“I thought you were—”

Dead? Impossible.

He thought he could feel the flames and the magma licking at his bare flesh, but instead of being cooked alive a thousand times over, it was like being wrapped in an eternally warm blanket… kind of like hugging a Torchic to sleep at night.

He was speechless for a few moments as the same feminine voice continued to speak slowly, a hint of reassurance in her words.

Why do you think, in the tales that you are familiar with, I am compared to a phoenix?

“Wait, wouldn’t that make you—”

Silly. Flames can be put out, but they will always return with more power when left alone long enough.

He took a breath—and was surprised that he hadn’t choked on the magma or the ash that was flying all around him as he slowly acclimatized to the power of the flames that were settling down inside him.

“I’ll need your help through all of this.”

But of course. As your kind say, this is ‘my party’ now, and I will do my best to guide you through whatever trouble and turmoil you will encounter.

Slowly, eventually, the welling flames subsided, and he rose out of the lava at the mouth of Mount Chimney—

Before Moltres themselves appeared in front of him.

Shall we fly?

“Well… if you wouldn’t mind, then yes.”

---

theme — (new) power
sleep score — 400 (229 wc)

Before they could take flight, though…

“Laurence?”

The sound of that voice made him stop and look around. As if it wasn’t weird enough he’d already seemingly emerged from the molten pool of lava that called Mount Chimney home, the moment he heard that familiar voice his entire world would come to a halt.

Because there were only a few people who were legitimately allowed to call him by his full first name—and the owner of this voice was one of them.

Instead of speaking, all he could do was pull himself up, and along, across the bubbling pool of lava before immediately launching himself into evan fader’s arms.

“Where. The fuck. Have you been?!” he croaked, never mind if there was a fucking legendary bird behind him, hovering above the lava pool watching all this happen.

“I—I thought you were never coming back! Why… why did you turn up now?!”

The rest of his words slipped into Italian Alto Marean as he unloaded everything he wanted to say in his ‘first’ language, secretly thankful the other couldn’t understand, before he straightened up and hastily wiped at his face.

“You idiot. You fucking idi—”

The rest of the diatribe would be cut off, though, as there was another sight some distance behind him—

“Is that…”

“…surprise, Laurence. I didn’t know how to tell you… but considering you have them right there, watching us with this look of amusement on their face, I figured… I would tell you why I was gone for much longer than I meant to be. I’m sorry, love, if I made you worry.”

“You… you don’t need to…” he stammered, punching the other man in the shoulder once, twice, three times before he just literally hid his face in the crook of the other man’s neck.

“Fuck you, Evan Fader, for making me lose my fucking shit worrying about you!”

And still, that calm, bemused look on the other man’s face never left… because just as how Lars was now the human champion of Moltres, Evan had come back from his travels with Articuno in tow.

---

theme — reunion
sleep score — 600 (352 wc)

The rest of his rambling is lost in Alto Marean as he leaned all of his weight on the other, mumbling eventually trailing off into silence before he finally straightened up and rubbed at his eyes once again.

“I fucking swear, Evan, don’t make me worry like that again! Three years gone, absolutely no word from you, and you have the nerve to show up with them in tow? Honestly, why didn’t you contact me?”

“I already told you, Laurence, I went on a journey to gather stories. Stories that would be lost to history if they’re forgotten when they die with the last elders who know about them.”

“And tell me,” he continued in the same sarcastic tone he’d adapted, “…your journeys ended up with you finding them somewhere along the way?”

“That… would be the long and short of it, pretty much.”

“Don’t you fucking leave again without telling me where you’re exactly heading! Or, if not exact location, a rough approximation!” he continued as he turned around to hide the look on his face as he very nearly cried in front of the other again out of sheer worry—and anger, at the same time.

“Well, are we just going to stand around all night here or are you going to tell me how you encountered… yours?”

He then gave the heavily-tattooed man this very thin smile, before he cackled.

