wkz
Probably on the other side of the world from you
... and others...
Or the reveal could be as simple as a mis-aimed(?) pokeball hitting Astra on her head...
Hyphen (Pokemon Emerald)
Or the reveal could be as simple as a mis-aimed(?) pokeball hitting Astra on her head...
Backslash 4 (Beta 4) - About-Face (Hyphen/A Backwards Grin)
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
This chapter of Backslash brought to you by this gif:
(Obviously not to scale)
Backslash (Beta) - 4 (Hyphen/A Backwards Grin)
About-face
Mawile
"I really don't get what you find so interesting about that thing."
I glance up from the Pokedex I'm currently holding to look over at its owner.
"Seriously, it's been helpful once or twice, but it's mostly just an overly-complicated piece of junk." Astra says.
I shrug.
Our quest to escape this forest has thus far proven fairly uneventful, so for lack of anything better to do, I've been checking out my new trainer's Pokedex. Astra seems to think the device is pretty useless on the whole, citing "map frustrations" in particular as a serious annoyance, but this thing actually has WAY more functions than I'd have expected, including a camera, a notepad, a phone, a music player, and more. There's no internet app, but besides that glaring absence, this thing is basically just a slightly more blocky smartphone. I really don't think Astra is giving it enough credit.
"That seems a bit harsh." I reply. "I think a lot of these options could be pretty convenient, honestly. Maybe you just lack the proper context to appreciate some of them."
Astra gives me a doubtful look. "If you say so..."
"Way!"
I look up to where Treecko is standing on a nearby tree branch. Despite having just recently recalled him, Astra ended up letting him back out after only a couple minutes or so of walking so he could make sure we hadn't accidentally wandered off course. When I pointed out we'd probably have to do that repeatedly (especially since I'm not marking any trees this time to track where we came from), Astra decided to just leave Treecko out and let him lead.
"Come." Treecko says, gesturing for us to continue following as he hops to the next tree. We do so, and I turn back to Astra as we walk.
"Hey, do you mind if I try scanning you with this thing with your disguise up?" I ask, holding out the Pokedex. "I'm kind of curious if it'll work or not."
Astra tilts her head slightly.
"I... guess I don't mind?" she says, taking a moment to reinstate the human illusion I first met her in. "I bet you it doesn't though."
"Well, let's see." I reply.
I wave the Pokedex at Astra, trying to get it to scan her as the Kirlia she actually is. However, no matter how hard I wave it around or concentrate the camera on her, the device fails to react, seemingly unable to recognize or detect her as a Pokemon. I can't help but laugh a little at the result.
"Heh, looks like you were right." I admit, handing the Pokedex back to Astra. "Seems your illusions work on this thing too."
Astra grins proudly, accepting the machine and stowing it away before dropping her disguise again. Not much point to leaving it up when we're the only ones around, I guess.
"So, besides illusions, what else can you do with psychic powers anyways?" I ask casually.
I'm mostly just trying to make conversation, since I'm pretty sure I can already guess the general gist of it, but I am genuinely a little interested. As someone who grew up in a village where literally everyone was psychically gifted, and such powers presumably saw commonplace use, Astra might actually have some unique uses for psychic powers that I wouldn't have thought or heard of before. Besides, it's in my best interest to know what my new trainer is capable of, assuming this partnership proves to be an enduring one.
Astra immediately perks up, apparently liking my choice of topic.
"Oh wow, let's see... well, there's telepathy, obviously." she starts, deliberately causing her mental voice to echo slightly in my head. "You already know what that is, of course."
I nod in acknowledgment, and Astra nods back.
"Then there's telekinesis." Astra says, demonstrating by floating a few small rocks off the ground and having them rotate around her hand before tossing them back into the brush. "It's most commonly used to just move or pick things up from a distance — which is really useful when your hands don't have fingers, by the way — but it also has a bunch of other uses, like catching and cutting up food, controlling flames, repelling attacks... all sorts of stuff."
Right...
"There's also creating psychic barriers," Astra continues, creating and quickly dispersing what looks like a tiny Reflect wall in the air in front of her, "as well as forming psychic energy into blasts for attacks. I've never been all that great at that one, honestly..."
She pauses, raising one hand to her mouth. "Although, come to think of it, I still haven't gotten to practice to see if I'm any better at it now that I've evolved. I really should try that once we get out of here."
I look away, my jealousy quietly beginning to rise with each additional ability Astra lists off. I already knew my situation wasn't exactly great, but that doesn't make this any easier to hear... why couldn't I have ended up here as a Ralts instead of a Mawile? Sure, I'd have more type weaknesses, and I'd be even shorter than I am now — or maybe not, since there's apparently a sub-species of "giant" Ralts I didn't know about — but just the fact that Psychic-type powers are so supremely flexible would have more than made up for either of those downsides. It's not like I had any real choice in the matter, but... ergh.
"Mawile? Are you okay?" Astra suddenly asks. "You seem a little down."
"Huh?" I say, slightly startled. "Oh, yeah, I..."
I sigh. "Just a little envious, I guess. I mentioned earlier that you have a lot more options than I do, but I guess it didn't fully hit me exactly how many things you can do that I just can't. You haven't even mentioned teleportation again yet; that alone would be beyond useful."
I shake my head. "Meanwhile, I'm over here with the abilities to make myself smell nice, provide a slightly refreshing breeze, and briefly turn myself into a Halloween jumpscare. It's... not the most impressive list, all told."
"I'm sorry." Astra apologizes.
"It's alright, it's hardly your fault." I say — then blink, as something occurs to me. "Hey, how'd you notice that so fast anyways? I wasn't even looking at you just now."
"Oh, well," Astra says, her mental voice slightly hesitant, "I could sort of just tell from how your emotions felt. I'm right next to you, and they were kind of-"
"Wait, how my emotions felt?" I interrupt, stopping and spinning around to face her. "You were reading my mind?!"
I said that as hyperbole earlier! I didn't seriously think she could actually do that!
Astra startles at my sudden accusation, very nearly tripping backwards over her own robe. A moment later, I realize Intimidate must have just re-activated, and quickly turn away again.
"Sorry, didn't mean to do that! I just- were you actually reading my thoughts?" I ask warily, still looking at Astra in my peripheral vision.
"I- no, of course not!" Astra exclaims, actually sounding slightly affronted. "Just your emotions. I pick up on some of those passively, and I noticed you were getting a little sadder as I talked, is all."
"So you haven't gone any deeper than that?" I ask.
"No." Astra confirms. "I mean, I could, maybe, but I've never tried it before, and would never do it to someone without their permission anyways. That would be incredibly rude. The practice is actually outright forbidden in my village."
