Backslash 2 - Cross-step (Hyphen X-over)
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
AN: I had way too much fun doing the first one, so in an unprecedented display I churned out another one right away.
This is unbeta'd, probably terrible, consists of 98% talking and exposition, and I profusely apologize to @Flairina for the gross mischaracterization of her Mawile. I don't know how she/you would react in certain situations, so it's basically Mawhile-INO
Turns out I have no idea how to write characters when they're not mine.
Should be fine, I'm not holding myself to high standards for silly omakes like this.
Backslash - 2 (Hyphen/Backwards Grin)
Cross-Step
"Holy shit." Astra said, wide-eyed.
Mawile stared back, just as shocked.
"You- you can really... wait, but—" she started, then stopped, confused. "Wait, then—"
"Oh my gosh, I've never seen another Pokemon that can talk!" Astra exclaimed, excited beyond reason.
She rushed up to the smaller Pokemon, skidding to a halt before her and falling to her knees.
"Who are you? What are you?" she blabbered, words coming faster than she could think. "Are there more of you? Another village? Did you make those marks on the trees?"
"Wait, wait, stop!" Mawile yelled, pushing Astra's face away. "Slow down, and back up! Personal space, please!"
Fear.
Astra screamed, shooting backward across the clearing in a frantic crawl. She stared at Mawile, heart pounding. Mawile's horn loomed above her head, casting her in an ominous shadow, while her red eyes pierced into Astra's heart, looking... vaguely confused?
"Um... what?" Mawile asked, awkwardly. "Are you okay?"
She took a step forward, and Astra yelped, scrambling back a bit. She couldn't help it — something about the diminutive Pokemon was just inexplicably horrifying. Even accounting for her monstrous horn-mouth, it didn't make any sense.
"I—I don't know." Astra stammered out, shaking. "You—why are you so scary? I don't—"
"Scary?" Mawile repeated, confused. "But I'm not even-"
She paused, furrowing her brows. Then, apparently coming to some sort of realization, she slowly covered her face with her palm and let out a long-suffering sigh.
"I'm an idiot."
Astra stared as Mawile concentrated for a second, then suddenly seemed to relax, her giant maw unclenching and her shoulders visibly loosening. The menacing aura faded at once, and Astra blinked at the suddenly normal-ish Pokemon before her.
"What was that?" Astra asked, slowly climbing to her feet. "It felt like you were going to—to tear me apart at any moment. Which," she frowned, "you already tried to."
"Um... yeah." Mawile glanced around, awkwardly tapping a foot against the ground. "Sorry about that, I just wasn't really expecting a trainer to suddenly bust into my hiding spot. I may have, uh... panicked, a little."
She stopped, then growled, seemingly at herself. "As for my 'scariness', that was a sort of ability I have, which I apparently didn't realize was active. For an entire week! No wonder nobody would talk to me, I—ugh, nevermind."
Astra blinked, then broke into a wide smile.
"Nobody else would talk to you?" she repeated, hope sparking. "So there are others? I thought we were the only ones! Where are they? How many?"
Mawile squinted at Astra, seeming bewildered by the questions. "Others? What do you—wait, hold up, how are you even understanding me in the first place? Aren't you human?"
Astra hesitated, then shook her head. Mawile wasn't a human, and judging from her words, she didn't think that humans could understand her. For a fellow sapient Pokemon, it would probably be okay, right?
Finding no fault with that, Astra slowly lifted the sunhat off her head and undid the wrap around her face, dispelling the illusion she kept there.
"I'm not human," she explained, smiling at the dumbstruck Mawile. "I'm a Kirlia."
Mawile just stared for a few moments, looking utterly bewildered. "Wait, but—but you had a Pokeball, and you looked human until a second ago! Why would—I don't—okay."
She paused, then slowly exhaled. "Let's start over. Who are you, exactly?"
Astra blinked. "Oh! My name is Astra. And you?"
Mawile hesitated.
"I... don't really have a name right now, I guess." she said after a moment. "Flair, maybe...?"
The tiny Pokemon seemed to think on that for a moment, before slowly shaking her head. "Hmm, no, just Mawile is fine for now. It's nice to meet you Astra. I don't suppose you know where we are? I woke up in this forest around a week ago, and haven't been able to find my way out since."
Astra's face fell.
"You don't know either?" she asked. "I just got here a few hours ago myself. I don't even know how, I was just walking through the woods outside Rustboro, and suddenly I was in a different forest."
She paused for a moment, heart sinking. If Mawile wasn't from here, then there probably weren't any others like her... not here, at least.
"Wait, did you say Rustboro?" Mawile asked, not seeming to notice Astra's sudden malaise. "Isn't that in Hoenn? Are we in Hoenn?"
Astra sighed. "I was in Hoenn, yes. I don't really know where this is, though." She glanced around at the surrounding trees. "Everything is so different here. Even the clouds changed shape—it was almost clear, but the sky's half full here."
"...hmm." Mawile hummed. "Well... sorry if this sounds weird, but I need to check. Do you know what a Mystery Dungeon is?"
Astra stared at Mawile blankly. Mystery dungeon? What?
"I have no idea what you're talking about." she answered honestly.
Mawile nodded to herself. "Well, that answers one thing at least. Although..."
She frowned, then turned back to Astra. "In that case, this is actually even weirder. If you're a Kirlia, why do you have a Pokeball? Heck, why are you dressed like..." She hesitated, struggling to find the right words, before settling on just gesturing up and down at Astra's robe. "Like that?"
Astra smiled, perking back up.
"It's because, almost a week ago now, I became a Pokemon trainer." she explained, then paused. "Which, of course, required disguising myself as a human. I'm dressed like this because...well, humans wear clothes, and this was the best my village had."
She shrugged. "Honestly, I kind of like it! Very breezy."
Mawile's eyes bulged. "Wait, you're a Pokemon that's gone undercover to become a trainer?"
"It was no big deal, really." Astra said, grinning. "Professor Birch didn't suspect a thing, and I got Treecko right after. I'm trying to become the Champion, so I can maybe stop humans from, well, destroying my village once it gets discovered, but I've—"
"Wait! Stop, hold up." Mawile frantically interrupted, holding up a hand. "This is... a lot you're throwing at me right now. Where do I even—village? You said that before. What village?"
"My home, back in Hoenn." Astra elaborated. "All of the Ralts and Kirlia on the continent live there, hidden from the human world, but our protections are failing—at the rate the nearest human city is expanding, we're going be discovered eventually."
A grimace threatened to overtake her face at the thought, but she pushed it back down.
"Recently though, I learned that there's someone all the humans listen to, called the Pokemon Champion." Astra continued. "So, I figured if I became this Champion, I might be able to protect my village when it gets discovered."
She paused, then took a deep breath—she had to at least ask.
"What about you?" she asked, trying to hold back her trepidation. "Were you from a village too?"
Mawile squinted at Astra.