‘Well, are you not going to tell him the story of how you literally jumped into a pit of searing fire?’

“What? No!”

It was at this point a smile curled on the other man’s features, before he laughed as well.

“Well, that’s a surprise. Yours also talks in the back of your head?”

“Wha—” he trailed off, flabbergasted.

“Funny how these things work, you know. Complete revelation that yours and mine have the same gimmick of talking in the back of our heads. Mine complains non-stop, you know.”

All Lars could do was gape at the other man’s surprise revelation.

“…mine does, too. And she’s very sassy!”

‘I am not!’

“You so are.”

Two-for-one revelations was the flavor for the day, apparently.

---

theme — revelations
sleep score — 800 (357 wc)

Eventually, the two had travelled down to Lavaridge and ducked down at a small family café to catch up on things and talk.

…which mostly consisted of Lars trying so hard not to cry or rage in front of the other man, considering it had been three whole years since he’d last seen the other; with no word sent on how he was doing and all that.

“My phone broke,” was the other man’s simple, smooth answer. However for some reason he knew that the other may have been bluffing or something, considering how he knew Evan to only have a tolerance for technology… could he blame the other man, though?

“Now the question is,” he blinked once he got the spiked milkshake in front of him and was taking a long, deep sip from it, “…where’s the other one?”

“Oh, you mean Zapdos? That was also part of the reason why I took so long finding my way back here.”

“Were you able to find them?”

“Not yet, so far. Though I did manage to get a lot of stories about other Legendaries from many different places… asides from Hoenn and Johto, I made my trip to Kalos and Galar as well.”

“You… you went that far?!”

“All in the pursuit of lore, and you know this.”

He… the other man had him pinned there.

“Well, the good news about all of this is that now that there are two of the three here, it’s inevitable that the last one will make their appearance.”

“But the question now is, who would Zapdos choose?”

The two men stared at each other, before their food had been dropped off by one of the wait staff in front of them.

“Well, at least we’ve reunited, isn’t that a cause for celebration?”

“It… it is, you idiot. You fucking had me on edge for three years!”

“All’s well that ends well, as some of the other people say.”

Now, wasn’t that a happy ending for these two?

(Although the question now being, how long would it take before the infinity energy that they now had within them would eventually poison them…)

---

theme — good (happy) ending
sleep score — 999 (358 wc)

Unlike most others, he’d been less successful when it came to looking for people he could easily get in contact with regarding the strange notification that had appeared on his phone that fateful day.

He’d already cast his lot, so with some trepidation he hoped he wasn’t going to be going in way over his head when the ‘game’ finally began.

(Because that’s what this all was, right? A game?)

Little did he know that this ‘game’ would be one that had deadly consequences…

While he wasn’t as familiar with the place, ‘Sylvis’ as others were, fact of the matter was that there was mass chaos and mayhem breaking out the moment he stepped outside the safety of the castle…

“What the fuck.”

That was all he could say; never mind if there were… what was up with those Pokémon attacking the others that were just running away, screaming?

He sighed. Maybe he could find something that was familiar to him in this mess…

He then ventured forward into the madness.

---

It felt like an eternity, however for some reason… none of the rampaging Pokémon were attacking him. Was that… was that a good thing? Or was that going to bite him in the proverbial ass later?

He hoped it wasn’t the latter, but knowing him and his shit luck…

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled the moment he passed by a particularly dark and gnarled underbush, because why did it feel like he was being… watched?

Hopefully not betraying his panic, he scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision and mentally crossed his fingers that there was nothing out here to get…

The shadow moved quicker than his eyes could see; but rather than a friendly bump in greeting, it was more on a full-out fucking body slam that almost sent him to his knees!

“Che palle, what the f—” he trailed off, realizing that the presence was about to—no, too late, it rammed him in the stomach again and knocked all the wind out of him; causing him to collapse on the ground.

“What—stop attacking me, have you lost your fucking…” he trailed off; before the words all but disappeared in his throat as he realized that it was a darker Altaria that was staring back at him.