"...it is?"
Astra nods. "It's considered a huge invasion of privacy to intentionally read someone else's mind. We all pick up on surface level thoughts and feelings just by being near someone, but even those we do our best to tune out. I only really noticed yours because we're so physically close to each other right now, and because you don't know how to shield your thoughts."
She pauses. "I could... try to teach you how to do that later, if it bothers you? I don't really know if it would work, but..."
Most of my remaining tension bleeds out of me upon hearing that. I do trust Astra, at least based on what I've seen of her thus far, so I guess I'll believe her when she says she's not going to secretly go rummaging through my brain. I mean, obviously she hasn't yet, since I imagine she'd have some pretty major questions otherwise, so I probably- no, I definitely overreacted.
"I... that'd be nice, yeah." I reply somewhat sheepishly, turning to face Astra properly again. "Sorry about that. Guess that was pretty rude of me."
Really, what do I even have to be concerned about her seeing? It's not like I'm hiding anything that bad — I do have two pretty big secrets, but I'm only really keeping them so Astra doesn't potentially have some sort of existential crisis upon learning her entire reality is nominally supposed to be fiction from my point of view, and because I don't really want to get into the specifics of "The Curious Case of the Human-Turned-Mawile" right now. Neither of them are really negative things, just... confusing things.
"No, it's okay." Astra reassures me as we resume walking. "I wouldn't want anyone reading my mind either, so I get why you were upset. I promise I won't ever even try that without your express permission."
"Thank you. " I say, still feeling rather awkward. "Erm... got any other psychic powers up your sleeve?"
Astra brightens again, then slumps just as quickly.
"Maybe I shouldn't say..."
I shake my head. "No, this is important stuff to know if we're going to be traveling together, and I really am interested. I won't get jealous again, promise."
Astra hesitates, then speaks again after thinking about it for a few seconds.
"Ah... well, there's sight sharing." she says slowly. "It lets me connect to someone else's vision, and either see what they see, or show them what I can see... want to see?"
I nod, and Astra stops walking, seeming to concentrate on me for a second. I look back up at her, just before my vision abruptly doubles, and I suddenly find myself both looking up at Astra, and also looking down at myself from Astra's point of view. Woah-!
A moment later, Astra's transmitted sight disappears, and my normal vision returns.
"Wow... that was cool." I say, shaking myself. "Disorienting, but cool."
Astra smiles.
"The last one I can think of off the top of my head is psychically scanning for nearby life signatures." she says. "I can do that one, but I guess I can't really show you... oh, but, I could probably point out any nearby Pokemon hidden in the treetops or the bushes! Just a second."
Astra closes her eyes and concentrates again- then almost immediately freezes in place, her eyes snapping back open as her gaze shifts to the trees on our left.
"There's something over there." she warns, her tone serious. "Something big."
Instantly on guard, I spin around to preemptively glare at the foliage. Narrowing my gaze, I peer past the greenery to see...
Nothing. Beyond the trees are just more trees, with nothing of any real note present.
"Huh. Are you sure?" I ask, turning back to Astra. "I don't see any-"
I stop, abruptly realizing that I appear to be talking to air. Astra has disappeared, the spot she was just standing in suddenly vacated. What the...?
I look up at the trees, searching for Treecko, but he's apparently gone too. Gaping in silent disbelief, I scan my immediate surroundings, trying to figure out where the two of them could have possibly vanished to, but find no trace of either of them — and on top of that, I seem to have lost track of which way we were all just heading.
I'm lost. Again.
Astra
Astra cautiously watched as the Pokemon she'd sensed slowly began to emerge from the nearby forest. It was quadrapedal, with four long, hooved legs, yet taller than she was — as tall as some of the adult humans she'd met before, in fact. The glowing black orbs set at the base of its oddly-shaped antlers appeared to be distorting the air around them, making it twist and ripple like a localized heat haze.
Astra wasn't sure exactly what the distortion signified, but she didn't particularly like the look of it. Still, besides making her slightly dizzy, it didn't seem to be doing anything... maybe this Pokemon's horns were just like that all the time?
Bringing her Pokedex back out, Astra quickly used it to scan the new arrival. An image of the Pokemon in question immediately appeared on the screen, along with a small text box.
...wow, what helpful information. Useless piece of junk.
"Alright, HOW is that even possible?!"
Astra startled and looked to her side to see Mawile seemingly yelling at... nothing, an expression of great frustration now splashed across her face.
"Mawile? What's wrong?" Astra asked.
Mawile didn't respond, instead beginning to spin in a small circle, her head swiveling from side to side as if searching for something.
"Seriously, where the heck did she go?" the smaller Pokemon muttered. "We can't actually have gotten separated in just a few seconds..."
Astra was confused. Separated?
"You mean from me? I'm right here, Mawile." she tried again.
Once again, the words seemed to fail to reach their intended recipient, who continued to act as though she could neither see nor hear Astra at all. What was going on? It was like Mawile had been hypnotized or something...
Searching for the cause, Astra looked back at the Stantler. It didn't appear to be doing anything other than simply standing in place — although, now that Astra looked, it also seemed to be staring at Mawile, as though intensely concentrating on the smaller Pokemon. She didn't feel any psychic energy emitting from it, but maybe-
"Are... you doing that to her...?" Astra telepathically asked the Stantler, uncertain what exactly she expected it to do in response.
The Stantler's gaze shifted to her, though its head didn't move.
"Ugh, a psychic." it muttered. "No point in trying to trick you... yes, I am doing that."
Despite herself, Astra couldn't help but gasp — the Stantler had just spoken. There really were other talking Pokemon here!
At her side, Mawile continued to angrily mutter to herself under her breath, bringing Astra back down to earth.
"Well... stop it!" Astra requested. "She hasn't done anything to you, so cut it out!"
"No, I don't think I will."
Astra blinked.
"Um. Why?"
"Just because it hasn't done anything yet doesn't mean that it won't if given the chance." the Stantler stated as Mawile walked up to a nearby tree and smacked her horns against it, loudly calling Astra's name as she did so. "My herd has seen more than enough of how this creature eats by now, and we want it nowhere even remotely near us if we can help it."
Astra thought back to how she'd met Mawile earlier. Twin pinpricks of red glaring out at her from inside a bush, a giant black maw rising up to bite her in two...
Okay, she could kind of understand that.
"I get what you mean, but she's not going to eat you." Astra explained as Mawile sighed loudly and plopped down on the grass with her arms crossed. "She's been trying to leave this place for a while, actually."