"Am I in a spinoff?" she muttered to herself, seemingly not entirely meaning for Astra to hear her. "Or—wait, that sounds a little familiar, but where...?"
Mawile thought about it for another moment, then shook her head and turned back to Astra.
"No, I'm afraid there's no secret conclave of Mawile here. Last I remember, I was going to sleep back home, but come morning I somehow woke up here, in this forest. Made a little hovel over that way," she pointed north, "but there's nothing else out here."
"...oh."
Astra sat down. That was... disappointing, though not entirely unexpected.
"Darn. It would have been nice to know there was another Pokemon village out there..."
She sighed, but smiled as she turned back to Mawile a moment later. "But, at least I know we're not totally alone, now. It's really cool meeting another Pokemon who can talk!"
"Um, yeah, about that?" Mawile began. "What do you mean? Every Pokemon I've met so far can talk...even if they've never been particularly willing to talk to me." she grumbled in a slightly lower tone. "Stupid, lousy ability...anyways, can you not understand them?"
"You can?" Astra asked, baffled. "As far as I knew up until now, only other Ralts and Kirlia could actually talk. Other Pokemon just say their species name over and over, and whenever anyone tried telepathy, all they would get is a sort of, crude, conceptual thing."
She paused, struggling to figure out how to properly convey what psychic conversations entailed, before deciding it wasn't worth it. The concepts were too complicated to explain without at least a basic primer, which she doubted Mawile had...even if the smaller Pokemon did seem awfully well-informed.
"Are you saying you can understand all of them?" she asked.
Mawile nodded. "As far as I know, all Pokemon can talk pretty much freely with each other. Though, I noticed your mouth isn't moving — are you using telepathy to talk to me right now? What does it sound like if you use your regular voice?"
Astra's face flushed.
"Um. I'd rather not." she said, looking away and poking her fingers together. "That's reserved for, uh. Family."
Seriously, Mawile was nice, but not that nice.
"Oh, er... never mind then, I guess?" Mawile scratched her head awkwardly. "Anyways, everyone here speaks Eng—er, intelligibly, and so do you, so I'm not sure how that all adds up. What do I sound like to you?"
Astra hesitated. "It's...kind of weird. I can understand you just fine, like you're speaking human, but under that I can also hear you just going 'Maw mawile wile maw' at the same time. It's like..." She frowned. "It's like talking to two people at once, but they're the same person, and one is completely incomprehensible."
"That's... bizarre." Mawile replied, placing a hand on her chin. "...can you bring out one of your Pokemon? I want to test something."
"Sure." Astra said, standing up. Treecko's Pokeball was still in her hand, so she just tossed it in the air. "Treecko, come on out!"
In a flash of red light, Treecko re-emerged into the world. He took one look at Mawile and crouched down, ready for combat.
"Oh—no, Treecko," Astra said, patting him on the head. "Mawile is friendly. I just brought you out to test something. Mawile, this is Treecko."
"Hiya!" Mawile said in a cheery tone as she waved at Treecko, her horn carefully held still on the ground. "How are you?"
Treecko stared at Mawile in confusion, then looked to Astra.
"Tree," he said, pointing at Mawile. "Ko, treecko."
"She's a new friend." Astra answered automatically. "She just wanted to hear you talk a bit. Is that okay?"
Treecko shrugged. "Tree."
"What the hell...?" Mawile muttered, staring at Treecko. "That doesn't...what?"
"Huh?" Astra looked at Mawile, concerned. "What is what? What happened? Can you understand him?"
"I... yes?" Mawile replied, though not looking entirely certain of her own answer. "It's... like he's talking out of a bad Google translation, kind of?"
Astra blinked, bewildered. "Google translation"? What were these things that Mawile kept referencing?
"I can hear what he's saying, but it's all primitive and out of order." Mawile continued. "He wanted to know why I talk like you, I think? Or maybe I totally misinterpreted that, but... yeah, something weird is definitely going on here. What did you hear?"
Astra shrugged. "It was just 'Tree, ko, Treecko' to me."
"Well, that's definitely not what I heard." Mawile reiterated. "But why...?"
She trailed off, staring into the distance, then frowned. "I...can think of one explanation, maybe. I'm not sure how much sense it would make to you, but it would explain how you got here, as well as this weirdness."
"Oh?" Astra asked, curious. "What is it?"
"I think you may have somehow gotten punted here from an alternate dimension."
Wind blew through the clearing, shaking the trees and rustling the grass. Treecko settled down to rest in a nearby patch of flowers, while Astra just frowned.
"I don't know what that means."
Mawile sighed. "Okay so imagine there's a world just like yours, somewhere else. But in this other world, something in the past, or maybe at the beginning, something happened differently, and caused everything that followed after to spiral out in a different direction. Are you following?"
Astra frowned harder. "I... think so? Like if I hadn't gone out for berries that one time, I wouldn't have nearly gotten captured, and then wouldn't have gone to the city."
"Um, sure, I guess?" Mawile said. "Anyways, this world is a reality where Pokemon can all talk to each other like humans, but not to humans, while your normal is one where they're all, well. Animals."
She paused, looking over at Treecko. "No offense meant."
Treecko waved her off. "Ko."
Mawile grimaced. "Oh, that is definitely gonna take some getting used to."
"Alright..." Astra said, thinking. "I think I get it? But—wait!" She gasped, a horrifying thought striking her. "Does that mean I can't get back home? What about my village? If I don't become the champion, it's going to get discovered! How do we fix this!?"
"It... wouldn't be easy." Mawile winced. "We don't really know how you got shunted into this dimension to begin with, and without that as a starting point, options are kind of limited. There's at least a couple of entities I can think of that I'm pretty sure could put you back where you belong, but we'd need to find them first, which would be incredibly difficult, and I don't even know where we are now. Not to mention, I'm not sure Dialga or Palkia would be willing to help even if we found them."
Astra blinked. "Who?"
"A pair of legendary Pokemon who control time and space, respectively."
Silence rolled through the clearing. Astra blinked again.
"What?" she managed. "There are—wait, you know this? For real? How do you know this?"
She paused, squinting at Mawile. "Where did you say you came from, again?"
"Er..." Mawile shrank back, looking away for a moment. "I mean, I did mention I just sort of 'appeared' here a week ago, right? I'm not exactly from this world either. As for how I know this stuff, in my home dimension, I...used to live with humans, and was able to learn a lot about a few...er, possible worlds? Due to certain circumstances there."
"That's really vague." Astra said, eyes narrowing further. "It kind of feels like you're just dodging the question. What circumstances?"
Mawile grimaced. "Look, it might be better if you just don't know. It would be...really hard to explain. Bottom line is, I know a lot more about certain aspects of this world than a 'normal' Pokemon might, and am aware of at least a good number of the most powerful Pokemon in existence. I might not know exactly how either of us ended up here, but I am next to certain that Dialga and Palkia could fix it."
"How hard?"
