Disclaimer: I own nothing outside of the plot and any OCs.
Warnings - death, blood, injury, violence, lack of care to the lives of others, even less care to the sanity of others, babies doing non-babyish stuff, children being way too mature, adults in child bodies being weird, and stuff. Lots of stuff.
Oh, and I'm also going to edit the appearances of some Pokemon a little, like there are some that just feel like they should be bigger. Like Charizard. Who wants a 6 foot tall fire breathing dragon, when you can have a ten foot tall fire breathing dragon.
The decision is clear.
A few days after finding her…
"So. We both had the same dream. Then we woke up at the same time. With an abnormal urge to run outside, in the middle of the night, to go to the same place. To find a child, who," the two conversing adults looked over at said baby, who, despite being near incapable of movement a few days ago like most babies are, was now crawling around the house like she was born for it. "Is clearly abnormal."
"Professor, I'm not entirely certain it was just a dream- no, don't do that!" A frazzled Delia Ketchum once again found herself rushing after the child, whose name was Ashura, in order to prevent her from attempting to climb a vertical surface. Again. Despite the trouble, however, she found herself smiling slightly.
Professor Oak watched this going on, and chuckled as the wily baby slipped past the woman once again. "I highly doubt she is normal in any sense of the word, considering the fact that she has a keystone embedded in her chest. Which I'm still confused about." She was also probably the best thing that could have happened to either of them at the moment. He was worrying for Delia's health, what with having lost the baby who was the only connection to her husband that she had left. He himself had needed the uplifting presence of the bubbly baby, as his son, Gremor Oak, had been with Zachariah at the time of the accident, and had lost his life alongside him.
"What do you think you're doing sitting back and chuckling like some old geezer, when you should be helping me snag this little rascal! Yeah, I'm talking to you, so you'd better come back here!" Delia's voice snapped him out of his absent minded reverie, and when the sentence registered he jumped up, righteous indignation rising up within him as he squawked out a reply.
"Who are you calling old, you whippersnapper!"
Arceus watched as the two adults laughed while in pursuit of the child who would be his chosen one, along with one of his closest friends, and smiled. It saddened him to see his creations in despair, and he was happy to see that even without having regained her memories as of yet, Ashura was still capable of lighting up people's lives without even trying. He looked forward to the impact she would make when her brain was capable of holding her past lives memories once more (he might have been speeding up her development just a bit, in order to hurry the process along.)
Ashura, 1 year of age
"I believe that saying she's abnormal is a vast understatement."
"I concur with your hypothesis. Evidence points towards her being so far beyond normal that they can't be considered within the same plane."
The two adults shared a glance, expressions comically serious, before turning back to the sight before them and breaking out into smiles.
In the center of Professor Oak's library, sat the once Delia had considered her daughter since finding her, and the girl the Professor considered another granddaughter of his. Ashura was dressed in cute Pj's of a rich cream coloring, that had chibified dragonite and dratini covering the soft fabric. She also had on a matching scarf. In contrast to the cutesy outfit, she wore a serious expression, while staring intently at a introductory book on the study of fire type Pokemon she had picked up.
Ever since she learned to read a few weeks ago, Ashura had been a baby on a mission, searching out every book she could find about Pokemon. She began with children's stories, and after finished all the ones she could find a few days ago, had now begun looking at beginners books on Pokemon. No matter what it was, from typing, to care, to history, to just about anything, if it was about Pokemon, she tracked it down and devoured it at an absurd pace for a child her age. Rather, she shouldn't even have been reading at this point!
The tiny girl had learned to walk months ago, and the moment she did, the already high amount of trouble she got into seemed to multiply exponentially. One of their biggest worries was her penchant for heights. She had somehow managed to climb the cabinets, and they would frequently find her curled up atop said piece of furniture, deeply asleep.
It had caused them considerable panic the first few times, Delia frantically snatching the child down and cradling her to her chest, a few tears slipping out while she gasped for breath. The very thought of losing her, after everyone else she had lost, inspired a bone deep fear within her. Ashura had simply looked at her in confusion, reaching out and brushing away the tears in the obliviously comforting way only a child who didn't understand what was happening could pull off.
However, they eventually grew used to it, and instead of pulling her down, would sit in easy reach of the cabinet, so in case she fell, they could easily catch her. She never did though, and it truly was a sight, seeing her climb up and down the furniture like she was born to it.
There was also the fact that they had to make sure she never went anywhere without her scarf on. She had a keystone stuck between her collar bones after all, who knows how people would react to that! It was quite the shock for them as well, when they finally realized it was a part of her body. Luckily, she seemed to enjoy wearing scarves, though they did need an alternative for time where it was just too hot for a scarf.
The next shock had come when the introduced her to a few Pokemon out in the fields. They had taken their eyes off of her for a few seconds to unpack some lunches, thinking she was safe playing amongst a few friendly Growlithe, Vulpix, and Mareep who had ran over when they neared (which was a bit odd, but they had become desensitized to strange happenings around her by this point, and didn't really take note of it). Only to turn around a few minutes later to see her gone.
The two had engaged in a frantic search for her, horrible wonderings of the danger she could get into around the ranch. Which contained various habitats for various pokemon, like deep ravines, or lakes (she couldn't swim), there were even a couple magma pools for the fire types! Not to mention the Pokemon that inhabited said habitats. There were a few dragon types who didn't take well to humans that weren't their trainers (heck, some of them didn't like their own trainers) and it wasn't just them, there wasn't a single Pokemon out there who couldn't dole out fatal wounds with a glance! They were highly intelligent, highly powerful, and incredibly dangerous creatures. While most Pokemon wouldn't do much unless agitated, a curious child could easily pull the wrong tale, and find herself on the wrong end of a hyper beam.
Meanwhile, said curious child was walking through some tall grass, towards an odd looking rock she felt strangely curious about. She made her way through the grass, carefully keeping an eye out on where she stepped to avoid angering a sleeping ekans, or tripping. Either one goes. Her weak muscles had her stumbling a bit here and there, but she soldiered on (and why did thinking that inspire a feeling of ironic mirth within her?) towards her goal without faltering. In the back of her mind, there was a tiny voice saying she shouldn't even be capable of walking at this point (one impatient God of Pokemon did the legendary equivalent of sneezing here), but she ignored it, because children don't think such things-
But twenty-four year old lieutenant generals from different worlds do.
So she ignored it. Though even at this age she knew that hearing voices in your head isn't a good sign.
Finally, she reached the Mysterious Rock (yes she had assigned it a name) and began to give it a slightly closer examination. It was a pale greenish color, and was strangely smooth, with large spikes protruding along it. There was a diamond shaped area on its underside that was steel-grey in coloring, several triangular holes, and five outcroppings that looked strangely like legs, arms, and a tail…
An eye slowly peeled open.
Ashura blinked in shock. So it wasn't a rock! Instead, it was a Pokemon! She took a couple steps closer, and stared with unabashed awe. All the other pokemon had been furry and cute, and they were magnificent (how did she know that word, she hadn't read it…) in their own way, but this was different. It was a bit over 3 meters tall, towering over her childish frame, and was built to be a predator, all sinewy muscle and hard as rock skin, obviously great for defense. Sizeable sharp teeth lined its mouth, and dagger like claws that could rip through flesh with ease adorned its paws. Drawing up to its full height, it cut a menacing picture, spikes suddenly seeming more ominous as it stood silhouetted against the sky, glaring down at her impassively.
It was even taller than the cabinets.
Thus, Ashura did the only thing a young girl such as herself could do in this situation. She scrambled closer and reached out to run her hand across the armored flesh of its muscled legs. The rock/dark type simply watched impassively, though he wondered at why he hadn't yet blasted the tiny human into oblivion yet. There was a strange feeling about the thing, soothing and warm, almost welcoming, that reminded him of when he was a young larvitar safe in his burrow, of times before he was captured and said trainer attempted to train him. As if such a weak-willed being could earn his respect enough to be allowed to guide him into battle.
"You…" The thing was speaking now, and he focused back in on it, only for its eyes to meet his own. They were strange for a human, with an otherworldly coloring that he knew, from his interactions with humans, wasn't natural. The outer parts of human eyes was always white, but this child's left was black, and the innermost part was strange as well, a silver that literally glowed in comparison to the usual black. The white part that was usually colored didn't seem too odd in comparison. It somehow was even stranger, the way that her right eye was perfectly normal except for the silver middle-part that glowed like the center of her left. Beyond all that though, what drew his attention the most was how she didn't flinch from his gaze. He knew he cut an intimidating figure, as the human who called itself his trainer had scurried back like a frightened Ratata every time it met his gaze.
"You're amazing."
He stared, wondering if some ghost type was playing a trick on him. If so, he would give it a reminder that wouldn't be forgotten to refrain from disturbing him.
"I've never seen a Pokemon like you before! Your skin is like metal, and you look so strong, I'll bet you would rule wherever you went! Plus, your so tall, and everyone knows that heights are the best, well, small Pokemon have their own charm, but..." As she continued on, he pulled himself up slightly in pride. He wasn't entirely certain as to why, but he had taken a liking to this human, though it was largely in part due to the way she had unflinchingly met his gaze. It wasn't stupidity either, he felt in her aura a sense of acknowledgement and respect, she knew he could kill her with an absent movement, destroy her so there was nothing to find, and she respected that power, but still met his gaze with her own. Compared to the human who caught him, this tiny child was of a far higher status in his eyes.
"-and I really like heights so can I climb on you!?" He stared into her oddly colored eyes once more, before releasing a huff of air alongside a low rumble, and turning away to relax and enjoy the peace, since he was already awake.
