’d had this much… life .
They’d saved Hisui- now, finally without the threat of more frenzies hanging above them, they could rest.
………
All Hisui woke at midnight to the shattering of the sky as the rift over Mt. Coronet washed the very heavens in impossible color. Sable stared up at a familiar distortion- and felt horror she couldn’t place, burning regret-
Hisui woke to the end of the world.
Notes:
Ingo's back, because he's just cool like that.
If you guys were waiting for the Palina/Iscan drama w/lord arcananine... sorry, totally skipped that. Dawn gets 1 (one) noble to quell, and now we're onto the final parts of the story...
Chapter 16: These Ancients
Summary:
“You’ve made a mistake, here. Dawn will remember this betrayal for a long time.”
“Just… just me?” Dawn’s voice felt so- quiet, missing that spark of champion’s confidence- her speech felt less.
Her face was grim as she turned her back on Kamado one last time. “I could care less.”
How she wished that were true.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Of all those who were ever untethered from the bonds of mortal existence, Cogita was the most famous. I have seen much, but Cogita… she was something entirely different.
………
The sky swirled in impossible patterns of violet red, so terrible, all Hisui trapped beneath a vast space-time distortion. Frost and Z raced out onto the streets of Jubilife mere moments before Sable could follow them, her illusion wrapped cloyingly tight around herself in sudden panic. “ What’s going on! Meema, we defeated the nobles! Why is the space time rift worse! ”
“I don’t know, Frost.” She hated not knowing- not even having an inkling of a clue . “We’ll solve it, whatever it is-”
“Sable Foxx! Dawn!” The bumbling crowd pulled back in stunned fear at the sight of a truly furious Kamado, his snorlax standing imposingly large behind him. Cyllene was practically running to keep up with him, papers crumpling beneath the stress of her nervous grip, and the terrified gaze she shot at her for just a single moment… “I see now what a mistake I made in accepting you into Jubilife. You came to expand the rift, not destroy it!”
Frost pressed close to her legs, faint trembling hidden by the glare he shot the commander. “That- doesn't make sense! Meema didn’t do anything ?”
“Be silent. You were untrustworthy from the start, Sable Foxx.” She wondered why each of Kamado’s words felt like a punch to the gut- she’d never meant to get attached to Jubilife, hadn’t she? She shouldn’t care .
“Commander, sir, please! You must be able to see that Sable and Dawn are entirely innocent.” It was almost sickening, how relieved Laventon’s defense made her feel. “They merely completed the tasks set out for them by the clans-”
“The clans were never trustworthy, either. They don’t understand the true danger of pokemon-” Cyllene pressed her eyes closed behind the commander, and Sable got the impression that she feared- for them, more than the very skies- “and neither do you. Your pokedex will not change the realities of the world- pokemon are dangerous, and those who consort with them beyond mere battles are dangers .”
“See reason, please!” The professor was desperate . “Sable and Dawn are people of Jubilife as much as us-”
“No more.” The words seemed to freeze the world. Cyllene dropped her papers in stunned shock, and Zisu gasped in horror. “Sable Foxx. Dawn. You are hereby banished from Jubilife village. I will allow you thirty minutes to get your effects in order- and then you will be removed by force if I must.”
Cyllene sent an apologetic glance her way. “Commander, are you certain that this is the course of action you want-”
Kamado whirled, and for a short moment Sable wondered if he was going to strike her down, so mad was he. “Captain. Cyllene. You have seemed to forget who is the Commander , and who is Captain. My word is law. These two are no longer welcome amongst the Galaxy Expedition Team.” Dawn looked like she was going to cry behind her…
Sable- she just felt empty. Like something long expected, known again- “Very well.” Frost made as if to protest, but Sable returned him to his pokeball before he could do something ill advised. “Kamado.” Her voice was soft, but it cut through the emotion in the air, a knife sharpened beneath the weight of her disappointment. “You’ve made a mistake, here. Dawn will remember this betrayal for a long time.”
“Just… just me?” Dawn’s voice felt so- quiet, missing that spark of champion’s confidence- her speech felt less .
Her face was grim as she turned her back on Kamado one last time. “I could care less.”
How she wished that were true.
………
Volo- looking a bit worse scuffed around the edges, was waiting for them at the village gates, Togekiss bristling next to them in extremely uncharacteristic rage. He perked up the moment they stumbled out the gate, a relieved sigh escaping him. “Thank Sinnoh someone came. Kamado banished me from Jubilife.”
Sable sighed, gently scratching at Togekiss’s wing to calm her down. Now wasn’t the time for mindless anger. “He banished us too. I’ll admit, I’m not entirely sure where to go. We’ll likely have to live in the coastlands until we can figure out a way to close the rift.”
“I was going to head back to the Ginkgo guild, but… on second thought, risking their trade with Jubilife isn’t something they’d be willing to do.” A faint flash of bitterness touched across his face- “not even for me. The clans… they will likely be the same. I might know a place where we can recuperate safely.”
Well, it was better than nothing. “Lead on, then.” Volo leapt atop Togekiss as Dawn released Staraptor for herself and summoned Lord Braviary for Sable- and then they were off in the flutter of wings and silhouettes against distortion.
………
The Ancient Retreat felt familiar in its atmosphere of solemn decay, of the quiet weight of the years in tattered fabrics and old metal wrought so carefully… In the way flowers that might have once been part of a garden peeked, little splashes of color spread in scintillating beauty through the entire glade- the way the water burbled, and the whole place felt ethereal .
A woman sat at a wrought iron table, a single chair opposite her- empty… it was impossible not to see the resemblance between herself and Volo as they crossed over the rickety planks into her beautifully wild home, the fire’s light casting long shadows beneath the dark of shattered sky. “Oh. Hello.” She glanced up, a gaze so implacably weary meeting their own. “It’s you again. I’ve told you I don’t want to be bothered, Volo.”
“Surely you could spare a tale or two to help these exiles? They seem determined to close the rift over Mt. Coronet.”
Cogita sighed, slowly sipping at tea long since cooled. “To tell you more inane tales about the plates? I think not. Let the fallen ones speak for themselves if they want to hear.” Dawn took the chair, eliciting a small- shift, not action, the echo of some weary memory… “You want to know how to close the rift, don’t you.”
“Yes.” Dawn’s conviction was absolute.
Cogita only sighed. “The others are almost here. They certainly haven’t hidden their presence.” Sable’s ears caught the sound just before the others- the soft echoes of a very familiar argument. “I expected this… wait for them, and then I’ll see if I can help you.” Sable’s hearing was superior to a human’s- for Cogita to notice their presence first…
She had lived a long time. There was something more than the obvious in that thought- but she couldn’t place it. Didn’t really have the chance to, because Irida and Adaman had since stumbled into the glade, furiously arguing about false Sinnohs and space time rifts. “-as I was saying , as the distortion clearly takes up different amounts of space , it is the work of your false-”
“Whatever lies beyond the cracks could be a different time -”
“Fools, the lot of you.” Cogita spoke softly- barely more than a whisper, but it was enough to silence the entire clearing. “The collapse of reality won’t wait for your petty arguments. You’ve come here for a reason, have you not?”
Impossibly, both of the clan leaders looked a bit chastised. “Yes, ma’am. We need to know how to close the rift.”
“Hm. Listen closely, then. There is an artifact said to bind the world together, made from the will of the three lake guardians. Three spirits reign over-”
“Knowledge, emotion, and willpower.” Realization spread across Volo’s face as Sable spoke it, and Cogita blinked in soft surprise. “We’ve been looking for those for months- and you knew where they were the whole time ? Could you not have helped ?”
Cogita sighed, sipping placidly at her tea. “Some legends are not made to be known until their proper time. Find the three spirits, and earn their trust- their gift will seal the sundering of the world. Suceed, and we will finally be free .” The last word was spoken with such a terrible depth of emotion , implacable…
Adaman frowned, but spoke resolute. “The clans might not be able to shelter you, but we Irida and I can only offer our help in traversing Hisui.” Irida glanced up startled, but beneath Cogita’s watchful eyes nodded slowly. “It’s… um, probably not a good idea for us to travel together -” Sable had to keep herself from laughing- “but one of us could go with you to help.”
Sable released Z, who calmly projected a map of the region above the table. “We don’t know how much time we have before the damage becomes irreparable.” It could - that she knew, somehow, without a shadow of a doubt… when reverse worlds interacted, it only ever ended badly. “Dawn and Adaman will go to Lake Valor. Irida and I’ll go to Lake Verity, and then we’ll meet back up for Uxie, with Warden Ingo. Any objections?”
Cogita’s eyes narrowed at the legendary’s name, but she said nothing. Dawn, actually, was the only one to speak up. “Sable… I don’t think you’ll be able to get into the cavern. Not without…” gently, she placed a device-
Golden, white, a ring that burned like fire-
Shimmering echoes of power drifted invisible off a phone as everyone leaned closer to see exactly what it was. “I’ve been using it to keep track some things, take notes and pictures… um, but it also gave me my mission when I first came to Hisui- ‘foster connections between humans and pokemon.’” Volo looked at the device almost hungrily , while Cogita looked almost terrified at its mere presence. “The most recent message is that the way will be opened for me.”
“I’ll be able to get in, Dawn.” She could feel the weight of attention- on the plates on her , and one thing more- and knew it was true. “Don’t worry about me.” She did enough that for herself. “Lets go.”
Then they were off, by wing and speed and all fervor-
To save the world.
……….
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Cogita’s fame comes not from her accomplishments, though they are many. It comes not for how long she has watched over Celestica then-Hisui now-Sinnoh, nor the legends she knew and inspired.
Her fame, one long forgotten amongst all but us few, is that she alone managed to reach her end in peace.
Notes:
Thanks Volo. Such a nice, trustworthy guy.
I’ll go ahead and say I changed Volo a bit. Not entirely, but it’s there. See if you can figure out how :)
There’s a few sequels for this story in the works, so there’s that to look forward to also
Chapter 17: Spirit
Summary:
“Mesprit. The world stands on the brink of destruction. We’ve come for the red chain.”
“Oh?” Her voice was- ethereal. Everywhere, yet not- impossible in all the ways that truly mattered yet made possible nonetheless. “...you have come a long way, to seek a journey even longer… kin of fox and friend of man. Show me your emotions. Show me everything that is you.”
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Whilst I might say that I know the legendaries of Sinnoh best of their kind, the lake guardians remain an exception. They have never failed to act unnervingly around me- as though there lies an inside joke between the four of us that only they understand.
………
“I’m just saying , pokeballs sound uncomfortable. Can you imagine getting stuffed into something that small?” Yes, yes she could. Traveling with Irida was… interesting. Aside from Rei and Laventon, the only people she’d spent significant amounts of time around in Hisui had been her pokemon- the clan's perspective on things was… was different.
It led to a lot of friendly banter. She could see where Irida and Adaman’s arguments came from, now. “They’re convenient, not to mention safe- I know your Glaceon can go just about anywhere, but imagine trying to bring a steelix into the Ancient Retreat.”
“I’m sure they could… um, wait around outside?” Sable laughed, and didn’t even respond as Irida pouted in indignation. “Fine, pokeballs can be useful sometimes . I’m not abandoning my point that the Galaxy Team can be a bit trigger happy when it comes to catching pokemon, though!”
“I entirely agree with you. The number of pokemon that I make Rei take back to their natural habitats after only a few hours of tests is frankly disappointing.”
A white blur of floof skidded to a stop in front of her, followed quickly by Z. “Pokeballs are. Fine!”
“Even the pokemon are ganging up on me!” Irida spared a nervous glance at the zorua, but gave him a few gentle scritches nonetheless. “Fine. Do you think they’ve reached their destination yet? Lord Braviary would make this so much faster.”
“Estimated time of arrival for team: Adaman and Dawn is at two hours and thirty two minutes from now based on current environmental conditions. Replaying message from clan leader Adaman: ‘Irida, don’t you dare call Braviary while we’re still on route to Lake Valor.’” It was in Z’s monotone, which only served to make it funnier as Irida sputtered at the insinuation.
“I’d never do that-” she blushed as she quietly came to the realization that she was arguing with a recording, quailing back a bit under Sable’s politely skeptical look . “I wouldn’t! It’s just that walking to Lake Verity is taking so long . We’re barely halfway through the mirelands and I’m already exhausted from the pace.”
“Right. As if you and Adaman didn’t play tug of war with your nobles until Sneasler told you to stop.” Irida blushed bright red, stamming out a denial Sable only half listened to, protesting that she shouldn’t even know that happened. Too bad she had her sources.
That was to say, Sneasler could be a gossip at times-
Something moved out of the corner of her eye and she grabbed Irida, sending them both tumbling to the ground as her illusion wrapped around the hill they were hiding on. “What’s-”
Sable hissed for silence, clamping a hand over Irida’s mouth and hoping she didn’t break her illusion. “There’s someone there-” two security-corps members meandered into view, walking down the very same mirelands path they’d been taking to Lake Verity.
Irida grew silently more distressed as they wandered closer, until she was practically squirming in Sable’s grip as the two security corps members walked past mere feet from where they were lying prone on the sodden ground. She only relaxed when they walked past a hill, out of sight. “What was that ? They didn’t even see us!”
“Frost helped us hide.”
“I did? Right! Yeah. I hided us super good!”
Irida nodded in quiet understanding, steadying her shaky breath. “I didn’t think that they’d send their forces out to the crimson mirelands .”
Sable grimaced. She hadn’t caught much of their mutterings, but from what little she’d heard… it concerned her. It scared her, for Dawn’s sake- “They were going to the Diamond Clan settlement. I… Kamado doesn't just want us gone. If he’s trying to turn the clans against us he wants us dead .”
“That bastard! I knew he was bad, but this- ” Irida sucked in a breath, still seething. “I can’t believe- he had you do all the work to free our nobles and just cut you loose when things went wrong? That man is heartless. Nobody could have proven your culpability. Let’s go-” she pulled out her celestica flute and whistled a quick tune seconds before Sable could block it-
Wyrdeer materialized on the lingering breath of shrill melody, pawing at the ground as Z floated sheepishly next to them. “Apologetic statement: I did not remember that you could call more than one ride pokemon.”
“Neither did I. I turned Braviary’s tune to Wyrdeer’s…” she chuckled faintly, and Sable couldn't help but laugh in turn. “Let’s go?” They leapt onto the ride pokemon’s back, Frost smirking at Irida’s eeveelutions as they ran while he got his comfy pokeball to carry them.
By the time Z finally let them call Braviary, Irida- reluctantly- accepted three of her pokeballs for her team. It was honestly kind of hilarious, the antics her eeveelutions pulled off trying to make each other the first to touch Irida’s pokemon. Espeon kept dodging Flareon’s blows with her precognition, while Glaceon kept exploiting Flareon’s unwillingness to hit his teammates to push him closer to the ball.
In the end it was Glaceon who went first, because Irida had just gotten tired of it all and whacked her starter over the head with the pokeball. The others had fallen in line once Glaceon had reassured them it wasn’t actually that bad after all.
If anyone pointed out how wide her smirk was when she’d seen Irida slump at Glaceon’s acceptance, then she’d point out that she’d kept entirely within the range of human expression, and that they really should have seen her face without the illusion to see just how much vindication she’d felt at winning that argument.
Then they were off, soaring through the skies- to Lake Verity.
………
Braviary dropped them off at the island at the lake’s center, leaving them alone with a few scraggly trees and the boulder . Irida’s tapped at the stone, frowning softly. “So… how are we going to get in?”
Flareon pawed timidly at the rock. “ Perhaps we could blow it up? ” Glaceon tumbled into his side before he could even breathe in for a fire-type attack, sending them both tumbling into the lakewater. “ Hey! I wasn’t going to…”
Glaceon huffed petulantly as she dragged herself out of the lake, ice glistening on her flank. “As if I’d believe that. You can be very…” Sable let their conversation fade from her mind as she felt something burn against her neck, a weight beneath her mane…
She pulled her pokeball off its necklace, watching silently as it expanded to its full heft in her hand. It wasn’t the yellow-black of an ultra ball anymore- where there had once been dull paint there lay pearly white, and where there had been yellow, gold . She could feel something’s attention looking down on it, like the plates but so awfully more …
Frankly, she was kind of miffed that Arceus had ruined her pokeball. Open , she bid the door to another reality, the centrality of lake and world- and a gleam of gold folded aside the rocks, revealing a passage to dark.
“... holy legendaries, did she just use a pokeball to open a hole in the world? ” Espeon whacked Glaceon over the head for that, and Sable, somewhat wisely, didn’t respond. Her pokemon… they knew the terrible weight of the plates, and were silent against the same rending of the world.