Mawile blinked. "Er, excuse me?"
"How hard would it be?" Astra clarified. "To explain?"
Mawile took a moment to think about it. "You went to Birch to get your starter Pokemon, right? Imagine if...you suddenly found yourself pressed to explain your entire village situation to him, and then had to also convince him not to tell anyone else about its existence, or even investigate it himself, despite the fact that researching new Pokemon-related discoveries is what he's dedicated his entire life to."
"That... does sound like it would be hard." Astra admitted.
"Now imagine that again, but while you're talking to Birch, he not only has a decent chance of having a major freak out over the subject before you can even finish explaining, but potentially starts suffering from a minor-to-severe case of existential despair mid-way through."
Astra stared at Mawile. Existential despair? What in the world? "...really?"
"Yes, really." Mawile replied, walking closer. "Look, it shouldn't really matter, in the end. As long as you have faith that I at least mostly know what I'm talking about, it shouldn't be particularly relevant. So... please, just trust me on this?"
She looked up at Astra pleadingly, and Astra hesitated. She'd like to believe Mawile, but her story was just so incredibly odd. Not to mention, Astra could literally feel the guilt settling about Mawile like a cloak of mist—but there were other emotions there, too. Sincerity, hope, panic, but nothing negative directed towards Astra herself. Going off that, it seemed like Mawile truly was trying to protect her from...something.
"...alright, fine." Astra allowed. "But if it ever becomes truly important, I don't care how hard it is to say, you gotta tell me, alright?"
Mawile smiled, settling on the grass beside her. "That's fine. If things get that dire, we'll probably be past the point where it'll be that shocking anyways."
Astra nodded, then paused to look around. "So, we just gotta find those two, right? That's more of a direction than I had before finding you. But what do we do now?"
"I... don't really know." Mawile frowned. "Just getting out of this forest might be a challenge in and of itself. I've only been stuck here for a week because I can't seem to find my way out—every time I've made a committed effort, I somehow got lost, and ultimately just ended up back where I started."
"Hmm...well, maybe if we try together, we can find a way!" Astra said, grinning. "I'm sure it'll go better with the two of us."
Her smile faded, a worried frown replacing it. "But I hope we find a way soon. You made this sound like it'll take a while, and if I'm gone for too long, my village is toast..."
"I wouldn't be too worried." Mawile said. "If we do actually find Dialga and manage to get his help, I don't see any reason he couldn't send you right back to whenever you left. Ruler of time, remember?"
Astra blinked. "Really? You're sure?"
Mawile nodded, and Astra exhaled. "That's...good to know. I have some friends I'd hate to abandon back home."
"Yeah, I've been wondering about the people I left behind too." Mawile agreed. She patted Astra on the leg, smiling gently. "Try not to think about it too much. If we can get back, it'll be like we never left. If we can't...well, it wasn't our choice. Besides, Dialga and Palkia aren't the only options, I'm sure we can find some way back."
"Mmhmm." Astra hummed, having noticed when Mawile started using "we" in reference to future events. "So, I guess you'll be coming with me then?"
"Er... well, yeah, I was kind of hoping." Mawile said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't want to be stuck in this world any more than you do, and I definitely wouldn't mind some mutual help in fixing that. On my own, it might even be kind of hopeless, given I can't even find my way out of the forest, so teaming up with you is almost certainly my best option."
"So, one could say that you are a Pokemon," Astra said, slowly, "Traveling with a Pokemon trainer."
Mawile paused. Both mouths opened for a moment, then closed as she squinted at Astra.
"I don't like what you're implying here..."
"It would make sense if I caught you." Astra said, long hours of trying to mislead humanity coming to mind. Just because she was somewhere else didn't mean that keeping a low profile was any less vital. "A Pokemon that travels with a trainer but isn't theirs is kind of weird, isn't it? And what if you get hurt? The healing I saw from the Pokecenters was pretty impressive, but I can't hand them to you in a Pokeball if you're not in one. Plus, since I can look like a human, I can go a lot of places that Pokemon can't."
"No, it's not—I get the logic, I just...ugh."
Mawile sighed, rubbing her forehead. Astra watched warily as the smaller Pokemon's maw rose up behind her, anxiously clacking together a few times before settling down.
"It's just... it might be okay if it's you, but I'm not a big fan of the idea of being stuffed into a Pokeball." Mawile eventually continued, crossing her arms. "Do you even know what it's like in there? I don't, but I'm not sure I really want to find out."
"Treecko." Treecko suddenly piped up, raising his head and pointing at himself. "Ko. Tree tree ko treecko ko."
Mawile twitched. "Er, thank you. I think."
Astra looked between Mawile and Treecko. "What did he say?"
"He was trying to explain what it's like inside a Pokeball. It's apparently...like sleeping but more, if I'm putting that together correctly? Is this what Meowth has to deal with...?" she muttered absentmindedly.
"Birch did say it was sort of like a...stasis?" Astra said. "I wasn't really listening. Who's Meowth?"
"Oh, he's—well, not nobody, but he's not important." Mawile replied, waving the question off. "He might not even exist here, for all I know. If he shows up, I'll tell you, but with any luck, he won't."
She sighed, then stood up, stretching her arms above her shoulders. Her horn rose up and opened wide with the motion, appearing to almost yawn, before settling back down like a heinous ponytail.
"Alright, let's get it over with."
Astra blinked.
"What, that easily?" she asked, rising to her feet. "I thought it'd take longer to convince you."
"Well, I do have conditions." Mawile said, raising a three-fingered hand to count off her claws. "First, you can have me linked to a Pokeball, but I don't really want to be in there for any longer than necessary. That means I travel with you in the outside world—I walk outside, I sleep outside, I...well, I can't see how I'd eat in there anyways, but you get the idea. Basically, just please don't recall me unless I ask, or you absolutely need to."
Astra hummed. "I'm not sure how well that would work in a human city, but I don't see any problem with it otherwise."
"Second..." Mawile paused, looking torn. "I'm...not really used to fighting. I won't back down if needs must, but I'd rather be...kept on the back lines, so to speak?"
Astra frowned.
"I can't not fight with you." she pointed out. "I'm a trainer, so it'd look awfully odd for me to be carrying around a Pokemon I never battle with, and I don't want anyone looking at me any closer than they have to. Because, you know," she waved a hand at her head, "not human."
"Yeah, I know..." Mawile sighed. "I get it, there's no way I'm getting out of it completely. All I'm asking is that you don't have me battle as much as your other Pokemon, and to try to take another option if you have it, alright?"
Astra nodded. "I can do that, I think."
"Thank you." Mawile said, before suddenly straightening and staring Astra directly in the eyes. "Third, and finally—as much as we may need to pretend otherwise, I am not actually your Pokemon. I am my own person. Not an animal, and definitely not a pet. I'll follow your lead, but this is going to be a partnership, or nothing at all. Is that clear?"