She smiled brightly, and though he couldn't see it, he could feel her happiness, and she moved over to begin carefully climbing up him, by way of the protrusions along his back. She was careful to avoid disturbing him, and he almost laughed at the thought that she could do him any sort of harm, whether intentionally or inadvertently. A few seconds later, she perched herself just at the base of his head, leaning forward slightly so she lay slightly atop his flat skull. The two odd companions simply sat in silence, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and, oddly enough on the side of the Tyranitar, the company. They went undisturbed until the time came when the sun began setting, and the girl perked up upon hearing something.
"-ura, Ashura! Ashura! Where are you!" The Professor and Delia came running across the open fields, and were carefully scanning the area for any sign of her, before their eyes landed upon the Tyranitar standing in the middle of the field.
The Tyranitar who had just turned to impassively stare at them.
The Tyranitar who currently had the girl they were looking for perched behind his head.
Poor Delia fell over in a dead faint. The Professor wanted to follow her fine example, but barely managed to hold onto consciousness despite it.
"Ashura, please come down here. We've been incredibly worried about you, and you know better than to wander off like that! You could have gotten seriously injured!"
The girl at least had the decency to look properly abashed at his scolding, and she cautiously began to climb back down the massive rock type. She slipped down surprisingly easily, and once her feet were firmly back on the ground, she turned back to the Tyranitar, and lay a hand on his leg. Said action nearly gave our dear Professor a heart attack.
"I really enjoyed spending time with you, Myrock! (Meer-rock) I'm glad I got to meet you, and I hope we can hang out together again sometime soon!" Professor Oak looked at her confused, unable to understand a word she just said, considering that the sentence consisted entirely of the syllables that make up "Tyranitar", though he didn't know that considering to his ears it sounded like a combination of growls, rumbles, and roars.
You see, she wasn't capable of properly speaking yet, as despite knowing the words and their meanings her vocals weren't developed enough to pronounce the full range of syllables required for human speech. However, thanks to a combination of Arceus giving her the ability to speak Pokespeech, along with her aura instinctually bending to her will (which was to speak with the awesome looking Pokemon in front of her) and augmenting her vocal cords to be capable of using the full range of sounds a tyranitar could make, she had been speaking in Pokemon language the entire time. The only syllables she could form naturally were a variety of burbles, and a few "guh"s, "mu"s, and "wa"s. Really, if not for Arceus speeding up her development by a considerable amount, she wouldn't have even been capable of coherent thought at that point, and she might have been getting to the beginning stages of crawling, certainly not walking as she currently was, unbalanced though she may be.
The Tyranitar sighed lightly at the name, though there was no honest upset in his tone. If you looked closely, and she did, you could see the edges of his mouth turn upwards in the slightest bit.
Perhaps we'll see each other again soon.
As far as Ashura was concerned, that was a solid confirmation. "Alright! I can't wait to see you again Myrock! We're best friends now, right!"
Tch. Sure, brat.
Oak blinked in confusion, but immediately discounted the interaction as the Pokemon obsessed girl mimicking the sounds the Tyranitar made. There was desensitized to abnormal things, and then there was fabricating wild theories, and he was still a Professor at heart. It wouldn't be until she was three, and capable of coherent speech, that he would think to ask.
For now, though, they waited for Delia to wake, and Ashura was brought back safe and sound to the lab, where she spent the remainder of the day being lectured on how there was a difference between trouble finding her, and her finding trouble. Of course, while she eventually became a bit wiser in her escapades, the event with Myrock (whom she would visit quite frequently over the next few years) was only the first of many things that would have the two adults tolerance for strange events skyrocketing. Over the next couple of years, she managed to frequently slip away and befriend almost every single Pokemon on the ranch, and the rest would come later.
Leading up to her fourth birthday, she began remembering more and more things that she was fairly certain had never happened. She fought a war that never happened, flew on the back of a creature that didn't exist, met people she didn't know, and strangest of all, was in her 20s.
Ashura Dare'sensk Reochsaeraba was very, very confused.
Then it all came to a head, a few days after her fourth birthday.
Ashura, 4th birthday
"Happy birthday to you~, happy birthday to you~" An uncoordinated hodgepodge of human voices rang out loudly, emanating from a massive gathering of the entire town of Pallet, all of whom had come to celebrate the birthday of the town's "Silver Angel". Over the years since she had been found, Ashura had somehow managed to befriend each and every individual who made up the town's population. The grouchy old codgers thoughts she was the sweetest thing on this side of the solar system, the 'too cool for just about everyone' teens thoughts she was the best thing since sliced bread, (and cute to boot!) while as far as all children below the age of five were concerned, anything she did was something to model yourself after. She was that one person who, no matter how rude you are to her, accepts your faults along with the rest of you without question. A genuinely nice person previously thought to be an extinct species. Loved by everyone older, and idolized by everyone younger.
Yeah. That sort of person.
Despite the way she befriended and enjoyed the presence of everyone, she had not truly grown close to anyone except for Professor Oak, Delia, and, surprisingly enough, Gary Oak. While to everyone else she had no faults, to these three, she was a three dimensional person who, while indeed a very likeable person who wouldn't turn you away so long as you checked out as a good person in her view, also had faults.
For one thing, she had no sense of danger. It had pretty much become a weekly thing for her to disappear off somewhere and be found in a precarious position accompanied by some sort of pokemon.
Another thing was her tendency to ignore specific instructions. There had been several times where she did something the two adults in her life had specifically told her not to, landing her in trouble.
Finally, was the fact that, for a four year old, she was strangely ruthless when someone did something that angered her. Teasing her? Laugh it off. Be unnecessarily rude? Laugh it off. Be cruel to a Pokemon or one of the three humans she cared for?
Her reaction scared them.
Instead of flying into a rage like most people would, she gathered information on the perpetrator without being suspected, compiled said information, and discreetly spread it around, while simultaneously using her popularity among the masses to direct the public's view on it.
The perpetrator had gotten a twenty year sentence, due to a combination of Pokemon abuse, assault, harassment, and a few other charges that they didn't have a clue as to how she got them pushed through. The most terrifying thing?
Flashback
As he was cuffed and dragged towards the police car, he caught a glimpse of a tiny slip of a girl, whose silver, black, and white hair was styled in a pixie cut, with a small section at the back longer than the rest, tied with a purple hair tie, and reaching down to her ankles. An eyepatch concealed her left eye even beyond that of her long bangs, which were angled towards the left of her face. She was quite tiny as well, standing at only 36 inches.
Their eyes met, and a chill went down his spine, though nothing he saw could have caused this unsettling feeling.
The strange girl smiled at him, eyes half closing, and the expression was filled with such honest happiness that he instinctually smiled back. As the car door closed, the last thing he saw was a delicate hand lifting in a cheerful wave.
Flashback End
She had a tendency of categorizing sentient beings in three categories.
First, the ultra selective category which contained those she was closest to, the people she would do quite literally anything for. If anyone outside this category hurt them in some way, she would analyze the situation, and if she found them guilty, ruthlessly meted out her own justice.
Second, the people who were 'innocents'. Those who went about their daily lives, doing their best to be happy, and not intentionally harming others simply for pleasure. She considered these people as under her protection, even if she had never met them before, if they were having some kind of difficulty she could fix, then she would do so. Strangely, this brought up another odd "memory that never happened."
This world, will become my world, and its denizens, my denizens. I will protect what is mine with my dying breath.
Finally, the guilty category. Those who hurt people and caused trouble for no reason other than some kind of selfish desire. These people she would deal with ruthlessly, and without mercy. That was all there is to it.
Of course, despite having placed people in these categories she had not yet had a chance to actually make use of said organizational method, outside of considering the people of Pallet town innocents, and thus doing her best to make them happy, and to keep them safe, though she was too young to be able to truly do the last bit.
We've gotten a bit off topic though. Back to her birthday party.
Happy birthday dear Ash~
The celebrators weren't just humans. Every pokemon she had befriended was there as well, which was why it was being held out behind the Oak lab, considering some of her friends were quite large. For example, Professor Oak's Dragonite, who was was slightly larger than the average twelve feet at just over fourteen feet tall. Along with the other Pokemon, varying from the townspeople's, to the Professor's, to trainer's Pokemon who they had left with Oak, it was quite a crowd.
"Happy Birthday to you!"
A few minutes later, the birthday girl could be found sitting back to back with Gary, with Samuel Oak's Dragonite, reclining a short distance from them. Ashura could be seen switching between talking to Gary in the human language, and indulging in a slightly more intellectual conversation with Dragonite. Though, to anyone not in the know, it sounded as though she was mimicking Dragonite's croons and hums, though admittedly doing a very good job of it.
While the Pokemon and human indulged in a conversation about what it felt like to use the move thunder, the adults chuckled and snapped a few pictures of the scene, talking to each other about how adorable she was, mimicking Pokemon sounds. Professor Oak and Delia shared a smile upon hearing this, inwardly laughing while thinking, if only they knew…
Around 30 minutes later, they had finally gotten the stage that they had been looking forward to.
Opening presents.
The majority of the civilians gave her either clothes, or, since they saw how often she read, books. Due to the fact that the people of Pallet thought she was a genius (which she was) she didn't get stuck with childish books, instead receiving chapter books, and informational texts. It seemed like the people had coordinated with each other, since she didn't get the same thing twice. There were also a few people who gave her a few items that had something to do with Pokemon, which would help when she became a trainer.
Quite convenient, really.