The Stantler snorted. "Really? I suppose that explains why we've had to steer it back two or three times already."
Astra blinked again. So this was why Mawile hadn't been able to leave... but, wait, that didn't make sense.
"If you're worried about her being near your herd, why would you deliberately drive her back into the forest rather than out of it?" she asked.
"Well, this is also just kind of fun." the Stantler replied, a hint of mirth entering his formerly serious tone. "Not many humans come through this forest anymore, so we've got to get our kicks in where we can... and to be honest, the fact that this thing is so dangerous only makes confusing it out of its mind even more entertaining."
Astra narrowed her eyes and frowned.
"That's mean." she said.
"Yeah, but it's also a pretty good time." the Stantler replied with a smirk.
Astra glared at him. "Not from where I'm standing it's not. Let her go!"
The Stantler rolled his eyes. "Not happening. Now, kindly do what we've made this forest known for, and get lost."
"No way." Astra retorted, readying a pulse of psychic energy with her right hand. "I'm warning you — let her go now."
The Stantler eyed Astra's arm for a moment, then spoke.
"...well, in that case."
Mawile suddenly looked over at Astra and yelped, scrambling back to her feet and jumping back in apparent fear.
"What the hell are you?!"
Astra flinched away as Mawile's ability activated, the smaller Pokemon's suddenly horrifying gaze causing her concentration to waver, and the energy she'd readied to dissipate.
"M-mawile?!" she blanched.
Mawile growled, and Astra realized what was going on — she wasn't sure exactly how the Stantler was controlling what Mawile saw and heard, but now he was tricking Mawile into thinking she was something dangerous! If she couldn't snap the smaller Pokemon out of it, Mawile might actually attack her!
"Treecko!" she called out. "Attack that Stantler with-!"
"Treee..."
Astra spun towards Treecko's voice to see him sprawled out on a nearby branch, gazing deeply into the Stantler's horns, and by all appearances completely out of it. When had that happened?!
"Get away from me!" Mawile shouted, her maw opening wide to showcase teeth the size of Astra's palms.
Astra yelped and did exactly that, leaping backwards as she grabbed Treecko's Poke Ball and quickly returned him. Hopefully that would break the Stantler's control — in fact, if she could just return Mawile as well-!
Astra levitated Mawile's Poke Ball up to her hand, but as soon as she did so, Mawile spun in place, and a sudden gust of oddly pink wind tore the ball from the Kirlia's telekinetic grasp. She heard it land somewhere behind her, but couldn't turn around to levitate it back to herself without taking her eyes off of Mawile, who looked ready to lunge at any moment.
Astra mentally cursed at the Stantler standing off to the side of all this. Damn it, how was she being outmaneuvered by this jerk?! All she really needed to do was break his control of what Mawile was seeing-
Wait, idea!
Forcing herself to concentrate through Mawile's unnaturally fearsome glare, Astra hurriedly pushed psychic energy towards her companion. At the same moment, Mawile stepped forward, tensing herself as though to spring-
Then froze, as Astra's sight-sharing attempt connected.
For a moment, Astra could see herself through Mawile's eyes as some sort of looming, nightmarish monster, the image seemingly superimposed over her actual self. As soon as Astra sent her own sight over to Mawile however, the illusion fell apart, her energy seeming to clash with whatever it was the Stantler was doing and nigh-immediately dispelling it. Mawile stumbled out of her daze, shaking her head in confusion.
"W-what?" she mumbled, looking up at Astra. "Astra?"
"Are you okay?" Astra hurriedly asked.
"I..."
Mawile trailed off, her eyes widening as she noticed the Stantler standing in front of her. The Stantler took a few steps back, rearing up in apparent surprise.
"Don't look at his horns!" Astra warned. "He was using them to hypnotize you!"
Mawile jolted, then immediately averted her gaze from the deer-like Pokemon, her own horns curling around to cover her front like an oddly-shaped shield.
"Normal-type my ass..." Mawile grumbled. "Yeah, you're right, Stantler can cast illusions with their antlers. Make sure you don't look at them either!"
Astra was already taking care not to do that, but took Mawile's words into account all the same. The Stantler snorted again, repeatedly pawing at the ground with one hoof in apparent irritation.
"He was going to send you back the way you came." Astra quickly explained. "Apparently he's been doing that every time you try to leave."
"Wait, this jerk is why I keep getting nowhere every time I try to get out of this stupid forest?!" Mawile growled.
"I think so, yes." Astra continued, finally finding a moment to levitate Mawile's Poke Ball back over to herself. "He tried to make you attack me as well... and he almost succeeded."
"This isn't going as planned..." the Stantler muttered.
"Oh really? Gee, sorry." Mawile sarcastically replied. "In that case, here's my plan: both of us are leaving, right now, and you're going to let us. If that requires that we go through you rather than around, we will."
Astra couldn't say she was terribly fond of that idea, given just what she imagined Mawile might think of as "going through", but given that the Stantler had essentially just attacked her by way of hypnotized proxy, she nodded in agreement all the same.
The Stantler huffed. "Consider this my answer."
Foliage rustled, and more Stantler abruptly began to emerge from the nearby forest, each one quickly moving to the side of the original. Astra took a step backwards, as did Mawile, the pair suddenly finding themselves facing seven Stantler rather than just one, all of whom then turned to glare at them and spoke in unison.
"Run, fools."
Astra felt something intangible change, as though the air itself had just grown heavier. Then-
Fear
Fear
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
Astra screamed. Mawile screamed.
Both of them turned and ran.
(Obviously not to scale)
Backslash (Beta) - 4 (Hyphen/A Backwards Grin)
About-face
Mawile
"I really don't get what you find so interesting about that thing."
I glance up from the Pokedex I'm currently holding to look over at its owner.
"Seriously, it's been helpful once or twice, but it's mostly just an overly-complicated piece of junk." Astra says.
I shrug.
Our quest to escape this forest has thus far proven fairly uneventful, so for lack of anything better to do, I've been checking out my new trainer's Pokedex. Astra seems to think the device is pretty useless on the whole, citing "map frustrations" in particular as a serious annoyance, but this thing actually has WAY more functions than I'd have expected, including a camera, a notepad, a phone, a music player, and more. There's no internet app, but besides that glaring absence, this thing is basically just a slightly more blocky smartphone. I really don't think Astra is giving it enough credit.
"That seems a bit harsh." I reply. "I think a lot of these options could be pretty convenient, honestly. Maybe you just lack the proper context to appreciate some of them."
Astra gives me a doubtful look. "If you say so..."
"Way!"