Astra flinched back as Mawile's aura of terror briefly flickered back into existence. Her toothy horn hovered overhead, opened slightly in anticipation. "I...yes, yes, that's fine! Just, stop that ability thing!"
Mawile stared Astra down for a moment more before sighing, letting her maw droop back behind her. "Good. Sorry, just wanted to make that point very clear."
"You didn't have to be a jerk about it." Astra grumbled, privately noting that Mawile was starting to remind her of May a bit. "I wouldn't do anything to you I wouldn't do to someone else."
Mawile sighed. "That might be true, and I don't think you would, but there's a sort of an inherent power gap between us. You—" she waved at Astra, "—can evolve. Twice! Once already, even. You can disguise yourself as a human, use awesome psychic powers, probably read minds...you can do so much more than I can."
She looked down at the ground with a rueful expression. "Meanwhile, unless we find something I'm not even sure exists here, I'm stuck as just this. I can't disguise myself as a human like you can, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to talk to any of them either, so all I'll be in anyone else's eyes is a wild Pokemon. You're basically my only hope at a decent life, but you also hold pretty much all of the cards."
"...oh." Astra said, wide-eyed at Mawile's rant. "I...hadn't realized it was like that."
It really was a bit unfair, if she thought of it like that. Astra was basically asking Mawile to sacrifice her freedom. Hadn't that been what Astra herself was scared of? Was still scared of?
"I can't really change who I am or what I can do." Astra said, closing her eyes. "It is unfair that you can't do a lot of what I can. But I don't want you to think I'm ever taking advantage of you. So I promise, as one Pokemon to another, I will never treat you like anything less than a person. And if you're truly unhappy about it all, then..."
Astra exhaled, looking Mawile in the eye. "Well, we'll try to talk about it first. But if for some reason I just utterly refuse to listen, then you have my express permission to rip off my disguise and expose me to the whole world. How about that?"
Mawile stared at Astra, eyes widening, then let out a bark of laughter and shook her head.
"You're a pretty nice person, Astra." she said, grinning. "Even if I wish it never happened, I'm glad it was you that ended up here."
The two smiled at each other, and Mawile walked a few feet away, turning to face Astra. She opened her mouth, then suddenly blinked rapidly, and began to laugh again.
"What's so funny?" Astra asked.
"Ah- nothing." Mawile said, shaking her head. "There's just...an absurd, private sort of irony in this situation. A Pokemon, disguised as a trainer, capturing me, who...well, this all just feels a bit backwards, is all."
She grinned. "Anyways, let's do this."
Astra nodded, still slightly confused, but grinning right back. Recalling Treecko from his spot in the grass, she shuffled his Pokeball away and brought out a fresh one. Then, taking aim, she tossed it at Mawile.
Mawile closed her eyes and bowed her head as the ball flew through the air. A split second later, it impacted, and Astra watched as the smaller Pokemon vanished in a flash of red light. The ball shook once, twice, thrice...
Then fell still with a small chime.
Walking over, Astra picked the ball up and stared at it for a moment.
"Capture success." she said quietly. "Welcome to the team, Mawile. I hope we can find our way home."
Spinning the ball around, she reached back. "Now, come back out! Go, Maw—"
In the depths of another dimension, two legendary Pokemon were sleepily examining a group of Unown. Something had knocked them all out of order, and caused a small bit of spacetime to become entangled with a different bit.
Palkia was looking over one particular knot of spacetime in consternation. Frowning, he beckoned Dialga over to take a look.
Dialga did so, then shrugged and growled at Palkia. He was still tired.
Palkia, astonished, motioned at the knot in exasperation.
Dialga yawned, shrugging again.
Sighing in resignation, Palkia forcefully ripped the knot free from the two universes it was entangled with, leaving two gaping holes. Copying the knot, he slapped the holes shut again with the resulting messes, and watched unhappily as the knots re-integrated themselves into their universes.
Shoddy work all around, but then again, they had just woken up.
ALPHA
"—ile!"
Astra tossed the Pokeball into the air. Red light flashed, and Mawile reappeared, looking rather disoriented.
"Okay, that was almost exactly as weird as I thought it'd be." Mawile complained. "Yeah, definitely not something I really want to—what the...?"
She looked up, eyes going wide. "Alright, where the hell are we now!?"
"What do you—oh!"
Astra gasped as she looked around. The trees, the clouds, the smell. All three had suddenly changed back without warning...and behind her, over the treetops, Rustboro stood, shining in the afternoon light.
"That's...Rustboro?" she said aloud, stunned. "How did—when—what!?"
"Wait, that's Rustboro?" Mawile demanded, rounding on Astra. "We're back where you came from? Why!? How!? How long was I in there for!?"
"I—I don't know!" Astra stammered. "It's only been ten seconds! I just picked up your ball to release you, and then suddenly we were...here."
Mawile stared at her, then at the city. She threw her hands up.
"The fuck!?"
BETA
"—ile!"
Astra tossed the Pokeball into the air. Red light flashed, and Mawile reappeared, looking rather disoriented.
"Okay, that was almost exactly as weird as I thought it'd be." Mawile complained. "Yeah, definitely not something I really want to repeat. Felt like I'd been forcibly placed into the fetal position."
"Like I said, I'll try to not put you in except when I need to." Astra said, patting the smaller Pokemon on the head.
"Hey!" Mawile grumbled, batting Astra's hand away. "No patting...also, aren't Kirlias supposed to be around my height? This is completely unfair."
Astra shrugged. "Kirlia in my village have always been this tall. So..." She took a moment to look around. "What now?"
On cue, Mawile and Astra's stomachs both rumbled. Mawile looked at Astra's backpack.
"You wouldn't happen to have any food in there, would you?" she asked, hopefully.
Astra nodded. "Yeah, but I was hoping to find a berry bush or a river to fish from before I dug into that."
Mawile shook her head. "Bushes around here are picked clean extremely fast on a daily basis. I can barely get enough to feed myself sometimes — in fact, I really don't get enough. Which is why I was, uh...setting a lure, earlier."
"Well, it was a very good lure." Astra complimented. "And if it is that barren around here, then I suppose I can bring out a few berry jars. Do you want to eat here?"
She looked around the clearing, but Mawile shook her head.
"Nah, let's go to my hovel over there." she said, pointing through the trees. "It's just a bunch of rocks, but it's been home for the past week, and I think I can repurpose some of them as tables."
"Sounds good to me." Astra said. "Lead the way."
And so they went.
I have very little idea of how to actually continue either of these timelines, but especially Beta. Perhaps Astra and Mawile team travel with Ash for a while. They're in Sinnoh, so hunting down Dialga and Palkia should be... not as hard. Again, I know bretty much jack about anywhere but Hoenn, I literally cannot write about Sinnoh without ludicrous ammounts of research.
I encourage readers to try their hand. And since I wrote two for @Flairina, I think she owes me one now? What's the exchange rate on omakes? Is there one? Wait that's not how that works? Whoopsie!
