Introduction: This is a crossover between Worm by Wildbow, and Pokemon. The main crossover element is that Theo has access to Pokemon and uses them to fight. Ideally, you should be able to read (and hopefully enjoy) this even if you've never touched a Pokemon game.
I originally started writing this over on Spacebattles, where it is currently up to Chapter 4. I'm crossposting it here to keep all of my writing in one place, but it will still be available there.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything here.
—In the Pocket—
Prologue
November 11th, 2010
In retrospect, I should have realized I was a cape.
I had been taught about the signs, after all. I knew what trigger events were, and I even got to see parahumans on a daily basis. Nobody was better prepared to see their powers coming than I was.
But I thought it was just a fantasy, some kind of imagined freedom from my inescapable father.
The man otherwise known as Kaiser.
He was more than just powerful, he was [i]dominant[/i]. He had to have control of everything around him.
I wish I could say he was a bad person for being a racist (which would have been enough on its own), but I honestly don't think he gave a shit about any of that. He payed lip service to his underling's beliefs, but he didn't really care one way or another.
He was just bad, plain and simple.
It's pretty ironic that I saw through the Empire's dogma because I saw through him.
So yeah, when I first started thinking up plans for a device that could open up a portal to another world...obviously I figured it was just another fantasy. Just a bit more unusual than my other ones.
Then it didn't go away. In fact the longer the idea stuck with me, the more I realized exactly how detailed the whole thing was. I was pretty sure that I could actually build it if I had the parts.
That's when I realized I was a tinker. It didn't matter that almost any other power would have been more useful in my circumstances. Of course I had to trigger with the one that required resources and prep-time and was too easy to trace.
My father was still on the watch for me to develop powers, even if he was starting to lose interest in the possibility. If I ever gave him even a hint of my new abilities, I'd be pressganged into the Empire.
And as a tinker with no access to supplies, I wouldn't exactly have a choice in the matter. So I had to hide, and the plans in my head just sat there. Wasted.
Luckily, Kayden gave me the opportunity I needed before too long. She split off, from both Father and the Empire, taking Aster with her.
Of course, even she couldn't just leave. Max Anders had too many friends in high places for her to truly vanish from his influence. Still, she managed to put some distance between the man and her daughter.
I was just lucky enough to be the babysitter.
"I'll be back late, Theo." Kayden said with a sigh. "I've already asked your father if you could stay and look after Aster."
"Thanks." I offered her a strained smile. I was grateful, but I knew Kayden didn't really like me. Which hurt, because she really was a good person, and she cared for me in her own way.
It was more than anyone else had ever done.
"I'll take good care of her." I promised. She gave me that strange look, the one that told me she really was grateful even though she struggled to overlook my parentage. Then she left.
Which meant that I was finally going to get my chance. Over the last few months, I had built the portal generator here, piece by piece. It had been ready for a week now, and I'd just been waiting for the right night to use it.
Unfortunately, the world on the other side was full of various monsters. Animals really. It had taken me the better part of this week to finish off a slightly simpler design floating around in my head, a device that would let me capture and tame one of the monsters.
I turned and trudged over to my room, pulling the portalmaker out and setting it up in the closet.
It was time to be a Master.
