I'm not dead yay
(The first world is her world.)
Moon remembers it well, remembers the way light shone on buildings of brick and stone and how the stars sparkled in a sea of black. She remembers Alola, in all its sunny glory, sparkling with the light of the sun, the moon, and the celestial bodies of far-away places.
It is there she starts off her journey: young, naive, innocent, and with the foolish belief of immortality in her hands. She was going to be the best trainer there was, going to climb to the top of Alola's pyramid of Kahunas and Trial Captains and prove herself worthy.
That is, until the light that kept their world afloat slipped into darkness and suddenly the rug of her childish beliefs was pulled out from under her.
Left in a place without light, Moon learnt to grew jaded and wary of all that awaited her. Danger lurked in corners formerly left full of friendly faces. The disappearance of the light leaves everyone in a state of anarchy, people fighting people and Pokemon fighting Pokemon as resources grow scarce and the world grows colder.
Moon, however, is a survivor. With her team beside her, she accumulates a hoard of resources that allows her safety and protection. She's spent many months collecting valuable items - bottles of water, cans of food, various other objects she's taken to steal in a fancy - but survival is barely a second thought when her team is the strongest around.
Then, one day, Moon meets a wandering soul who bests her. He is a boy searching for medicine for his sister, standing tall with a strange creature by his side. His gaze has caught hers in an attempt to transport potions to her ailing mother. He demands the goods in her hands, words desperate yet somehow confident as he asks for her compliance.
But Moon doesn't trust strangers – much less ones that make up bogus claims to get what they want – and her Decidueye is in front of her at a moment's notice. The boy recoils, sending out his nightmarish creature – Type: Null – before they begin to battle.
Moon is confident she can win. She's one of the strongest trainers in all of Alola (barring the Kahunas) and there's no way some boy off the streets will be beating her in a battle.
Except he does, and she's left deprived of the medicine to help her mom. The boy, however, does not abscond into the darkness of the world like she might suspect he would. Instead, he gifts her an apology and a promise: he would return the favor of her honoring her word.
The stranger leaves at that and Moon is left empty-handed as she arrives at her mother's place of rest. Her mom – her sweet, kind, innocent mom – is resting atop a bed made from a stolen mattress and stolen sheets. The woman doesn't stir in her presence, doesn't prop up her head to greet her daughter, and Moon feels herself holding back tears as she clasps her mother's hands.
"I'm sorry," she says, watching as a Blissey stares at her from a corner, sulking as it runs a Heal Pulse through her mother's body. "I don't have the medicine."
She sits at her mother's side and listens to her labored breaths. A nearby lantern sheds yellow light upon the sweat building on her mom's skin. Moon feels helpless. She'd been searching weeks for a medicine of that quality, for a medicine capable of curing ailments such as this. She'd nearly lost Salamence for it too, her prized Pokémon almost torn apart by a group of thugs who had sought to make a profit.
And, before she could even administer the drug, it was swept out of her hands by a boy claiming to need it more than she did. It was unfair and cruel and she couldn't help the burning anger that burned in her throat day after day as her mother weakened.
Then, one day, someone enters Moon's hide-away without her permission. Secured in the basement of a house whose owners Moon used to know, Moon has made sure that the fortifications of her hiding space are enough to ward off intruders.
For one, she has Decidueye on constant guard duty, the ghost owl monitoring the house and its surroundings almost daily.
For another, the rest of her team is staked at various places, ready to maim and fight off intruders if need be.
So, the fact that she hears nothing but silence when the door to the basement opens makes her instantly on alarm. Decidueye and the others wouldn't be so weak as to let any old trainer defeat them. They were strong and capable of putting up a massive fight. Yet, she had yet to hear the sounds of scurrying upstairs or the roar of Lycanroc as it battered its opponents to death. And the question was: why?
Well, she soon gets her answer.
Climbing down the ladder with a bag clutched to his chest is a boy Moon has met before. Instantly, she's on alert, calling Blissey to her side as the stranger greets her with an awkward nod of his head.
"Why are you here?" She asks him point-blank. "What did you do to my team?"
"The Pokémon upstairs?" The boy blinks upwards and then shakes his head. "They let me in. Specifically, your Decidueye did."