Hope you enjoyed. It's not my best, but I had fun.
This is unbeta'd, probably terrible, consists of 98% talking and exposition, and I profusely apologize to @Flairina for the gross mischaracterization of her Mawile. I don't know how she/you would react in certain situations, so it's basically Mawhile-INO
Turns out I have no idea how to write characters when they're not mine.
Should be fine, I'm not holding myself to high standards for silly omakes like this.
Backslash - 2 (Hyphen/Backwards Grin)
Cross-Step
"Holy shit." Astra said, wide-eyed.
Mawile stared back, just as shocked.
"You- you can really... wait, but—" she started, then stopped, confused. "Wait, then—"
"Oh my gosh, I've never seen another Pokemon that can talk!" Astra exclaimed, excited beyond reason.
She rushed up to the smaller Pokemon, skidding to a halt before her and falling to her knees.
"Who are you? What are you?" she blabbered, words coming faster than she could think. "Are there more of you? Another village? Did you make those marks on the trees?"
"Wait, wait, stop!" Mawile yelled, pushing Astra's face away. "Slow down, and back up! Personal space, please!"
Fear.
Astra screamed, shooting backward across the clearing in a frantic crawl. She stared at Mawile, heart pounding. Mawile's horn loomed above her head, casting her in an ominous shadow, while her red eyes pierced into Astra's heart, looking... vaguely confused?
"Um... what?" Mawile asked, awkwardly. "Are you okay?"
She took a step forward, and Astra yelped, scrambling back a bit. She couldn't help it — something about the diminutive Pokemon was just inexplicably horrifying. Even accounting for her monstrous horn-mouth, it didn't make any sense.
"I—I don't know." Astra stammered out, shaking. "You—why are you so scary? I don't—"
"Scary?" Mawile repeated, confused. "But I'm not even-"
She paused, furrowing her brows. Then, apparently coming to some sort of realization, she slowly covered her face with her palm and let out a long-suffering sigh.
"I'm an idiot."
Astra stared as Mawile concentrated for a second, then suddenly seemed to relax, her giant maw unclenching and her shoulders visibly loosening. The menacing aura faded at once, and Astra blinked at the suddenly normal-ish Pokemon before her.
"What was that?" Astra asked, slowly climbing to her feet. "It felt like you were going to—to tear me apart at any moment. Which," she frowned, "you already tried to."
"Um... yeah." Mawile glanced around, awkwardly tapping a foot against the ground. "Sorry about that, I just wasn't really expecting a trainer to suddenly bust into my hiding spot. I may have, uh... panicked, a little."
She stopped, then growled, seemingly at herself. "As for my 'scariness', that was a sort of ability I have, which I apparently didn't realize was active. For an entire week! No wonder nobody would talk to me, I—ugh, nevermind."
Astra blinked, then broke into a wide smile.
"Nobody else would talk to you?" she repeated, hope sparking. "So there are others? I thought we were the only ones! Where are they? How many?"
Mawile squinted at Astra, seeming bewildered by the questions. "Others? What do you—wait, hold up, how are you even understanding me in the first place? Aren't you human?"
Astra hesitated, then shook her head. Mawile wasn't a human, and judging from her words, she didn't think that humans could understand her. For a fellow sapient Pokemon, it would probably be okay, right?
Finding no fault with that, Astra slowly lifted the sunhat off her head and undid the wrap around her face, dispelling the illusion she kept there.
"I'm not human," she explained, smiling at the dumbstruck Mawile. "I'm a Kirlia."
Mawile just stared for a few moments, looking utterly bewildered. "Wait, but—but you had a Pokeball, and you looked human until a second ago! Why would—I don't—okay."
She paused, then slowly exhaled. "Let's start over. Who are you, exactly?"
Astra blinked. "Oh! My name is Astra. And you?"
Mawile hesitated.
"I... don't really have a name right now, I guess." she said after a moment. "Flair, maybe...?"
The tiny Pokemon seemed to think on that for a moment, before slowly shaking her head. "Hmm, no, just Mawile is fine for now. It's nice to meet you Astra. I don't suppose you know where we are? I woke up in this forest around a week ago, and haven't been able to find my way out since."
Astra's face fell.
"You don't know either?" she asked. "I just got here a few hours ago myself. I don't even know how, I was just walking through the woods outside Rustboro, and suddenly I was in a different forest."
She paused for a moment, heart sinking. If Mawile wasn't from here, then there probably weren't any others like her... not here, at least.
"Wait, did you say Rustboro?" Mawile asked, not seeming to notice Astra's sudden malaise. "Isn't that in Hoenn? Are we in Hoenn?"
Astra sighed. "I was in Hoenn, yes. I don't really know where this is, though." She glanced around at the surrounding trees. "Everything is so different here. Even the clouds changed shape—it was almost clear, but the sky's half full here."
"...hmm." Mawile hummed. "Well... sorry if this sounds weird, but I need to check. Do you know what a Mystery Dungeon is?"
Astra stared at Mawile blankly. Mystery dungeon? What?
"I have no idea what you're talking about." she answered honestly.
Mawile nodded to herself. "Well, that answers one thing at least. Although..."
She frowned, then turned back to Astra. "In that case, this is actually even weirder. If you're a Kirlia, why do you have a Pokeball? Heck, why are you dressed like..." She hesitated, struggling to find the right words, before settling on just gesturing up and down at Astra's robe. "Like that?"
Astra smiled, perking back up.
"It's because, almost a week ago now, I became a Pokemon trainer." she explained, then paused. "Which, of course, required disguising myself as a human. I'm dressed like this because...well, humans wear clothes, and this was the best my village had."
She shrugged. "Honestly, I kind of like it! Very breezy."
Mawile's eyes bulged. "Wait, you're a Pokemon that's gone undercover to become a trainer?"
"It was no big deal, really." Astra said, grinning. "Professor Birch didn't suspect a thing, and I got Treecko right after. I'm trying to become the Champion, so I can maybe stop humans from, well, destroying my village once it gets discovered, but I've—"
"Wait! Stop, hold up." Mawile frantically interrupted, holding up a hand. "This is... a lot you're throwing at me right now. Where do I even—village? You said that before. What village?"
"My home, back in Hoenn." Astra elaborated. "All of the Ralts and Kirlia on the continent live there, hidden from the human world, but our protections are failing—at the rate the nearest human city is expanding, we're going be discovered eventually."
A grimace threatened to overtake her face at the thought, but she pushed it back down.
"Recently though, I learned that there's someone all the humans listen to, called the Pokemon Champion." Astra continued. "So, I figured if I became this Champion, I might be able to protect my village when it gets discovered."
She paused, then took a deep breath—she had to at least ask.
"What about you?" she asked, trying to hold back her trepidation. "Were you from a village too?"
Mawile squinted at Astra.
"Am I in a spinoff?" she muttered to herself, seemingly not entirely meaning for Astra to hear her. "Or—wait, that sounds a little familiar, but where...?"