“Irida. Let’s go.” She stepped forward into the inches-deep water of a pool too large to fit within the island, gentle illumination from everywhere and nowhere alike glimmering off the pebbly floor. Irida was a bit busy gaping to follow, but her Glaceon proved highly proficient at kicking her forward. “Mesprit. The world stands on the brink of destruction. We’ve come for the red chain.”
“Oh?” Her voice was- ethereal. Everywhere, yet not- impossible in all the ways that truly mattered yet made possible nonetheless . “...you have come a long way, to seek a journey even longer… kin of fox and friend of man. Show me your emotions . Show me everything that is you.”
Mespirt rose- there, one second, displacing nothing as she floated up from the waters, softly holding forward a single one of her minuscule hands in invitation. Silently Sable leaned forward into the touch, feeling something so vast yet entirely real press through her illusion without disrupting it, neatly resting atop her forehead.
“ Miracle eye .” In the language of pokemon, understood by all present butesent but Irida- “ oh, poor child… you have known such great grief… I weep for you, kin of darkness, of fox, friend of humans…” Mesprit drifted back, the simple motion somehow so enrapturing in its grace. “You have placed yourself in so tenuous a position, simply because it is yours. Listen well to my trial, champion of conviction- settle yourself in the eyes of the world.” She spoke a final instruction in the language of pokemon, a grace for the one who could fail and damn the world for her hesitation. “ Reveal your form and lay down your burdens, noble fox.”
Sable closed her eyes, breathing a steady rhythm. As battle, so still- she stood resolute, and conviction defeated hesitance. Mesprit was right. She really had been hiding for too long.
She let her illusion wash off her form- from pale skin to dusk-dark fur, black hair to fluffy scarlet mane, humanity to the visage of a fox. Near the entrance to the cave Irida froze , and when Sable turned back to see- she saw fear reflected in the clan leader’s eyes. “...Sable? Is that… you?”
“...yes.” This was her. “My name has always been Sable Foxx after all… and now that I think about it, that’s a pun in Galarian you won’t understand.”
Irida stepped forward, clearly terrified despite her hysteric giggles. “You look… scary. Incredible. I… you’re a zoroark .”
“I mean you no harm.”
Irida hesitated, then stepped forward one final time until she was mere feet from her- trust without trust, Glaceon curling uneasily around her feet as she stared at her. “...you’re really… it feels like a bad dream, almost. It’s not- bad… no, it is bad. I’m just… oh Sinnoh-” her eyes widened in horror- “is Dawn a Zoroark? Is Frost your kid?”
“What!” Sable flinched, stumbling backwards with a splash. “No! Dawn’s human, and I definitely didn’t have a kid. Not- just… no.” An implacable- disgust, bitter echoes of that same twisting grief churning in her gut. Mind strained at the edges of memory beneath reverberations, age-mended sorrow- it had been so long.
Remnants of memory of remnants…
Swallowing, Irida gently reached out- a hand brushing against Sable’s in inevitable tenderness as she grasped Sable’s claws to hers so very human . A soft smile bloomed, so exhausted real- in place of terror, the same conviction to simply help that had made her such a great leader in the first place.
“You taught Jubilife that pokemon weren’t to be feared. You showed the clans the strength to defeat Nobles, and used it for good- what kind of leader would I be if you showed me your form-” unsaid, her grief, her emotions - “and I abandoned it? You’ve never had anything but good lessons for us, Sable Foxx.” Sable felt as though her face was going to split apart from her grin so free.
Irida knew her, and, in the world’s end, hadn’t abandoned her. Something slowly drifted down from above, gently hovering between them- a folded paper one second, an impossibly cloying force the next, bound within something impossible. “You have done well, Irida. For listening to your emotions and trusting Sable, I grant unto you my plume. Go forth, mine heroes, and bind the world together.”
The brilliant light of psychic energy engulfed the room, the impossible majesty of a god , so vast- terrible and blinding-
When the light faded, they stood on the shores of Lake Verity, the small island in the center so very far away.
Sable wrapped herself in her illusion, then froze as Irida’s hand grasped her own, squeezing harshly until the visage of self shattered into mere wisps of dark-type energy. “Hey. I’ve seen it all already. What’s the point of having been through all that if you’re just going to hide?”
“...are you sure? You seem… uncomfortable.”
Irida glared at her in mock anger and all too real determination. “You’re my friend , Sable. I’ve feared Zoroarks for a long time- but I refuse to fear you.” Stubborn.
It felt nice, after Rei and Laventon’s reaction, to have someone figure it out and react positively. “Onto Lake Acuity, then?”
“Yeah… oh, oh! They’re not getting Braviary this time! Eat that, you wastes of space-” Sable laughed as she called Lord Braviary with the flute. This… this was what she lived for.
What she would bind the very world back together for.
………
It was only after Braviary landed beside the entrance to Uxie’s cavern that Adaman’s panicked gaze- “Where’s Sable? What happened to her-” reminded her she hadn’t reapplied her illusion. She quietly began backing off, only to pause as Irida physically pushed her forward.
It was impressive, how much she found herself manhandled by someone who couldn’t have even been a tenth as strong as she was. “C’mon, you’re not getting out of this-”
Adaman leaned forward, curiously wary. “I’ve never seen that kind of pokemon before. It looks… is that a zoroark ? Why do you have a zoroark, Irida? Is this like the time you dragged me into that eevee den-”
“No!” Irida blushed furiously, still pushing her forward until she stood mutely mere feet from an remarkably unimpressed Adaman. “That worked out in the end too, or do you not want Leafeon? This ‘mon here should tell you her story herself.” Traitor, her- she scowled, ears pressed back flat on her head and was so very thankful that zoroarks couldn’t blush.
“Um. Hello.” She waved sheepishly, watching Adaman stare at her in stupefied surprise. “It’s, uh, me. Sable.” Irida beamed. Dawn snickered. Adaman looked at her with an expression one step off from pure incredulity. “I was always a zoroark. I am not going to kill you. Uh, that’s about it.”
“...you’re still going to help us close the rift?”
“Yes?” Obviously. All the pokemon would die too if the world ended, and some of her best friends were humans.
“Then I’m going to ignore this until we’ve averted this crisis. We’re just waiting for Warden Ingo, now. Cogita said she’d get him.” Irida looked at him with wide eyes- apparently, that was a big deal - but right now it didn’t matter.
The hours passed as they waited for Ingo to arrive, during which the two clan leaders got up to some… well, they were very creative when it came to the illusion ability. “Ooh! Do Kamado!”
Sable spared Irida a weary glance. “If this is because you want to punch him, please remember that it’s still me beneath the illusion.” The Pearl Clan leader gave her the most innocent look, and with a sigh she wrapped an illusion of imperious sovereignty, the straight-backed aura of command Kamado carried around him. “You are harbingers of chaos -” she was cut short from her soliloquy by a punch to the face, dispelling her illusion and actually managing to knock her head back.
“Aww, you didn’t get the voice right.” Sable just bonked her lightly over the head- some zoroark could be almost scarily good at mimicking voices- even as far as copying pokemon dialects. Her… not so much. She’d always just been her . “Hm… can you do Glaceon?”
“She’s a bit small, but-” illusion pulled at her form in that not-transformation, and a near-identical ice eveelution stood before Irida. “There.” She held the illusion for a few seconds more, until Glaceon got tired of being outshined by herself and broke it apart.
“Do Irida .” Adman smirked as Irida glared daggers at him- but Sable had already thrown up her illusion, an identical copy of Irida striking a pose.
“You’re a waste of almighty Sinnoh’s space!” Adaman’s smirk dropped off his face, only to be stolen by Irida as Sable’s illusion twisted again, replacing the Pearl Clan leader’s visage with the Diamond Clan’s. “And you’re wasting almighty sinnoh’s time.”
“We do not-”
“We aren’t-” the two looked at each other, and broke out into laughter.
The sun had begun to set by the time Lord Braviary stopped by one final time, Ingo stumbling out onto the snow, uncharacteristically quiet as he stepped up to the gap in the boulder. “It’s time, then. Our tracks have come to this at last… let us continue on the route we’ve chosen.”
So it was. In tandem they stepped into the weird unreality of Uxie’s cavern, gentle light glimmering off the shallow water within. For a long second they stood silent before a shape rose from the waters beneath them, still and quiet for an echo of eternity.
She released Z, quietly ordering her to float non-threateningly behind her. “Lady Uxie.” Sable inclined in her head, receiving no response from the pokemon. “We come here for reasons twofold. Our memories have been tampered with, and the world itself is coming undone. We require the red chain, and humbly request your assistance in restoring ourselves.”
It felt as though there was an eternity of silence before the pokemon finally spoke. “Come forward. Sable-” overlapped in a single word, a single voice- “Ingo.” And again, three tones- “Dawn. I will test your knowledge.”
They stepped forward, the ripples of their movement through the water spreading in silent tessellations of overlapping waves. A gentle pressure forced them to their knees, kind, yet still demanding. Ultimate.
Uxie floated down in front of them, gently pressing a paw against each of their heads in turn- only breaking the process to activate miracle eye before doing the same to Sable. “Look at me, chosen, and see -”
Sable looked up, into brilliantly bright, eyes-
That showed-
Her-
The-
Universe.
……..
In 1804, mere years after the Unovan league opened general registration to all citizens after the catastrophic floods of 1799, Zorua took their first breath in the forests outside Nimbasa.
In 1809, Zorua was cast from her pack, to live alone amongst the humans that so fascinated her- for the zoroark of that time had not yet seen reason to ever trust those who had brought so much pain. She remembered the guilt, the sweeping adventure -
It had been so long, hadn’t it?
In 1810 her best friend, an eevee, helped her learn the language of humans. In 1812 she registered as the trainer Sable Foxx under the Unovan league, and set off on a journey with Eevee as her starter.
It has been a long time since she had thought of him. Let it be known, remembered; I never forgot you-
In 1813 she traveled to Hoenn with a team that had seen her through battles with veteran trainers victorious, to see the sights.
In 1813 she found Beldum.
-he who remained.
Later that very year, she boarded a boat to Sinnoh to test her mettle in battle.
On a cold December morning in1814, she first met Giratina- something so far beyond her that the echoes of that terror were still so stark in her memory-
That silly pokemon. To think he’d ever scared her…
He’d only wanted help stopping the conflict between two groups of warring pokemon. Over the next ten years, as she traveled to Johto and Kanto, to regions beyond and so many wondrous places, he came by more and more often. She got used to her role as a peacemaker between humans and pokemon. It was satisfying.
In 1825, the first of her pokemon- a bug-type- died of old age. She wept, and moved forward, a hole in her team and heart.
In 1826 she evolved into a zoroark.
Over the years, her interactions with the king of the distortion realm had shifted- from amicable businesslike efficiency to friendly banter, to silent understanding until they were almost family themselves. She had never known the danger-
I would do it again. No matter what- he deserved it-
In 1829, after returning to Sinnoh as a somewhat well-renowned trainer to dodge the Johto-Kanto conflict, she met-
Family-
Dialga. Palka.
Arceus.
I have never, before and after, felt so humbled by a single pokemon’s presence.
The memory was sharp in her mind. The Original One had looked at her once, then called Giratina away. Two hours later they came back together, and Arceus had explained to her a curse written in love.
Mortality is already fragile in the eye of evolution’s ascension; beneath the weight of a legendary’s purest desire it is far too easy for it to fall through the cracks entirely.
It is not a blessing.
She would know.
In 1833, her Serpirior passed away from sickness.
Oh, how I didn’t understand…
In 1833, she stopped identifying herself with the surname Foxx, and changed her illusion. She still helped Giratina- he was just too adorable when he asked to deny.
Years passed like water. I remember this… the knowledge that I would remain, a snarl in existence…
In 1856, she traveled to Kalos for the first time, and learnt about-
So much. So little. I was not alone. AZ… what a mournful man. We two were alike in so many ways.
Mega evolution. They were given a keystone, and wore it proudly on their wrist.
In 1864, her Liepard passed away.
In 1877, Eevee, now Espeon, gave her one last word of comfort before he died in a hospital. One by one, the rest of her pokemon followed until only Beldum, now Metagross, remained.
The years were long. So bitter- as the partners, the friends I had spent so much time alongside left me, so too did the humans I had met during my travels. The world was different than it had been.
In 1878, she traveled back to Unova for the first time in years to lay Eevee to rest where she’d been born. She knew nobody in her old pack.
I alone remain .
She helped Giratina often, quelling fights between pokemon and showing unruly trainers exactly what Metagross could do. Once again, she made friends amongst humans and pokemon, and fought for them-
I could never stop. I can never stop. I don’t want to stop.
In the early twentieth century she fought for Unova in the global wars, and for all her strength could do so little against the death around them. Giratina did what they could, but it was rarely enough. His siblings were busy enough preventing the truly world-ending catastrophes, and she found herself traitor to her country more than once to save enemy regions from devastation.
She no longer held allegiance to Unova, after that.
My official death happened during that first war. So many dead…
She made friends, again. They died, again, in the second war, in unsanctioned battles away from league jurisdiction, as age crept up on them-
I alone remain .
In 1945, she found a metagrossite, and challenged the Johto league- marveling at how much more organized it had grown over time. She made it through the gyms, but lost in the Silver conference.
That was fine. She’d never intended to win anyways.
She no longer wore her keystone around her wrist.
She built a house in the region’s mountains, and made her home there, practicing her illusions and helping Giratina whenever she could. When their duties permitted, she’d spend time with his siblings in Sinnoh.
Metagross never really got over how familiar I was with the legendaries. It was always somewhat amusing, to see him stumble over himself in respect for a pokemon I had watched a movie with only hours ago.
In 1963 she left her home behind, journeying across the world to meet with the other legendaries. Aside from a few notable outliers-
You, Groudon, Kyogre. The forces of nature, too-
The legendaries were generally rather nice.
In 1965, she met a man named Volo, who introduced himself as an old friend of Giratina’s. His Spiritomb battled Mega Metagross to a standstill in a fight that tore craters into the landscape under the two pokemon’s strength. It was the highest-level fight she’d ever been in.
How he could be so cheery, cursed as she was… he was a spark of light, his devotion to history so genuinely captivating. It was he who told me of the history of our kind.
I suppose the sheer shock he wore when he saw me makes sense, now. It’s amusing, to think I met him first.
The years passed so quickly.
In 2012 the world nearly ended atop Mt. Coronet.
This feels familiar, to what-
Let me work.
Very well.
It was one of her greatest regrets that she hadn’t been there for her family - but she met the girl who’d been there to save them. A girl, coordinator, now professional battler-
Dawn.
She is and is not.
I pity her.
She deserves it. She does not need it.
Two and a half years later, after the Masters 8, she met a boy and his pikachu, mortality long since torn asunder, and told her of the curse of those who’d drawn too close to the event horizon of gods.
She remembered what Volo had told her, and passed it on… He was so cheerful, even then. Everyone liked him. Even Groudon and Kyogre could agree that he was pretty cool.
They held a party- she remembered that well. Volo had roped AZ and Floette into attending (somehow- the man was more reclusive than pokemon who literally buried themselves underground), and they had the most fun she’d had in decades.
Time passed. the three of them- not AZ, of course, who’d dropped off the map again - occasionally in contact. For the most part, though, she’d been alone with Metagross in her house in Johto.
In 2017 Giratina came to her in desperation, begging her to help her fix a mistake-
In 2017, Sable Foxx bid farewell to Metagross, with only her pokeball affixed around her neck-
In 2017, the king of the distortion world, with a helping hand from the Original One, sent her back in time.
In 1516, a zoroark woke up in the obsidian fieldlands with three things- her name, a strength settled neatly beneath her skin with the silent ease of long practice, and a mission: protect the girl who’d fallen.
………
Sable opened her eyes to her home in Johto, and knew instantly it was a lie. Nothing laid beyond her windows- only a sea of stars and shifting psychic distortion, and her mirror lay in shattered shards on the floor. “Uxie.”
“You’re an interesting woman, Sable.” The spirit floated over to one of the plush recliners, eyes closed once more. “Rarely have I met a more knowledgeable person. On that alone I would have given you my claw, but you came with memories bound.”
“To prevent a paradox.” She remembered Giratina’s rationale, and chuckled softly as she realized she couldn’t hyperbeam Giratina the next time she saw him, because he’d likely be entirely innocent. “I take it that means I won’t remember this?”