Moon blanches at that. "Decidueye!" She calls, knowing her partner can hear her voice anywhere.
The ghost owl manifests beside her, amber eyes glowing as it greets her gaze. It turns to look at the boy, then at her, and makes a gesture that Moon can roughly interpret as: "he has something of interest to you".
She grimaces at her starter, wondering what the boy could have said to make her Pokémon so compliant, when she notices the bag in his hands. It's a sack made of leather, a kind of commodity Moon hasn't seen in ages, but when the boy takes notice and slips off the packaging, she nearly gasps.
It's the same type of medicine that she once gave him, the one her mother needed.
"This is for you," he says, holding the item outwards like he's afraid to deliver it to her personally. "I told you I would repay you."
Moon looks at the medicine with such longing that she forgets to maintain a poker face. She shakes the emotion from her face, ignoring how she wants to run to him and pluck the good from his hands, and stares. "This is a trap, isn't it? Where's your Pokémon?"
The boy stares at her with some amount of surprise and then shakes his head. He reaches for something behind him, making her tense, before he holds up a Pokeball and gives a small smile. "In here."
He looks at her expectantly, holding the medicine in his hand still, when he beckons it to Decidueye instead. "If you don't trust me, take it yourself." The ghost owl peers at its master and, when Moon nods at it, it vanishes and then reappears to take the medicine and hop back to Moon's side. She grabs the item in its wings and enjoys the euphoria of hope that comes with holding the medicine she so desperately needs.
In her excitement, she completely forgets about the boy's presence to run to her mother's side. The cap is off the medicine in an instant, a safety seal attached to the top of the bottom's neck proving its authenticity. Moon tips the potion to her mother's lips, lifting up her mother's head as she slowly pours the drink down.
Blissey is beside her, doing its best to keep track of her mother's condition, and when the drink is all gone it nods its head at her in hope.
Moon retreats, almost collapsing to the ground in her haste, when she bumps into something too soft to be a stone wall. There's a moment of surprise as she whirls around, realizing that the boy has come close to her without warning. She nearly calls Decidueye to pin him down, bristling at his unwanted presence when he remarks:
"So you wanted to save someone too."
Wary confusion takes a hold of her as she watches him step back, cupping his chin as he stares at her mother. She sweeps her hands up in a defensive position, separating her mom from the stranger.
"What else would I use medicine like that for?" She snaps back.
"To sell to others," his eyes flick to her and there's a distant kind of anger in his eyes as he says it. "To rob people of their possessions in exchange for the lives of others. That's the kind of people I took that medicine from. They didn't deserve it."
There's a hanging silence in the air and Moon realizes with a start that she's left something unsaid. So, with a grimace and an awkward bow to him, she mutters a quick thank you before she can change her mind.
He nods. "You seem like a good person," he says to her. "I don't like taking that for granted."
The boy turns to leave but Moon can't let him leave like that. She bites her lip, thinking herself stupid for hesitating so much before she asks him: "What's your name?"
"Gladion," he says, the word smooth on his tongue. He looks back at her. "Yours?"
"Moon."
He looks her over and nods. "It fits."
"What does?"
"Your name," Gladion smiles a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "You remind me of the moon. Distant, far-away, but still providing light even in times of darkness." He seems to smile at himself before shaking his head and sighing. "I must be going now."
He begins to ascend the rungs to her ladder and she lets him. She hears the click of the hatch and then crumples to her knees. Decidueye lets out a soft hoot, nestling beside her.
"I'm sorry," she says to it, apologizing over nothing and yet apologizing anyways.
Decidueye cocks its head, sweeping a wing around her shoulders as if to offer comfort. She leans into it, enjoying the velvety touch of feathers upon her face.
There's a stir from behind her and Moon spins around to see her mother sitting up. "M…oon?" The woman asks.
"Mom!" She rushes forward, tossing her arms around her. Her voice is almost a sob as she nestles close, a hand rubbing her back.
"What happened?" Her mother asks. "Last I remember, you were going out to grab some supplies. And then…well, I can't really remember."
"You caught a rare kind of sickness," Moon says. "I had to look for weeks to find medicine for you. It's a bit of a complicated story, but I ended up receiving it from a stranger."