I look up to where Treecko is standing on a nearby tree branch. Despite having just recently recalled him, Astra ended up letting him back out after only a couple minutes or so of walking so he could make sure we hadn't accidentally wandered off course. When I pointed out we'd probably have to do that repeatedly (especially since I'm not marking any trees this time to track where we came from), Astra decided to just leave Treecko out and let him lead.
"Come." Treecko says, gesturing for us to continue following as he hops to the next tree. We do so, and I turn back to Astra as we walk.
"Hey, do you mind if I try scanning you with this thing with your disguise up?" I ask, holding out the Pokedex. "I'm kind of curious if it'll work or not."
Astra tilts her head slightly.
"I... guess I don't mind?" she says, taking a moment to reinstate the human illusion I first met her in. "I bet you it doesn't though."
"Well, let's see." I reply.
I wave the Pokedex at Astra, trying to get it to scan her as the Kirlia she actually is. However, no matter how hard I wave it around or concentrate the camera on her, the device fails to react, seemingly unable to recognize or detect her as a Pokemon. I can't help but laugh a little at the result.
"Heh, looks like you were right." I admit, handing the Pokedex back to Astra. "Seems your illusions work on this thing too."
Astra grins proudly, accepting the machine and stowing it away before dropping her disguise again. Not much point to leaving it up when we're the only ones around, I guess.
"So, besides illusions, what else can you do with psychic powers anyways?" I ask casually.
I'm mostly just trying to make conversation, since I'm pretty sure I can already guess the general gist of it, but I am genuinely a little interested. As someone who grew up in a village where literally everyone was psychically gifted, and such powers presumably saw commonplace use, Astra might actually have some unique uses for psychic powers that I wouldn't have thought or heard of before. Besides, it's in my best interest to know what my new trainer is capable of, assuming this partnership proves to be an enduring one.
Astra immediately perks up, apparently liking my choice of topic.
"Oh wow, let's see... well, there's telepathy, obviously." she starts, deliberately causing her mental voice to echo slightly in my head. "You already know what that is, of course."
I nod in acknowledgment, and Astra nods back.
"Then there's telekinesis." Astra says, demonstrating by floating a few small rocks off the ground and having them rotate around her hand before tossing them back into the brush. "It's most commonly used to just move or pick things up from a distance — which is really useful when your hands don't have fingers, by the way — but it also has a bunch of other uses, like catching and cutting up food, controlling flames, repelling attacks... all sorts of stuff."
Right...
"There's also creating psychic barriers," Astra continues, creating and quickly dispersing what looks like a tiny Reflect wall in the air in front of her, "as well as forming psychic energy into blasts for attacks. I've never been all that great at that one, honestly..."
She pauses, raising one hand to her mouth. "Although, come to think of it, I still haven't gotten to practice to see if I'm any better at it now that I've evolved. I really should try that once we get out of here."
I look away, my jealousy quietly beginning to rise with each additional ability Astra lists off. I already knew my situation wasn't exactly great, but that doesn't make this any easier to hear... why couldn't I have ended up here as a Ralts instead of a Mawile? Sure, I'd have more type weaknesses, and I'd be even shorter than I am now — or maybe not, since there's apparently a sub-species of "giant" Ralts I didn't know about — but just the fact that Psychic-type powers are so supremely flexible would have more than made up for either of those downsides. It's not like I had any real choice in the matter, but... ergh.
"Mawile? Are you okay?" Astra suddenly asks. "You seem a little down."
"Huh?" I say, slightly startled. "Oh, yeah, I..."
I sigh. "Just a little envious, I guess. I mentioned earlier that you have a lot more options than I do, but I guess it didn't fully hit me exactly how many things you can do that I just can't. You haven't even mentioned teleportation again yet; that alone would be beyond useful."
I shake my head. "Meanwhile, I'm over here with the abilities to make myself smell nice, provide a slightly refreshing breeze, and briefly turn myself into a Halloween jumpscare. It's... not the most impressive list, all told."
"I'm sorry." Astra apologizes.
"It's alright, it's hardly your fault." I say — then blink, as something occurs to me. "Hey, how'd you notice that so fast anyways? I wasn't even looking at you just now."
"Oh, well," Astra says, her mental voice slightly hesitant, "I could sort of just tell from how your emotions felt. I'm right next to you, and they were kind of-"
"Wait, how my emotions felt?" I interrupt, stopping and spinning around to face her. "You were reading my mind?!"
I said that as hyperbole earlier! I didn't seriously think she could actually do that!
Astra startles at my sudden accusation, very nearly tripping backwards over her own robe. A moment later, I realize Intimidate must have just re-activated, and quickly turn away again.
"Sorry, didn't mean to do that! I just- were you actually reading my thoughts?" I ask warily, still looking at Astra in my peripheral vision.
"I- no, of course not!" Astra exclaims, actually sounding slightly affronted. "Just your emotions. I pick up on some of those passively, and I noticed you were getting a little sadder as I talked, is all."
"So you haven't gone any deeper than that?" I ask.
"No." Astra confirms. "I mean, I could, maybe, but I've never tried it before, and would never do it to someone without their permission anyways. That would be incredibly rude. The practice is actually outright forbidden in my village."
"...it is?"
Astra nods. "It's considered a huge invasion of privacy to intentionally read someone else's mind. We all pick up on surface level thoughts and feelings just by being near someone, but even those we do our best to tune out. I only really noticed yours because we're so physically close to each other right now, and because you don't know how to shield your thoughts."
She pauses. "I could... try to teach you how to do that later, if it bothers you? I don't really know if it would work, but..."
Most of my remaining tension bleeds out of me upon hearing that. I do trust Astra, at least based on what I've seen of her thus far, so I guess I'll believe her when she says she's not going to secretly go rummaging through my brain. I mean, obviously she hasn't yet, since I imagine she'd have some pretty major questions otherwise, so I probably- no, I definitely overreacted.
"I... that'd be nice, yeah." I reply somewhat sheepishly, turning to face Astra properly again. "Sorry about that. Guess that was pretty rude of me."
Really, what do I even have to be concerned about her seeing? It's not like I'm hiding anything that bad — I do have two pretty big secrets, but I'm only really keeping them so Astra doesn't potentially have some sort of existential crisis upon learning her entire reality is nominally supposed to be fiction from my point of view, and because I don't really want to get into the specifics of "The Curious Case of the Human-Turned-Mawile" right now. Neither of them are really negative things, just... confusing things.
"No, it's okay." Astra reassures me as we resume walking. "I wouldn't want anyone reading my mind either, so I get why you were upset. I promise I won't ever even try that without your express permission."