“You will, eventually- once you return to your time.” There was a moment of silence between them- “you did well to seek me out. Ingo’s psyche hung on by a thread, and Dawn’s was bound together only by Arceus’ divine intervention. As we speak I am repairing them to what they should be.”
“Thank you.” She meant it.
Uxie gently floated over to her, pressing an envelope into her hand. “For seeking knowledge to help others. For your curiosity. For your responsibility. Seek us at the shrouded ruins, and let us bind the world together.” Light bled through the windows in brilliance, like the dawning of a new day-
She smiled. It was so beautiful.
………
Sable woke in the snow on the shores of Lake Verity beside Dawn and Ingo, Uxie’s claw clutched in her hands and the conviction to seek out the shrouded ruins burning in a mind oddly at peace.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
They have only told me that I shall understand in time.
Notes:
This is actually one of my favorite chapters, plus now you guys get to know Sable's backstory.
I was actually looking through the wiki when I stumbled on AZ... existence. Everyone talks about immortal volo but nobody mentions him. poor guy.
Chapter 18: Three, Reforged Whole Again
Summary:
“What’s going on?”
The entire table looked up with a sigh of relief. “Sable! You’ve arrived at our station at a very good time, yes. Captain Cyllene has just sent us an urgent message- Commander Kamado has ascended Mt. Coronet to slay whatever lies beyond the rift!”
“What.” She gaped for a long moment at the sheer stupidity of such an idea. It was as if the man didn’t realize he was trying to stop the end of the world by ending the world. “That’s- idiotic."
Chapter Text
Sable felt much the same as she ever had, but the others… it was as though they’d been made whole . Gone was Dawn’s timidness, the echoes of uncertainty borne on the cusp of a blank mind- the confidence of a champion remained, alongside the perfect grace of a once-coordinator.
Her entire team seemed more lively as she forged through the snow, racing at the heels of the willpower she’d always had, backed up with the implacable weight of experience . Even the clan leaders could see it, the subtle ways in which she asserted herself, driving forward with a refusal to fail-
As the flying-types took them into the red skies over Hisui, Sable could only describe as though she were more alive .
Ingo, on the other hand, was even more obvious. He’d always had the commanding presence, the depth of skill to drive his pokemon to greatness, but after the Uxie had mended his aura, he was consistent in a way she hadn’t seen before.
They landed just outside the Ancient Retreat, a group far more lively than when they’d left despite the end of the world above them. A part of them had been restored, and the exuberance of that had yet to fade.
“Cogita! We have reached the destination called victory! The components of the red chain are ours!” With Ingo… he was still as loud as always. Sneaking up on Cogita was something she really doubted they’d have been able to do anyways, but Ingo’s exuberant greeting managed to cause Volo to jump from his chair in fright, and that was pretty funny.
Cogita hadn’t even flinched at the sudden noise. Gently, she set her cup of tea down on the table. “Very good, then. Are you all well for the trials to come? To seek the favor of the lake guardians is a perilous task indeed.”
“All safety checks were performed! We remained on track the entire time!” Dawn pulled out Azelf’s fang, and Sable gently placed Mespirt’s plum and Uxie’s claw beside them, illusioned fingers mere inches away- just in case. “We are ready for the next step!”
“You know it already.”
Sable did . “The Shrouded Ruins. I believe they’re in the mirelands somewhere?”
Cogita sighed, a bitter frown marring her face with a strength of emotion Sable hadn’t expected from the old woman. “Be wary in that forsaken place… go alone, and face the consequences of your actions.” That was all she said on the matter. Irida and Adaman shared a grim look, but spoke no more-
Dawn and Sable flew from the retreat across the vast emptiness of the mirelands, teeming with life hidden beneath the terror of a shattered sky- Sable on Braviary, illusion long since dropped, and Dawn on her Staraptor. The waters beneath them reflected the ending above-
It was barely any time at all before they landed on a hill of crumbling ruins and sundered stone, long decay heavy in the peaty earth beneath them… The echoes of a forgotten past clung wearily to flagstones half sunk into the mud, pale white rock glinting red like smears of blood beneath the fog and firmament.
Braviay bowed to nothing in the mists, and left with a beat of his wings. Staraptor fled to her pokeball. Z took one look at the ruins and disappeared into hers as well.
Alone, together, they walked into the sea of lonely pillars. “This is it, then.” Dawn’s voice was so very soft , despite it all- yet so rich with a trepidation, with emotion that had always been there, hidden beneath the veneer of memories lost. “The red chain. Before Uxie, I don’t think I truly understood the meaning of this, but…” she shuddered, whatever fragment of memory skimming beneath the surface clearly an unpleasant one.
Sable tried to remember herself, but the twisting headache returned in full force and only the faint trepidation seeped through- for what, she didn’t know….
Forward they strode through the mires of mist, and the crumbling ruins of a civilization long since dead, until they stood atop the tallest pillar of pearly white stone. Beneath them the fog drifted in an endless layer ethereal, silhouettes of broken things softly highlighted against the dark gray.
Three pokemon hovered in a ring before them, silent as they met again- the lake guardians, together. Sable got the impression of vastness just looking at them, a subtle power but divinity nonetheless. “Guardians.” She dropped to a knee, and after a second Dawn did the same. “The trials are done. The red chain must be forged.”
“Very well. You have proved your emotions are true . ” Mespirt’s plume broke into a scattering of crimson dust, a thousand glittering specks that ascended to the sky in looping revolutions-
Azelf drifted forward, gently placing a hand on the side of Sable’s muzzle. “ Oh, mine hero of will, you have never let yourself fail. Your conviction inspired even the young champion as her memories betrayed her. Never forget the strength of your determination, Sable. One day, we will see you again. ” She floated back to the other guardians, eyes shining with a terrible joy. “Very well. You have proven your will strong.” Her claw broke into that same drifting of scarlet crystalline shards and tumbling dust, spinning in another circle-
Uxie was the last of them, as always. “Do not fear. Eventually, your memories will be returned to you. He is not cruel. You have proven your knowledge just- very well. The red chain is yours.” The last item broke into dust, and the three sparkling trails spun and spun, morphing and becoming more as the lake guardians forged from their aura links of gemstone bloody red.
The red chain, whole once again in all its terrible beauty, dropped into Sable’s claws- and she knew exactly why Dawn had been scared of the thing. As much as the plates were terrifying- this- this was infinitely worse . She felt the sheer power of what she held, the greatest binding in the universe, and knew that with it she could sunder the world apart. It horrified her.
Uxie and Mespirt disappeared in the flash of teleportation, leaving behind only Azelf for a moment more. “ Be strong. The chain will serve its purpose, and no more. ” Then she was gone too.
Sable and Dawn shared a glance, then looked to the chain that would bind reality in Sable’s hand. “We’ve done it.”
Dawn released Staraptor, grim look plastered onto her face. “Yep.” Staraptor cawed in fear as soon as she saw the red chain, only calming when Dawn scratched the spot on her neck she liked so much. “Now we have to use it.”
………
They arrived back at the Ancient Retreat to a commotion. Apparently Cyllene’s abra had gone and decided that the end of the world was probably a good time to stop being lazy, and had teleported over with a desperate missive penned by the captain in an uncharacteristically sloppy scrawl. Cogita was actually scowling as she read the message, the others crowded around her with expressions that varied from fury to horror. “What’s going on?”
The entire table looked up with a sigh of relief. “Sable! You’ve arrived at our station at a very good time, yes. Captain Cyllene has just sent us an urgent message- Commander Kamado has ascended Mt. Coronet to slay whatever lies beyond the rift!”
“ What. ” She gaped for a long moment at the sheer stupidity of such an idea. It was as if the man didn’t realize he was trying to stop the end of the world by ending the world. “That’s- idiotic."
“Stop. Him.” Cogita’s words were quiet, but the sheer force behind them set the entire gathering running, repacking their bags as they prepared for an emergency departure. “Kamado cannot be allowed to continue on this course. The fate of the very world rests in your hands, chosen.” She sipped her tea, a subtle trembling the only visible effect of her anger. “ Go. ”
The clearing erupted into a cacophony of noise, and then they were off.
………
Far above the world, Lord Braviary landed none too gently on an outcropping of snow and rock that might have once been a path, followed by an eclectic smattering of other large flying types. There came a point as one ascended Mt. Coronet that the very air thinned, too tenuous for flight- perhaps a Garchomp would have made it higher, but the steep slopes of Mt. Coronet’s lofty heights would have to do.
“Good flight, Lord Braviary! Quickly now, Dawn, Sable! Full speed ahead!” Ingo released his Machamp with a crack of smoke, racing ahead of them. “I will ensure our route experiences no delays- to the peak!”
Irida gave them one last wave before running after Ingo, followed quickly after by Adaman and Volo. “Meet us at the peak! Let Staraptor recover her stamina- we’ll hold off Kamado until you get there. Save your strength- you’re the ones the world relies on.” Dawn and Sable spared each other a single glance before setting off after the three rapidly retreating trainers at a brisk walk.
Above them, the sky bled oppressive anger, furious energy that prickled with the inevitability of annihilation, like entropic decay- white snow stained scarlet by the light of distortion. A chill wind whipped into them, throwing up flurries of snow as they approached their penultimate destination, the stone portal that would take them to the very heights of the peak.
A boundary- beyond this, the locus of inevitability drew close with the sundering of sky. Kamado could not be allowed to fight… she winced as memories pulled softly at their bounds, and shook the implacable feeling of attention …
No-
Something was wrong-
She leapt in front of Dawn mere moments before a blade could slice through her back, the knife dispelling her illusion and gouging a shallow line down her fur. Night daze bloomed around the attacker- and it was only when the furious swirl of dary-type energy faded that she realized she’d just used a move on a human . “Beni?” The man groaned, holding a hand tight to the bloodied stump of his arm. “ Why? Why would you try and kill Dawn?”
“...I must… stop your progress. Such was my… task.” His free hand grabbed one of his pokeballs, casting it open with a burst of smoke and the undetectable pinkish light that signified a psychic-type move (at least to her. Someone who wasn’t a dark type might have described a crushing pressure.) When the smoke faded Beni was gone.
Not good.
Very not good.
Dawn took a shaky breath from where she’d been knocked to the ground, standing with so terrible a determination in her eyes. “We need to continue on. We don’t have time for this… Kirlia, keep watch and alert us if they’re trying to teleport back for another go.”
Kirlia burst out of his pokeball with a serious expression chiseled into his face. “ Alright! Should they try and attack you again, I will rend them. Limb. From. Limb .”
“I’m not sure what you said, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t good news for Beni.” Sable chuckled- but spared no time to elaborate as they jogged up the stone portal, reapplying her illusion as they raced through the tunnels-
The temple of Sinnoh stood vast above them, an imposing edifice of structure built to impossible perfection, glittering bloody in the light of the swirling rift above. The security corps stood at nervous attention behind two figures in shadow, nervously glancing to the sky then back to clan leaders before them.
Irida’s voice cut clarion clear through the roar of the rift. “-can’t do this! You’re fools if you think this will work! The very world hangs in the balance- you seek to doom us all!”
“I will save us.” Kamado’s black armor gleamed in the distorted light, reflecting worlds apart as the universe came together as it had so long ago, with Mt. Coronet at the center. “I will call down the pokemon in the rift and slay them, and without their power the rift will be gone. We will have peace! ”
“You will sunder the world in your hubris.” Adaman was softer, but no less damning. “Step aside for the lake guardians’ chosen. This is your final warning.” The security corps tensed at the threat in his words, his three eeveelutions settling into battle positions behind him.
“So you wish to bring this to a fight. So. Be. It- but your fight is with me. ” Kamado cast out a pokeball, revealing the immense form of a Braviary. “Air slash on Leafeon.”
“Dodge! Umbreon, dark pulse!” Sable raised a pokeball as if to intervene, only to barely knock aside a Gallede’s blade, stumbling again as a dazzling gleam blinded her for a few crucial seconds. “Dawn! Your pokemon!”
Luxray exploded from her ball as she threw it, crackling arcs of electricity striking the two psychic types as Kirlia blocked Beni’s dagger, retaliating with a brutal kick that sent the already wounded ninja skidding across the ground with a smear of blood.
“If- if I don’t make it out of this… alive… then I will have served my loyal master… well.” The man weakly tossed two more pokeballs, releasing the last of his team- a Sneasler and a Mismagius. “Kill… them.” His breath rattled weakly as he dropped off to unconsciousness, blood loss from her night daze exerting its dominion over him weary, all too human body.
The battle between her pokemon and Beni’s was almost terrifying in its fury. This wasn’t the sort of challenge where a human could stand back safely- Beni’s pokemon had been trained specifically to be assassins of the highest caliber, and it showed in the way they took every shot at Dawn they could. Bronzor and Kirlia played the most important role in holding them off, but it was only when Irida’s Espeon managed to make his way over to Dawn’s side from the furious battle raging between Kamado and the clan leaders that they managed to get the upper hand.
They only managed to win when Kirlia evolved into Gardevoir, furious psychic strength blasting aside Beni’s pokemon, who’d never been trained for battle . “ I told my trainer I would tear you asunder, if you dared- ” Beni’s Gardevoir backed away in fear, shimmering light coalescing in a weak dazzling gleam that splashed ineffectively off a sheen of psychic. “ Future. Sight-”
“Enough, Gardevoir. Don’t kill her.” Gardevoir scowled, but moderated the attack so it only knocked the other pokemon unconscious. She looked over to where Beni stared silently up at the sky, his Gallede patching up his wounds as the psychic-type motioned he was out of the battle. “Let’s go help Irida and Adaman with Kamado.” They raced across the last few crags of rock to the base of the temple of Sinnoh where six eeveelutions faced down a team of far more powerful pokemon, and in the totality of their trainer’s conviction were almost winning .
Ingo and Volo were desperately holding off the rest of the security corps singlehandedly- Volo looked somewhat terrified about fighting off Jubilife, but when it came down to it he was almost as good as Ingo at battling. The security corps weren’t giving their all, either- it was pretty clear that not all of them- Zisu included amongst the reticent- were entirely on board with Kamado’s plan.
“Conversion.” Z floated up above her head, reconfiguring in a sheen of crackling electricity as she scanned Luxray beneath her. “Formatting… complete. Electrical typing acquired. Please stand by. Lock on.. .” Across the battlefield, Kamado was the first to notice the new addition. “Lock acquired. Zap cannon. ” A crackling beam of electricity crashed into Braviary, a snap of thunder echoed in stunned silence as the bird thumped to the temple floor. “Warning: this unit will proceed to eliminate targets until effective opposition has been destroyed.”
“Snorlax, high horsepower! Follow with a giga impact!”
“Bronzong, intercept .” Snorlax’s charge was met with an explosion of steel-type energy from a repurposed heavy slam, sending both pokemon skidding away from one another. “Frost- do what you need.”
“Yes! I got this! Uh- torment!” Snorlax keened as its energy seethed beneath Zorua’s move- “and… leer, I guess. You’re too normal for me to do much…”
“ Huh. Weak -” and that was when Z’s zap cannon blasted him into the ground with a clap of thunder. “ Rude. I’m going to- ” Sable’s hyper beam slammed into him, and he wavered for a bit before slumping back to the ground. “ I forgot Beni told us that… ” then he was out.
A third shock cannon sent Kamado’s Clefable flying, followed by a heavy slam that knocked her out. A water-type attack from Dewott combined with a final attack for Bronzor knocked out Golem just as the last of the clan-leader’s weaker eeveelutions was knocked out in turn. “You’ve lost, Kamado.” Behind him, the security corps began to recall their pokemon. “Your idea was terrible from the start.”
“I will admit to the superiority of your battling. Sable and Dawn were always good at understanding the beasts… but that’s because Sable’s one herself, isn’t she?” He laughed as Irida and Adaman and Irida grimaced. “You all saw! She used a move! ”
“That isn’t important right now-“ and as much as she hoped the others would agree, she couldn’t help but see their glares of blatant fear, anger . She could feel the suspicious stares, but with her pokemon at her back none dared to challenge her. Behind her Dawn desperately worked to distribute potions amongst their teams, healing up the worst of the damage and preparing for whatever laid ahead. She held up the red chain, and watched as all the pokemon still on the field, friend and foe both, flinched away.
She herself could feel the impossibility, bound within gleaming scarlet loops and cascading from her hand, humming with power as she walked up the great steps of Sinnoh’s temple, each further stride like walking into a furnace hotter than the sun. Dawn and the clan leaders trailed behind them, the terrible dissonance of the space-time distortion above palpable even to their human senses.
Sable stood still atop the world’s peak, and waited for the calamity.