Gary had then fidgeted his way up to her and, blushing slightly, shoved a large book at her that she barely managed to grab hold of before it fell, refusing to meet her eyes all the while. Looking down at it, she stared for a moment. There was a strange weight to it, a feeling that could only be described as 'Ancient'. There was no cover picture, just some old, worn, barely legible words that she, after a few minutes of scrutiny, finally managed to read.
'Kanto: A Legendary History'
Despite the overly pretentious name, the book gave her an odd feeling. Plus, there was the fact that instead of being written in the language all people in all regions used in modern times, Unisalv, it was written in Kanto's original language, Old Kantonian, or the true name, Originem. Flipping through a few of the pages, she quickly realized that this book might as well be a treasure to any historian or archeologist. This wasn't some wannabe knock off, this was the actual true language of Kanto, and from what she could see, this was all officially documented at the time it happened. Basically, it truly is a factual, Legendary History. How something like this slipped under the radar she would never know, though it probably had something to do with the fact that so few people bothered with learning any of the original True Languages.
Snapping out of her daze, she realized that Gary was still standing there, likely waiting for approval or rejection of his gift. He looked even more nervous than before, and she almost chuckled at how adorable he was. Carefully setting the book to her side, she placed it while making sure that it wouldn't come to any harm. As soon as that was done, she turned back to Gary and, breaking out in a brilliant grin, threw herself onto him in a hug. He turned even redder at that, and if he could, she was pretty sure steam would have been coming from his ears.
"Thank you so~~ much~ Gary~! I love the gift~!"
He finally regained control of himself to shove her off, turning away while brushing tomato red. Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, he did his best to sound confident.
"Of course you love it! I'm the one who picked it out after all!"
Ashura simply grinned in reply. "Of course~, of course~"
He huffed slightly, crossing his arms, but she could see him trying not to smile! A cheshire cat grin found its way onto her face at that and she carefully snuck up behind him. When she was close enough, she jumped slightly and draped herself over his taller frame. She laughed slightly when he jumped in shock, beginning to talk in a sing-song tone of voice.
"You can't hide from me~ Gare-bear~. I can see you trying not to smile~, these eyes won't miss a thing!" Within seconds, an argument erupted between the taller boy, and the tiny girl who had draped herself over his back. It was obvious that it was good-natured, though, from the smiles pasted on their faces.
Thus, the party went on like so for another hour, before everyone began returning home. Ashura made sure to thank everyone for coming, and personally thanked each one of them for the gifts.
Finally, as it began to get dark, the quartet made up of two Oaks, a Ketchum, and an abnormal little girl went inside.
"Ashy, the Professor and I wanted to give you our gifts in private, so come with us. You can come too, Gary." The two prodigies exchanged excited glances before hurrying over to the adults. First, Delia came forward.
"This bag is the one that was beside you when we first found you. We haven't been able to open it, but I've got a feeling that it's made for you." Ashura reverently took the bag, and as she looked at it, she felt the echoes of memories become clearer in response.
"-we have decided to give you something to help you, and more importantly, something to remember us by. As someone who has managed to become close friends with every single original legendary, I dare say you deserve no less"
She shook herself out of the odd memory, looking up as Professor Oak approached her, kneeling down so he could look into her eyes properly. He gave her a small smile, eyes crinkling, as he began.
"Now then, you've been bugging us about this since you knew what it was, and I figured that you're mature enough to handle it now. From now on, you can come with me whenever I do research and experiments as my unofficial apprentice. If you prove yourself to me, I'll eventually let you do some work individually as well, though with precautions and perhaps supervision, depending on how dangerous it is." Before she could begin shouting in joy, he leaned closer, catching her attention. Then, in a conspiratorial whisper, "and, if you do well enough, when you turn ten you might just find yourself as my official apprentice researcher. I know how much you adore Pokemon, and with the way you can speak to them helping you along, I know you'll make an incredible researcher. As my apprentice, you'll be able to get your feet wet, so to speak, and get on the path to being a Pokemon Professor yourself. However, don't think it'll be easy!" His voice took on a stern tone. "I won't simply give you an apprenticeship for standing around without doing anything useful. You'll have to prove yourself deserving of the title. If you want something, earn it! You can't expect things to fall into your lap just because you know some people." He stepped back slightly to include Gary in his statement. "I'll give you an equal chance, Gary. But remember this! To make it in the world, you have to prove to everyone that you can stand tall on your own two feet. Don't start relying on my name to get you places, and certainly don't get cocky because of it! Being related to me isn't some instant one-way ticket to fame and fortune. The only thing being my grandkids will get you two is access to resources that can help you along your journey. You'll have to earn your skills and qualifications yourself! Arrogance is the first step towards failure. To believe that you are the best, means that you will stop improving. To stop improving is the worst thing a Pokemon researcher, or a Pokemon trainer, could possibly come across."
The two nodded solemnly in response, committing the words to heart.
That moment turned Gary Oak away from his original path towards becoming a brat who wouldn't learn any better until events forced him to. Instead, he took a different road, the road of self-improvement. At that moment, he could see his closest friend getting farther ahead of him. Instead of becoming jealous or giving up, he decided that he would be the best he could in order to match her, no, in order to surpass her.
For Ashura, that moment settled her ambition from a vague idea, to an absolute, cemented goal. She would become the best she could be, and she knew that if she, alongside her Pokemon, put everything into her efforts, the best she could be, would be the best. She would become a Pokemon Master, there was no 'try' about it. She would never stop improving herself, even if she reached the top, she would learn to fly if she had to, in order to get even higher.
A few days later…
"Oi, grandpa! What's wrong with her!" A childish voice broke through the air. Three people crowded around a small bed, carefully watching the girl currently lying unconscious on the mattress. The room was uncomfortably warm despite the temperature being average, and labored breaths filled the air.
Ashura lay on the bed, face flushed, with a bag of ice on her head that was melting so vast it was visible. Her eyes occasionally opened slightly, but when they did they were hazy and didn't focus on anything. It had been several hours since she suddenly collapsed, and the three who were closest to her had been near frantic since then. Gary, who had matured quickly due to almost constantly being around his Professor Grandpa, and the strangely mature Ashura, had immediately registered the seriousness of the situation, and was thus near frantic with worry.
"I'm sorry, Gary! We don't know what caused this, we don't know how to fix it, we don't know anything!" Samuel Oak paced back and forth, while Delia did her best to switch out the ce bag with a fresh one. A worried Dewgong stood by the bed, and was assisting by refreezing the water every time it melted, along with blowing extremely light gusts of cold air across the fevered girl in an attempt to cool her down. The Professor threaded his fingers through his hair in worry, tugging slightly at the greying strands. Gary stood as close as he could without getting in the way, intently watching his sick best friend. This continued on for the next to hours, when suddenly the flash of light signifying a teleport lit up the room. Immediately, everyone there positioned themselves between the sick girl and the unknown entity, warily eyeing it while staying prepared to prevent any hostile movements.
Thankfully, these precautions were not necessary.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all. I am happy to see that Ashura has become close to people who would so willingly jump to her defense in the face of an unknown potential threat. However, allow me to assuage your fears." The light was beginning to fade. Though it was strange how it was taking this long. However, such thoughts were forgotten when the form of the Pokemon was revealed.
"I am Arceus, God of Pokemon, and Ashura's, what was it she called it, ah! I am Ashura's 'best friend'."
It was this that snapped Gary out of his stupor. "Hey! Even if you're The God of Pokemon, it doesn't matter when it comes to being best friends with Ashura! I'm her best friend!"
The adults in the room gaped at the audacity of the boy (Arceus! Its Arceus! Right there! And Gary just back talked him! Why us…) but Arceus, after recovering from the surprise, just chuckled.
"Then I suppose we will both have to be her best friend."
The boy scrunched up his nose and closed his eyes, considering this. After a moment, he opened his eyes again and nodded. "Yeah, that'll do."
Arceus chuckled again. "That is a relief. Though, if you meet any of the original legendaries, you might have to compete for that spot with them. They all consider themselves her best friend, you see."
The boy took an arrogant posture, and smirked. "Let them try! I'll defend my position as many times as I have to." He received a nod of acknowledgment in response.
"I am glad she has such good friends."
Finally, the adults snapped out of it. Hearing the labored breathing of the girl behind him, and noting that Arceus seemed benevolent, he quickly realigned his priorities, and took on a serious air. Arceus, noting the change in atmosphere, shifted his attention to the man.
"I'm not certain why you came, and while this is definitely an incredible experience, my priority is Ashura. I hope it's not presumptuous of me to ask, but, could you tell us what has her in this state?"
The regal Pokemon nodded. "Indeed. That is a praiseworthy policy. In fact, Ashura's current state is the reason behind my appearance. You see, this is the result of over 30 years of memories, counting the 9 spent in the Hall of Origins, most of which come from an adult mind, being assimilated into a four year old brain. I tweaked a few things when her physical form was being created, which is why she developed so much faster than most children. These tweaks are what will allow her to survive the experience of receiving the memories of her previous life without sustaining permanent harm. I have arrived to smoothen the transition."
The three of them, still processing the whole reincarnation thing, simply nodded. "Go ahead then."
Arceus appeared to focus for a moment, before suddenly shining with a brilliant light. Ripples spread through the air from him, moving throughout the room, and when they passed over Ashura, her breathing calmed. However, there was an unexpected side effect. Upon passing over Gary, his soul resonated with them, and rather abruptly, the memories of his past life rushed over him like a dam. Thanks to Arceus' presence, the only side effect was him falling over onto the bed in a dead faint. Otherwise, he likely would have died from the sudden shock of the memories.