"Thank you. " I say, still feeling rather awkward. "Erm... got any other psychic powers up your sleeve?"
Astra brightens again, then slumps just as quickly.
"Maybe I shouldn't say..."
I shake my head. "No, this is important stuff to know if we're going to be traveling together, and I really am interested. I won't get jealous again, promise."
Astra hesitates, then speaks again after thinking about it for a few seconds.
"Ah... well, there's sight sharing." she says slowly. "It lets me connect to someone else's vision, and either see what they see, or show them what I can see... want to see?"
I nod, and Astra stops walking, seeming to concentrate on me for a second. I look back up at her, just before my vision abruptly doubles, and I suddenly find myself both looking up at Astra, and also looking down at myself from Astra's point of view. Woah-!
A moment later, Astra's transmitted sight disappears, and my normal vision returns.
"Wow... that was cool." I say, shaking myself. "Disorienting, but cool."
Astra smiles.
"The last one I can think of off the top of my head is psychically scanning for nearby life signatures." she says. "I can do that one, but I guess I can't really show you... oh, but, I could probably point out any nearby Pokemon hidden in the treetops or the bushes! Just a second."
Astra closes her eyes and concentrates again- then almost immediately freezes in place, her eyes snapping back open as her gaze shifts to the trees on our left.
"There's something over there." she warns, her tone serious. "Something big."
Instantly on guard, I spin around to preemptively glare at the foliage. Narrowing my gaze, I peer past the greenery to see...
Nothing. Beyond the trees are just more trees, with nothing of any real note present.
"Huh. Are you sure?" I ask, turning back to Astra. "I don't see any-"
I stop, abruptly realizing that I appear to be talking to air. Astra has disappeared, the spot she was just standing in suddenly vacated. What the...?
I look up at the trees, searching for Treecko, but he's apparently gone too. Gaping in silent disbelief, I scan my immediate surroundings, trying to figure out where the two of them could have possibly vanished to, but find no trace of either of them — and on top of that, I seem to have lost track of which way we were all just heading.
I'm lost. Again.
Astra
Astra cautiously watched as the Pokemon she'd sensed slowly began to emerge from the nearby forest. It was quadrapedal, with four long, hooved legs, yet taller than she was — as tall as some of the adult humans she'd met before, in fact. The glowing black orbs set at the base of its oddly-shaped antlers appeared to be distorting the air around them, making it twist and ripple like a localized heat haze.
Astra wasn't sure exactly what the distortion signified, but she didn't particularly like the look of it. Still, besides making her slightly dizzy, it didn't seem to be doing anything... maybe this Pokemon's horns were just like that all the time?
Bringing her Pokedex back out, Astra quickly used it to scan the new arrival. An image of the Pokemon in question immediately appeared on the screen, along with a small text box.
Stantler, the Big Horn Pokemon. Stantler's magnificent antlers were once traded at high prices as works of art. As a result, this Pokémon was hunted close to extinction.
...wow, what helpful information. Useless piece of junk.
"Alright, HOW is that even possible?!"
Astra startled and looked to her side to see Mawile seemingly yelling at... nothing, an expression of great frustration now splashed across her face.
"Mawile? What's wrong?" Astra asked.
Mawile didn't respond, instead beginning to spin in a small circle, her head swiveling from side to side as if searching for something.
"Seriously, where the heck did she go?" the smaller Pokemon muttered. "We can't actually have gotten separated in just a few seconds..."
Astra was confused. Separated?
"You mean from me? I'm right here, Mawile." she tried again.
Once again, the words seemed to fail to reach their intended recipient, who continued to act as though she could neither see nor hear Astra at all. What was going on? It was like Mawile had been hypnotized or something...
Searching for the cause, Astra looked back at the Stantler. It didn't appear to be doing anything other than simply standing in place — although, now that Astra looked, it also seemed to be staring at Mawile, as though intensely concentrating on the smaller Pokemon. She didn't feel any psychic energy emitting from it, but maybe-
"Are... you doing that to her...?" Astra telepathically asked the Stantler, uncertain what exactly she expected it to do in response.
The Stantler's gaze shifted to her, though its head didn't move.
"Ugh, a psychic." it muttered. "No point in trying to trick you... yes, I am doing that."
Despite herself, Astra couldn't help but gasp — the Stantler had just spoken. There really were other talking Pokemon here!
At her side, Mawile continued to angrily mutter to herself under her breath, bringing Astra back down to earth.
"Well... stop it!" Astra requested. "She hasn't done anything to you, so cut it out!"
"No, I don't think I will."
Astra blinked.
"Um. Why?"
"Just because it hasn't done anything yet doesn't mean that it won't if given the chance." the Stantler stated as Mawile walked up to a nearby tree and smacked her horns against it, loudly calling Astra's name as she did so. "My herd has seen more than enough of how this creature eats by now, and we want it nowhere even remotely near us if we can help it."
Astra thought back to how she'd met Mawile earlier. Twin pinpricks of red glaring out at her from inside a bush, a giant black maw rising up to bite her in two...
Okay, she could kind of understand that.
"I get what you mean, but she's not going to eat you." Astra explained as Mawile sighed loudly and plopped down on the grass with her arms crossed. "She's been trying to leave this place for a while, actually."
The Stantler snorted. "Really? I suppose that explains why we've had to steer it back two or three times already."
Astra blinked again. So this was why Mawile hadn't been able to leave... but, wait, that didn't make sense.
"If you're worried about her being near your herd, why would you deliberately drive her back into the forest rather than out of it?" she asked.
"Well, this is also just kind of fun." the Stantler replied, a hint of mirth entering his formerly serious tone. "Not many humans come through this forest anymore, so we've got to get our kicks in where we can... and to be honest, the fact that this thing is so dangerous only makes confusing it out of its mind even more entertaining."
Astra narrowed her eyes and frowned.
"That's mean." she said.
"Yeah, but it's also a pretty good time." the Stantler replied with a smirk.
Astra glared at him. "Not from where I'm standing it's not. Let her go!"
The Stantler rolled his eyes. "Not happening. Now, kindly do what we've made this forest known for, and get lost."
"No way." Astra retorted, readying a pulse of psychic energy with her right hand. "I'm warning you — let her go now."
The Stantler eyed Astra's arm for a moment, then spoke.
"...well, in that case."
Mawile suddenly looked over at Astra and yelped, scrambling back to her feet and jumping back in apparent fear.
"What the hell are you?!"
Astra flinched away as Mawile's ability activated, the smaller Pokemon's suddenly horrifying gaze causing her concentration to waver, and the energy she'd readied to dissipate.
