He knew it was better to stay out of bigger things that didn’t directly involve him—just like the words that a certain
person had told him before they’d all ended up in this strange place…
‘Then we should both stay away.’Maybe, in a way,
Guillermo Marceliño was right after all.
(Was he going to admit that outright, though?
Not initially.)
The scenery around them fluctuates wildly, like a television trying to catch a signal before being swallowed in a horrifying burst of static—did he see the path headed to Ballonlea materialize for a brief moment; the one place he knew he’d seen in the current Galar where he’d been once, with
Ruby Walker and William the (mushroom-licking) Wooloo.
William… wait, how did he remember that all of a sudden?!
Before he could dwell more on that shard of thought, fact of the matter was that there were two absolutely monstrous things ripping each other apart in some demented, endless cycle. It reminded him of a certain symbol, of a particular animal eating its tail in a seemingly endless circle.
Something had to give, right?
Maybe it was a good thing he’d already made the cloud-man dedushka into his gigantic size, because the energy fluctuations in the air were seemingly driving both colossal Pokémon to madness. It was just… this was far too much. How was he going to remember everything?
The last coherent thing he heard was a loud howling—along with the reappearance of several other people, miss
Elise Calcifet among their number. Where had she run off to?
The next coherent thing he sees is that it’s already nightfall, however the ‘realm’ of ‘reality’ is peeling apart…
“We don’t have much time,” he said quietly in Miss Elise’s direction.
“Let’s… let’s go to the girls. One last time.”With that, the fastest way they could get to was sadly not his Gardevoir, but his blue-plumed Braviary. Certainly the girls would recognize
that Pokémon of his.
While she says her goodbyes first, he’s busy somewhere in the back—returning once miss Elise had completed her farewells. He noticed that Iris already had the longsword in her hands; giving Peony the bow and arrows would surely spell disaster, and he bit back a hint of a smile.
“Iris, Iris, Iris… you know how I promised you and Peony that I would not lie to the both of you?” he began quietly, looking around and making sure the younger of the siblings wasn’t snooping.
“I’m afraid this is the one time I’ll have to break that promise. Me and your mother, we’re… we’re not coming back. But—don’t despair,” he soothed the older of the two; she looked ready to shout at him.
“I have a surprise for you.”
From behind his leg peeked a Rufflet—however this Rufflet didn’t have the same vibrant plumage that his Braviary did.
“Remember Kyouya, my Braviary? Well, that rascal had kids. Two of them… one for you, and one for your younger sister. Iris, listen to me. You’ll be all that Peony will have moving forward. You… and the two baby birds. Her Rufflet hasn’t quite hatched yet, though. I can trust you to take care of them?”
He had to stop for a few moments to rub at his eyes. No, he was a grown man. No, he was not going to cry…!
(Too late, he absolutely fucking did.)
“We taught you well, your mother and I. I can trust you’ll teach Peony when she’s old enough… to use these. Because we won’t be needing them, where we’re headed.”
At these words he unslung the bow, and the quiver of Dragon Hammer-infused arrows, before handing the weapons to her as well.
Even though he had a momentary flare of panic at the heebie-jeebies the sight of the two Misdreavii caused (well, fancy that), at least the two would be ready for anything with their Pokémon companions. A… a specter and a proud avian of the skies.
He couldn’t help himself but ruffle Iris’s hair once he was done explaining what the older of the two girls had to do, moving forward.
“You’ll survive. Survive, and thrive. Remember us.”And then the ‘world’ finally peeled away.
The next thing he saw, when he blinked, was the blurry vision caused by torrential rain.
The sight of two canids—how strange they were, one was holding a
fucking sword in their mouth and the other had a mane that looked like a shield—staring out at them before disappearing to whoever the hell knew where, he looked over at miss
Elise Calcifet.
“We… have a lot of shit to talk about,” he began—blinking in momentary surprise because—he didn’t sound like his old man anymore, how—he was back to the present day, to twenty-nine and fearing the deadline that lay around the corner… his scarf, drenched through and through and stuck to his soaked clothing.
“But… but not now. Maybe. Maybe when we’ve recovered somewhat from this… entire thing.”Little did he realize that the
compilation of notes of the time they’d spent there; the same ones he’d agreed to scrawl as the years passed in that version of Galar, was on his person, all folded up neatly in an inner pocket of his jacket.
“I guess… we’ll meet again, Miss Elise. Hopefully under better circumstances.”Kyouya the Braviary was out, and ready, to take him back home to the Sanctuary—even if it was seemingly just a quick fifteen-minute walk from where they were, it felt like ages since he’d seen, breathed, just processed
everything in Hoenn.
First things first…
It was time to get the hell home, to where he
really belonged.
In my arms through the long cold night
Sleep tight, you’ll be safe here
When no one understands
I’ll believe, you'll be safe
You’ll be safe, you’ll be safe here, ooh ooh
Put my heart in your hands
You’ll be safe hereBack to where… to where his world; the entirety of his universe, the keeper of that
one last piece of himself was waiting for him.
• due to what’s happening, he starts remembering more and more of the present-day world
• little clapback to the start of the entire thing, where he’d left because of their argument
•
maybe the Frog was right, after all… staying out of bigger things not directly involving them…• Alex.exe spent the entire first half of what went down watching in silent shock. Is he going to be able to remember all this?
Somehow.•
(insert the entirely self-indulgent farewell scene he has between the two kids him and Miss Elise adopted, including leaving two Rufflet for their protection as well a.k.a. they get 2 starter Pokémon each from her and him)• testing one, two—they’re back. He’s 29 again and back on the clock…
• communicates with Miss Elise that they should meet again, after they’ve recovered from this entire
o r d e a l•
and it’s time to go home, to where he really belongs• hi Frog, fancy something of a meeting when he gets home?
• his memento from ‘Galar’: the compilation of notes through the years, the two of them agreeing to be each other’s memory keepers of the world; which also includes snippets of those twenty years
Iris and Peony you two better do us PROUD@tags up there as mentioned