"Well, that was a shock." The centaur-like Pokemon did, indeed, seem quite surprised.
"What just happened to him?!"
"In her past life, Ashura's soul was very tightly intertwined with another. This soul belonged to a boy named Pierce Veil, whose power counterbalanced her own in order to prevent it going out of control. When I pulled her soul from her universe into this one, I expected that his soul would follow due to the nature of the bond, but could not predict exactly how it would do so."
The God Pokemon paused, and looked over at Gary, whose hair was rapidly developing deep blue streaks. The two adults, by this point, barely gave said event a glance, instead focusing on what Arceus was telling them.
"It appears that his soul latched onto the nearest possible one, thus resulting in Gary's current circumstances. Now that I look, I can tell. Pierce did not shove Gary's soul out of his body, but instead, combined his soul with Gary's. Essentially, he is not Pierce 'or' Gary, but Pierce and Gary. I am uncertain as to how this will affect his behavior. From what I know, Pierce's mannerisms were fairly similar to how Gary acts, so it's possible there won't be too big of a change, aside from the fact that he will have an adult man's memories. Though, I do recall that in his past life, Pierce was frankly obsessed with Ashura. He didn't live a very good life, and Ashura was the first to accept him despite his, rather large, faults. One of which directly affected her, though I'd rather she tell you about it. I assumed I should warn you though, just in case."
Professor Oak just sighed and nodded in acknowledgement. "We'll just have to deal with whatever happens." His voice then took on a slightly more determined tone. "We'll support them however we can, though. Even with all this oddness, they are my Grandchildren."
"Th… That's real sweet ta… hear, Gran-da…" A hoarse voice caught his attention, and he turned to see the two 4 year olds waking. While Ashura hadn't changed much, except for a tribal tattoo that he spotted winding its way up the left side of her back, Gary had gone through a few more changes. His previously light brown hair was now a few shades darker, more of a dark chocolate now. Not only that, but blue streaks of varying shades were interspersed throughout his hair randomly. There was also a tribal tattoo similar to Ashura's, except it was on his right side, and was in reds, oranges, whites, and had a sun theme, in opposition to her blue, black, and purple tattoo with a moon theme.
What really caught his attention, though, was his right eye. Instead of brown, there was now a deep, fathomless blue, like looking into a bottomless hole in the ocean, knowing there can't not be an end, but unable to find it, and too fearful of what may happen if you try. The sclera was also pitch black, just like that of Ashura's left. His left eye, meanwhile, had simply gained a light blue ring around the pupil, and nothing more. The boy blinked slowly, as if coming out of a daze, before focusing in on him.
"G'morning, gramps."
Samuel Oak rolled his eyes in response, smirking at his grandson. "Good morning indeed." Though suddenly, something occurred to him. "What name do you want to go by?"
The boy hesitated, mulling over the question before coming to an answer. "I think, I'd like to go by Pierce. Honestly, it's mostly a matter of, from my perspective, I've gone by Pierce for over 20 years, and by Gary for almost 4. I kind of prefer Pierce, too, and it's all I've got left of my original world, aside from Ashura."
The Professor nodded and smiled. "It might take a bit of getting used to, but Pierce it is." That was when he noticed something else. Somehow, without anyone noticing, Pierce had repositioned himself and Ashura, so that he was leaning against the wall, while Ashura was in his lap and leaning against him. Samuel found himself raising an eyebrow. In response, Gary- no, Pierce, shrugged.
"In our past life, I was usually touching her whenever I got a chance to. Pay really close attention to me, without thinking of me as the Grandson you know and love, and see what kind of feeling you get." He did so, and was shocked to realize that he felt incredibly unsettled. Instinctively, he wanted to get away from this entity, but the moment, he thought of him as his grandson, the feeling disappeared. In response to his confusion, Pierce explained.
"In our world, Ashura contains the power of the manifestation of life and potential, Chaos. He's basically the guy who creates, and then nurtures what he created so it can reach its highest potential. That's why everybody likes her, I've seen her win over the enemy all the times she tried. She can sense the potential in someone, and instinctively knows how to nurture it, people want to reach their potential, and they instinctively know she represents it, so they gravitate towards her. The rest is all her personality, though. I, meanwhile, contain the power of the manifestation of perfection and control, Order, the end. You see, people always act like they desire perfection, but really, they fear it. Perfection is when you have reached the absolute limit, the point where you can go absolutely no further no matter how hard you try, aka, The End. People really don't want to hit The End, and since I represent it, when they see me, people feel unsettled."
Professor Oak nodded, taking notes on the matter. "So, since I already know you, I've subconsciously disassociated you with Order, and simply think of you as the grandson I've raised, and love."
Pierce nodded. "By the way, I still consider you my gramps even with another life added. I never had a family, or even friends, beyond Ashura in my past life. She was the only one who looked past the unsettling feeling she got, and looked at me instead. She cared for and befriended me even after she regained her memories of the terrible thing I did to her, though admittedly she did almost kill me before she forgave me, and she also said that while she forgives, she doesn't forget…" by the end, he was mumbling to himself, and the Professor just shook his head with a smile.
"I'm glad to be your grandfather, Pierce. Welcome to the family." He got a smile that definitely wasn't watery at all, nope, not even a little. "Now, go to sleep." Pierce nodded, settling in to do just that.
It was only when he had climbed back into his own bed for some much needed rest that he realized the sly brat had pulled Ashura under the covers with him, still wrapped around her like some sort of limpet.
'Oh Arceus, I'm raising a real brat, here.'
He definitely wasn't feeling fond of the brat in the least.
A summary of the next five years, up until they turn 9…
"Momma Delia, could you teach me about cooking, medicines, and Pokemon care?"
"Ashy, what makes you think I'm the person to go to for that?"
"The fact that you were a world famous Pokemon Contest winner, along with a coveted Pokemon Breeder, known for how your Pokemon were always looking and feeling their best."
An unladylike snort. "Heh, can't hide much from you, eh? But still, your only a little over four, do you think you can handle it?"
"I wouldn't ask if I didn't. Besides, I don't think, I know."
A chuckle. "Confident, eh? That's good. Remember, you're at your best when you are confident in yourself and your Pokemon, but not to the point of arrogance. Arrogance doesn't look good with any color." She got a small chuckle for the joke. Tough crowd. "When you have confidence in yourself and your Pokemon, you will both perform at max capability, your steps will be surer, your Pokemon will follow your commands immediately, and their attacks will have certainty behind them. This is because, with confidence, they will trust that you know what to do, and that you will guide them well."
Ashura had pulled out a notepad, and was scribbling down what she was saying. "Confidence, not arrogance, got it."
"Good. Now, let's go and talk to Professor Oak, we need to coordinate your lessons with him, with the lessons you'll be taking from me. We don't want to get mixed up, that would decrease learning efficiency."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Okay, here's your schedule, what do you think?"
"Alright, four to six, physical exercises-"
"Why do you need these exercises?'
"So I'll be able to take care of myself and my Pokemon out on the road. There are criminals and aggressive wild Pokemon that could threaten my continued existence if I don't have the physical capabilities to handle the situation. Plus, just walking for miles on end would tax my reserves."
"Good. Glad you understand why it's necessary. That'll help keep you going when your sick and tired of getting up at four and exercising. Now, Next!"
"Six to eight, hunting and foraging slash survival."
"I'll assume you know why you need that class, but explain it to me anyways."
"It's important that I be able to hunt mundane animals and forage for ingredients without grabbing something that will kill me, in the case that I find myself in need for food, it's also important to know about the plants and animals so I can know what to look for if something happens, like a Pokemon gets an infected wound."
"Continue."
"Eight to nine, cooking class, alternating days between cooking things with the materials provided on the road, and cooking gourmet meals. Both classes will not waste any sort of ingredient, and will find some way to use every edible part of every ingredient, and find other uses for inedible parts. Also, the class is short to teach how to work with limited time."
"Good. Descriptive. I like it."
"Nine to twelve, classes on Pokemon with Professor Oak. I need this so I'll be able to properly understand Pokemon habits well enough to avoid getting into trouble with one in the wild, and to maximise the effectiveness of my Pokemon's training according to strengths and weaknesses. It will also help in battles, so I can better work with my Pokemon and take advantage of the opponent's weaknesses."
"Next."
"Twelve to two, free time. I need this time to rest my mind and body, since if I'm exhausted and distracted, my learning effectiveness will decrease. This time will likely be spent with Pierce, either studying televised Pokemon battles or simply regaining vitality by relaxing in each other's presence."
"Basically, relaxation time so you'll pay attention when you go back to work. You might as well just say watching TV and hanging out with Pierce." Ashura blushed slightly at the phrasing, though she quickly recovered when her mother ordered her to continue.
"Two to five, learning the specifics of Pokemon care."
"Elaborate."
"Learning how to groom and prepare food for all types of Pokemon. Like, I can't groom a Charmander the same way I groom a Growlithe. I can't feed a Magikarp the same thing I feed a Roselia."
"Good enough."
"Finally, five to eight, independent study. I'll pick some sort of topic to work on, whether its survival, Pokecare, cooking, or something completely different that you guys aren't teaching me. For now, I think I'll work on my sewing, knitting, and stuff like that. I was pretty good in my past life, but I'm probably out of practice, and I need to be able to mend my clothes on the road. Though once that's done, I'll move onto something else. Also, every Sunday, I'll be expected to either show the results of my efforts, or explain what I've been working on. This is to make sure I don't slack off on my own time."