Mawile thought about it for another moment, then shook her head and turned back to Astra.
"No, I'm afraid there's no secret conclave of Mawile here. Last I remember, I was going to sleep back home, but come morning I somehow woke up here, in this forest. Made a little hovel over that way," she pointed north, "but there's nothing else out here."
"...oh."
Astra sat down. That was... disappointing, though not entirely unexpected.
"Darn. It would have been nice to know there was another Pokemon village out there..."
She sighed, but smiled as she turned back to Mawile a moment later. "But, at least I know we're not totally alone, now. It's really cool meeting another Pokemon who can talk!"
"Um, yeah, about that?" Mawile began. "What do you mean? Every Pokemon I've met so far can talk...even if they've never been particularly willing to talk to me." she grumbled in a slightly lower tone. "Stupid, lousy ability...anyways, can you not understand them?"
"You can?" Astra asked, baffled. "As far as I knew up until now, only other Ralts and Kirlia could actually talk. Other Pokemon just say their species name over and over, and whenever anyone tried telepathy, all they would get is a sort of, crude, conceptual thing."
She paused, struggling to figure out how to properly convey what psychic conversations entailed, before deciding it wasn't worth it. The concepts were too complicated to explain without at least a basic primer, which she doubted Mawile had...even if the smaller Pokemon did seem awfully well-informed.
"Are you saying you can understand all of them?" she asked.
Mawile nodded. "As far as I know, all Pokemon can talk pretty much freely with each other. Though, I noticed your mouth isn't moving — are you using telepathy to talk to me right now? What does it sound like if you use your regular voice?"
Astra's face flushed.
"Um. I'd rather not." she said, looking away and poking her fingers together. "That's reserved for, uh. Family."
Seriously, Mawile was nice, but not that nice.
"Oh, er... never mind then, I guess?" Mawile scratched her head awkwardly. "Anyways, everyone here speaks Eng—er, intelligibly, and so do you, so I'm not sure how that all adds up. What do I sound like to you?"
Astra hesitated. "It's...kind of weird. I can understand you just fine, like you're speaking human, but under that I can also hear you just going 'Maw mawile wile maw' at the same time. It's like..." She frowned. "It's like talking to two people at once, but they're the same person, and one is completely incomprehensible."
"That's... bizarre." Mawile replied, placing a hand on her chin. "...can you bring out one of your Pokemon? I want to test something."
"Sure." Astra said, standing up. Treecko's Pokeball was still in her hand, so she just tossed it in the air. "Treecko, come on out!"
In a flash of red light, Treecko re-emerged into the world. He took one look at Mawile and crouched down, ready for combat.
"Oh—no, Treecko," Astra said, patting him on the head. "Mawile is friendly. I just brought you out to test something. Mawile, this is Treecko."
"Hiya!" Mawile said in a cheery tone as she waved at Treecko, her horn carefully held still on the ground. "How are you?"
Treecko stared at Mawile in confusion, then looked to Astra.
"Tree," he said, pointing at Mawile. "Ko, treecko."
"She's a new friend." Astra answered automatically. "She just wanted to hear you talk a bit. Is that okay?"
Treecko shrugged. "Tree."
"What the hell...?" Mawile muttered, staring at Treecko. "That doesn't...what?"
"Huh?" Astra looked at Mawile, concerned. "What is what? What happened? Can you understand him?"
"I... yes?" Mawile replied, though not looking entirely certain of her own answer. "It's... like he's talking out of a bad Google translation, kind of?"
Astra blinked, bewildered. "Google translation"? What were these things that Mawile kept referencing?
"I can hear what he's saying, but it's all primitive and out of order." Mawile continued. "He wanted to know why I talk like you, I think? Or maybe I totally misinterpreted that, but... yeah, something weird is definitely going on here. What did you hear?"
Astra shrugged. "It was just 'Tree, ko, Treecko' to me."
"Well, that's definitely not what I heard." Mawile reiterated. "But why...?"
She trailed off, staring into the distance, then frowned. "I...can think of one explanation, maybe. I'm not sure how much sense it would make to you, but it would explain how you got here, as well as this weirdness."
"Oh?" Astra asked, curious. "What is it?"
"I think you may have somehow gotten punted here from an alternate dimension."
Wind blew through the clearing, shaking the trees and rustling the grass. Treecko settled down to rest in a nearby patch of flowers, while Astra just frowned.
"I don't know what that means."
Mawile sighed. "Okay so imagine there's a world just like yours, somewhere else. But in this other world, something in the past, or maybe at the beginning, something happened differently, and caused everything that followed after to spiral out in a different direction. Are you following?"
Astra frowned harder. "I... think so? Like if I hadn't gone out for berries that one time, I wouldn't have nearly gotten captured, and then wouldn't have gone to the city."
"Um, sure, I guess?" Mawile said. "Anyways, this world is a reality where Pokemon can all talk to each other like humans, but not to humans, while your normal is one where they're all, well. Animals."
She paused, looking over at Treecko. "No offense meant."
Treecko waved her off. "Ko."
Mawile grimaced. "Oh, that is definitely gonna take some getting used to."
"Alright..." Astra said, thinking. "I think I get it? But—wait!" She gasped, a horrifying thought striking her. "Does that mean I can't get back home? What about my village? If I don't become the champion, it's going to get discovered! How do we fix this!?"
"It... wouldn't be easy." Mawile winced. "We don't really know how you got shunted into this dimension to begin with, and without that as a starting point, options are kind of limited. There's at least a couple of entities I can think of that I'm pretty sure could put you back where you belong, but we'd need to find them first, which would be incredibly difficult, and I don't even know where we are now. Not to mention, I'm not sure Dialga or Palkia would be willing to help even if we found them."
Astra blinked. "Who?"
"A pair of legendary Pokemon who control time and space, respectively."
Silence rolled through the clearing. Astra blinked again.
"What?" she managed. "There are—wait, you know this? For real? How do you know this?"
She paused, squinting at Mawile. "Where did you say you came from, again?"
"Er..." Mawile shrank back, looking away for a moment. "I mean, I did mention I just sort of 'appeared' here a week ago, right? I'm not exactly from this world either. As for how I know this stuff, in my home dimension, I...used to live with humans, and was able to learn a lot about a few...er, possible worlds? Due to certain circumstances there."
"That's really vague." Astra said, eyes narrowing further. "It kind of feels like you're just dodging the question. What circumstances?"
Mawile grimaced. "Look, it might be better if you just don't know. It would be...really hard to explain. Bottom line is, I know a lot more about certain aspects of this world than a 'normal' Pokemon might, and am aware of at least a good number of the most powerful Pokemon in existence. I might not know exactly how either of us ended up here, but I am next to certain that Dialga and Palkia could fix it."
"How hard?"
Mawile blinked. "Er, excuse me?"
"How hard would it be?" Astra clarified. "To explain?"