"M-mawile?!" she blanched.
Mawile growled, and Astra realized what was going on — she wasn't sure exactly how the Stantler was controlling what Mawile saw and heard, but now he was tricking Mawile into thinking she was something dangerous! If she couldn't snap the smaller Pokemon out of it, Mawile might actually attack her!
"Treecko!" she called out. "Attack that Stantler with-!"
"Treee..."
Astra spun towards Treecko's voice to see him sprawled out on a nearby branch, gazing deeply into the Stantler's horns, and by all appearances completely out of it. When had that happened?!
"Get away from me!" Mawile shouted, her maw opening wide to showcase teeth the size of Astra's palms.
Astra yelped and did exactly that, leaping backwards as she grabbed Treecko's Poke Ball and quickly returned him. Hopefully that would break the Stantler's control — in fact, if she could just return Mawile as well-!
Astra levitated Mawile's Poke Ball up to her hand, but as soon as she did so, Mawile spun in place, and a sudden gust of oddly pink wind tore the ball from the Kirlia's telekinetic grasp. She heard it land somewhere behind her, but couldn't turn around to levitate it back to herself without taking her eyes off of Mawile, who looked ready to lunge at any moment.
Astra mentally cursed at the Stantler standing off to the side of all this. Damn it, how was she being outmaneuvered by this jerk?! All she really needed to do was break his control of what Mawile was seeing-
Wait, idea!
Forcing herself to concentrate through Mawile's unnaturally fearsome glare, Astra hurriedly pushed psychic energy towards her companion. At the same moment, Mawile stepped forward, tensing herself as though to spring-
Then froze, as Astra's sight-sharing attempt connected.
For a moment, Astra could see herself through Mawile's eyes as some sort of looming, nightmarish monster, the image seemingly superimposed over her actual self. As soon as Astra sent her own sight over to Mawile however, the illusion fell apart, her energy seeming to clash with whatever it was the Stantler was doing and nigh-immediately dispelling it. Mawile stumbled out of her daze, shaking her head in confusion.
"W-what?" she mumbled, looking up at Astra. "Astra?"
"Are you okay?" Astra hurriedly asked.
"I..."
Mawile trailed off, her eyes widening as she noticed the Stantler standing in front of her. The Stantler took a few steps back, rearing up in apparent surprise.
"Don't look at his horns!" Astra warned. "He was using them to hypnotize you!"
Mawile jolted, then immediately averted her gaze from the deer-like Pokemon, her own horns curling around to cover her front like an oddly-shaped shield.
"Normal-type my ass..." Mawile grumbled. "Yeah, you're right, Stantler can cast illusions with their antlers. Make sure you don't look at them either!"
Astra was already taking care not to do that, but took Mawile's words into account all the same. The Stantler snorted again, repeatedly pawing at the ground with one hoof in apparent irritation.
"He was going to send you back the way you came." Astra quickly explained. "Apparently he's been doing that every time you try to leave."
"Wait, this jerk is why I keep getting nowhere every time I try to get out of this stupid forest?!" Mawile growled.
"I think so, yes." Astra continued, finally finding a moment to levitate Mawile's Poke Ball back over to herself. "He tried to make you attack me as well... and he almost succeeded."
"This isn't going as planned..." the Stantler muttered.
"Oh really? Gee, sorry." Mawile sarcastically replied. "In that case, here's my plan: both of us are leaving, right now, and you're going to let us. If that requires that we go through you rather than around, we will."
Astra couldn't say she was terribly fond of that idea, given just what she imagined Mawile might think of as "going through", but given that the Stantler had essentially just attacked her by way of hypnotized proxy, she nodded in agreement all the same.
The Stantler huffed. "Consider this my answer."
Foliage rustled, and more Stantler abruptly began to emerge from the nearby forest, each one quickly moving to the side of the original. Astra took a step backwards, as did Mawile, the pair suddenly finding themselves facing seven Stantler rather than just one, all of whom then turned to glare at them and spoke in unison.
"Run, fools."
Astra felt something intangible change, as though the air itself had just grown heavier. Then-
Fear
Fear
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
Astra screamed. Mawile screamed.
Both of them turned and ran.
This now makes four full chapters of Backslash between both me and @Dermonster. He previously stated that we'd make a separate thread if we made it to five of them.
Ball's in your court, Derm.
Ball's in your court, Derm.
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Not in Person
Once Known as The Nobody
- Location
- A place
I liked this part!
I read this part too quickly, and at first thought May is trying to hide her Gray ancestry.
I'd read that, too.
New Alolan evolution - the Dudebro. Evolves from Slowbro when the surf is up.
Huh, maybe I should've read the previous chapters after all.
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
That was fun!
These guys are really determined to keep them in the forest.
And also don´t seem to realise that without them there probably would be no overpopulation problems.
Hope the "kicks" are worth it, random pokemon I have never heard of before!
These guys are really determined to keep them in the forest.
And also don´t seem to realise that without them there probably would be no overpopulation problems.
Hope the "kicks" are worth it, random pokemon I have never heard of before!
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
[Collapses on floor]
You put this up right in the middle of my ocassional excesize bike routine. My legs are as jelly.
And yet, the hype remains. AAAAAAAAAA
She'll give it credit when it can actually help her out of a got dang forest!
It helps that the pokedex is completely unable to send data to birch right now. Otherwise there may have been more hesitance.
Basically canon to Hyphen! [Stamp of Approval]
When you, as a species, have the ability to invalidate the last sanctum of privacy, you learn to make rules about it.
Intrusive thoughts are a bitch. Having everyone constantly hear everyone elses is a recipie for untold disaster.
Of course it can go the other way, and people in close relationships can show the greatest of feelings with each other.
Consent is a big deal, here. It helps that you can actively train to shield yourself from nosy probes.
It's been a hot minute since Astra could have a totally honest conversation with anyone. She's missed it more than she knew.
One learns quickly what shennannigans are morally appropriate when messing with other peoples perceptions.
Making a dirt ball look like a berry? Hilarious, and retaliation is as short as being pelted with said dirt.
Deliberatly limiting someones movements for pest control and entertainment? Starving them into carnivorism just so they had an easier time of it? That's what we in the buisness call a 'Venison Dinner'.
You're gonna have to get up pretty early to pull one over on Astra, psychic extroardinare! Excellent tactic.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Excellent omake! I wanna see what happens next, but I suppose I'll have to return the favor first! I'll get on that, sometime.
Thank you~
You put this up right in the middle of my ocassional excesize bike routine. My legs are as jelly.