"Good. Then there's every Sunday being a day of rest, giving you time to mentally and physically rest, relax, and recover after pushing yourself to the limit every day. Is that good."
"Yes ma'am!"
In a large sandy area, a Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan were sparring. The blows were so fast that the two children who had come to observe couldn't even see them. From the fighting experience they had as super soldiers in their past life, they knew that these two Pokemon were incredibly good. In fact, in hand-to-hand, it was obvious that they were many times their superior. While armed combat vs their hand-to-hand may be different, that wasn't what they were judging.
After a few more minutes watching, Hitmonlee finally managed to slip a powerful kick past Hitmonchan's defense. The kick sent the Pokemon sprawling. However, she was up again in a few seconds. The match was over, though, with Hitmonlee as the winner.
"Their skills are incredible, don't you think?" Pierce, asked, turning to Ashura, or rather, the spot Ashura used to be. He stared blankly at the empty space that once held his Chaos. A few seconds after noting that she was gone, feelings of panic, irritation, and fear bubbled up. Her presence was a near constant thing since he was 10 in his past life, and the last time she disappeared, all he found was her dead body standing on a hill, facing away from a landscape of corpses.
"Chan, Lee, please let me learn from you!" aaand, he found her. He went over at a pace that he assured himself was most certainly not frantic. Standing by, he watched as the two Pokemon circled her, and continued to observe as the three had a conversation he couldn't understand. Whatever she was saying, she was quite passionate about it.
"Yes, Sensei-Chan, Sensei-Lee! I'll begin immediately. Pierce simply stared as she dove into an intense routine of warm-up exercises. It was his desire to be capable of protecting her from anything that dare try separating them. Thus, he tagged along to the physical exercise lessons, and the Pokemon lessons with gramps. He wasn't particularly interested in the rest though, and he was expressly forbidden to get near cooking, considering what had happened the last, and only time he had tried in their past life, which was when Ashura was sick and he tried to cook for her.
He had somehow managed to give everyone in the camp a severe case of food poisoning, and almost killed Ashura when he fed it to her, she only survived thanks to her incredibly strong constitution that came from being the Chaos Bearer. She still ended up sick for an extra week, though. Since then, he's hated cooking (anything that could make him hurt Ashura must be evil!)
"So, for charmander…"
"Yes."
"And squirtle eats…"
"Right."
"Gyarados…"
"Correct."
"And Porygon… what even! They're data!"
"Well, data apparently gets hungry too. Keep going."
"Yes ma'am."
Delia walked around the freshly groomed and polished Aggron, observing the massive steel/rock type with a critical eye.
Finally, after several minutes of intense scrutiny, she gave a satisfied nod. "Not bad. She's been properly cleaned and polished, I can tell you didn't skimp on any of the hard work. From the healthy shine of her, the way her steel plates are especially thick, and how bright her eyes are, I can tell you made sure she got all the proper nutrients. Plus, I can see the way she trusts you in her movements. I'm proud of you, Ashy."
The seven year old swelled up under the praise, beaming happily. "Thanks momma!" She then turned to the massive Aggron who was several times her height, not to mention weight, and proceeded to hug him to the best of her ability, which was difficult considering his size in comparison to her own. She still made a valiant effort though."
"Thank you for helping me, Aggron! You were incredible out there, you're the real star of the show here, I hardly did anything in comparison to you." It would have sounded like fishing for compliments if it came from anyone else, but the way Ashura earnestly praised her made it clear she meant it.
Of course. I too, enjoyed myself.
"Oh! Would you like one last sour poffin?"
I can't say I would mind. Besides, yours are particularly excellent, I must say.
"Thank you!" Reaching into her bag that, these days, she never went anywhere without, she visualized what she wanted, and pulled out the requested poffin. Handing over the treat, she stared at the two medallions with a hint of longing, remembering the Legendary Pokemon she had become such close friends with.
As she leaned against the Aggron, absently reaching out and rubbing the sensitive areas where her metal plates met much to the steel-type's delight, she thought back to her progress in aura and psychic training.
She had decided that she wouldn't use either power until she began her journey. Instead, for the years until then, she would refine, strengthen, and increase her aura, and hone her mental strength and willpower for her psychic training. The two abilities were kind of like a muscle, since she was still young, the muscle was still developing, while she could exercise it, if she did too much it would cause permanent damage.
For aura, her training consisted of meditation, in which she examined where her energies met, and traced the spiritual, mental, and spiritual energies to their source in order to refine them. She would remove any impurities and fix any issues that were causing her difficulty. For example, if she was stressed out, this would cause some blockage, thus, she would need to meditate and remove said blockage to clear it again. She also circulated her aura through her body and the outside world. She would breath out some aura, which would mingle with natural energies, and then she would breath it back in, alongside the natural energy. This increased her amount of aura, and increased the power of said aura, since natural energies are exceptionally strong, as they are the excess bits of aura all living beings emanate. This also increased her ability to sense the auras of other things, and identify them. Finally, she increased her skill with it by manipulating it internally.
Her default aura typing was normal type, so to train, he would change her aura to a different type, for example, fighting, then change it again, to psychic, then water, fire, grass, poison, fairy, dragon, and all the rest until she had cycled through all of them. Then, she would repeat, except this time in a different order. Lately, she had begun practicing dividing her aura into two sections, and cycling through different types in both of them simultaneously. Like, one section would be water, then grass, then lightning, while the other would at the same time be steel, then rock, then dark.
It was incredibly difficult, due to the way she had to divide her attention between the two. Sometimes, she would make a mistake, and make both sections the same at once, like turning both to lightning. She also considered it a mistake if she started cycling through the types in the same order for both, if one went fire, water, grass, lightning, rock, and the other went psychic, fire, water, grass, lightning, rock, it was considered a failure, since they were doing pretty much the same thing despite not being the same type at once. She wanted to be able to randomly cycle through all the types on both sections at once. She hadn't solely devoted her focus to doing these exercises since a month after she started. Instead, she would manipulate her aura while she did her other training activities. It caused some problems at first, but by now she was able to do it subconsciously.
This was especially helpful. There had been several times someone tried to sneak up on her as a prank, and her aura subconsciously alerted her. This made her instinctively throw them over her shoulder in a move her Sensei had taught her. At least she now knew it would be difficult to sneak up on her. Plus, she could summon her aura externally, which, combined with her extensive practice, meant she would be able to spit out a weak ember with barely a thought. When she was only manipulating her aura as one, without splitting her attention, she could switch between auras faster than most people could think. Power would come when she began practicing with external manipulation. Even though she was only seven, her aura was many, many times larger than most fit adults. Her aura pool was actually comparable to a level 17 Pokemon in both size and strength.
For her psychic abilities, training was simple. When she went to sleep, she would enter her mental landscape, or mindscape. In it, she had set 'rules' that she had to follow. While it was usually incredibly easy to manipulate, so she could do anything she wanted in it, if she said, initiate basic training for one hour, then her mindscape would enforce the rules of reality upon her. Since psychic powers are completely based on mental energy, she was essentially training in the real world, without having to worry about causing herself permanent harm. Basically, if she wanted to set a twig on fire in her mindscape, she would have to do the exact same thing she would have needed to do in reality. Of course, if she did it in reality, it would put more strain on her, which was why she would start training it when she was ten.
She never trained longer than an hour a night though, since her mind needed rest.
The reason that ten is the chosen number, though, is not just because that was when her journey started. Actually, turning ten years old is significant to ones development. Ten years old is actually the age in which all 3 of your energies, spiritual, mental, and physical, 'settle' so to speak. Until then, they are fluctuating, constantly jumping, straining, and relaxing in no discernable pattern. This is why she didn't try manipulating aura externally, or manifesting her psychic powers in reality.
If she tried to use aura while her energies were in a 'relaxed' state, which would allow for considerable stretching and changing, it would be fine. However, if, while she was in the middle of manipulating aura in the 'relaxed' state, it suddenly switched to the 'stretched' state, then her energies would snap, like a rubber band pushed too far. If she was very, very, very lucky, she might get away with just losing the ability to manipulate her energies, and she would probably lose quite a bit of her overall capabilities. However, far more likely, she would die after experiencing the pain of her energies burning themselves up. Burning as in burning, like fiery pain that you can't even escape from through death until there's nothing left to burn, kind of burning. Aura is your life force, and when something happens to that, you die. This is why Aura guardians are specially chosen based on their characteristics. They have the power to interact with their own life force, yes, but the problem lies in the ability to interact with the life force of others.
Someone with few morals would be able to kill someone in a completely incurable, horrifically painful way with relative ease upon reaching the level of an aura master.
Psychic backlash is pretty much the same, except focused entirely on mental energies. You can die from this too, but it's more likely that you go utterly insane, go without using any psychic powers for several years, then wildly rampage with said psychic powers, and die. You'll be getting off lightly if you come out with violent tendencies, lose contact with your emotions, and begin viewing humans as toys. (A certain gym leader in Saffron City blinked slowly, while the little girl on her lap sneezed before giggling madly.)
In the end, it's really just best to wait until you turn ten, since for some reason that's the age when your energies will become completely stable, and enter a permanent relaxed state unless some kind of strain is put on them by an outside force. You can then begin exercising and (gently!) stretching the limits of your ability without fear of gruesome death.
Unless you do something really stupid, but that's common sense.
Meanwhile, the Aggron blinked down at the girl who had fallen asleep against her while deep in thought.
9 years old
Ashura hummed under her breath as she walked along the trail. She was currently on a vacation with the Professor and Pierce, while Delia had declined the offer to come with them.