The trilling noise that came from its throat made his blood run cold, though…

“…no,” as he belatedly realized who this Pokémon was.

“What… what are you doing here? Why are you like—” he tried again as he attempted to get up—only to be all but bodily tackled by the Altaria once more.

“Ow, shit… s-stop…” he grumbled as he found himself on the ground once more. Realizing that there was the weight of a Pokéball in his pocket, he then pulled it out, and chucked it straight at the incoming Altaria as the Pokémon once more attempted to knock the wind out of him.

For now, there would be peace… but how long would it last?

Once the strange Pokéball dinged and signified it was captured, time came to a stop around him… like there was something coming for his ass, again.

“What the… no. What the hell?” he blinked as he saw that there were two text boxes in front of him. In a sheer fit of panic he’d accidentally closed the ‘purify your Pokémon’s heart’ option, before jamming his fingers at the other option out of sheer distress:

‘Keep your Pokémon’s strength’

For what was Nami the Altaria, if not a reminder of the sins he’d committed from before?

And then… the world turned back to normal.

Little did he realize though, that the choice he made would spell nothing but lots of problems in the long run…

---

ability; michael: your presence is non-existent… well, almost. While it does protect you from most shadow Pokémon, it will always attract the fury of your sins… the anger and aggression of your dead sister’s Altaria.

He hadn’t realized that he’d sprouted some kind of… ‘head appendages’ that were similar to the now-aggressive Altaria that was humming while circling him, waiting for a chance to knock the breath out of him again while he tried to regain his bearings…

It was a bit of a shame he’d come out here mostly alone, however he caught sight of said appendages and had to blink…

“Haha, Nami… you think this is funny?” he gestured to the two ‘head appendages’ that looked like a normal Altaria’s would, before batting it out of his line of vision and realizing that…

“Are you kidding me?!” he added a few moments later as he saw a flashing notification and then popped it open—since when did he have three items in here? And what were they supposed to—

A red gem the size of his palm (a Fire Gem), a mysterious purple sphere (a Life Orb), and then the last one… like it was legitimately adding insult to injury—a piece of ice that felt familiar, yet absolutely strange to him at the same time (Never-Melt Ice).

“Weird-ass shit…” he mumbled, before looking around and realizing that for some bizarre reason, he was back at the mouth of Mount Chimney; and evan fader—or at least, the same one he was talking to, was waiting there for him with a look of bemusement on his face.

“Oh, no. Don’t tell me…” he trailed off, before following Evan—or at least, the representation of Evan that he knew—straight into the bubbling magma.

Wait, what the absolute fuck? Why would he jump into the…?!

This was legitimately messed up ten ways to next week!

Sighing, he then pinched the bridge of his nose and jumped into the ‘magma’ as well; wondering what was waiting down there.

Through several rooms of flames they progressed, however it was like the fire wasn’t affecting them at all—was it because of… because of… he dared not to think about it.

(Plus, his Altaria had knocked the wind out of him a couple more times after they dove into the magma, like a stark reminder that this was all his fault. Which it kind of was.)

Eventually, they would both arrive at what he presumed was the deepest point in the earth; however instead of seeing Moltres as he had before… wait. Hold the fuck up.

Why was Articuno there waiting for him, wasn’t that supposed to be with—

For some even stranger reason, Evan’s companion had changed to another Ice-type Pokémon, but there was nothing else to it—it was time to fight this ‘anomaly’ in the magma.

“Che palle.”

Before his Altaria could charge forward, however, he made sure to stuff the Life Orb into her cloudy ‘fluff’ of fur; before noticing it radiated a strange kind of glow as the cloud Pokémon then charged straight at the ‘Articuno’ that was raring to get a piece of them.