Mawile took a moment to think about it. "You went to Birch to get your starter Pokemon, right? Imagine if...you suddenly found yourself pressed to explain your entire village situation to him, and then had to also convince him not to tell anyone else about its existence, or even investigate it himself, despite the fact that researching new Pokemon-related discoveries is what he's dedicated his entire life to."
"That... does sound like it would be hard." Astra admitted.
"Now imagine that again, but while you're talking to Birch, he not only has a decent chance of having a major freak out over the subject before you can even finish explaining, but potentially starts suffering from a minor-to-severe case of existential despair mid-way through."
Astra stared at Mawile. Existential despair? What in the world? "...really?"
"Yes, really." Mawile replied, walking closer. "Look, it shouldn't really matter, in the end. As long as you have faith that I at least mostly know what I'm talking about, it shouldn't be particularly relevant. So... please, just trust me on this?"
She looked up at Astra pleadingly, and Astra hesitated. She'd like to believe Mawile, but her story was just so incredibly odd. Not to mention, Astra could literally feel the guilt settling about Mawile like a cloak of mist—but there were other emotions there, too. Sincerity, hope, panic, but nothing negative directed towards Astra herself. Going off that, it seemed like Mawile truly was trying to protect her from...something.
"...alright, fine." Astra allowed. "But if it ever becomes truly important, I don't care how hard it is to say, you gotta tell me, alright?"
Mawile smiled, settling on the grass beside her. "That's fine. If things get that dire, we'll probably be past the point where it'll be that shocking anyways."
Astra nodded, then paused to look around. "So, we just gotta find those two, right? That's more of a direction than I had before finding you. But what do we do now?"
"I... don't really know." Mawile frowned. "Just getting out of this forest might be a challenge in and of itself. I've only been stuck here for a week because I can't seem to find my way out—every time I've made a committed effort, I somehow got lost, and ultimately just ended up back where I started."
"Hmm...well, maybe if we try together, we can find a way!" Astra said, grinning. "I'm sure it'll go better with the two of us."
Her smile faded, a worried frown replacing it. "But I hope we find a way soon. You made this sound like it'll take a while, and if I'm gone for too long, my village is toast..."
"I wouldn't be too worried." Mawile said. "If we do actually find Dialga and manage to get his help, I don't see any reason he couldn't send you right back to whenever you left. Ruler of time, remember?"
Astra blinked. "Really? You're sure?"
Mawile nodded, and Astra exhaled. "That's...good to know. I have some friends I'd hate to abandon back home."
"Yeah, I've been wondering about the people I left behind too." Mawile agreed. She patted Astra on the leg, smiling gently. "Try not to think about it too much. If we can get back, it'll be like we never left. If we can't...well, it wasn't our choice. Besides, Dialga and Palkia aren't the only options, I'm sure we can find some way back."
"Mmhmm." Astra hummed, having noticed when Mawile started using "we" in reference to future events. "So, I guess you'll be coming with me then?"
"Er... well, yeah, I was kind of hoping." Mawile said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't want to be stuck in this world any more than you do, and I definitely wouldn't mind some mutual help in fixing that. On my own, it might even be kind of hopeless, given I can't even find my way out of the forest, so teaming up with you is almost certainly my best option."
"So, one could say that you are a Pokemon," Astra said, slowly, "Traveling with a Pokemon trainer."
Mawile paused. Both mouths opened for a moment, then closed as she squinted at Astra.
"I don't like what you're implying here..."
"It would make sense if I caught you." Astra said, long hours of trying to mislead humanity coming to mind. Just because she was somewhere else didn't mean that keeping a low profile was any less vital. "A Pokemon that travels with a trainer but isn't theirs is kind of weird, isn't it? And what if you get hurt? The healing I saw from the Pokecenters was pretty impressive, but I can't hand them to you in a Pokeball if you're not in one. Plus, since I can look like a human, I can go a lot of places that Pokemon can't."
"No, it's not—I get the logic, I just...ugh."
Mawile sighed, rubbing her forehead. Astra watched warily as the smaller Pokemon's maw rose up behind her, anxiously clacking together a few times before settling down.
"It's just... it might be okay if it's you, but I'm not a big fan of the idea of being stuffed into a Pokeball." Mawile eventually continued, crossing her arms. "Do you even know what it's like in there? I don't, but I'm not sure I really want to find out."
"Treecko." Treecko suddenly piped up, raising his head and pointing at himself. "Ko. Tree tree ko treecko ko."
Mawile twitched. "Er, thank you. I think."
Astra looked between Mawile and Treecko. "What did he say?"
"He was trying to explain what it's like inside a Pokeball. It's apparently...like sleeping but more, if I'm putting that together correctly? Is this what Meowth has to deal with...?" she muttered absentmindedly.
"Birch did say it was sort of like a...stasis?" Astra said. "I wasn't really listening. Who's Meowth?"
"Oh, he's—well, not nobody, but he's not important." Mawile replied, waving the question off. "He might not even exist here, for all I know. If he shows up, I'll tell you, but with any luck, he won't."
She sighed, then stood up, stretching her arms above her shoulders. Her horn rose up and opened wide with the motion, appearing to almost yawn, before settling back down like a heinous ponytail.
"Alright, let's get it over with."
Astra blinked.
"What, that easily?" she asked, rising to her feet. "I thought it'd take longer to convince you."
"Well, I do have conditions." Mawile said, raising a three-fingered hand to count off her claws. "First, you can have me linked to a Pokeball, but I don't really want to be in there for any longer than necessary. That means I travel with you in the outside world—I walk outside, I sleep outside, I...well, I can't see how I'd eat in there anyways, but you get the idea. Basically, just please don't recall me unless I ask, or you absolutely need to."
Astra hummed. "I'm not sure how well that would work in a human city, but I don't see any problem with it otherwise."
"Second..." Mawile paused, looking torn. "I'm...not really used to fighting. I won't back down if needs must, but I'd rather be...kept on the back lines, so to speak?"
Astra frowned.
"I can't not fight with you." she pointed out. "I'm a trainer, so it'd look awfully odd for me to be carrying around a Pokemon I never battle with, and I don't want anyone looking at me any closer than they have to. Because, you know," she waved a hand at her head, "not human."
"Yeah, I know..." Mawile sighed. "I get it, there's no way I'm getting out of it completely. All I'm asking is that you don't have me battle as much as your other Pokemon, and to try to take another option if you have it, alright?"
Astra nodded. "I can do that, I think."
"Thank you." Mawile said, before suddenly straightening and staring Astra directly in the eyes. "Third, and finally—as much as we may need to pretend otherwise, I am not actually your Pokemon. I am my own person. Not an animal, and definitely not a pet. I'll follow your lead, but this is going to be a partnership, or nothing at all. Is that clear?"
Astra flinched back as Mawile's aura of terror briefly flickered back into existence. Her toothy horn hovered overhead, opened slightly in anticipation. "I...yes, yes, that's fine! Just, stop that ability thing!"