By this point, Ashura had almost completed all of her lessons, and was really just doing her best to polish up her skills until it was time for their journey. She had also proved to be a great asset to Professor Oak in his research, thanks to her ability to befriend and speak to any Pokemon. Dealing with ornery Pokemon was one of his biggest difficulties before, and even if he managed to establish a rapport with one, he couldn't understand their speech. However, those problems were easily derailed with Ashura's help. Not only that, but she was a quick study, easily catching onto what he was trying to convey the first time he explained it. She also never skimped out on any extra work her assigned her.
Pierce as well, caught on nearly as fast as she did. The boy had started wearing a deep blue eyepatch similar to her own over his right eye, due to how incredibly unsettling it was for anyone to look into said eye, which was why her own left eye was covered. He had decided that, after he went to the Indigo League, he would completely focus on being a researcher. Their plan was that they would journey separately through Kanto, occasionally arranging meetings to battle and test each other's skill, while individually training and gaining strength in their own ways. After they competed at the Indigo League, Ashura planned to go to the Orange Islands, before moving on to the next region she would travel through. Pierce, meanwhile, would occasionally travel with her, but wouldn't go for any more leagues, due to wanting to focus on becoming a Pokemon Researcher. He wasn't entirely certain as to what field he planned to focus on, but he was beginning to take interest in his Grandfather's field of study, human and Pokemon interactions. Ashura meanwhile, wanted to study the source of Pokemon's powers, Aura.
She had realized that, despite being able to use Aura like she could, she didn't truly understand it. She knew it was a mixture of the three main energies, and was the life force of all things, and that it, when used properly, could be manifested in order to create unnatural phenomena, but she didn't truly understand it. More than that though, she wanted to understand the difference between a Pokemon and human, to find out why Pokemon would instinctively be able to utilize a large, strong pool of aura from the time they hatch, while very few humans would be capable of brushing the surface of Aura's many uses after years of intense training.
At the moment, Professor Oak had taken the two out in order to study the migratory patterns of a large flock of Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot. She had already managed to befriend the Pidgeot who lead the flock, along with several other birds, while the rest simply enjoyed her presence. Pierce, meanwhile, was taking notes of the size of the flock, feather colorings, overall health, and size, in order to compare them to other flocks and see how different living conditions affected appearance. A few minutes ago, Ashura had been sent to go out and study the forests and landscape for how other Pokemon were being affected by the flock's arrival. Thus why she was currently gliding through the undergrowth alone.
Thanks to her survival lessons with an old friend of the Professor's who spent the majority of his time living in the wilderness, she was able to easily move silently through the forest without disturbing anything. The usually flighty mundane creatures, such as deer, didn't even notice her presence, thanks to her manipulating her aura slightly to match that of the surrounding natural Aura. All creatures, including humans, subconsciously took notice of the aura of others, which was why humans were usually easily noticed in forests until they had 'aligned' themselves with the forest aura. Human auras had a very distinct flavor, and was easily noticeable by other creatures. However, when a human spent enough time in a certain environment, while consciously attempting to blend in and integrate themselves into said environment, their auras would gradually change.
If someone lived near a volcano, their aura would change to match the natural aura of the area. This would allow them to easily adapt to and tolerate the heat and ash in the air. Through her research, she had discovered just how much aura affected people without them having any idea. The people who lived near the volcano, for example, weren't able to handle it easily entirely due to genetics like most people thought. Instead, it was actually their aura working to acclimate their bodies to the area without their knowing. This alignment of their aura towards heat would then be passed down to their children, who would have an even easier time of it, but would simultaneously have a harder time in the cold.
Trainers, meanwhile, took this up to eleven, beyond what most civvies could hope for. Constantly interacting with and developing a close bond with Pokemon, whose auras were so powerful and affected said Pokemon so much, would cause the human's aura to develop in new ways too. It was actually a common thing that was thought of as normal for, lets say, a water Pokemon trainer to become capable of staying underwater for hours, if they were especially close to their Pokemon, they might even gain the ability to breathe underwater. Whenever someone bonds with someone else, their auras will form a connection, this goes for Pokemon as well. When humans bond with Pokemon, their auras connect, and the human's aura adapts to become more compatible with the Pokemon.
Ashura could honestly say she was shocked no one else had figured this out yet. However, looking at the facts, she quickly realized why. Aura was incredibly rare in humans, and those who learned about aura in modern time, learned about it in an incredibly traditional manner. It was a simple matter of no one considering that there were possibilities beyond what their ancestors had already created and passed down to them, completely forgetting the fact that the people of those times had to come up with new ideas to integrate. People who could have been progressing even further all these years had instead been content to allow progression to stagnate, and simply follow the paths of those before them instead of forging their own. Honestly, she might have fallen into that tendency herself, if not for the fact that she had once been the manifestation of potential and progression, so she was used to looking at things as "how can I make this even better." It was a lifestyle for her.
Basically, what she had found was that Aura users had the potential to become 'human Pokemon', so to speak. They didn't have to limit themselves to one alignment like people who grew close to a certain type, and farther from the others. Every single aura user, if they were a Pokemon, would be a Normal Type with the ability to change into other types. So basically, a ditto, except they didn't copy others, but instead created their own forms. Once her energies stabilised, she planned on focusing her practices on getting down the basics of external manipulation, and after that, converting her not just her aura, but her entire self, to different typings. She wasn't sure if it would work, but aura had physically changed people before subconsciously, looking at those who were now capable of breathing underwater, or reaching through fire and only feeling pleasant warmth, so why couldn't she do it consciously?
Even as these thoughts ran through her head, she had been keeping a close eye on the forests. Her aura was that of a creature of the forest (a tree, actually), and she found herself feeling oddly energized whenever the stood in sunlit patches. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was actually photosynthesizing the light into nutrients, and when she did, she had almost broken out into a victory dance right there, though she did manage to contain the urge (barely). This was good, solid proof that with practice, she would eventually be capable of converting her aura, and parts of herself, into whatever she wanted! Probably. So far it was just a tree though. Of course, when several birds kept landing on her and perching, she smirked, as that just proved her theory even further! Not only was she feeling the effects, but the forest creatures were recognizing her as a tree, not a human. A mischievous smile crept over her face while thinking about the trouble she could get up to with this ability.
It had been a while since the discovery, and her searches had found evidence that the arrival of the flock displaced several mundane birds. All mundane creatures who had managed to survive knew very well that even tiny, first evolution bug Pokemon were incredibly difficult to defeat. After several birds ended up being killed by said bugs, the surrounding creatures quickly realized that for the sake of survival, they should stick to mundane creatures for prey. Of course, the Pokemon had no such reservations, so in the frequent cases that one went hunting for a mundane creature, you were pretty much dead unless you were really lucky. Pokemon had superior abilities, intelligence, strength, speed, and defense on their side, so mundanes didn't stand much chance. Since she couldn't simply ask the flock to refrain from killing mundanes for food, there was nothing they could do until the flock moved on.
A few minutes later, she was examining a charred branches in confusion, due to the fact that there weren't any fire types inhabiting this area. However, as she moved forwards, and spread out her aura sensing capabilities, something immediately caught her attention.
Looks like I found my fire-type. She thought grimly, breaking into a run at her full speed. The fiery aura was flickering weakly, bordering on being snuffed out, and she focused on it as much as possible without causing herself to trip and fall. She didn't have much practice in sensing feelings of beings she didn't know at least in passing, but she could at least read faint feeling of hopelessness, fear, despair, and confusion, rapidly becoming anger- no, it was too strong for that. Hatred. Reading the feelings of the human aura beside it, it was easy to figure out what was going on. Feelings of disappointment, indifference, anger, dislike, and a spark of regret that was near immediately buried under malicious glee.
Finally, she broke from the tree, into sight of the auras. What she saw had her moving faster. Luckily, she had been in plenty of shocking situations in her past life where stopping would cause serious problems, so she didn't freeze up. The middle of the area was split by a wide, deep ravine, dividing her side from the side with what she was searching out. Across from her, a young 14 year old girl was standing on the edge of the steep ravine, with a look of anger on her face. In her arms was a Pokemon, beaten, bruised, and too exhausted to struggle.
"I thought you would be stronger than usual because of you different coloring, but really, your just weak! What a pitiful disappointment, don't worry though, I'll put you out of your misery. There will never be anyone, human or Pokemon, who appreciates a weakling like yourself, so I'm doing you a favor here." As she spoke, she held the Pokemon even further over the edge, and Ashura could see her grip loosening.
"STOP!"
She was too late. The girl dared to smirk at her as she dropped the fire-type over the edge. As it began to fall, it saw the smirk on the girl's face, and the desperate look on the new presence who had arrived a few seconds too late.
However, Ashura had lived both lives without regrets, and if she had given up when things seemed impossible in the War, then there would have been several thousand more innocent deaths, and a far different ending. Without hesitation, she continued running forward. Reaching the edge of the chasm, she went right over, and in a move too fast to catch, brought her knees in as she went over, and, calculating the location she needed to arrive at according to the Pokemon's falling velocity, slammed both of her feet against the vertical surface, sending herself rocketing to meet the fire-type in its descent.
She was quite lucky. Her aura in that moment, instinctually reacted to her emotions and subconscious, giving her a powerful extra boost in her jump, and manipulating the air around them using flying type aura in order to convey her to her desired location. At that moment, her energies were in their relaxed state, thus averting a painful death.