And yet, the hype remains. AAAAAAAAAA
She'll give it credit when it can actually help her out of a got dang forest!
It helps that the pokedex is completely unable to send data to birch right now. Otherwise there may have been more hesitance.
Basically canon to Hyphen! [Stamp of Approval]
When you, as a species, have the ability to invalidate the last sanctum of privacy, you learn to make rules about it.
Intrusive thoughts are a bitch. Having everyone constantly hear everyone elses is a recipie for untold disaster.
Of course it can go the other way, and people in close relationships can show the greatest of feelings with each other.
Consent is a big deal, here. It helps that you can actively train to shield yourself from nosy probes.
It's been a hot minute since Astra could have a totally honest conversation with anyone. She's missed it more than she knew.
One learns quickly what shennannigans are morally appropriate when messing with other peoples perceptions.
Making a dirt ball look like a berry? Hilarious, and retaliation is as short as being pelted with said dirt.
Deliberatly limiting someones movements for pest control and entertainment? Starving them into carnivorism just so they had an easier time of it? That's what we in the buisness call a 'Venison Dinner'.
You're gonna have to get up pretty early to pull one over on Astra, psychic extroardinare! Excellent tactic.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Excellent omake! I wanna see what happens next, but I suppose I'll have to return the favor first! I'll get on that, sometime.
Thank you~
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
I'd make a joke about my writing making you go weak at the knees, but I get the feeling that would sound ridiculously pompous even if I tried to make the humor extra clear, so I'll just go ahead and refrain. ^^;
I wasn't actually sure if Astra knows that the Pokedex sends the data back to Birch, since she's not totally clear on its functions, so I just wrote it like this and left it up to interpretation. Hope that works.
I'm glad I asked you about the subject, because this scene almost certainly would not exist otherwise. Also, almost made a plot hole only four chapters in because I forgot Mawile!me literally brought up the mind reading thing earlier, but I think I managed to explain that fairly nicely.
It's been a hot week since Mawile!me has had a conversation with anyone, period. The sentiment is likely much the same.
Again, a scene that would likely not exist if not for extensively consulting you on the matter of Astra's ability to do this. For once the usually unnecessary research turned out to actually be necessary!
Even in a different continuity, Mawile!me apparently just can't stop running into other Intimidate users. ^^;
Thanks! Will be looking forward to it!
This is a good guess but it's incomplete.
Obviously the cult is a magical nudist colony who created Astra with dark magic, gave her some cloth to blend in because they don't believe in clothes, and she has an arbitrarily short amount of time to complete the gym challenge before she turns back into a pumpkin.
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
Pumpkin? More like a turnip. Or a leek.
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
Guys, guys. Don't you remember?
She turns into a bowl of noodles.
Pastra, if you will.
Itadakimasu.
She turns into a bowl of noodles.
Pastra, if you will.
Itadakimasu.
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Throwing hands.
People are speculating on these dramatic reveals for Astra's power, but honestly, I can see things going a little... differently.
=====
Astra hummed happily to herself as she telekinetically retrieved her pokeball from the branches where it had landed. This was so much more convenient! She felt silly for not using her telekinesis all this time. Since May could do it too, she wouldn't think it was weird.
"Astra, what the fuck!?" May exclaimed.
"Huh? I didn't want to climb the tree to get it, so..." she trailed off as she noticed May's twitching eye.
"Should I have... not done that?" Astra ventured.
May took a deep breath, relaxing her clenched fists, and said, "It's more the question of how you did that, Astra."
Astra glanced around nervously. Something was wrong here. Why was May so mad? "I just threw my hands?"
"Astra, people can't just 'throw their hands' to pick things up from a distance."
"...are you sure?" But she had said...
"Definitely sure. One hundred percent sure." May nodded to herself, the issue settled decisively in her mind.
"But the other day you said that if we saw that Team Aqua guy again you'd throw hands at him!" It had made so much sense!
May stared for a moment, dumbfounded. "Astra, that is not what those words mean! It's not like throwing your voice!"
"Well how was I supposed to know that?" This wasn't how this was supposed to go! Why wouldn't it mean that?
May palmed her face. "It means hitting someone! Not... not whatever this is!"
Astra looked around for a moment, feeling a little lost. Then, an idea! She levitated a pebble a couple of feet in front of May's face, then bounced it off of her forehead.
May did not react beyond starting to turn vaguely purple.
Astra threw her arms wide. "Ta-daaa?"
May still did not react. Astra waved her arms around a little.
"It means hitting someone with your hands."
Astra looked down, contemplating how to make a fist with only two fingers. May noticed.
"Oh NO you don't, buster! Astra, is your ignorance so powerful that it allows you to accomplish tasks that are impossible under the laws of physics?"
Astra decided to fall back on an old reliable play. "We didn't have physics back at the cave."
"APPARENTLY NOT!"
=====
Astra hummed happily to herself as she telekinetically retrieved her pokeball from the branches where it had landed. This was so much more convenient! She felt silly for not using her telekinesis all this time. Since May could do it too, she wouldn't think it was weird.
"Astra, what the fuck!?" May exclaimed.
"Huh? I didn't want to climb the tree to get it, so..." she trailed off as she noticed May's twitching eye.
"Should I have... not done that?" Astra ventured.
May took a deep breath, relaxing her clenched fists, and said, "It's more the question of how you did that, Astra."
Astra glanced around nervously. Something was wrong here. Why was May so mad? "I just threw my hands?"
"Astra, people can't just 'throw their hands' to pick things up from a distance."
"...are you sure?" But she had said...
"Definitely sure. One hundred percent sure." May nodded to herself, the issue settled decisively in her mind.
"But the other day you said that if we saw that Team Aqua guy again you'd throw hands at him!" It had made so much sense!
May stared for a moment, dumbfounded. "Astra, that is not what those words mean! It's not like throwing your voice!"
"Well how was I supposed to know that?" This wasn't how this was supposed to go! Why wouldn't it mean that?
May palmed her face. "It means hitting someone! Not... not whatever this is!"
Astra looked around for a moment, feeling a little lost. Then, an idea! She levitated a pebble a couple of feet in front of May's face, then bounced it off of her forehead.
May did not react beyond starting to turn vaguely purple.
Astra threw her arms wide. "Ta-daaa?"
May still did not react. Astra waved her arms around a little.
"It means hitting someone with your hands."
Astra looked down, contemplating how to make a fist with only two fingers. May noticed.
"Oh NO you don't, buster! Astra, is your ignorance so powerful that it allows you to accomplish tasks that are impossible under the laws of physics?"
