She awakens to the dying shouts of warriors past echoing in her head.
RISE RISE RISE
Clutching her head, she sits up with a groan and tries to remember a time when her temples didn't throb from a cacophony of war cries.
She can't remember a time before the temple, before the orders, before the deity.
"What?" she growls as she gets up, the rickety bed groaning from her weight. One of these days, it'll collapse on her; one of these days, this ancient shed will come crashing down right on top of her. But still she returns every night, because it's the only bed she will ever sleep in.
CLEAR THE OFFERINGS, the voices roar, right in her ears. It tumbles to her chest and pounds against her rib cage. COLLECT WHAT'S YOURS, LEAVE WHAT'S MINE
"Wait." She stumbles to the basin filled with water, splashing her face to clear the last of the nightmares from her head. "Just wait." The voices subside momentarily, leaving her to listen to the few flying Pokémon brave enough to settle in the trees surrounding the temple. She adjusts the scrap of mirror leaning on the end table she has deemed her bathroom, then sets to work getting herself ready for the day, her few toiletries stark contrasts of white and blue against the brown floorboards covered in moss.
Her head is too peaceful for too long, she realizes as she slides her feet into espadrilles, the only pair of shoes she's ever owned.
Tapu Koko seems to agree, as his voice, the voices of war, assaults her head with a vengeance.
GO TO THE OFFERINGS AND CARE FOR MY SHRINE
"I know," she hisses in response, wishing the pounding of fists against the inside of her forehead would dull already, and breathing a sigh of relief when they do. She grabs her bag, takes a glance over her shell of a home, and completes the mental list of errands for the day.
Carefully she navigates the steep hill down to the temple, sliding and catching herself in the same tricky spots she has come to know all too well over the years, a practiced string of swears escaping her. By the time she has trekked her way down to the temple entrance, she's covered in a thin layer of dust that she leans down and half-heartedly brushes off her jeans, the denim cut high above her ankles and distressed from years of living.
A small cry causes her to pause in her work and lift her head, smiling when she sees a Jangmo-o padding out of the temple. "Any intruders, Ku?" The Pokémon responds by stopping before her and proudly sticking out his chest, the metal scales on his back clanging. The young woman gives the creature an appreciated scratch on the back of the head, mumbling, "What a good guard."
Ku follows her into the temple, watching her tuck a short lock of black hair behind her ears before reaching out to trace the stone walls with her fingertips, eons of worship and destruction trickling into her veins. Her other hand goes to the orange stone around her neck, feeling it pulse with heat, alerting her to his wakened state.
"You're tense today," she muses out loud, wondering if he's in the temple hiding but knowing he will hear her all the same. The echoes of her footsteps dissipate as she enters the shrine, gazing upon the offerings, her Jangmo-o sitting at the entrance to the room.
"But I suppose you're tense most days. It's your nature." She thinks for a moment longer before climbing the stairs to the platform to work on properly arranging the meager offerings placed before the statue. "It's my nature."
She goes through the food, taking the pieces of fruit that will serve as her and Ku's breakfast, and placing the rest in a circle, a hefty plate of barbecued meat serving as the centerpiece. Several leis are laid out, and she places them by color on the statue, just as Tapu Koko has taught her. Her final task is then to go through the small amount of money, counting it in her head and depositing all of it into the pocket of her bag.
A growl behind her alerts her to approaching footsteps. As Ku's growls subside, a gruff voice chuckles. "Stealing from a shrine, huh? Man, I was just gonna mess some shit up, but I guess we got a new recruit."
"She looks scrawny, Boss," another voice chides, muffled by something. She turns slowly to see what it could be, and finds two men with bandanas covering half of their faces, flanking a third man with white hair and a gaudy golden chain that makes her raise a brow.
The second grunt, and the third voice, lets out a low whistle. "Damn girl, the bags under your eyes are practically designer. You don't sleep or something?"
The air has grown stale around them and she feels her stomach roll in nausea. The instincts he's gifted her scream that none of them should be here, and as if to echo her, warriors bang spears and maces against their shields as Tapu Koko screeches in her head, INSOLENT, ARROGANT FOOLS
"Are you here to leave an offering?" she asks slowly. The electricity of the deity's rage shoots through her arms, and she calms it by clenching her fists, building the tension in her hands. Ku notices her stiff stance, and quickly climbs the stairs to stand next to her, metal scales clanging and battle pose defiant.
The leader of the trio, the original speaker, places his hands on his hips, an eyebrow shooting to the ceiling. "You dumb or something? Do I look like I give free food to some fake god that never did anything for me?"
She blinks, her nails digging into her palms as her fist clench ever tighter to keep the rage of fallen warriors from spilling out of her. "Then are you here to speak to Tapu Koko directly?"
"Boss, what's this chick on about?"
"Dude I think she's crazy."
"That's a pity," the leader sighs, giving a theatrical shrug. "But what can you do? Not everybody's cut out for Team Skull." His gray eyes land on the dragon at her side, something sinister taking over his smirk. "But that lil guy could make it pretty far with us. How's about we take him off your hands, free of charge?"
THEY DO NOT BELIEVE, THEY DO NOT DESERVE TO BE IN MY TEMPLE
She closes her eyes, the world too red for her vision. "You should leave if you have no business with the tapu," she says through clenched teeth, her head beginning to ache once more with clamoring warriors and past victorious celebrations.