“Oh, come on!” he yelped as he tried to use the ‘flames’ that had been granted to him by the Moltres from earlier, only to realize that it didn’t exist, not here, not right when—

A loud, screaming, piercing cry came from the ‘Articuno’ in front of them as a Blizzard came crashing down on them—despite the fiery nature of the dungeon, the attacks still felt extremely cold!

“Whoa. That’s how I know this is fucked up…” he shivered; while the Altaria weathered the incredibly cold storm; before breathing out a burst of—wait, why were the flames darker than usual?!

As long as it worked, though, he then reached for the Fire Gem that he held, and smashed it into dust, before flinging the sparkling ‘rubble’ in the Altaria’s direction as the Shadow Fire began to take hold on the now-berserk Iceborne Mirage in front of them.

“Why are you doing this?!” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as the two Pokémon traded blows; but he couldn’t bear to watch—it was like seeing a piece of him getting beaten up as well.

Not until the Altaria’s otherworldy-humming caught him off guard did he realize that she had approached him; and he then stuck the piece of Never-Melt Ice into her cottony ‘down’; before she let rip with an Ice Beam attack against the incoming Blizzard!

More blows were traded; before eventually—the strange ‘place’ borne of heat faded away; regurgitating him back to… back to where this all began…

“…che cazzo.”

They weren’t out of the woods yet.

---

ability; michael: your presence is non-existent… well, almost. While it does protect you from most shadow Pokémon, it will always attract the fury of your sins… the anger and aggression of your dead sister’s Altaria.

What was his own worst nightmare, he had no idea. However, he was more than certain it had a very thick layer of his oyaji in it… or maybe it was something else?

(Nah, it couldn’t have been Stormy Silph, he’d gotten over that already long ago… which made him incredibly salty as a side-effect, though!)

It wouldn’t take long for them to get warped back to the ‘meeting place’, and try as he might to look for someone familiar, he couldn’t find any. So, he was pretty much on his own for the rest of the journey. Yikes.

Anyway!

“You want us to do what, exactly?” he blinked owlishly, before squaring his shoulders and preparing himself for whatever crazy insanity would come out of the place… but now, though, he was going to have to face this fear alone.

Oh, hell no.

“Mamma mia,” he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and realized that they were to continue the journey through this insanity—before he felt all the wind get knocked out of him by the Altaria that accompanied him.

“Come on,” he sighed as he let the darker-colored fluffy dragon-bird Pokémon fly forward into the rift they were going to have to destroy in order to proceed.

What he was not expecting, however, was to be brought back to the mouth of Mount Chimney—okay, how in the ever-loving shit was he supposed to destroy an entire volcano out here?

Plus, his actual avatar powers weren’t working either, so that was going to make this a thousand times… harder.

“Ow! Okay, okay, Nami! I get it!” he sighed as the Altaria hummed—before suddenly blasting the closest thing she could see with Ice Beam.

“Are… okay, if that’s how you want to do it, then do what you have to.”

Before he could look around for something, anything that could help him destroy an entire volcano, he heard the sound of clapping. Wait, clapping?

He turned around sharply, and… there he was.

Old man Bill Anderson himself, in the flesh.

“Fancy seeing you out here,” he growled, while the Altaria was going berserk in the background, laying waste to the surrounding area with as much gusto as possible by going through all the attacks she knew.

“Oh Laurence—”

“What did I tell you, old man? Don’t call me that!” he yelled, unable to resist slipping into Italian Alto Marean just for the hell of it. “You know full well I go by Lars!”

“You’ll always be Laurence to me, you know.”

“And stop giving me that creepy father minister vibes! What the fuck!” he yelped, realizing that… holy shit, why was he wearing… was that blood on his feet?

“Why are you so afraid of me?”

“Because—don’t lie to me, che palle, I know what you did with ‘ma!” he continued, shoving the strange stringy ‘antenna’ out of the way of his line of vision.

“Just come out and say it! You know what happened to her!”

“What if I really don’t?”

“You do! You. Fucking. Do!” he went on, clenching his fists. “How do you explain the local authorities finding her head in the crater lake? I overheard the two of you arguing!”