Astra decided to fall back on an old reliable play. "We didn't have physics back at the cave."
"APPARENTLY NOT!"
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
What can she say? Things work different back home! Black is white, up is down and short is long. And everything you thought was just so important doesn't matter Eeeeeeverything you know is wrong—
Thank you! If you want a specific title for the threadmark let me know.
As a thank you, I will just mention that I don't believe anyone will see how it goes down coming.
(Quietly re-arranges all the threadmarks)
Thank you! If you want a specific title for the threadmark let me know.
As a thank you, I will just mention that I don't believe anyone will see how it goes down coming.
(Quietly re-arranges all the threadmarks)
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Huh... what is the absolute most impossible way for it to happen that nobody would ever think of...
Well, if genre convention has thought me anything, the one truly impossible scenario is that Astra decides that she can trust May and just tells her. I mean, yes, this happens all the time in fiction, but only on first meeting each other, and only due to some variation of the "chosen one" theme.
94000130FFF70000
Absolutely the Worst
- Location
- Midwest USA
And May can just go "That explains a lot."
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
Real plot twist: May has also been a Pokemon all along. As has Brendan. As was the old man with the guitar.
This entire story has involved nothing but Pokemon, humanity died out centuries ago and everyone was so buisy pretending that noone noticed.
This entire story has involved nothing but Pokemon, humanity died out centuries ago and everyone was so buisy pretending that noone noticed.
Dermonster
The Shittiest Wizard
[Flops into thread]
It's currently 2 in the morning, so Happy 6th Aniversarry! I didn't manage to get anything done in time for it!
Actually I've been spening all my writing time on the next Backslash omake instead of 25 WHOOPS WHY IS IT SO LONG
Anyway, what to do, what to do... nothing? Maybe nothing.
Oh, maybe you guys can do something. Tell me why you like Hyphen! That always cheers me up, and it's dark times nowadays. Not personally, but just in general.
How many people read this anyway? Experiment: Like this post, even if you usually don't. Census time.
Anyway, thanks for reading!God i hope I can get this done soon so I can work on 25.
It's currently 2 in the morning, so Happy 6th Aniversarry! I didn't manage to get anything done in time for it!
Anyway, what to do, what to do... nothing? Maybe nothing.
Oh, maybe you guys can do something. Tell me why you like Hyphen! That always cheers me up, and it's dark times nowadays. Not personally, but just in general.
How many people read this anyway? Experiment: Like this post, even if you usually don't. Census time.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
- Location
- Academy City
- Pronouns
- They
I like Hyphen for a variety of reasons. I have a major soft spot for pokemon, so it has a pretty big advantage there, but I think it's good on its own merits; the premise is original and engaging, especially with Astra is a compelling viewpoint character. Thanks to being from her perspective and the changes to viewpoint thereof, it avoids being a canon rehash despite covering the same locations, time frame, and characters. The Pokemon battles have some actual choreography; not always perfect, but a much more engaging than looking at the readout of a game battle rendered into prose like a lot of stories seem to insist on including. The fact that it has methods other than battling and training to advance the story also helps keep the fights from overstaying their welcome. The mechanical quality of the writing itself being solid also helps, I wont lie.
Shirube
The Devil in the Details
- Location
- In the Details
I like Hyphen because it's written competently at a technical level, the characters have noticeable personalities, the plot moves forward at a reasonable pace, and it isn't egregiously horny about something unrelated to the entire rest of the story. I realize this sounds like pretty faint praise, but you would be surprised at how much difficulty people have with this stuff. *Side-eye at practically every prominent name in early sci-fi and fantasy*
- Pronouns
- she/her
I like it because it's an interesting story about a pokemon trying to figure these weird humans out and the title is an awful joke that I didn't get for way too long.
- Location
- Lordran
- Location
- Earth
I have difficulty with pointing out reasons why I like a written work. Not just with Hyphen, but in general. It is easier for me to find flaws in writing than it is to determine what makes it good. Always has been that way for me.
With Hyphen, though... well. I can not remember noticing any flaws in the story. Which does not sound like much, but is an incredibly rare thing for me. It all just... works.
I like Hyphen. I just do.
With Hyphen, though... well. I can not remember noticing any flaws in the story. Which does not sound like much, but is an incredibly rare thing for me. It all just... works.
I like Hyphen. I just do.
Archeo Lumiere
The Prince's Archivist
- Location
- Lumiose City, Kalos
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
All it takes to turn a Pokémon Trainer into a Pokémon-Trainer is a Hyphen
Not in Person
Once Known as The Nobody
- Location
- A place
Because it's not what I expected a Pokemon story to be. Based on the games, and on the few fanfics I did read, I expected a pokemon story to be about pokemon. THIS story is about saving a village, adapting to a
hillo315
Intact but Tactless
- Location
- Somewhere. Somewhere else.
A Pokemon cosplaying as a hooman. And the awkwardness and hilarity of maintaining that façade, especially the part when Roxanne checked the recording. And also the reverse: figuring out what Astra is.
The battles, from gym challenges to plot-relevant sidequests to random weirdos in the woods. Steven in particular really stood out to me, for several reasons. Part of it is his wisdom and general mysteriousness, the sort of thing you'd expect from a seasoned trainer who is secretly the Champion. And also that he confirmed that Astra is psychic in just a few seconds after she caught his interest, if I interpreted that scene correctly.
The adventuring, the training, the friendship. It makes the story that much more wholesome.
The characters.
The worldbuilding.
The doom orb.
The violin.
And that one time Astra poked a cashier's brain.
That's what I like about the story. Wait, isn't that pretty much everything?
I refuse! You'll have to settle for a hug.
I still don't get the joke. Which is probably funnier than the joke itself, at this rate. So please don't explai-
Dang.
I like a nonhuman somewhat badly pretending to be human, to humourous results, but with a serious plot also happening.
Others in that genre are Super Minion and The Chained World Chronicles.
Actually it's amazing I've found 3 of them.
I also just like well written Pokemon Journey stories.
Others in that genre are Super Minion and The Chained World Chronicles.
Actually it's amazing I've found 3 of them.
I also just like well written Pokemon Journey stories.
- Location
- Canada
I enjoy Hyphen because I've always enjoyed the idea of a Pokemon trying to be a trainer and be an undercover human. I've been enjoying Astra's interactions with the other characters and her attempts to understand human culture. I also like Astra also trying to train her own psychic abilities. I'm excited for her to interect with other psychic Pokemon or humans.
I also really like the accompanying art for each chapter.
I also really like the accompanying art for each chapter.