One of the grunts takes a half-step forward. "Aw, you getting mad because we ain't about these island deities?"
"No," she states simply, "But Tapu Koko is."
"And how do you know?" the leader snarls with a crooked smirk that stretches his face. "You got some special connection with the guy?"
Her legs burn with the need to run, to kick, to shove their faces in the dirt until they realize her true power and the respect they should give her.
THEY WILL BE BROUGHT TO THEIR KNEES
"I do," she replies with the ease of someone who is used to voices in her head and nightmares in her bed. "Because I am the oracle of this temple."
The shrine falls silent as they stare at each other, faces equally unreadable.
Then, the trio bursts into laughter.
Tapu Koko simply bursts.
She hisses under her breath, clutching her head as stampeding armies invade her body. Ku releases a burst of blue fire, one that nearly reaches the other side of the room but that does little to silence the cackling trio or even get their attention. They'll be silent soon enough, she knows, as she clutches her throat and feels the flames of war escape her mouth, forcing her jaw open as a voice that simultaneously does and does not belong to her booms, "WHO ARE YOU TO DISTURB THIS TEMPLE"
One of the grunts is the first to realize the voice is in the room with them, his eyes wildly scanning the shrine. "What the hell was that?" Their eyes fall on the young woman before them, the orange stone now a glowing ember against her skin as her gray eyes burn like a magma flow.
Her mouth remains open as the statue behind her rumbles. "YOU DARE LAUGH AT A GOD"
An impossible lighting strike hits the stone floor of the hallway behind them, causing the trio to jump in their skins and step closer together, paralyzed as they look at the golden aura now surrounding the mysterious girl.
"I HAVE DESTROYED ARMIES, CREATED EMPIRES, AND STRUCK DOWN THOSE WHO DARE DEFY ME"
Another lightning strike, this time in the center of the room, in between the trio and the platform, and a silhouette. Thunder rolls off the stone walls, ancient war chants rise from the floor, and the two grunts turn and run, yelling disjointed thoughts that can't be heard over the tapu's rage. The leader stays, the sunglasses atop his head now askew, his eyes wide with fear and awe as he remains rooted to the ground. Lightning collects in the center of the room, a final burst revealing the silhouette to be Tapu Koko, who hops side to side, ready to strike, his eyes piercing into the intruder's. The oracle's body remains glowing, and her eyes have become coal, a fire burning. Her Jangmo-o remains at her side, every nerve alert as it watches the island deity face the stranger.
"YOU DARE NOT BELIEVE IN MY POWER"
Finally, the leader can move his head, shaking it slowly as if to rid his eyes of the impossible sight before him. His heart pounds blood into his feet, forcing them to slowly back away from the rage of the guardian and the glowing oracle.
"LEAVE MY TEMPLE AND DO NOT RETURN UNTIL YOU CAN APPEASE MY RAGE"
And he does just that, his feet picking up their pace, his eyes glued to the deity in the center of the room, even as his body begins to turn. He tears his gaze away and runs down the hall, the crashing beat of war drums following his every step.
The glow of the oracle's body dulls, her eyes once more gray and tired. She leans over, hands on her knees as she coughs violently, feeling herself being shoved back into her skin. Ku watches in concern, but her eyes go up to look at Tapu Koko, who turns slowly to her. Once she feels her spirit settling back into her body, she asks with a tired smirk, "A bit much, don't you think?"
The tapu gazes at her with narrowed eyes, the anger slowly leaving his body. I DO NOT CARE FOR THOSE WHO WILL NOT RESPECT ME OR MY ORACLE
"So I've noticed," she mutters, straightening and tucking the glowing stone necklace under her shirt. The round stone is now pleasantly warm against her skin, rather than a hot iron burning her. "I don't, either, but we differ in how we deal with them."
His iridescent eyes bore into her, but even in the years she's spent around the island guardian, she's come no closer to deciphering what lies behind his gaze.
YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE TREATED THIS WAY
She swallows a lump in her throat, and simply looks back at him. There are a lot of things she doesn't deserve to have happen to her. She doesn't deserve to live without memories, to live away from the rest of the world, to have her body taken over by an ancient deity of war.
But here she stands, having all of these and more thrown at her until she collapses on a bed older than her only to wake up more tired than she began.
Tapu Koko senses her unspoken thoughts, and with a flash of light and the bang of shields he's gone, leaving them all unspoken and her mind empty of his presence. The oracle sighs, looking at the empty room before her and feeling the familiar loneliness climbing up onto her shoulders.
She looks down at the Jangmo-o at her side and smiles, picking up the bag of Mago and Aguav slices she's set aside for the two of them, and giving Ku a slice of fruit, smiling as he nibbles. The two walk down the stairs, the oracle popping a slice of Mago into her mouth as her footsteps echo on the empty stone floor once more.
"All that before breakfast," she thinks out loud, pausing before the temple's exit to give Ku another slice of Aguav that he greedily devours. She looks out at the sparse jungle surrounding the temple, the leaves seeming to hide something from her eyes. "Things are getting restless here."
And a restless Tapu Koko, she has found, is her least favorite kind.
A/N: This is a bit of a darker AU I've been developing for a while, so hopefully you guys stick around even though it might seem a little odd or a very big departure from the original games.