A long moment passed with only the sickly pulse of the rift before Irida gasped, doubling over in pain as she clawed at the ground. When she spoke, it was with a million discordant tones, infinite inhumanity- a voice that Sable knew . It felt- familiar. “ Chosen . ” Adaman and Dawn flinched back from the Pearl Clan Leader, but Sable just smiled. This was a friend. “My brother has been struck frenzied.” An immense pink dragon pulled itself from the rift, a presence so impossibly magnificent, like the breadth of the universe condensed into a single being. “I will hold back his presence from rending reality. You must quell him .”
Irida slumped to the ground, strings cut as Palkia landed before the temple of Sinnoh, a legend made manifest before them. “I can only wish you luck. He approaches-”
The world split apart, and Primal Dialga stepped into the universe to the sound of sundering skies.
Chapter 19: Look At Where The Time Has Gone
Summary:
She would not allow this frenzy to hurt-
Memories not found. Family.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Primal Dialga hovered above the temple of Sinnoh, a twisting incoherency in the world- Sable caught a single glimpse of his form and knew instantly that it was wrong . Distorted- some awful equine mimicry of greater power- yet the strength of its presence was undeniable.
The moment of silence ended as Primal Dialga roared , a furious not-sound that tore the world apart. Palka thundered in response, yet for all her power Dialga’s attack slammed into the temple of Sinnoh, blasting it apart and grinding it down to dust and ancient age, crumbling remnants of centuries passed in an instant.
Palkia pressed down on the space around them, counteracting Dialga’s influence. “Weaken him! Then bind him with the red chain and banish the frenzy! Quickly!” She sounded scared - and that was enough to kick Sable into action.
She would not allow this frenzy to hurt-
Memories not found. Family. “Z! Lock on and destroy! Bronzong, follow up with extrasensory. Frost, torment-” a beam of brilliant energy slammed down Dialga’s maw, dragging a line of complete annihilation through the temple ruins as pokemon scattered away. Time turned wobbly for a second, as though they were moving in slow motion as an immense aura sphere slammed Z into one of the pillars.
“Ouch. Ow.” Z struggled up, reasserting its flight in arcs of converted electricity- “Lock on. Searching… no effective attacks found in database. Shock cannon .” A bolt of electricity skittered off Dialga’s body, followed by Bronzong’s extrasensory.
Another beam of that terrible, deific energy coalesced in front of Primal Dialga’s maw- only for Frost to twist the aura of a legendary in torment, sending the entire world around them spinning in mirages of a thousand seconds undone.
Frost screamed as he collapsed to the ground, only barely managing to drag himself up from something more and less than a move, a sheer dominion over time itself. “ I’m fine …” he panted for breath, the wisps on his body settling as Dawn’s team took their chance to attack. “ I remember well the nature of zoroark… live, die, and pass down the malice of a cruel world. ” Frost smiled cruelly as he stood on shaky legs. “ Bitter. Malice. ”
Icy ghost-type energy engulfed Dialga’s form, sending the legendary reeling into Gardivoir’s dazzling gleam. Luxray short arcs of scintillating energy into the air, skittering sparks sliding off the lord of time’s body.
Time-
The world flickered- Dialga stumbling in exhaustion as a scattering of brilliant steel-type attacks exploded out from its form to strike down against the pokemon who’d dared take to the field against it. It wasn’t the sheer power of Dialga’s roar, but Frost was knocked out entirely, only saved from another attack by Irida’s quick thought to throw a revive his way. The same couldn’t be said of Staraptor, who tumbled out of the sky behind a pillar- safe, but unreachable beneath the distortion of time around Primal Dialga.
They were getting somewhere, though- the attacks were wearing on the deity just a bit more than his was on their pokemon. Palkia was holding. “Z, Frost! Tri attack then follow with a bitter Malice!” Dialga stumbled to a stop-
Reality flickered.
Sable understood what happened, memories from- some place, undefinable- of a blue dragon explaining the sheer impossibility of their power. None of the others, bar Palkia and their keening sorrow, got it- but as the Primal Dialga of minutes past stood from where they’d been battling the Dialga of now …
They couldn’t beat this.
They didn’t need to.
Sable let her illusion slide off her body as she threw a night daze at the frenzied dragon of time- memories unbound by Uxie for this very moment guiding her hand. She’d been told this before- as subjective and true time oscillated, eventually the loop would close itself, future past-Dialga subsumed entirely in the paradox of its existence.
She just needed to hang on for a little bit longer .
The sky above them shifted and tore, cracks racing outwards as Dialga roared, slamming a claw wreathed in steel type energy into her body and throwing her back. She wasn’t as powerful as her own pokemon- in this moment, to continue risked far worse than mere unconsciousness- but she would not let her team down .
A beam of steel-type energy lanced down-
Gardevoir stumbled as protect flared around them, deflecting the attack. “ For the us, Sable. We can do this. ” They were weary- but they would not lose . It wasn’t even an option. Bronzong tolled in psychic strikes- Z directed Frost and Luxray in perfect strategy extrapolated from Sable’s command- Dewott spun in a swords dance before throwing out a hydro pump-
Primal Dialga crashed to the ground as the paradox of its desperation caught up to it, and Sable cast out the red chain.
The world snapped silent as it wrapped around Primal Dialga, scarlet links binding its movements and bringing it to a stop. For an eternal second nothing beside Primal Dialga’s struggles, Palkia’s beaming power, and the two chosen who’d fought against a frenzied god could move. Palkia’s power radiated off the two mortals, not- in waves, and she was sure even Dawn could feel the strength binding her to existence as they walked together to stand before the towering form of time’s lord.
“End his frenzy. Bring him back to us.” Space twisted, and a balm dropped neatly into each of their hands. It smelled of sand and time, gears and ancient things…
Sable and Dawn knelt together, twisting echoes of time that could rend apart a world caught by the red chain and Palkia’s power and neutralized. She’d stood before frenzied nobles, but this… this was so infinitely more . “Dialga.” Sable was the one to talk, as memories pulled at the edge of her mind. “Come back to me. Please-” and in unison they drove down the balms.
Dialga’s frenzy drifted free of him in the glittering brilliance of shifting form, shattering the red chain with the echo of a task completed. “ Sable… ” His voice resonated sonorous, but carried only to her. “I cannot thank you enough for this. This version of Palikia is not the one you know- she will not remember you, as the one who was brought before us- but I exist outside of time. ”
“Could- could you send us back?”
“ There are still tasks left to do, friend. Once the world is safe, father will send you back. Be strong. ” Sable wiped a tear from her eye, and embraced Dialga as well as a tiny ‘mon like her could. “ I am free .” He roared, and as Palkia roared in tandem, the sky stitched itself back together, bloody distortion fading to the peachy orange of a new morning. “Thank you, Dawn- and… we’re sorry.” Time shivered around Dialga, and then he was gone. Palkia bowed low to Dawn, before disappearing much the same.
They stood and watched a new day dawn- clan leaders and heroes, Wardens and traders, pokemon and Galaxy Team soldiers, a wounded ninja and his loyal commander-
Together.
Alive .
Nothing had ever been sweeter.
Notes:
I took a few liberties with how the battle goes, most notably with ignoring the origin ball thing and having Palkia just be less... randomly antagonistic? Idk I just mostly felt like the red chain is far more appropriate as a method of quelling dialga's frenzy than the origin ball. That's literally it's job, why is some random pokeball made with plot deviceium ore the solution???
Well, at least the end of the world is finally over, with absolutely no gods left to fight whatsoever. Maybe Sable can finally catch a break.
Chapter 20: Mended
Summary:
It grated- but it would be worth it, if she got to stay with Dawn. “I accept. Thank you, commander.” She bowed before stalking out of the room. She had better things to do than appease a paranoid man’s suspicions.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the journal of Sable Foxx:
If one can emphasize, the motivations of even all people, even the most cruel, will eventually make themselves known.
………
As dawned new the day, so did the world rejoice. The security corps were far too exhausted to try and back their defeated commander against the two who’d defeated Primal Dialga - she suspected they didn’t really want to either- and with the word of the clans behind them Kamado really had no choice but to admit he might have made a tiny mistake in trying to kill one of the beings that were obviously holding the world together.
Moreso, the security crops had seen them save the world. Dawn was their hero, their champion in the moment- her exile would have been forgotten even without Kamado’s somewhat insincere apology. She… Sable got the impression that this mistrust had never been something new .
It still hurt, though, to stand apart from the Galaxy Team soldiers as they descended the mountain, cheering in the exuberant vitality of their continued life mere feet from a battle to decide the world’s fate… “ Hey! Don’t be all-” Frost nipped playfully at her illusion, scattering it apart as tumbled alongside her. The Galaxy Team members beside her, all but Laventon and Rei, flinched back. “ They might have abandoned you, but you still have us! That’s enough .”
It was. Laughing, the soft, yipping sound of a fox’s mirth, she plucked frost off the ground and held him tight to herself. “Of course.” It would have to be.
………
Kamado’s office was much the same as she remembered it- even the end of the world hadn't done much to change the neat organization, the quiet serenity of absolute control that the commander tried to display. “Sable Foxx. You were never very subtle about it, were you?”
“You didn’t figure it out until Beni literally stabbed me, so I suppose I was doing a good job.” Kamado scowled, and she winced a bit at that particularly blood memory. “...sorry about that, by the way. I wouldn’t have used a move on a human if I knew.” The ninja had recovered, somewhat, but there wasn’t much anyone could do for his missing arm.
At least he could still make potato mochi? That had to count for something … by Kamado’s expression, she could tell it really didn’t. “I called you in here to talk about the conditions of your continued stay in Jubilife. We’re grateful for your assistance in closing the rift, but your… unique nature makes you a potential threat.”
Sable narrowed her eyes. “I’m a person. Just like any of you.”
“Remove your illusion.” She hesitated for a moment, but ultimately let the dark-type energy fade away to reveal her true form. “You understand how this makes you look, correct? You knowingly deceive your commanding officer in regards to critical information.”
“Laventon knew.” She wouldn’t mention that Dawn knew, too- that wasn’t something she wanted to burden the girl’s shoulders. “Rei knew too, eventually.”
“I will talk to them separately.” Kamado sighed, looking for all the world as though he wanted her to be- not. There, or preferably, alive- it was a look she’d gotten used to from the commander, but it felt different after her exile- however brief. “I’ve discussed with Cyllene-” good. That ment whatever he was going to say wasn’t going to be entirely foolish- “and she argued for allowing your continued presence in the village.”
That was good. Cyllene… she’d never had any particular opinion on her, but her abra had been integral in saving the world. That had to count for something, surely. “What do I have to do?”
“You’re getting off light, for this. While in Jubilife, you will not drop your illusion- this village was made to see people safe from pokemon, and to do otherwise would unnecessarily distress them. You will use no attacks, and act as human as a pokemon can.” Rude, but understandable. Jubilife… they were better, but they were still terrified of pokemon. Having literal deities tear the world apart over their heads likely hadn’t helped matters all too much.
It grated- but it would be worth it, if she got to stay with Dawn. “I accept. Thank you, commander.” She bowed before stalking out of the room. She had better things to do than appease a paranoid man’s suspicions.
………
Zisu was the second person to corner her after their return to Jubilife, during a lull in the preparations for the festivities. She looked… nervous, and Sable could help but silently sigh at the annoyance of it all. At least none of them were trying to kill her. Or exile her. She’d already had enough of that for the month.
She dragged her back out to one of the training grounds, looking anxious all the while. “Sable. Uh- you’re a…”
“Zoroark.” Zisu winced as she spoke. “I always have been. Do you need my help for anything?”
“No, I… I guess I can understand why you lied to me, but it’s a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.” She pulled a pokeball off her belt, releasing her Zoroark in a crack of smoke. “I didn’t realize, when I was giving you that talk about zorua…”
“Frost is a good kid.” Zoroark looked at her with a faint interest before turning to his trainer with a quiet question. “Your mistake was assuming that Zoroark, even Hisuian Zoroark were uniformly evil. Nothing is ever that simple.”
“ Oh. It’s you again. Do you have the kid with you? ” It was an idle comment, the sort of thing pokemon just asked , confident that their trainers would at least get the gist of some .
“He’s in his pokeball right now. If you want, I can send him out.” Zoroark’s maw dropped open as he stared at her in shocked silence, and even Zisu couldn’t help but crack a small smile at his antics. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
She thumbed open Frost’s pokeball, releasing the zorua. “What… oh! Hello, Zoroark!” His human speech wasn’t perfect yet, but it was getting there. “Did you see what we did at the rift! I fought Dialga!”
“ You did good, kid.” Frost pranced about happily at the praise as Zoroark returned his attention to her. “ So… you’re a zoroark, then? If so, you’re really good at your illusions. I wasn’t even able to tell .”
“Yeah. I am.” Zisu looked at her askance as she responded to Zoroark- just a little suspiciously, which garnered a sharp laugh from Zoroark. “I’m the dark-type kind-” Zoroark perked up a bit in confused interest at her assertion. “According to Bronzong, Hisuian Zoroark came around after the clans first immigrated.”
“ That’s fascinating. I take it you’re not allowed to show your true form within the village? ”
“No. Talking to you is probably pressing the boundaries of what I’m allowed to do, but it’s not in public- we should be fine.” That bit at her more than any of the other restrictions- she was content in her inhuman humanity, but to treat her friends , her companions like mere beasts- it grated on her.
“ How ironic. ” Zoroark’s laugh was bitter, echoing the malice that was the harshness of Hisui. “ I am forbidden from using the illusions of our heritage, and you are locked into a falsehood self crafted. Be wary of them. They turn on you so easily… ” he brushed a claw across Frost’s fur, before gently shooing him back to Sable’s side.
Sable nodded to Zoroark, ignoring Zisu’s faint unease. “I’ll keep your words in mind, then. Thank you, Zisu, for allowing me to speak with him.”
“It’s… no problem at all.” The security corps captain returned Zoroark to his pokeball, leaving without a further word- with the faintest impression of distrust.
She didn’t see her again throughout the entire night of festivities.
………
Fireworks exploded in brilliant color in the air, rainbow color that drifted down as the crackling sparkle of pyrotechnics told the story of their victory. The festivities to celebrate the closing of the rift were the single most chaotic Sable had ever seen Jubilife- it felt like all the people of Hisui had come together, just this once.
It probably wasn’t even wrong - both of the clans had brought all they could give for the celebration, and the Ginkgo guild would go wherever there were people to sell too. Clan music mixed with the eclectic multiculturality of Jubilife, chipper tunes from Johto and Kanto competing with stately Hoenn music, Galarian songs racing over Hisuian folk tunes.
Laughter spilled through the air as easily as exuberance- the joyous kind only those who’d seen tragedy and survived could pull off. Sable stood at the edge of the warm lantern-light and smiled as she saw the people she’d protected- all Hisui- finally just enjoy life . With the clans there, even her pokemon could relax alongside-
“Trainer Sable!” She jumped in startled shock as a voice cut through the silence around her. “Are you not enjoying the celebration? Come, join us wardens! All aboard!” She barely had a chance to protest before Ingo gripped her hand almost hard enough to break her illusion, dragging her away through the crowds to the silence outside Jubilife.
The first thing she saw were the nobles, all ten sitting in a loose circle on the sands of Prelude beach, the sort of large pokemon that would never be allowed in Jubilife. Avalugg himself stood in the sea, little more than an immense silhouette against a starlit sky.
She saw the Wardens next- all ten of them. They were currently busy ribbing Palina and Iscan, subtly making ‘accidental’ jabs at their ‘very secret relationship’ and watching as they suffered. Melli was getting it, too- Lord Electrode kept rolling around to keep the man from running from his torment.
“We have reached our destination! Hello, Wardens! I’ve brought Sable with me, if you don’t mind- she appeared to dislike the busy festivities, and I thought our gathering would make for a more suitable stop.” Ingo shoved her into the ring of Wardens and pokemon, and she was pretty sure the wardens were in sync with their pokemon enough to understand the laughter they spared at her expense.
“It’s her! ” Eyes blown wide, Gaeric scabbled backwards on the sand, splashing through the ocean for a bit to clamber onto Avalugg. “What are you doing here?”
Ingo scowled, which wasn’t all that different from his usual expression in the first place. “That was impolite, Warden Gaeric. Trainer Sable is a remarkable battler… and a great person! She sought out Uxie to help me enact necessary repairs on my car.”