Mawile stared Astra down for a moment more before sighing, letting her maw droop back behind her. "Good. Sorry, just wanted to make that point very clear."
"You didn't have to be a jerk about it." Astra grumbled, privately noting that Mawile was starting to remind her of May a bit. "I wouldn't do anything to you I wouldn't do to someone else."
Mawile sighed. "That might be true, and I don't think you would, but there's a sort of an inherent power gap between us. You—" she waved at Astra, "—can evolve. Twice! Once already, even. You can disguise yourself as a human, use awesome psychic powers, probably read minds...you can do so much more than I can."
She looked down at the ground with a rueful expression. "Meanwhile, unless we find something I'm not even sure exists here, I'm stuck as just this. I can't disguise myself as a human like you can, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to talk to any of them either, so all I'll be in anyone else's eyes is a wild Pokemon. You're basically my only hope at a decent life, but you also hold pretty much all of the cards."
"...oh." Astra said, wide-eyed at Mawile's rant. "I...hadn't realized it was like that."
It really was a bit unfair, if she thought of it like that. Astra was basically asking Mawile to sacrifice her freedom. Hadn't that been what Astra herself was scared of? Was still scared of?
"I can't really change who I am or what I can do." Astra said, closing her eyes. "It is unfair that you can't do a lot of what I can. But I don't want you to think I'm ever taking advantage of you. So I promise, as one Pokemon to another, I will never treat you like anything less than a person. And if you're truly unhappy about it all, then..."
Astra exhaled, looking Mawile in the eye. "Well, we'll try to talk about it first. But if for some reason I just utterly refuse to listen, then you have my express permission to rip off my disguise and expose me to the whole world. How about that?"
Mawile stared at Astra, eyes widening, then let out a bark of laughter and shook her head.
"You're a pretty nice person, Astra." she said, grinning. "Even if I wish it never happened, I'm glad it was you that ended up here."
The two smiled at each other, and Mawile walked a few feet away, turning to face Astra. She opened her mouth, then suddenly blinked rapidly, and began to laugh again.
"What's so funny?" Astra asked.
"Ah- nothing." Mawile said, shaking her head. "There's just...an absurd, private sort of irony in this situation. A Pokemon, disguised as a trainer, capturing me, who...well, this all just feels a bit backwards, is all."
She grinned. "Anyways, let's do this."
Astra nodded, still slightly confused, but grinning right back. Recalling Treecko from his spot in the grass, she shuffled his Pokeball away and brought out a fresh one. Then, taking aim, she tossed it at Mawile.
Mawile closed her eyes and bowed her head as the ball flew through the air. A split second later, it impacted, and Astra watched as the smaller Pokemon vanished in a flash of red light. The ball shook once, twice, thrice...
Then fell still with a small chime.
Walking over, Astra picked the ball up and stared at it for a moment.
"Capture success." she said quietly. "Welcome to the team, Mawile. I hope we can find our way home."
Spinning the ball around, she reached back. "Now, come back out! Go, Maw—"
Reality froze.
In the depths of another dimension, two legendary Pokemon were sleepily examining a group of Unown. Something had knocked them all out of order, and caused a small bit of spacetime to become entangled with a different bit.
Palkia was looking over one particular knot of spacetime in consternation. Frowning, he beckoned Dialga over to take a look.
Dialga did so, then shrugged and growled at Palkia. He was still tired.
Palkia, astonished, motioned at the knot in exasperation.
Dialga yawned, shrugging again.
Sighing in resignation, Palkia forcefully ripped the knot free from the two universes it was entangled with, leaving two gaping holes. Copying the knot, he slapped the holes shut again with the resulting messes, and watched unhappily as the knots re-integrated themselves into their universes.
Shoddy work all around, but then again, they had just woken up.
ALPHA
"—ile!"
Astra tossed the Pokeball into the air. Red light flashed, and Mawile reappeared, looking rather disoriented.
"Okay, that was almost exactly as weird as I thought it'd be." Mawile complained. "Yeah, definitely not something I really want to—what the...?"
She looked up, eyes going wide. "Alright, where the hell are we now!?"
"What do you—oh!"
Astra gasped as she looked around. The trees, the clouds, the smell. All three had suddenly changed back without warning...and behind her, over the treetops, Rustboro stood, shining in the afternoon light.
"That's...Rustboro?" she said aloud, stunned. "How did—when—what!?"
"Wait, that's Rustboro?" Mawile demanded, rounding on Astra. "We're back where you came from? Why!? How!? How long was I in there for!?"
"I—I don't know!" Astra stammered. "It's only been ten seconds! I just picked up your ball to release you, and then suddenly we were...here."
Mawile stared at her, then at the city. She threw her hands up.
"The fuck!?"
BETA
"—ile!"
Astra tossed the Pokeball into the air. Red light flashed, and Mawile reappeared, looking rather disoriented.
"Okay, that was almost exactly as weird as I thought it'd be." Mawile complained. "Yeah, definitely not something I really want to repeat. Felt like I'd been forcibly placed into the fetal position."
"Like I said, I'll try to not put you in except when I need to." Astra said, patting the smaller Pokemon on the head.
"Hey!" Mawile grumbled, batting Astra's hand away. "No patting...also, aren't Kirlias supposed to be around my height? This is completely unfair."
Astra shrugged. "Kirlia in my village have always been this tall. So..." She took a moment to look around. "What now?"
On cue, Mawile and Astra's stomachs both rumbled. Mawile looked at Astra's backpack.
"You wouldn't happen to have any food in there, would you?" she asked, hopefully.
Astra nodded. "Yeah, but I was hoping to find a berry bush or a river to fish from before I dug into that."
Mawile shook her head. "Bushes around here are picked clean extremely fast on a daily basis. I can barely get enough to feed myself sometimes — in fact, I really don't get enough. Which is why I was, uh...setting a lure, earlier."
"Well, it was a very good lure." Astra complimented. "And if it is that barren around here, then I suppose I can bring out a few berry jars. Do you want to eat here?"
She looked around the clearing, but Mawile shook her head.
"Nah, let's go to my hovel over there." she said, pointing through the trees. "It's just a bunch of rocks, but it's been home for the past week, and I think I can repurpose some of them as tables."
"Sounds good to me." Astra said. "Lead the way."
And so they went.
I have very little idea of how to actually continue either of these timelines, but especially Beta. Perhaps Astra and Mawile team travel with Ash for a while. They're in Sinnoh, so hunting down Dialga and Palkia should be... not as hard. Again, I know bretty much jack about anywhere but Hoenn, I literally cannot write about Sinnoh without ludicrous ammounts of research.
I encourage readers to try their hand. And since I wrote two for @Flairina, I think she owes me one now? What's the exchange rate on omakes? Is there one? Wait that's not how that works? Whoopsie!
Hope you enjoyed. It's not my best, but I had fun.
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