The Pokemon's resigned eyes met her own, which had shed their despairing look for one of determination, and he couldn't help but hope. Suddenly, he found himself enfolded in a warm, comforting arm, which gently grabbed hold of him and stopped his descent. A second later, an impact caused the grip to loosen slightly, before it tightened once more. He heard a familiar crack sound, and a gasp of pain, and he looked at his savior. It was a young human female, under ten he was pretty sure, who was very beautiful by any standards. A grimace of pain had her eyes squeezed shut, though one was covered by a deep purple eyepatch. Her short hair fluttered softly, and the long tri-colored tail wavered frantically in the breeze. He noticed how fragile and small she was, yet somehow, her presence felt so large, even in their current precarious position. Her bones were graceful, if bones can be called that, and delicate. So easy to snap, it seemed, though something told him anyone who tried was in for a shock.
Finally, as his stunned mindset wore off, he took not of their current position, and the reason behind her pained grimace. They were dangling off the side of the cliff, held up only by her single free arm. Her fingers were dug firmly into the rock, not trembling despite how strenuous it must have been. Her toes were also dug into the rock as extra support. However, he could smell blood coming from somewhere, and the shoulder of the arm that was holding him up seemed odd some how. He would later discover that her injuries were on her right side, since that was the side she had impacted with. Three ribs were broken, another was fractured, her organ took a bit of damage, luckily her spine and head was alright, and her right shoulder was dislocated. She also had a long, deep gash running from her shoulder blade to mid-back. If it hadn't been for her past life's pain tolerance, along with powerful aura and natural high regeneration, she wouldn't have lasted.
Finally, her eyes opened, and she looked into his glowing crimson irises with her equally bright silver one. A tiny smile worked its way onto her face (and she thought that she could feel every single muscle used for that effort) and somehow gave a comforting feeling. However, he knew she was hurt, and wondered how long she could hold them both up in her current state. Almost like she could read his thoughts, she answered.
"I've fought and won a war with broken bones and a big hole through my lung, so I can hold onto you for as long as it takes for someone to find us." Of course, she failed to mention she died at the end. "If you still doubt me though, know this. Even if we fall, I'll make sure you survive." There was such utter confidence in her voice, that for some reason he would never know, he believed her.
So, they waited for the next two hours. Unfortunately, she had gone quite far away during her walk, so even considering that Pierce would immediately sense her in trouble and her location through their link, it would still take a while to get the things necessary to save her, and arrive at her location. So, both to distract herself from the pain, she talked.
She told him about the good stories, and the bad stories, or her current life, and when she ran out, she told him of her past life. Of the battles she had been in, and the friends she had made, she told him about the fantastical creatures she had met, the way it felt the first time she used magic, and every time after that. She told him a few of the sadder things as well, like a few of the comrades she had lost, and she even told him about her own death. Then she began to tell him about all the legendaries she met, like how Yveltal secretly like strawberry shortcake, and Arceus has an incredibly deadpan sense of humor. She even shifted herself enough so her scarf moved, in order to let him see the keystone embedded into her chest. Doing her best to ignore the way her arms were beginning to tremble. In her past life, her endurance could only be called monstrous, but she was currently only a nine year old child, and talking was the only thing distracting her from the situation.
Finally, as she thought she might have to soon make good on her promise to make sure the young Pokemon in her arms survived, even at the cost of her own life (it was her honor to defend all this world's citizens, no matter if she knew or liked them). A shout had her spirits rising.
"Ashura! Get ready!"
She smirked, ignoring her exhaustion. "About time you showed up! Much longer and you'd be carrying me home in a body bag!"
A rush of wind, and suddenly she was cradled in Professor Oak's arms, as he rode upon the back of the Pidgeot she had befriended. Pierce looked at her from his position in front of them. "Don't even joke about something like that."
She gave a pained smile. "True, it was in bad taste." As the last word slipped past her lips, she finally tumbled into unconsciousness from the pain and exhaustion, both mental and physical.
It was only then that they took notice of the Pokemon curled in her arms. It's scales were a deep ebony, and were tiny and numerous, each about a centimeter in diameter. They had a bit of a pentagonal shape to them. It's eyes were slitted, and were a brilliant red, while the three claws on it's feet were slightly larger than average. It's tail flame was a stunning deep ruby color, with the outer edges lightening more towards crimson. Also, judging by the tiny claws tipping its paws, it was male. So, he then. However, Pierce didn't really pay attention to any of that. He was looking at something considerably less visible. The Charmander's aura. Or rather, the fact that his weakened aura was being supplemented by Ashura's, which she had been subtly pouring into him the entire time.
"Good grief. This girl actually wasted her aura pouring it into you, when she should have been using it to keep herself alive. Tch."
The Charmander shrunk into the girl whose arms it was still cradled in upon hearing that. It reminded him a bit too much of the words his trainer had spoken before dropping him over the edge. He remembered what she said, that there wasn't anyone on the planet who would want someone as weak as himself. However, this girl had nearly killed herself in not just keeping him alive, but healing him as well. She might have had a very strange backstory, what with being a reincarnated Lieutenant General from another universe, and being best friends with Legendary's (it didn't even occur to him not to believe her) however, she was the only person who would care for him in this world even if he was weak. He had gathered from all she had told him, that she was the type who would take care of others, even people she disliked, at the cost of herself. He would follow her from now on, and prove himself able to stay by her side, even if she probably wouldn't require it.
However, he felt that others might try to take him from her side, since he already knew he was a rare coloring. Thus, he had to be strong, for her, and himself. He wouldn't stand being weak any longer. This Ashura would help him become the strongest.
Thus, for the rest of the time they spent in the forest studying the Pidgey group, he never went anywhere without Ashura, and she never went anywhere without him. She had easily accepted the Charmander's determination to not be taken from her side, and while she tried to discourage his new fixation on her, upon realizing it wasn't working, she gave up. When he found out she could speak to all Pokemon, he had immediately gone up to her, and requested her help in becoming strong, and also asked if he could become her Pokemon.
"Of course! I would never deny anyone who desired my help in becoming strong. Rather, I would never deny anyone my help. It's honestly what I enjoy the most, making someone else as happy as I can. As for the last thing, I would be happy too, however, you may change your mind in the next few months, so let's wait. If you still want to be my Pokemon then, you'll become my starter and I'll give you a name."
Thus, Ashura began training him. She had, using the money she had earned by doing research, helping others, and being Professor Oak's unofficial assistant, along with cashing in a couple of favors, she managed to procure the best set of training weights for Pokemon that she could. Said set wasn't due to come out on the market for two more years, however, the man was a friend of Professor Oak's, and she herself had befriended him in the past. She had helped him out as well multiple times, thus, he actually would have given them to her for free if she asked, but she refused to not pay him at least something in exchange, considering how difficult they were to make.
Of course, she had helped design them, so she got a employee discount of sorts. They had been infused with aura from the powerful Aggron in Professor Oak's ranch, which gave them a few extra properties as well. Simply holding them up to a Pokemon would cause them to scan and then latch onto said Pokemon, in a placement that wouldn't cause any problems, while getting the most out of every movement. With a single press of a button, they would detach and compress, ready to be put back in their case. Not only that, but with the help of modern technology, even the heaviest ones only weighed a couple grams when compressed. Which was incredibly, considering the heaviest ones weighed in at 5 tons. She wasn't sure if she would ever find a Pokemon who would be capable of wearing them, but then she decided that their goal in training would be to someday wear those weights with ease.
Thanks to Aggron, they were also incredibly strong, and difficult to so much as scratch, much less break. A tiny infusion of dark aura made them impossible for psychic Pokemon to use their powers to cheat on training, though of course there was none on the weights meant specifically for training a psychic Pokemon's psychic power. After all, they aren't born capable of lifting a thousand pounds, you have to work up to that point.
So, she grabbed a set of twenty pound weights, and put them on Charmander. He had found it difficult to move freely the first couple of days, but had powered through. He followed Ashura on her exercise routines to the best of his ability, and though he couldn't keep up yet, he was progressing so rapidly that she had no clue how anyone had ever considered him in the same dimension as being weak, and told him so. He had smiled at her for the first time then, and she was so excited that she glomped him immediately. He had frozen in shock, before leaning into the hug.
Together, their routine began with 100 squats, moved onto 200 pushups, 200 sit-ups, and 100 pull-ups, then went into a 10 mile run, alternating between sprinting for 20 seconds, running for 5 minutes, repeating this until they reached 5 miles where they would move at a light jog for one minute, before returning to the previous cycle until the end. Poor Charmander had only made it through one mile the first day, but he now could make it to the ten mile mark, though he was considerably slower than Ashura. Once Ashura finished, she would sit down to spend an hour meditating and purifying her aura. By this point, it had become so ingrained in her that even if she didn't focus on it, she would subconsciously purify her aura once a day. At first, Charmander hadn't participated, due to the fact that he was still running by the time she finished, but he currently got 20 minutes of meditation time before they moved on.
During meditation, they had discovered that Charmander was a natural at aura manipulation, almost as much as Ashura was. His aura was at the point that he was a level 13 Pokemon, while Ashura had reached level 21. Levels are judged by the power of a Pokemon's aura, which usually increases indirectly, as they train, until they instinctually begin to unlock moves. However, Charmander was simultaneously increasing his aura both through ridiculous physical training regimens, and by directly cultivating it with meditation.
Even when Ashura was doing research, Charmander would train, practicing his internal Aura manipulation. He was progressing incredibly fast, and Ashura couldn't have been more proud of him, and she wasn't afraid to show it either.
Anyways, after completing meditation, they would move on to combat training. Due to Charmander's willingness to learn and become stronger for himself and Ashura, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan had been willing to help teach him. Really, their combat training was nothing more than being taught the basic stances, kicks, punches, blocks, and movements, and once they had it down, one of their Sensei would attack them. Of course, the World Champion fighting types held back so that they were fighting at a level barely above that of their students.