“I- I get that, but she’s inhuman I swear.” The man looked actually terrified of her, which was enough to make her withhold laughter. Sabi was howling with mirth at the buff man’s fear, and Iscan looked as though he wanted to get on Basculegion and run. “She climbed Avalugg’s Legacy. Without help .”
“Hmph. She may be strong, but that doesn't set her above us . The great Melli would know.” It took her a few long seconds to identify that as the man defending her.
“Trainer Sable has made it very far despite her handicaps!” Sable opened her mouth as though to stop him from speaking, then thought better of it and sent a quelling look at her own pokemon behind her. Might as well- they’d find out eventually. “Despite the many suspicions she received helping…” he trailed off, and Sable looked to Bronzong in concern- but the steel pokemon softly gestured that it wasn’t anything to worry about. Just a fragment of memory, as hers were- “helping, she managed to reach the destination called victory! Bravo for Sable!”
The rest of the wardens cheered as Sable blinked in surprise. Huh. Uxie’s restoration had certainly helped him when it came to understanding what he wasn’t supposed to share- which was annoying, because she’d been somewhat counting on him to blurt it out. Sighing, she let her illusion drop. “I’m a zoroark. That’s why I managed to climb the glacier.”
Gaeric squeaked in shock, and that was enough to set all the other wardens laughing. “I knew it- I thought you were- possessed by an evil spirit or something- but you are one!”
“I’m an Unovan zoroark-” it sounded right. She wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but she was sure as to its veracity- “we’re not ghosts like Hisuian zoroarks- I’m a dark-type.”
Melli huffed, sitting back against Lord Electrode. “Well, obviously. You’re too stubbornly idiotic to be evil .” She shared a glance with Ingo, who appeared just as confused as she was. Melli as peacemaker, who would have thought.
Sabi was still laughing, and Azeru still looked uncertain, which left Mai as the one to stalk through the waves and drag Gaeric off Avalugg and back onto the beach. “She’s still Sable- or are you going to throw out Ingo, too? What if I was a zoroark?”
“You’re not.” He looked at Mai’s grin, and paled. “You’re not, right? Please tell me-”
Mai whacked him lightly over the head. “You’re way too jumpy with this whole thing- sit still, or I’m going to go tell Irida someone swapped your mind with Iscan’s. You’ve known me forever- of course I’m not a zoroark.” The clearing erupted into laughter, human and pokemon both-
As Lady Sneasler admonished Ingo for causing trouble and Sable worked with Z to help translate Avalugg and Bronzong’s stories of times long past for the eager wardens- she felt the soft pressure of all the little suspicions, the silent distrust Juibilife had levied towards her fade-
She smiled, and simply enjoyed the night as fireworks burst through the air, and they celebrated the end of an age.
………
Cyllene found her as the morning dawned bright, golden sunlight spilling over the rugged horizon and spilling, so scarlet red yet still purer than distorted skies. Inexpressive as ever as they watched the jew day rise. “I don’t trust you.”
“Why’d you speak up against Kamado for me, then?”
Cyllene sighed, not quite looking at her- something between angry and disappointed. “You saved the world. Personal bias should not hold weight in a judgment of one’s character- and I can believe that you truly meant no harm. I simply cannot trust you. Most of what I thought I knew about you is entirely false.”
Sable grimaced, subtly tugging at the edges of her illusion. “I’m still myself.”
“I don’t think you understand… you and Dawn never truly did. Pokemon are a thing to be feared .” It was Cyllene who didn’t understand, but then- none of Jubilife ever did. “ A single creature, even the smallest of them with an incredible destructive potential. Have you ever seen a hyper beam tear through a company of soldiers? It isn’t a pretty sight.”
“Pokemon are just people, half a step again to the right. You’ve seen it yourself, how much they can help us.” A world- apart, identical yet infinitely different. She got the faint impression of memory, but little more. “It’ll be different one day. You already value pokemon for what they can do.”
“An utopian vision.” Nevertheless, Cyllene inclined her heat in slight agreement. “Perhaps you’re right, though. You’re wrong too- I would fear a group of humans with such power as much as I do the alpha pokemon of Hisui. I don’t distrust you because of your motives- I simply cannot bring myself to trust someone who can so easily make themselves a lie.” Such was the crux of the matter.
Sable let a bitter grimace wash across her face, clenching a hand for a short moment before- a breath, a silent moment centering herself, and she let the acrid feeling of rejection silently drain out of herself. She got the faint impression of familiarity from the action, engraved in the long furrow of endless repetition. “Thank you for speaking with me.” If she sounded cold, then- she was already distrusted, wasn’t she? “I have some things to take care of, and I’m sure you do as well?”
Cyllene nodded softly. “I merely wanted to be honest with you about how this changes our professional relationship. I can admire what you’ve done, Sable. I simply don’t think I can admire your nature. Have a good day.”
How it’d always gone-
Been meant to-
Sable sighed, echoes of a memory on the edge of her mind disintegrating unfound as she left to her dormitory. She was simply so exhausted .
………
Sable groaned as someone knocked- loudly - on her door. Seriously- it was like… only a few hours after sunrise. Surely she deserved a bit of rest after the whole saving the world thing? Whoever it was knocked again in their conviction to see her suffer, and Bronzong clearly agreed as he dragged her out of bed. “Fine, fine , I’m coming!”
She threw open the door, only to come face to face with Volo , who jumped back at the sudden movement. “Sable! I finally managed to convince Ginter to let me come- you have no idea how much leeway I’ve gotten now that I helped you close… the rift.” His expression flickered, unreadable for a small moment at the mention of the world’s distortion. “Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to go on an archeological expedition with me.”
“What kind?” She was, frankly, not feeling up to seeking out a bunch of ancient ruins right now. It was interesting- but archeology wasn’t where her true passions lay. “I’m somewhat busy with the professor right now- Dawn’s been working hard to fill out the rest of his pokedex.”
“That’s no problem- I wanted to seek out the rest of the plates.” Fool. You fool - that was power best left alone. She almost denied it out of hand, but this was Volo. “Each of them have given such incredible insights into the world as we found them- I was thinking that with them all together we might be able to understand the whole of creation. Plus- perhaps they would help you get back to your own time.”
There was a long moment of silence, Bronzong hanging in the doorway behind her in an anxious hover at what he’d heard of the trader’s plea… perhaps it was a bad idea, but Volo had been so earnest in his earlier help searching for the lake guardians.
Perhaps this would bring her home. Perhaps it would bring Dawn home.
She nodded, and watched Volo’s face bloom into an exuberant smile. “Sure. Let’s see what we can find, together.”
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
I am set apart in many ways, but the worst of them are not the ones that would see me dead- it is those who simply do not, and do not wish to, understand.
It has been a long time since I was truly a part of society, but I have not forgotten how well people can dispose of that they do not wish to see.
Notes:
Sable: saves the world
everyone else: we don't trust you
:(
Chapter 21: Hunt For the Holy Plates
Summary:
“I do not believe this unit was ever trained to the standards of champion-level battling. Suggested action: train us until this team is the strongest it can be.”
Bronzong tolled in exuberant affirmation. “It’s been a bit grating, seeing Dawn’s pokemon slowly creep past us. I think it’s time we really put some effort into this.”
Sable glanced around, but only got determined affirmation in response. “Alight, then… how about we start with one of my favorite moves…”
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
We can always blind ourselves to the truth, sometimes. Yet in our struggles we make great things- and in our journeys we meet wonderful people. I cannot, will not ever deny that the people I knew were as wondrous as the very firmament itself.
………
Cogita, apparently, was the one most knowledgeable about the plates. She was a bit exasperated about Volo’s interest- apparently the plates had long been his favorite thing to pester her about, but with Sable’s presence she was willing to entertain the notion.
She gently sipped her tea, looking at them with the grave seriousness of someone who knew exactly the horrible power of the plates. She was perceptive, for a human. “Long ago, the plates were scattered across Hisui… great treasures unknown to those who found them. The ten Noble pokemon were blessed with a divine mandate to help humanity, but the rest… hm, seek out the alpha vespiquen in the fieldlands. I remember that much, at least.”
Volo sputtered something indignant about why she should have told him that, and Cogita ignored him. It was honestly kind of amusing. Well- they’d defeated Primal Dialga- how hard could an alpha vespiquen be?
………
“Distortion damn it, duck! ” A massive wave of wind from an organized gust attack tore through the air above them, sending Togekiss and Z head over heels into the hillside a hundred feet away. “We need to get rid of the Combee before we can take the plate!”
“ Treasure. Ours. Treasure. Ours.” Sable paled at the repeating chant, ducking out of the way of a storm of struggle bug attacks. Vespiquen wouldn’t be a problem- but the combee sure would.
“They didn’t like that! Bronzor, gyro ball into the combee wall! Frost, follow up with a shadow ball!” Togekiss followed Volo’s commands to hit them with an air slash while they were down, and then they were locked in a mad struggle with the scattered combee, their attacks less powerful apart but so much harder to dodge.
Two brutal hours later, the combee swarm lay defeated, and Vespiquen was about to get it- air slash descending on the tail and of Z’s explosively strong zap cannon. It was honestly a bit of a challenge not to go for something more… permanent- the Vespiquen had nearly blinded Volo twice during the battle.
Nevertheless, they walked away with the stone plate.
………
Cogita laughed when she told her the story, and told them to face Kamado next. She challenged him on the first of the month, as the sun rose over Prelude beach, her three to his four- a battle that glassed the sand with lichtenberg figures in the echoed shadow of lightning and scattered the sands beneath the the strength of their pokemon.
At the end, the won- but barely . “Hm. You’re a strong trainer indeed.” Snorlax crashed to the ground, chest rising in exhausted gasps as unconsciousness snuck up on him. “Good.” The praise was extremely grudging. “Even frightful creatures like pokemon can become powerful allies. You’ve made a good case for that yourself.”
“The plate?”
“Fine.” The word was practically spat. “It serves no use anyways. Merely a trinket found by Beni and I when we first stepped onto the shores of Hisui.” Kamado surrendered the fist plate with a scowl and turned to stalk off, ignoring the crowd which had grown to watch the match. “May it serve you well, in whatever your task.” His words dripped with a sort of half-vitriol, a silent disdain as he left to Jubilife.
Z was on a loopy logic thread trying to recover from her confusion, and Frost kept trying to talk to random people- but not in Galarian. Bronzong was the only member of her team that wasn’t entirely out of it, and it was entirely with his help that she managed to extricate her team from the beach without further incident.
Thirty minutes later they crashed into her dormitory, exhausted to the bone and one plate closer to their goal. “That was far too close.”
Bronzong rolled a soft chime as he settled into the corner of the room. “ Indeed. Kamado is a startlingly good battler when he is not blinded by his irrational prejudice- though, we also had a slight disadvantage in number. ”
“ That was embarrassing. He just sent out his snorlax and- punched me! That hurt…” Frost pouted adorably, but the potion she was carefully applying to his bruises- hopefully there wasn’t a broken bone in there- made it significantly less so.
“Affirmative: analysis suggests our performance was adequate, but cross-referencing stored memory from incident: vs. Dialga suggests we participated a statistically significant amount less to the battle than Dawn’s team on a per pokemon basis.” Z sounded mildly upset about that, which from any other person could’ve been taken as extreme rage. “I do not believe this unit was ever trained to the standards of champion-level battling. Suggested action: train us until this team is the strongest it can be. ”
Bronzong tolled in exuberant affirmation. “ It’s been a bit grating, seeing Dawn’s pokemon slowly creep past us. I think it’s time we really put some effort into this .”
Sable glanced around, but only got determined affirmation in response. “Alright, then… how about we start with one of my favorite moves…”
………
Cogita’s next task was to challenge the lake guardians , which was a level so far beyond fighting Kamado that she took a month off to train with her team against Ingo and Dawn, carefully formulating strategies and working on her pokemon’s strengths.
Life back in Jubilife was stressful. Nobody besides the professor and Rei really trusted her- Beni actively refused to serve her at the canteen, and she honestly couldn’t blame him. As the winter snows turned from flurries to blustering gales she ironically spent more time outside , off wandering the Coronet highlands and the icelands to test her team against increasingly strong pokemon.
It was only when she was able to constantly defeat Dawn’s team (Luxray was not happy) that she decided she was ready for the lake guardians challenge. The caves opened for her much as they had before, a perfect reality revealed as she stepped in. “Azelf. I’ve come to challenge you.”
“ Oh? Very well, mine her of will- prove your power in battle! ”
“Bronzong. Standard-” Volo watched from the back of the cave as her team struggled against something legendary , weathering each of its ridiculously overpowered attacks. Protect sheared up around Bronzong as a perfect hammering of swift stars swirled around him in mesmerizing patterns, vast will just holding them back until Bronzong dropped the barrier- only for another to block the attack.
A beam of psychic energy physically cast Bronzong into the wall, despite its almost complete non-effect on the steel/psychic pokemon, followed by another sea of swift stars. It was a desperate struggle, wove in her split second commands that sent Bronzong neatly dodging, followed by crashing steel-type attacks reinforced with psychic bindings that could never hope to hold a legendary, but stayed resolute for long enough .
Bronzong wanted to win, and he didn’t- but that was okay. He had his team behind him.
Frost went second- torment twisting the legendaries aura much the same as it had Primal Dialga’s, followed by leer and taunt to trip her up for Z. A brilliant mystical power swept him off his feet before he could fire off the attack he’d been working up to- but that was okay. He had his team behind him, and what he hadn’t finished- Z would .
Z unfolded onto the field in perfect synchronicity, blocking mystical power with a precise sheen of protect. “Lock on.” Azelf threw a psychic attack at her, batting her into the wall- but too late to stop the move. “Charging. Stand by: hyper beam .” Volo shouted as he clapped his hands over his ears in the background, the roar of energy exploding from Z’s form spearing across the room and slamming Azelf into the wall. “Question: would you like to continue?”
“ You have proven… your will… and your desire to make your partners unfairly… strong. ” Azelf pressed a hand onto her head as Sable held herself back from snickering, pulling out super potions for her two downed pokemon. “ Go forth. To the others… challenger, chosen- seek and you shall find. ”
………
Two harrowing battles later, the draco plate hummed hymns of celestial power in her hands.
………
Firspit island was their next battle, apparently. It was both easier and harder than the lake guardians- Heatran was not so ancient a being as those who ruled the mind, but their sheer power was something to watch in awe.
The very volcano trembled as they battled, Bronzong protecting Z as she slammed hyper beam after hyper beam into a pokemon that just wouldn’t stay down , supported by Frost’s efforts to break through their defense. Eventually, though, they managed- Heatran dived beneath the lava, and when it resurfaced it was with the Iron plate in offering to those who’d bested it.
………
The soft sound of Dawn scribbling down notes about the various pokemon she’d fought for the plates filled the room- the scratch of a quill on paper quietly cutting through the oppressive silence between them. The whisper of Z’s- significantly more successful- efforts at teaching Frost echoed from the other room, a fragment of myriad sensations- still air on zoroark fur, the far-off remnants of a bustling village, the call of wild pokemon.
It was everything, and nothing. Jubilife, yet no longer home . Dawn scribed down a final note, glancing up at Sable for a burdened, long second before daring to speak. “Is that everything? Your illusions were very… helpful.” Dawn winced a bit at the reminder, and Sable fought to restrain a sigh. Such was the nature of this place, forsaken. “...do you want to move onto Heatran now?”
“I’m not quite feeling up to it right now.” Bronzong subtly pressed forward from where she leaned against the metallic pokemon, no doubt enveloping her in psychic comfort imperceptible to a dark-type. His physicality would have to suffice. “I’ve had a long few days.”
Dawn scowled , champion’s steel unburied in an instant. “Who was it this time?”
“Zisu has been acting antagonistic, but today's annoyance was Tomma. One of Pesselle’s assistants- his ‘ care’ wasn’t much help at all. He clearly didn’t want me there.”
“He’ll-”
“It’s fine.” It was, really. “Pesselle reprimanded him, and helped Frost quickly enough in the end. He wasn’t even being malicious, just… annoyed. It wasn’t anything.”
“It’s always something.” Dawn set down the quill she was holding before she snapped it. “It's as if they’ve forgotten entirely exactly what you did for them. They have nothing but praise for me, the field assistant , but for the one who fought gods personally …”
“Leave it alone. It’s not worth it.” She’d just wait, until even the memory of them… her head hurt. “If I were to take offense, then there’d be something for them to truly dislike. They may dislike me, but they’d never attack me.” Or drive her out, again- “not so long as I remain human .”
“That’s unfair.”
“Of course it is…” Sable sent her a look , a simple understanding that now wasn’t the time. “Heatran, you were saying?”