“Overhearing is not the same as—”

“Oh, fuck off,” he growled as he spun his arms, ready for a fight. “You can deny it all to the day you die, but I know what you did to her!”

“Why don’t you come for a piece of—”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, old man!” he roared as his patience finally snapped, nerves frayed beyond recognition and reasoning, as he ran towards where the smirking visage of ‘Father Bill’ waited for him; ready to pummel and hurt every single damned inch of that smug face, the truth—he wasn’t going to stop until there was nothing left.

All this happened, while in the background, his Altaria continued to rampage; even aiming a Shadow Fire or two when she was so inclined to help him execute the revenge he’d waited so long for.

For him, seeing his smug father’s face was the ultimate form of torture, that knowing smile hiding a deadly family secret…

(As if he didn’t have a deadly secret of his own, too.)

---

ability; michael: your presence is non-existent… well, almost. While it does protect you from most shadow Pokémon, it will always attract the fury of your sins… the anger and aggression of your dead sister’s Altaria.

Man, that felt fucking good. Even if it was just… a representation of his father, taking out all those years of anger, rage, and hate felt… absolutely liberating.

Now that he was back at the… whoa.

“What the hell?” he spoke in the Snubbull’s direction. “The place is glitching out, in case you haven’t noticed!” he exclaimed, waving a hand around at the… damn, it looked like the entire room was peeling apart at the seams.

It was a visual nightmare, to say the least. Like they were in the Matrix or something, tripping the hell out.

The dinging noise caught his attention, and he popped open the inventory to see that there was a gift… but it had an expiry date.

“Better not let this go to waste, then…”

The moment he opened the ‘present’, though, he got a reaction that he was not expecting.

---

---

---

“Wait, what the—whoa.”

He blinked. Wasn’t this… wasn’t this…

Wasn’t this the warehouse where that messed-up rescue attempt had happened?

However, there was no Thomas Benoit, no Stormy Silph, it was just…

As the dust cleared, he realized just who the silhouette headed his way was.

“You… you can’t be serious.”

For the first time—in what felt like an eternity, he allowed himself a few moments to grieve openly; he was never one to put the sadder spectrum of his emotions on public display.

This was the one wound that never healed, no matter how many times he was terrified of using Ryujin, it just wasn’t the same as—

“Suijin.”

And just like that, the Swampert came running his way, before he held out his shaking arms and let the dual-type tackle him.

“Damnit, damnit, damnit, I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to come back for you!” he wept openly; never mind if he knew that this was just… this was just a dream, right?

Right?

“H-how long did you wait for me?” he asked the Pokémon quietly, holding the other as close as he could. “Y-you know, I’ve. I’ve been afraid to lose Ryujin, because I know she’s a part of your family too… that’s why Ro and Alpha, they—they’re the ones who get thrown out into danger the moment it comes after me.”

He would spend as much time as he could, holding the Swampert close to him because he had so many unsaid words… way too many. The best way he could communicate was to just. Hold the Swampert close.

“You should see Ro now, big shit got all silver and shiny. Oh, and Alpha? He’s still the same as you remember. About Nami, though…”

He trailed off, wondering if it was a good idea. Maybe not. Not for the moment, at least.

“I fucking missed you. S-sorry if I haven’t come by to Mount Pyre in-in a while, things… shit just unraveled and kept me… busy. And… if you’re going to ask, she dumped me. Or rather, I left before it was too late for me to see what a fucking mistake I made.”

And there he would stay for hours, upon hours…

This was something he didn’t want to end.

So many hours, so much time lost… could he ever get it all back? The feeling of inadequacy had never truly left him, anyway…

What with how much he mourned the very first Pokémon he lost due to a stupid mistake he made.

---

ability; michael: your presence is non-existent… well, almost. While it does protect you from most shadow Pokémon, it will always attract the fury of your sins… the anger and aggression of your dead sister’s Altaria.