"A stranger?" Her mother's eyes flare with caution. "Why would you-?"
"He gave it to me as thanks," she says, quietly, "because I gave him the original medicine I intended for you and kept my word. Or, that's what he told me."
Her mother takes a deep breath. "Still…"
"I know, don't trust strangers. But, mom, he's strong. Really strong. I don't…there's nothing I can do if he decides to go against us."
There was an unsaid fear that struck the room. In a world without light, the strong ruled over those who could not beat them. The darkness of the world had made its inhabitants cruel. And, no matter how kind Gladion had appeared, Moon knew better than to assume his kindness was formed from the niceness of his heart.
It takes a bit, but after some time spent recovering from her illness her mother is able to walk again. The woman is strong and resilient, eager to be in shape again.
After coming into her house, Moon hadn't seen a trace of Gladion since he left. It set her at ease, in a way. As long as he was around, he was a threat. And, Moon didn't take kindly to threats. But, even if she retaliated, she would be no match for his Type: Null. The chimera creature was powerful, strangely so, and her mere memory of it sends remindful shudders down her spine.
It's on a Sunday night that Moon finds a strange pair who's on the run. A girl named Lillie and a boy named Hau beg for safety, pleading for her help as she manifests with a Decidueye by her side. A bright ball of stardust – a tiny creature made from what remains of light in the world – catches Moon's attention. It sits cradled in the girl's arms, shining like a beacon in a sea of black.
"Please," they say, "we need your help. They are after us."
Moon cocks her head at them as does her Pokémon. The girl feels no need to help strangers, much less a girl that vaguely reminds her of Gladion or a boy who clings to the girl like a Remoraid to a Mantine.
"And who are they?" Moon looks down at them both. "Answer truthfully and I might feel obligated to help you."
"It's…it's my family," the girl chokes out. "They want to…they want to wipe out what remains of humanity. It's," she shakes, leaning against the touch of the dark-skinned boy, "no where's safe for us. No where's safe for you, either. They're coming after everyone, no matter who you are."
The girl chokes on her own voice and Moon can't help but feel that she isn't acting. The ball of stardust shakes before them, as if emphasizing with its trainer's pain, and Moon lets loose a sigh as she offers them a hand.
"Come with me," she tells them.
They obey without hesitation, scrambling close to her as they do so. In a way, they remind her of children, wide-eyed and shaking with only a ball of stars to light their way.
Her mother gives her a disapproving glance as she shoves the two strangers inside, but her harsh glare turns into something soft as she notices their state of being.
"Poor things," she says, gaze looking over their shredded clothes and clucking her tongue. "Here, come on in and I'll fix you both a meal."
The girl and boy nod in thanks, standing awkwardly in the doorway until Ampharos appears to guide them to the kitchen. Its horns spark with electricity, providing a beacon of light in the darkness of the house.
Her mother gets to work in the kitchen, requesting Magmortar's help for cooking up a fire, while Moon attends to her guests. "What are your names?" She asks.
"Lillie," says the girl.
"Hau!" says the boy with a nervous grin stretched on his face.
"Who were you running from?"
"A group called Aether Foundation," Lillie says, softly. "You might have heard of them."
"Aren't they a peace-based organization?"
"They were that, yes, before the light was stolen," Lillie twirls a piece of hair around her finger. "But then they changed."
"Everything changed," Hau adds, as if speaking Moon's silent thoughts.
There's a moment of silence before Lillie continues. "We're on the run from them right now. But they…they want to kill everyone on this planet. To exterminate them. That's their goal. In order to make a world safe for Pokémon, they want to kill off humans."
"Okay but…" Moon frowns, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why kill humans in particular?"
"My m-…the president of Aether isn't exactly a sane person," Lillie gives a sour smile. "She has this…delusion…that the only way she can get the love she wants from the Pokémon she loves is by killing off all other humans. She's even gone after her own kids to appease it."
"I…wow. If what you're saying is true than this-"
"It is true!" The girl suddenly shouts, hands slamming down on a nearby table in a way that makes Moon jump. Lillie bites her lip and then looks at her lap where the creature made of stardust whimpers helplessly. "It's true. Please believe me."
"Alright," Moon says, not quite true in her words, "I believe you."