“...fine. Just remember that there’s people out there who don’t dislike you. The wardens, Adaman, Irida… me.” Dawn reached out, flinching back after a mere second- but Sable gently rested her claws against her arm. “I… thanks. I can’t help but worry about you, you know?”
“I can take care of myself. Heatran?”
Dawn snorted, gently picking up her quill once again. “Sure-” and for a long moment they simply let themselves enjoy the sanctity of their lab, their little world beyond Jubilife and wounds too deep-
The soft sound of Dawn scribbling notes filled the room- the scratch of a quill on paper quietly cutting through the oppressive silence between them.
………
“ Why do you seek the plates?” Cresselia floated serenely above Moonview arena, gently hypnotizing waves of psychic energy brushing across her mind. Volo had been indisposed, so she’d come alone- and she was glad for that. This was not something she wanted the man to… see…
She woke in a vast void of white, pokemon by her side with Cresselia nowhere to be seen. A dream, then- honestly, she was grateful that Cresselia had made it so obvious.
“Analysis: analyzing- internal processing failure. Logical failure. State: current system checks do not match reality. Help.” Z flitted around in a panic until Frost bit down on one of her legs, dragging her to the ground. “Thank you. I have come to a conclusion- we are not where we were.”
“We’re in a dream.”
“Unit: Porygon Z does not dream.”
“How sad .” The whisper was everywhere and nowhere, vast and in the small of their mind. “ You truly believe that… all beings dream. Even those wrought in code, whose sleep cycles are mere organizational periods… you have ambitions, wonders that ever play on the edge of your mind. A dream can be anything .” The white bled away to a visage of a thunderous ocean, floes of ice shifting across the waters.
A desert, so vast and empty.
A forest, verdant and overwhelmingly green, bleeding to jungle to alpine cold, to boreal majesty.
Plains, landscapes-
The cratered surface of the moon.
“ The world is beautiful, is it not? ” Sable couldn’t help but agree. She’d known that- within herself, but this was still… special. “ You have a good heart. I have heard great things of you, Sable Foxx- do us proud. Bear well this burden .” Something cold pressed into her hands-
She woke holding the dark plate in her claws, impossible force of energy roaring through her body. She felt as though she could do anything - and that terrified her.
She clutched it tight to herself, and left Moonview arena in silence.
………
The burning light of a hyper beam exploded from in front of Frost, cutting a line through the iceland’s frost as it struck true to the target in the distance with a roar of brilliant heat. “ Not… enough .” Fifty feet away from them, the chunk of ice he’d been practicing against stood resolute- “ I won’t let that ice win! Hear that, glacier!”
“Yeah! You got it!” Togekiss twirled midair as she cheered, sparkling with eager energy as the zorua charged another hyper beam. “ Just go- like, bam- pow! And then you’ll get it! ”
“Yeah!” Another hyper beam, a lance refulgent in blinding reflection- another blow to ice, stronger but not quite strong enough. “ Just wait! When I’m done with this nothing’s gonna be able to beat us! ”
Togekiss drew to a pout, hovering close to the zorua to help him aim. “ Volo will! Just you wait, he’ll show how good of a trainer he is one day …” Another-
“It’s cold out here.” The blonde trainer in question shivered, snow crunching beneath his feet as he stepped up beside Sable. “Togekiss is having fun, but I swear Garchomp would kill me if I had him out of his pokeball.”
“Nah. You’re pokemon adore you- they’d follow you to the ends of the earth.” She snorted as Volo found a particular patch of ice very interesting. “They can’t but return the love they’ve been given.” In the icy snow before them Togekiss twirled about again, this time chased by one of Frost’s ghost-type attacks- both pokemon laughing as they tumbled about.
Volo’s smile was fainter than his usual exuberance, but all the more real for it. “Thanks. You’ve been kind to me, despite everything…”
“You’ve done nothing wrong, Volo. It’s the others that have let their prejudices cloud their interactions with me.”
“...right. Of course.” The trader was silent for a long moment, in thought before his normal exuberance returned to him. “I’ve been thinking about Cogita’s latest clue- Snopoint, of course- don’t you wonder what it was like in its prime?”
Sable shrugged. “Not particularly. I’m more of a problem-solver than a historian- just, sometimes-”
“The two overlap. Of course.” He smiled, and the way he was so absorbed into his passion was almost infectious. “Imagine the temple before it fell to ruin, whenever that was… it would be majestic, would it not? So much of the world now lies in ruin… is it not a tragedy?” Sable nodded absentmindedly as she corrected Frost’s hyper beam just a bit more. “Sometimes, I wonder what would happen if the world was simply… different.”
“We always work to end suffering where we find it. One day, perhaps, we’ll see the Other and want to work together.” A final hyper beam cut through the air, shattering the ice where it struck. “And that’s what I call progress.”
Volo’s face twisted into a pained sorrow, just a moment- an echo of indecisive emotion altogether before whatever moment of weakness passed back to his normal exuberance. “Of course. I was thinking- perhaps to find the next plate we need to investigate that strange lock…”
………
Her fight with Regigigas was the most intense yet. In Snowpoint temple, past the door that had been locked before, through winding rubble to a grand area- and there lay the progenitor titan, the one who shaped continents. It felt almost as though she was battling Dialga without Dawn’s support, standing against overwhelming force and desperately hoping they could defeat it.
The first time she fought the titan, she lost. The second time, she just barely won- but to Regigags, that wasn’t enough.
Four months later, after completing the frankly ridiculous challenge Ingo put out for her with her pokemon and helping Dawn complete most of the pokedex, she obliterated him. Future sight exploded large enough to engulf Regigigas, twice again as powerful as it had been before. Z’s strategies were refined- no longer just something she directed, but something she led , an individual symphony of precise strikes.
Regigigas simply gave her the blank plate without a word, and returned to their slumber.
………
Cogita stared at her with heavy eyes, occasionally glancing down where the blank plate sat still, so very real in her hands. “So you’ve done it… I should have known.” A faint smile cracked across her face as she stood, returning with the cutting board from her tent. “I’ve been using this for a while- but seeing all your hard work, I’ve realized this piece of junk might just be one of the plates.”
Volo scowled in indignation as Cogita handed the pixie plate to her, before storming off with his Togekiss in a huff. Sable made to follow, then paused- in the still glade of someone whose presence pricked at the edge of memory, she turned back to face Cogita. “You knew, didn’t you?”
The wind whispered, and Cogita was still as she stared heavenwards. “I know many things.”
“About the pixie plate. You’re observant, for a human.”
Cogita nodded, firm and so painfully slow. “It’s almost over… I knew a great many things. I know Volo carries a great weight with him, to prove himself to the world. I knew you weren’t human the moment these eyes of mine saw your form. I suspected what caused the rifts the first time I saw them… I knew the pixie plate was one of Arceus’ divine treasures.”
Slowly, a pokemon drifted down from above, wispy cloud billowing around a shrouded pink body. “ She was a good friend, for the eons she walked by my side. You may not understand this now… but when the time comes that your memories return to you, cleave close to those who share your curse. Do not walk the lonely road as she did. ” A legendary- the power was unmistakable.
Sable nodded mutely. What else was there to do? Besides… the time to return home was fast approaching. “Thank you. For all you’ve done.”
“You’ve done much yourself. Do Sinnoh proud, Sable Foxx-” and that was her final mission, from the one who told her to seek the plates, and the first from someone whose voice softly echoed in the wonder of being free .
………
Sable found Dawn organizing starters for a group of children who’d just recently turned ten- a turtwig, chimchar, and piplup who’d volunteered to get to know humans better. She’d been working so hard to get the humans to accept pokemon, that only Sable’s pointed intervention had reminded her she’d have to convince the pokemon too.
“Dawn?” Piplup and Chimchar looked up from where the girl had been fretting over their pokeballs, following the weary gaze of the young woman herself. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I’ve found all but the last-”
“Really?” A beaming grin split her face as she tackled her into a hug, breaking her illusion. “That’s amazing! I assume you have a lead on the last one?”
Sable nodded, unable to resist a soft smile of her own. “Yeah. Volo asked us to meet him at the top of Mt. Coronet with the plates. He said he had a lead.”
“That Mt. Coronet? Is this Volo person one of those weird humans- ”
“ Obviously, you lump of earth. She wouldn’t disguise herself otherwise-”
“Hey! ” Turtwig bit at Chimchar, which somehow devolved into a mixed battle-argument about whether or not Volo was human, zoroark, or some type of other pokemon between the starters.
Dawn and Sable glanced at each other, their exuberant happiness billowing out to full blown laughter. At the end of it all- they’d made it, and if that wasn’t a reason to just be happy than she didn’t know what was.
Tomorrow, they’d meet Volo at the ruins of Sinnoh’s temple, together.
Tomorrow, the final plate they needed to travel home would be hers.
Tomorrow, it would all end.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
All journeys come to an end; for good or ill.
Notes:
That's the plates done, and of course Volo's gone out of the way to seek the final plate. What a helpful, friendly guy with no ulterior motives whatsoever. Yup. None.
Chapter 22: Like Pillars Now Turned Into Spears
Summary:
“Did we not have a god for that? Did Arceus’ light not shine down on his devoted people? Each further corpse, each skeleton left to rot, further wove the surety of our abandonment.”
Volo cast his cloak aside, turning- a furious look on his face. “Looking for this?” In his hand, he held the fathomless purple of the spooky plate, and the air hummed with the concentration of the plates’ power. “I will be the one to bring them all together!"
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Crystal blue skies stood above them as they climbed the last few steps to the once-temple of Sinnoh, scarred and pitted from the recent battle with Dialga. Faint wisps of clouds hovered so far below them- the whole world, spread out beneath the sundered ruins of the divine.
Sky’s biting chill hung around them, the roar of the winds across the stones a silent echo of creation’s howl. Sable could almost feel faint memories burning at the edge of their mind as she and Dawn stopped mere feet from the temple ground’s cracked edge, the precipice on which Volo stood with a cloak for warmth clutched close around his shoulders. “Volo! We made it!”
The trader didn’t look back, the snap of his cloak a sharp contrast on seconds of exhausted silence. “Such history… the temple lies in ruins now. Columns cracked and broken, like pillars turned into spears, stabbing into the heavens in the blind rage of their desecration. How fitting.” He shifted, a little echo of such weary sorrow- “all history… falling apart. We’re always too late . Once, my people held dominion over the land- and now, they are reduced to mere whispers and ruins.”
“I wondered, once, what wonders we could make, if I could but undo the mistakes of the past. It was an idle fantasy of mine, as Cogita told me ancient stories of my people, as I hear the mournful history of this land’s crumbling wrecks .” His voice, already uncharacteristically weary, grew bitter at that last one. “Did we not have a god for that? Did Arceus’ light not shine down on his devoted people? Each further corpse, each skeleton left to rot, further wove the surety of our abandonment.”
Volo cast his cloak aside, turning- a furious look on his face. “Looking for this? ” In his hand, he held the fathomless purple of the spooky plate, and the air hummed with the concentration of the plates’ power. “ I will be the one to bring them all together!”
Sable backed up a step in horror, eyes wide. “What are you doing ? You can’t mess with the plates like toys - you could very well bring about the end of the world!”
Cackling laughter burst from Volo, as though she’d said the funniest thing to have been spoken. “Do you understand? Our world had already ended the moment Arceus left us to our own destruction! I will create a new world, with neither pain nor suffering. You, me, and everyone we’ve ever known will disappear in an instant- and be reborn in the ascension of a perfect realm! We’re so close, Sable- we can stop everything! ”
“You’re delusional.” The binding of her memories were beginning to come undone, all but the last few decades- she had seen the rise and fall of empires and ideologies, lived through decay and stately grandeur- “It’s the struggle that makes this world so beautiful. The progress, despite it all. To make a new world without that would be as terrible as remaking the world without spirit.”
“So be it! I… I don’t want to do this, but I will take your plates from your cold, dead claws ! Togekiss- attack!” Sable cursed, sending out Bronzong to deflect the blow. “Air slash!”
“Protect, then heavy slam!” Togekiss tumbled backwards- “Now, Z, standard!”
“Lucario, close combat!” Z screeched in digital cacophonies of pain as the super-effective move slammed into her before she could lock onto Togekiss, only for Luxray to slam into the flying pokemon with a wild charge. “Togekiss, dodge-” Volo snarled as the friendly flying type crumpled to a heap at his feet, quietly leaning down to give her a revive. “Try again .”
“Z! Dodge!” Another fighting-type move barely missed, sending spiderwebs of cracks through the temple’s stone. “Standard! Frost-” she threw out her last pokeball, the crack of smoke fading to reveal the furious eyes of a zorua- “Back her up! Why are you doing this, Volo? You know this can never end well! You helped me seal the rift!”
“He needs this. Doesn't it sound amazing?” Togekiss threw herself into the air dodging Bronzong’s steel-type attack and swapping with an Arcananine who’d leapt onto the field to fight against Staraptor. “A world without pain and suffering. How beautiful!”
“Regroup!” Z twirled behind Frost as the fighting-type attack he threw dealt nothing against the zorua, then screened Frost from crunch’s dark-type energy as they backed up to position themselves around Sable. Bronzong was struggling as he fought against Arcanine, until a hydro pump from Dawn’s side of the field crashed into the dog and sent him reeling just enough for a future sight to knock him unconscious. “Defend each other while Vollo focuses on Dawn’s team. If you find a shot, take it-”
“Lock on.” Z’s projected expression was hard . “ Zap cannon .” Togekiss keened as it fell from the air, landing with a thump only for Volo to throw it another revive. That was frustrating enough when Dawn did it- with an actual enemy… Staraptor fell beneath Togekiss’s attacks as Frost was sent skidding across the stone by Lucario’s punch, and Dawn released Gardevoir-
That was it. There was no one left to call.
“Frost! Take down Lucario with Z!” Frost nodded as Z shifted her attention to protecting the zorua from Lucario’s dark-type attacks, locking onto the fighting pokemon.
“ You will never defeat the righteous cause- ” he grunted in disoriented pain as leer pierced his defense, then screamed as bitter malice engulfed him in freezing ghost-type energy. A single more dark-type attack sent Zorua skidding across the ground, unconscious- but it was enough for Z’s victorious intonation of zap cannon to reach Lucario just before the brilliant beam of electricity knocked him out.
Sable gently pressed one of the two revives she’d brought with her into Frost’s paws, cursing a spiritomb erupted out onto the battlefield in front of Bronzong. “Frost, Bronzong, switch!”
“Lock on. Calculating trajectory… firing: zap cannon. ” The beam of energy sunk into Togekiss’ feathers, and this time when she fell she was too far from Volo to revive. “Prime user. I am capable of eliminating the primary enemy.”
For a moment, the thought tempted her. “...not yet. He’s… I don’t know why he’s doing this, but I won’t kill a friend that easily.” Gardevoir felled Spiritomb with dazzling gleam, then crumpled as Roselia dealt the last bit of damage to knock him out. A garchomp erupted onto the field, deftly dancing through the battlefield and delivering punishing blows to any why dared fight against it. Luxray fell beneath his claws- twice- and a third, when Dawn no longer had revives to use.
It was Z who finally cornered Garchomp much the way she had the first time they’d met, perfectly precise beams of energy corralling the dragon-type into a confrontation with Bronzong and Dewott. Roselia fell last of all, desperately fending off a slew of attacks with incredible skill- but not enough.
It was done. Volo panted in exhaustion from commanding so many pokemon in the furious speed of battle as Sable gently handed her last revive to Dawn. Her team was battered, exhausted- but standing. They’d made it through, and Volo hadn’t. “Why?” Sable’s voice silenced through the post-battle stillness. “You were my friend , Volo? Surely, there are still some things worth it in this world?”
“No… no. I cannot accept that. I will not accept this!” He straightened, a look of mad fury in his eyes. “I never intended for anyone to be hurt. It would be new, unmade in an instant… but his power only tore space and time asunder-” and Sable knew him well enough to know truth - “It was supposed to be me, Arceus, and…” he laughed, low and hysteric, a crescendo building-
“Destroying the world and making it anew won’t solve anything.” She carefully applied potion to her pokemon, healing the worst of their injuries as she spoke. “You know this- you had so many dreams that you told me of! Stop this madness- make your better world the same way we all do- one step at a time.”
Volo’s laughter paused for a moment, a look like regret flashing across his face before it hardened. “It’s much too late for that, Sable. This isn’t finished yet… too much has come together to make- now, this very moment. Can’t you feel it?” A subtle prick across her fur- “the chill creeping through your veins?” Wind whistled across the spear pillar, a breath of something ancient- “that eldritch presence icing your heart?” Volo’s smile was as wide as it had ever been, a furious cant to his eyes- “Giratina! Strike them down !”
Space tore open behind Volo in a roaring vortex as a god emerged to his call, crimson red and black, gold , and its roar echoed in vast tessellations of a legendary’s power. She could feel - deep within herself, the creeping eternity of distortion, that this being was Dialga’s equal, frenzied… and she wondered if it was even a battle they could possibly win.
Well. At least she’d been given the opportunity to punch him in the face .
“Lock on. Warning: no effective moves found. Stand by- shock cannon .” Electricity snapped off the dragon’s skin, met in turn by an immense aura sphere, a blinding planetoid of energy slamming into the porygon and knocking it to the ground with brutal force. “Ow. Significant damage sustained.”
Sable grimly held up her pokeball, returning the digital pokemon. “Return. This isn’t the fight for you. Frost! Torment, then bitter malice! Bronzong, support!” The torment hit, but the moment ghost-type energy erupted around Giratina he disappeared into a swirling maw of shadows that somehow felt all too horribly familiar. “Dodge!”
Giratina erupted from the reverse world with a dragon claw just barely missing Frost as he tumbled across the ground. Dazzling gleam from the recently-revived Gardevoir skittered off its scales. Perhaps…
Shadow ball crashed into Bronzong with brilliant force, crushing his protect knocking him out in an instant. Such was the power of a legendary, of this legendary. “Giratina! Why are you doing this!” The dragon cocked his head at her in silent confusion, as though stunned someone would ask it anything.
“... I was, once. If Arceus has abandoned his creation, then why can I not have my own? I will make them suffer so much less!” He was so earnest about it- like a twisted version of the friend in her memories.
“You’re not a bad pokemon, Giratina. You don’t have to go through with this.” She could see Volo scowl- clearly he’d heard the tales of the renegade. “This isn’t the only way to make the world better.”
“ I must. For millennia I was locked away for my crimes against the Celestica. The world deserves better than this- pale husk of their memory .” The battle resumed with furious strength, a brutal, desperate struggle as Sable and Dawn’s team vied against one of the very forces of creation. Another dragon claw attack crushed down onto Z, knocking her out as the dragon of creation panted in exhaustion. “ I will… oh… I wish, trainer who can understand, but I must do this! Volo’s will is mine.”
“Tremble at the renegade’s might! See- see the new world!” Volo’s voice cracked, smile fading away into a wide eyed- terror, sorrow, exuberant joy as he threw a glittering stone through the air- and when it struck Giratina the entire world trembled. Sable understood what he’d done-
The griseous orb had undone Giratina’s binding to the world. The very skies turned dark above Mt. Coronet as the reverse world drew to syzygy with reality, shadows lengthening in impossible ways as Dawn stepped close to Sable. “This is it, then… let me show you the power of a champion! When I defeat you, you’ll have no choice but to confront the fallacy of your plan!”
Giratina hovered in the air above them, tendrils of shadow hoving behind them in the promise of power- it felt like looking into the sun. Volo didn’t laugh, this time- he simply stared up at Giratina in enraptured awe. “You assume… that you can defeat me.”
The renegade struck, and then they fought, three pokemon against the very cosmos. Dewott was the first to fall, impaled on a spike with only barely enough potion to keep him together. Then, Gardevoir, blasted back with a sheer wave of brilliant power, crushed into the stone and left unconscious. Finally, Frost- as the battle drew to its last legs, god and mortal both slouched in exhaustion- an earth power swept him off his feet and knocked him out.
Then there was only one remaining. Terror warred in her chest- she wasn’t a battler like her pokemon- but this was the fate of the world . “Dawn. I’m going to need your help here.” The young woman nodded in resolute determination as Sable shed her illusion, stepping out onto the battlefield before someone wasn’t yet, always had been, could still be her friend. “Giratina… this isn’t the way.”
“Sable, dodge left! Respond with a night daze, quickly- then, duck! ” She rolled beneath a sweep of those vast, clawing wings, dark-type energy seething beneath her skin from the dread plate erupting into a massive night daze. An aura sphere almost hit her, “now, night slash! Then agility, as much as you can!” He was still held beneath Frost’s torment, and Dawn was taking full advantage of that.
“Giratina! Stop this!”
She ducked and rolled, body straining with speed as she dodged out of the way of a portal to the reverse world. “ I can’t. This is what I was meant for. This is what I am! Volo is the only kindness in my world- my family hates me. Banished me. I… I just want something better.”
“They don’t.” She hadn’t even hit the dragon with an attack, but he reeled back as though struck. “You’re wrong. They love you more than anything- they’ve been waiting for eons for you to return to them.” Giratina’s attacks were sloppy now, and agility only made hers more precise. “You still have family. Don’t end the world before you get to know them.” A final night daze crashed into Giratina, sending him crumpling to the ground with a furious roar that only another pokemon could have identified as sobbing.
“ I… are you… please tell me you aren’t lying.” The distortion faded from the sky, crystal blue reasserting itself over the peak of Mt. Coronet as Giratina gently pulled himself up. “ You weren’t, weren’t you? I… I’m sorry for this. Hold it against me, if you must- but Volo was always kind. ”
Sable cracked a soft smile as she rested her claws gently on Giratina’s gold, a soft motion of comfort. “Of course…” the dragon looked up into her eyes one more time, then leapt into the air, swimming away into the distant skies.
“Why! Why! I… how could I fail… I…” Volo crumpled to the ground, angry tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “So this is the end of my history. I always knew it was going to end up here in some way or another but… here. Take it.” He held out the spooky plate, and Sable didn’t hesitate to take the artifact from his hands. “I am nothing, now.”
“You still have your pokemon. Your friends .” She crouched beside Volo- then, on a whim, drew him into an embrace, feeling his clammy skin press into her fur with silent trembles. “Changing the world is an admirable goal. One day…” her memories burned- “one day, the Celestica’s might will be overshadowed again. One day, new societies will rise- and won’t that be wonderful?”
“Yeah…” Volo smiled, laughing- but it was a pure laugh, a relief. “I think… I think I would like that.” He gently pulled himself from her embrace, returning his pokemon to their pokeballs as Dawn did the same for theirs. “I… I need some time to think about this, but… you’ve shown me a great many things. You’re a good person, Sable. Better than me.”
“That's the beauty about an imperfect world. We can always change.” Volo nodded in distracted solemnity, gently handing his last revive to Togekiss and settling his weight onto the friendly pokemon. “Maybe one day we’ll see each other again.”
“One day…” Togekiss leapt into the air, and Sable and Dawn watched as the man disappeared into the horizon’s azure infinity.
It was a bittersweet ending…
Sable and Dawn sat together atop the world, again- another disaster averted… but it felt all too much like defeat for them. To lose seven in a day… even if they lived-
The sun slowly began to set on a pyrrhic victory.
Notes:
I just really like that one quote about the spear pillar, okay-
I hope I did Volo's character justice. I tried to reconcile the devoted historian who's somewhat friends with Sable with the megalomaniacal madman presented in the final battle, while also addressing Giratina's motivation behind fighting for Volo. The idea behind my Volo is that his background as a historian in post-apocalyptic Hisui (I mean, the celestica are dead) lead him to make some conclusions about the nature of the world that aren't totally wrong, but also aren't right either- and when he found Giratina he was given the opportunity to try and bring his dreams to fruition. Poor guy...
Now, as to Giratina's relationship and Volo's future... that's for later ;)
Chapter 23: June 13th, 2019
Summary:
The months as they wrapped up for departure passed slowly, and they almost managed to forget the impending end hanging above them- everything felt… normal, as spring rolled into summer, bountiful greenery spilling out over the fields and wild spaces.
So they lived, and so they slowly died, as ever-
She alone-
Yet set apart, slowly the others accepted her once again.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
Sometimes, I think of how far I’ve come, and the friends I’ve made, and reminisce bitterly- but other times I celebrate, for what else does it mean to be alive?
………
The questions were myriad and omnipresent as they walked back into Jubilife after battling Giratina atop the world, but on silent agreement they kept the details sparse. Volo had a falling out with them, they fought, and they split on amicable terms. That was all anyone had to know.
The others weren’t stupid enough not to notice their foul moods, though. Rei knew better than to pry, but Laventon kept pestering them about the pokemon they’d seen atop the mountain- and it was kind of cathartic to describe the dragon of symetry’s majestic power for the professor’s pokedex. Ingo grabbed them both one day and threw them into a battle, which did make them feel better, but more just served to make Ingo feel worse .
It wasn’t Volo’s departure that they were truly agonizing over, really. At the end of it all… they had the plates. The memories that had come loose during her fight with Giratina stayed resolute in the back of her mind- Uxie’s fault, certainly- and she knew that they didn’t belong here. Now .
It was almost time for them to leave.
………
Life in Jubilife was almost incongruously the same after their return from Mt. Coronet. Tao Hua still sent them off on errands to find whatever random thing he needed, Vessa kept having her hunt down spirits to stuff in a rock, Pesselle took all their medical leeks whenever she could… it was normal. The suspicion remained, but they were alive -
Really, that was all that mattered, was it not? It was almost easy to smile in the face of it all when she thought how close they’d come to utter annihilation.
The days grew warmer, and Sable spent more time with Dawn on field expeditions. Outside Jubilife, carefully tracking down the last of the pokemon they needed to learn about for the pokedex. It was something she didn’t want to leave undone before they left Hisui- though her definition of done differed vastly from all but Cyllene’s completionism.
As they picked their way through a blooming plain, vibrant flowers peeking out from beneath the feildland’s rolling grasses, Sable thought it was because she simply wasn’t ready to leave. It was a hard thing, to reconcile others bowing beneath the weary weight of age whilst they did not … she was lucky she was spared from the worst of.
Frost pressed against her leg, breaking her from her reverie. “Thanks, kid.” Frost preened, and Sable couldn’t help but smile softly at the sight. He was really cute when he did that. “So, we need to find some pikachu to talk about their electrical abilities, and Dawn wants to chase down some Abra and-”
“Reporting to Prime User: several eevee spotted.” Z spun in slow revolutions around them, almost bleeding in her desire to move- form pointed and jagged beneath the conversion to flying type she’d enacted to effectively scout. “Analysis of local conditions allowed me to trace the local population to a den near a moss rock.”
“-eevee. Good work, Z. Go grab Dawn for me and then we’ll hike over there.” The porygon bobbed in acknowledgement before darting off through the air in a flicker of speed.
Frost paused where he’d been batting at one of the flowers- with perhaps a little too much force- looking up at Sable earnestly. “ Are we going to see a… leafeon? That would be pretty cool… ”
“I see you’ve remembered some of your lessons-” a smirk cracked across her muzzle in the brief second Frost’s face twisted into a vulpine grimace at the mention of his education - “and you’re right- we probably will see a leafeon or two. They’re likely responsible for keeping watch over the local population. You see eevee are odd like that- they’re not like zorua where the evolved form tends to claim authority- because they have so much choice they tend to be more…” a few bitter echoes of an old friend’s memory bubbled through her mind as she explained Eevee society while they trekked to the den, but she ignored them. She was just stating facts, after all…
Memories were such a fickle thing. Without their loss she would have never rebuilt a team, and yet she could barely imagine so lonely a life. Frost noticed her silent sorrow almost before she did- he was an observant kid like that- scrabbling up into her mane with a bit of deliberate petulance. Sable didn’t have the heart to shake him out, even if he really should be walking around. He wasn’t a baby- anyone who could fight Giratina could walk on their own.
He stayed in her mane. “ ...is this from your home? These facts? Meema never knew anything about eevee like this, not even the glaceons that kept coming to attack us… ” Damn perceptive children. Sighing, she paused beneath the dappled illumination of a lone tree, drinking in the peace of it all.
“ ...yes. ” She spoke in the tongue of zoroarks, for no particular reason other than she felt like it. “ It’s a very different place, my home. ” The most recent memories eluded her, but even the first seventy odd years she did remember showed a world so entirely different to the one of now . “ There are people very much like professor Laventon whose entire job is to study these things, and pokemon… it’s less jagged, the edges of ourselves, the essence of our society .” That wasn’t a good explanation at all , but it was the best she could think of in the moment.
“ All lives touch other lives to create something anew and alive… ”
“You remembered that, didn’t you?” Frost nodded slightly, the motion barely visible from where his head poked from her mane. “That describes it well, almost- there’s an understanding where I come from, that together we can create such beautiful things…” and so industrial, the memories of steel frame buildings, cities and towns… “it doesn't always work. The parts where it does, though…”
“ I can’t wait to see that. ” His voice was almost wistful- no doubt imagining what he could of her world. “ All the other zoroark are gonna be so jealous, when I get to visit somewhere people don't hate us on sight. ”
“...it will only be one way.” She hadn’t talked about returning … for all she’d thought of Dawn’s hesitance, she could emphasize. It would be difficult to leave them behind. “Hisui to Sinnoh… to Unova- they’re in the future. You wouldn’t be able to come back.”
“... oh .” Frost was quiet for a moment, burrowing ever deeper into her mane, and she allowed the kid his comfort. “ That makes sense. It’s going to be sad, leaving Hisui behind. ”
“As long as you’re sure.”
“ Of course! I’m not going to abandon my meema to whatever weird future things they have!” Frost tumbled out of her mane, indignant scowl on his face as he planted himself in front of her, which was entirely ineffective against her ability to simply pick him up. “ We’ll go together, as always- ”
“...thanks.” She wasn’t sure what she’d even been thinking- that he’d choose to stay in Hisui? It was entirely illogical… but, still, to have those words of comfort meant the world to her. “Family, right?”
“ Of course -” and together, they continued to another day, another task, and fluffy eevee. So it passed, to summer flowers blooming-
………
The sun set scarlet behind Jubilife’s walls, gentle light bleeding through the large windows of Cyllene’s office and staining the room near-bloody red. Shadows stretched long across the floor of the building, echoes of some indomitable illumination- well, in a word, Cyllene was intimidating. She’d never been anything but professional, but she managed to make even that scary.
Dawn fidgeted beside her as the survey corps captain stared intently at the bundle of papers on her desk. Slowly, she reached out a hand in perfect motion, flipping open the small book with a furrowed scowl on her face. The soft rasp of paper on paper as she slowly- agonizingly slowly- read through Dawn’s work was almost physically painful.
The back cover slammed shut half an hour later with a thud both whisper quiet and jarringly loud. “...good job.” Sable heaved a sigh of relief as Dawn cheered, smile breaking out across her face in perfect contrast to the falling dusk. “This is exactly what the survey corps was founded for. With this pokedex completed our understanding of these wild lands has expanded a hundredfold. You’ve surpassed my every expectation.”
“I couldn’t have done it without Sable!” Dawn had a dopey grin on her face as she pulled Sable into a sudden embrace, tight enough to pop her illusion. Cyllene flinched, but didn’t say anything as she quickly rebuilt the falsehood in dark-type energy around her. “We did it together- Sable, our pokemon, Laventon- the whole village.”
“I never doubted that. You two have a way to bring even the impossible together. Even Kamado… he has been better than he ever has since his hometown was destroyed. One day, I hope that your efforts will let him and his descendants reconnect with the creatures of this land.” Over the table, she pushed a final star- “there. The rank you deserve.”
Dawn held it reverently in her hands, face beaming. “Ooh! I have to tell Rei about this-” she dashed out of the door with barely any prompting, but when Sable made to follow, a soft gesture from Cyllene froze her in her place.
“Sable…” the blue haired capitan sighed, a part of emotion- “you did. Well.” For a long second there was an awkward silence between them. “I have been told I can be blunt. I still do not trust you, but… you have proven yourself one of our most dedicated. I do not trust you, but I admire you for what you’ve done and what you keep doing despite your nature.” Sable blinked in stunned shock, carefully replaying the captain's words in her mind in wonderous incredulity, to see if she’d heard right…
A small smile twitched across her face, so exhaustedly real. “...thank you.” Cyllene nodded, a faint acknowledgment-
Sable left to Jubilife as the sun’s fall heralded the night, and for some reason the aching echo of the village’s distrust didn’t hurt quite so much.
………
Frost bumbled forward though the streets of Jubilife, laughing alongside a gaggle buizel who’d escaped laventon’s lab to play with the young zorua. Crouched behind Beni’s stall, Sable held an illusion of two barrels over Dawn and herself, smirk twisted onto her vulpine muzzle. “Watch this-” Dawn focused intently onto her, almost enraptured in her movement- “I call this the Frost-go-back-to-your-homework.”