Lillie nods in silence. Hau wraps an arm around her shoulder, hugging her close. They stay that way for quite some time until Moon's mother delivers some bowls of soup for them to partake in. They gather into different seats, eating silently, when the smell of something awful fills the room.
Hau is instantly on alert, tossing forth a Pokeball that unleashes a Primarina within the vicinity. Decidueye is already at Moon's side when the beautiful seal appears, but its attention is not on Hau's Pokémon. Instead, it's gaze moves back to where a pack of Houndoom have appeared, slinking in like reapers as flames drip like saliva from their mouths.
"Oh no," Lillie says, standing up and clutching her stardust creature close to her chest. "They're here."
Moon has little time to think as she calls for Lycanroc to appear. The wolf rushes to her side, red eyes burning bright as the Houndoom prowl closer. She can hear the whoosh of Salamence's wings outside, the crackled of electricity from Ampharos a little ways away, the hum of Blissey just around the corner, and the neighing of Rapidash from somewhere in the distance. However, nothing can stop the way Lillie's creature suddenly glows without warning, light washing over its body before its arm grabs Moon's own and the world goes topsy-turvy
The girl blinks once, and the scenery changes. Decidueye is braced beside her, its head whirling in confusion, before Moon takes notice of the house burning before them and the awful screams that come from inside. Moon recognizes the scream of her mother while Lillie seems to recognize the screech of what Moon assumes to be Hau.
"No, no, no." Lillie looks at her creature, shaking it desperately as she pleads with it: "Take me back! Take me back there! We have to save Hau, please!"
But the creature only whimpers and shakes its head, its fear evident in the way it hugs close to her and does little else. Moon watches with horror as the Houndoom from before crawl out of the building, smirking with menace as they approach.
"Those Houndoom they're-" Lillie shakes "-they're Aether's hellhounds. They're here to kill us."
As if sensing her fear, the hounds draw closer. Decidueye nocks an arrow, eyes narrowing, before a strange creature jumps between them both. Moon recognizes it in an instant. How can she forget it, with that eerie mask and chimeric features?
"Lillie!" A voice calls, and Moon watches as Type: Null's trainer hurries to their sides. "Lillie, are you alright? I didn't know if I would make it but-"
Gladion looks to Moon, his eyes wide with surprise as he sucks in a breath. "You…" He says, before shaking his head and looking straight ahead. "There's no time. We need to run."
But, soon enough, it becomes clear there's nowhere left to run. Among the ranks of the Houndoom appear Manectric, Pangoro, and Bewear, all of which look upon the three with cruel eyes. Type: Null howls, retreating to its master's side as it shrinks away with the realization of being unable to win.
There is little time to think as the Pokémon come upon them. Moon is dodging attacks left and right as the creatures come for her head, fire burning and electricity cackling all around her. She hears Gladion and Lillie shouting, hears the roar of Type: Null as it gives its opponents a fight, but all she can think of is Decidueye and escaping.
Still, in a horde of creatures going for her throat, Moon can't find escape easily. A barrage of attacks strike down all around her, and she finds herself back to back with Gladion against her will. The boy seems unaware of her presence, commanding his Type: Null with striking efficiency until a stray blow knocks it to the side.
"Null!" Gladion shouts. The boy calls for it to get up but, when it fails to do so, he rushes to its side.
In the same moment, Lillie is yanked from her creature's side, a Bewear pulling her into the crowd of attackers. The ball of stardust cries for its trainer, screaming loudly, before Moon picks it up and the creature begins to wail. It shakes its arms, flailing, before it glows again and sends everyone pausing for a second.
"Moon!"
The girl hears Gladion's shout and turns to him. His eyes are wide, his face flushed pale, before suddenly the world before Moon distorts and a swirling white wormhole appears. A strange pull acts upon her, pulling Moon in before she can react, and the darkness of the world is snuffed out by the closing of her eyes.
This was originally written for the day 1 prompt for lonashipping 2019 week: I will try again. However, due to lacking time and realizing that I'd have to split this up into chapters, this has become it's own project. There will be nine chapters in total (maybe ten if the last chapter gets crazy long) and currently I have 2/9 chapters done with the third one being almost finished.