Agility prickled beneath her skin, the air around them momentarily heavy with normal-type energy. Claws to the earth, wind on her tongue- she leapt out from behind the stand in a blur of speed, dancing through the scattering buizel to snag Frost by his scruff.
“Got you!” A few people stopped to stare as Frost struggled ineffectually against her grip- frankly, he could probably break out if he wanted to, but then he’d also be breaking out of dessert- and it was only after a few seconds she realized she’d forgotten to reapply her illusion. “Frost.” She cursed inwardly as Zisu turned onto their street, hastily binding herself in humanity again. “You are in really big trouble .”
“ Aww… Buizel was so nice though, and all his friends- we were going to go to the stream and- and- ” he noticed Zisu standing warily a few feet back from them and wilted. “Um. Hi?”
“...hello. Frost.” The seconds dragged long as Zisu stood there, silent until a distinctly awkward air bloomed between them. “...would you like to see Zoroark?” Sable blinked in soft surprise as Frost rapidly nodded, puppy-dog eyes pleading in adorable desperation at the security corps captain. “...I thought you’d like that.”
They walked together to the dojo, silent all the while, Frost eagerly fidgeting in her grip and snuggling into her side all the same. The dojo was as ever both silent and busy, Expedition Team folk intermingling with clan members, the faint remnants of battle carried in the jarring echoes of moves, the acrid scents of poison and charr on the wind. Zisu, as ever, ignored that, pulling her over to a more private field bordered by a low wall and a thicket of bushes before releasing Zoroark from his ball. “Here. Have fun, kid!”
Frost leapt at Zoroark, knocking the elder fox back with his enthusiasm and very extensive training. “ This is a pleasant surprise… not entirely unexpected, with how awkwardly Zisu’s been- ah, I’ll take care of the kid. The boss wants to talk to you. ”
Zisu hovered sheepishly just beyond her reach, looking everywhere but at her. Really, she couldn’t be less obvious if she tried . Sable ruffled Frost’s mane one last time- then Zoroark’s, because the way he squawked in embarrassment was hilarious - and stepped up to the security corps captain. “So.”
“So…” she took a breath, and when it settled it was with a smile, yet an illusion of true joy. “I wanted to thank you.”
“I’ve heard it before. Even Kamado acknowledged what I did for Hisui.”
Zisu shook her head, so very- resolute, determined grin written so much truer. “No. I wanted to thank you- not just- you understand, don’t you? For what you’ve done for the security corps, for the clans in unifying them, for Ingo and his memories-” and, watching Zoroark tussle with Frost, occasionally folding into and out of an illusion, she thought she did. “It was something Dawn said to me a few days back, after you completed your pokedex. That it was made to foster understanding between us and… everything else. I thought that I might as well try that myself.”
“You’ve been trying to understand Zoroark, then.” It wasn’t a question, but Zisu nodded nonetheless.
“I’ve been thinking of what truly separates us. What makes man different from pokemon, beyond mere form-” and there wasn’t much. “Zoroark deserves this. I don’t know why he stuck with me, despite it all.”
“He respects you- you’ve forged him into a strong battler despite his exile.” Across the field, Zoroark briefly perked up to nod at them before getting bowled over by Frost’s shadow sneak. “The free food doesn't hurt either.”
Zisu chuckled, softly, so ever real. “Sorry for… all this. I’ll get out of your hair… fur? I’ll leave you be in a bit. I just wanted you to know that despite how some of us act, Jubilife really appreciates what you’ve done. There’s a lot of fear towards Zoroark, but… well, if we can get over our fear of cute little shinx, what’s one step further?”
“...Laventon isn’t cooking tonight.” Zisu blinked, entirely nonplussed- “we’re having potato mochi from Beni’s. If you want, you and Zoroark can come.”
Zisu was quiet for a moment, hesitation clear in those long seconds- “...if you’re sure… I’d love to!”
………
Potato mochi with friends was a joyous experience indeed. Everyone enjoyed themselves- well, bar Frost, who had found out mere minutes before dinner he was still grounded for his stunt with the buizel.
Poor Frost.
………
The months as they wrapped up for departure passed slowly, and they almost managed to forget the impending end hanging above them- everything felt… normal, as spring rolled into summer, bountiful greenery spilling out over the fields and wild spaces.
So they lived, and so they died, as ever-
She alone-
Ever set apart, slowly the others accepted her once again.
………
The ochre scent of summer hung heavy around them on the still breeze, so rich. “So…” they sat on the shores of lake Verity, glittering waves lapping softly against the grassy beach. It was almost ethereally beautiful, the way the sunshine gleamed across the water. “You brought all of us together- what for?” Trust Irida to jump straight to the crux of the matter.
“Clan Leader… we have known for a long time that this Hisui is not my home station. With the rift closed and their responsibilities to the Galaxy Team coming to a close, we have decided to align our tracks and return to our final destination.” The small crowd fell silent- Laventon looked like he was going to weep. “You have been a very good host! Unfortunately, I must leave the clan behind in this endeavor.”
“Of… of course.” Irida lay back in the grass, sighing a long, bitter sigh. “I suppose I can’t convince you to stay with us? You’ve been one of the best wardens for Lady Sneasel in living memory.”
“Apologies, but our tracks are set. We will follow this line to its end.” Adaman didn’t respond, and neither did Irida- they’d long since learned that a determined Ingo wasn’t something that someone could so easily halt. “I must return to my brother. The one in white.”
“ Good luck.” Lady Sneaseler shoved her way through the small crowd, gently pushing people back without scratching them. “ You’ve been one of my favorite wardens… I’ll be sad to see you go, but you deserve this, after everything you’ve done. ” Her claws gently unfolded, leaving something in Ingo’s hand. “ Love her well, my precious warden. ” A sneasel kit.
Ingo looked like he was restraining himself from embracing Sneasler, for the kit’s sake. “Thank you… everyone. I’ll remember you forever.”
“We haven’t tendered our resignation with Kamado yet-” everyone’s attention shifted to her- “but once we do we’ll finish up with a few last things, then beseech the legendary dragons to send us home… thank you. For everything- even when I didn’t remember anything, even when the very world crumbled, you were there for us.”
“Alas… we’ll all be sorrowed to see you go, when-” Laventon froze. “You said you weren't leaving for a little while, did you not?” The rest of the group perked up as she nodded. “Quickly then! This calls for a celebration . Your last memories of Hisui are going to be your best!”
Sable smiled as Irida and Adaman immediately started bickering about the proceedings, as Rei tried to rope the Professor away from talking about the pokedex, as Sneasler just laughed… they were really the best of their kind, weren’t they?
She couldn’t have been more content.
………
They held the celebration just north of Prelude beach. Everyone came- barring Calaba, who still might have held somewhat of a grudge about their intervention with Ursaluna- but they had fun nonetheless.
The kids Dawn had given starters managed to bully their way into showing up, and busied themselves challenging pokemon who had defeated gods into single combat and ‘winning.’ Kamado had showed up with Cyllene and Zisu, then left about half a millisecond later when the existence of pokemon was too much for him to handle. The captains stayed, at least- Zoroark had fun tussling with Frost, one last time.
The wardens brought food, the clan leaders brought uniforms sized for them- both pearl and diamond, just in case- and then devolved into an argument, and Cyllene brought paperwork for them to fill out. Ingo brought Sneasel, who kept trying to get into the communal food bowls and- accidentally- poison everyone.
Everyone had tons of fun, exuberant and solemn, wild and so peacefully serene in the knowledge that- this was it. Towards the end, as fires burned cheery and bright, drink passed freely to all those who were old enough, not you Dawn - and Z directed a pyrotechnics display to light the sky afire in celebration, as Dawn handed out everything they wouldn’t be bringing with them…
They said their final farewells, and when the sun peeked over the horizon they returned to neither the clans nor Jubilife. An empty cave and a Wardenless noble, two empty rooms in the survey corps barracks and an aching hole where only Rei remained of three-
They left, together.
Hisui was not theirs. It was time to go home .
………
Like pillars, now turned into spears. With most of her memories in the back of her head she remembered that name, from the future- Spear Pillar. The place closest to the heavens. Silently, she stacked the plates she’d held onto so long into Dawn’s hand, trying not to shiver in relief as each artifact left her grasp.
Last of all- the spooky plate. Volo’s treasure… she hesitated, holding it in her hand for just a second longer- then-
Stacked it atop the rest.
Attention.
She could feel it, overwhelming and all encompassing, as great as it had been the first time- the gaze of a true god- a creator so incredibly omnipresent that the mere weight of its gaze made her feel like- nothing. An atom adrift in an infinite universe, a speck of dust in an endless sea of sand- a drop of water in oceans that stretched on forever.
It was not an unkind gaze.
By the way Dawn and Ingo staggered they could feel it too- the sheer presence was beyond what even a human could ignore. A shimmering radiance began to bleed across the plates, mere typing becoming irrelevant as they seethed in opalescent unity- rising into the air in circles in circles in falling through the fabric of the world-
On Dawn’s hip, the Celestica flute twisted , writhing outwards as it transformed- white one moment, and bleeding purple the next. Gently, enraptured, she pulled the Azure flute to her mouth and blew a familiar melody in refrains of otherworldly notes-
The plates disappeared in a flash, and a staircase ascending infinitely to the sky appeared above the ruins in a dazzling gleam of light like refraction. “Full steam ahead!” Sable smiled- trust Ingo to break the awesome majesty of the moment- “All aboard!” Together, they stepped onto the first step-
And found themselves somewhere else, the faint memory of climbing for an eternal age hovering in the back of their mind. Looking down, only concentric rings in fractal infinities lay etched into the same shimmering not-reality as the stairs, extending out a distance that could have been a hundred feet or a million into an inky nothingness.
That was inconsequential, entirely unseen- unimportant compared to the being that drew their gazes with inexorable force- a single existence hovering above the Hall of Origin's center. Surrounded by the plates of creation in brilliant orbit, Arceus stood before them. His voice struck like thunder- “you have done well.” Well, that was pretty obvious if Arceus himself had granted them access to the hall of origin and dragged a fragment of attention solely onto them. She knew very well how overworked he was. “I grant unto you this boon, to return home to your time, with all that might wish to accompany you.”
Sable bowed in gratitude- Dialga could have sent them forward in time… but this, this was something else entirely. “Thank you.”
“It is not something you need to thank me for.” His voice was so kind , an echo of the same friendly grace she’d heard many times besides Giratina and his siblings. “You were displaced, and it is my responsibility to return you to the future after a task well done.”
“Dawn… you have given a great sacrifice for the world. For this, the Azure flute is yours- should you ever have questions, seek me out in the Hall atop Mt. Coronet.” That was a kingly gift- more valuable than anything bar perhaps the red chain itself- and to give it… no. No .
Sable froze in horror as the implication settled onto her. “You- are you implying that…”
“Yes.” She felt his regret- she knew he’d never allow something willingly… but so had things played out, and his children were far less careful than he. “When you quelled Dialga. Palkia’s binding was too much. I am… sorry.” He didn’t lie. Couldn’t lie, with himself bared to them so fully, yet Sable couldn’t help but be a little bitter on Dawn’s behalf.
The void around them began to glow with golden light, plates swirling together in the fullness of the creator’s power- “master yourselves well, and know that I am so, so proud of you all. When you next wake, your memories will have been returned in full. Shall I send you to your original space, or do you wish to be kept together?”
Sable shared a glance with the others, then smiled. “Well…”
A request, stated-
A boon, freely given.
The world-
Bled to-
Radiant-
Light.
………
Excerpt from the personal journal of Sable Foxx:
So ends my most recent- and perhaps most memorable- journey. I’ll admit- to live in a full house once more is invigorating, and to wear my illusory suit once more, odd. It was a harrowing, terrifying experience, with no end of stress and plenty of unwarranted fear- but for the companions I made along the way, I would do it all over again.
Dated, June 13 2019
She gently closed the sturdily bound notebook as Frost stared at it from where he stood propped up on a chair, paws pushing him above the counter’s edge. “ Finally! Are you finish writing that yet?”
“It’s finished , and yes- I’ve just about wrapped up.” Frost cheered, skittering off the cabin’s floor as he raced to the door. “Fine, fine, I’m coming.” Sunlight’s warmth settled across her fur as she pushed out into Johto's summer heat- “you better not have gotten into trouble- I’m talking to you, Metagross!’
“ Z does not respect the brilliance of a multilateral psychic supercomputer. I am very wounded .” He didn’t sound wounded at all. By the way Z was hovering next to him, clearly locked on to his position, he didn’t look all too wounded. In fact, he looked as though he wanted nothing more than to get caught up in a battle with the porygon.
“Not now. What would Ingo say if you managed to wreck the forest again ?” Both pokemon winced, and- reluctantly- Z released her lock-on. Bronzong just laughed at them from his quiet corner of the forest glade, clearly content in watching the pyrotechnics between the two computational pokemon.
Frost followed her as she walked down a path long worn, to the faint sounds of battle so far away. “It’s kinda- weird? That’s the word, right?” He rambled on before Sable could nod in affirmation- which, really, that was such a Frost thing to do. “Right, uh- the future is pretty weird, don’t you think?”
“It is odd, I suppose, coming from the perspective of someone from the past. You’re just not used to computers, are you?” Frost pouted, and she knew that was exactly correct. “It tends to make a bit more sense when you see progress as it comes.”
“ I will! ”
Sable smiled as they stepped into the meadows Dawn and Ingo had suborned for training. “Of course you will.” She raised her voice, waving a hand to hail down the two trainers. “How goes! Having fun with my forest?”
“I’m sure this isn't your forest.” Nevertheless Gardevoir paused his psychic attack as Dawn turned her attention to the newcomer, Alakazam doing much the same. “Trust me, I was champion for a whole two weeks, and even I learned when you make an extrajudicial cabin guarded by illusions and a ridiculously powerful metagross in the middle of nowhere, you don’t get ownership of the local wilds.”
“Hey! I’m connected to Johto's electric grid, and I have internet!”
Dawn gave her an incredulous look. “How have you not got the G-men breathing down your neck? I’m pretty sure we’re in the Johto frontier restricted mountains.”
Sable shrugged halfheartedly. “The same way Team Rocket does. I pay my taxes.” Ingo snorted in laughter across the clearing, while Dawn looked like she wanted to hit someone, probably Lance. “I’m not saying it isn’t dumb , but I’ve lived here for the better part of seventy years and I don’t particularly want to move now. I’ve gotten used to the peace and quiet.” The weight of her key stone was heavy on her wrist- it felt right, to wear it again after so long.
Dawn pulled a face, as she always did at the mention of those particular details, subtly changing the conversation. “Right. As if anything about Hisui was peaceful or quiet .”
“ Hey! The icelands could be pretty peaceful. Sometimes.” The three trainers stared at Frost, then broke out into soft laughter. “What? I’m right.”
Sable picked him up gently, scratching behind his ears. “You’re not wrong - Hisui could be nice at times. It just so happened that our stay was pretty hectic. We’ve been here for a week, and I’m pretty sure we’ve relaxed more than we have the entire year in Hisui.”
“The pokemon are really nice here…” Frost frowned, which was just adorable .
“So.” Sable breathed deeply, centering herself. “I’d love to relax around the house more, but I don’t have food for everyone and we should really get everyone checked at a pokemon center. How do you feel about going on a little trip?”
“By Arce-” Dawn paused, face twisted in distaste- “is it weird that I’m still using his name as an expletive after meeting him?”
“ Yes -” responded Gardevoir the same moment Sable laughed and bit out- “no, not really. I still use his name in vain sometimes, and I’ve known him as Giratina’s perpetually overworked dad for ages .”
This time Dawn’s distressed confusion was even more pronounced. “That’s so weird. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to that. By Arceus though, I do not feel like returning to my Champion duties- do you think I could get Cynthia to hold onto the title?”
Sable shrugged. “Maybe if you bribe her with primary sources of modern Sinnoh’s founding.”
“Where would I get-” she blushed a bit, glancing down to where she still wore the survey corps uniform. “Ah, right. Well… we can’t stay here forever. Might as well.”
“It seems then our destination is chosen- lets see where this journey takes us! Full speed ahead- all aboard!” Dawn and Sable couldn’t resist cracking a smile at his exuberance as they set off back to her cabin, just one more time-
It was good to be home.
Notes:
That's the end of this story... or at least, the parts that take place in Hisui. I already have some sequels written out, and a few ideas for some stuff I can do with Volo. We'll have to wait and see if those ever end up going anywhere :L
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