Charmander had a little difficulty at first, due to the shortness of his limbs, however, he persisted, and eventually managed to work around it by focusing on a style where he countered instead of attacked. He would allow his opponent to come to him, and move away or block the attack before responding with a vicious counter. He would also use his tail when blocking, attacking, or sometimes even wrap it around the opponent's limbs to hold them in place. Due to the exercises and optimum diet, his body actually changed slightly. Instead of standing at her knee, he now stood a bit taller than her waist. Instead of the slightly rounded physique most Charmander displayed, he was leanly muscled, and his legs, tail, and arms were considerably longer and stronger than normal.
This discovery had actually excited her quite a bit, because it allowed her to write and publish her first paper on the effects of Aura. To summarize, the paper talked about how Pokemon could potentially develop unusual traits through a combination of willpower and some sort of physical action related to said desired trait. She cited her Charmander as an example, describing his unorthodox training, and his desire to be capable of utilizing his learned compat style more effectively. She explained the way she had seen his aura beginning to act more unsettled than usual during his growth spurt, and how a layer of aura had constantly been pressing outwards against his limbs, with occasional pulses emerging from his core and moving outwards. Also, she had noticed a faint glow coming from him during that time. She theorized that it was similar to a partial evolution of sorts. He was definitely still a Charmander, several scans had proven that, however, he took on a slightly different appearance.
Evolutions happened when a Pokemon simultaneously desires either the evolution specifically, or simply to be more powerful in that moment than they were in the previous one, combined with a certain amount of development in their aura, thus triggering an evolution. Basically, a combination of desire and power. They cannot evolve with desire but no power, nor can they evolve with power but no desire. Thus, Charmander's desire to have longer limbs, and the sufficient power to fuel this transformation, caused his changes. To prove this, she cited several conversations she had with evolved Pokemon, along with some personally witnessed evolutions.
Her paper actually received a fairly decent reception from the science community. It had already been a well-known fact that Professor Oak's apprentice was an Aura user currently working towards mastery, so her knowledge on Aura at least wasn't disputed. Most of the scientists were talking about how this discovery could potentially affect how people worked with Pokemon. Ashura worked under the Pen Name "Chaos Bearer", which was actually an anagram of her own last name (though in her original world it had been the other way around) thus no one knew she wasn't even ten yet.
The scientists had scheduled a talk with her, that was carried out through an electronic application that converts words into text. She was thankful they had been willing to put up with her refusal to reveal her identity, and told them so. Most of their discussion had been about her paper, along with questioning why no one had previously thought of it. She had explained her theory that most Aura users were taught in a highly traditional way, and never thought to try and progress farther beyond what had been created in the past, too comfortable with what they already had. When several people brought up the point that even normal trainers must have come across this in the past, she explained her thoughts that most people train their Pokemon according to their strengths. Her Charmander had not had the physiology to effectively use hand-to-hand, thus, he had changed his physiology. Most trainers would have recognized that his limbs were too short for something like martial arts, and thus would have focused on their instinctual moves, such as flamethrower, scratch, etc. Even if they had gone outside the box, without aura sight showing them the inner happenings, they likely just accepted it as a Pokemon thing.
Thanks to that conference, she had gotten her name out in the science community, and one of the scientists had even jokingly said that her pen name, Chaos Bearer, was quite fitting, considering how much she had shaken things up with her first paper. When asked if she planned it, she had blatantly stated that it was an anagram of one of her names. When further pressed, she had even admitted that it had been a nickname of sorts that had been added into her name. What she didn't say, was it was actually an official title that struck awe in the hearts of her people, and fear in the hearts of her enemies, that had become her last name when they found she didn't have one, since she was an orphan. She had actually been suffering amnesia at the time from trauma, and had thus forgotten her real last name was Dare'sensk, but when she remembered, she decided to take it as her middle name instead.
The biggest reason behind how her Charmander was focusing on his physical abilities instead of his fire attacks, was simple.
He had a phobia of fire.
Flashback
"Alright, so I guess you know ember already, so we should probably work on improving that-"
She stopped abruptly, having sensed a spike of fear in him at that. She frowned. "What's wrong, Charmander?"
He hesitated, not meeting her eyes. Since she wasn't getting an answer, she went through all she knew of him to try and figure out what triggered it. Then, she remembered. Every time he got close to a fire, no, even a spark, he kept as far as possible from it. It was easy to figure out from there.
"Ah. So, you have a phobia of fire." Charmander flinched, bracing himself for the insults, or at least the disappointment.
"Well, it's troublesome, but we'll just have to work with it. Instead, let's work on your physical abilities. Though, how can you look at your tail flame?"
It's an unnatural color, and I just do my best to not think of it as fire in the first place. The fire-type was shocked by how she didn't seem affected by the revelation, but recovered quickly, since he had gotten used to some of her unusual mannerisms.
"Alright, I know you aren't really built for it, but we'll get started on hand to hand. However, once a week, we'll have a session together to work on your fear of fire. We'll start with figuring out the source…"
Flashback End
That was how it went. Since then, on their rest day, they would essentially have a therapy session. The first one consisted of him explaining the fact that, shortly after he hatched, all the Charizard in his group considered him a bad omen due to his coloring. While a shiny Charizard is black, shiny Charmander were goldish-yellow. Even when they are shiny, their tail flame is always orange. The adults excluded him, and the kids bullied him. He subconsciously began to associate the fire of their tail flames with negative experiences, and thus developed a phobia of fire.
The next session, Ashura used her aura to form an easily breakable connection with Charmander's aura. It was easy to break so if something happened, Charmander could snap the connection. She dove into his aura, bringing Charmander's consciousness along as well, and followed the path that connected to emotion. There, she eventually found the part that represented his trauma. It was a tight knot of fiery strings, tangled up and drifting through his emotional energies. Charmander flinched seeing how it looked like it was on fire, and the knot blazed brighter.
Thus, began the trend for their therapy sessions. Each time, the two would dive in, and arrive at the trauma. Ashura, from there, would begin talking to him. At first, they simply had discussions while in the presence of the trauma. Once he got used to her and its presence, she began sending soothing pulses of aura at it. Gradually, this fiery appearance died down, and she noticed that he didn't flee from fire anymore, simply keeping an eye on it. Then, she began pushing feelings towards the knot. She gradually overrode the feelings of pain and fear, with what she associated fire with. The potential to be dangerous, but, if used correctly, helpful, warm, full of life. A powerful element that has the potential to be used for the sake of protection. Something to be respected, but not feared.
Eventually, she was capable of touching the knot, which was no longer filled with negative emotions, without being overwhelmed and burned. The fire blazing around it no longer looked dangerous and wild, but warm and comforting. Over the next few section, she would guide Charmander, up until the point he reached through the flames alongside her, and untangled the knot. When that happened, she stepped back, and allowed him to untangle the mass of emotion on his own. Then, came their final therapy session.
Well, it wasn't really much of one.
"Alright Charmander, last time. We'll dive in, and you'll finish untangling the knot."
The Pokemon gave an affirmative nod, and they began.
By now, it only took a few seconds to reach the spot they were looking for, since they had done it so many times. Reaching the knot, this time, Ashura moved forward alongside him once again. Simultaneously, they both reach in, and grabbed the final snag. Then, carefully, they gently unraveled it. Ashura smiled as the strand of Aura rejoined the river that made up his emotions, indistinguishable from the rest. Suddenly, spreading from that point, a wave of fire poured out and flowed past. They knew it wouldn't hurt them, and simply basked in the comforting warmth that washed past. They then exited his aura, and simply enjoyed the feeling of their success. Looking at Charmander with aura sight, she smiled. His aura had been normal-type blue, before. Now however, it was a brilliant deep orange, easily the warmest and most beautiful fire she had ever seen.
Before, his fear had been subconsciously blocking his fire-aura, which had caused him to essentially be a normal-type Charmander. It was recognizable as fire-type, but somehow felt Normal instead. Now though, it was fire, through and through.
"I might be biased, but that's the most beautiful fire-type aura I've ever seen." She truly thought so, though. Not only that, but he had taken a level in aura, rather, he had taken several levels. When she started her journey in a week, he would be one overpowered starter Pokemon, at level 23. He could have evolved by now, however, he didn't want to until he either really needed to, or he was satisfied that he had learned all he could as a charmander. He still had the roundish structure of a charmander, but his leanly muscled form was easily distinguishable from others, not to mention he was much bigger, and had longer, stronger limbs. Plus, his teeth were quite large and sharp, giving him an even more intimidating appearance than the black and red color scheme already gave.
"Anyways, now that we've gotten past that, from now on, we'll be able to train your fire-type moves."
We haven't worked on any moves yet. Not even scratch or growl.
She chuckled. "Don't worry, I know. We'll find a couple teammates, and train for two weeks in the forest before heading to Viridian."
The two shared a grin, though one was considerably sharper than the other. Lifting their hands, they bumped fists.
"We'll be the strongest team that anyone ever lays eyes on."
A/N - Wow. This got way, way longer than I was expecting. This is, in its entirety, a set-up chapter. If your sceptical about how fast they bonded, it's a combo of Ashura's gravitational nature, and Charmander's trauma and desperation for someone who would care for him. She was the only one he had met who seemed to accept him.
Anyways! Pseudo-science, and lots of it! This… also was unintentional. Somehow I've got a general idea of what I want to do, but as I'm writing, new ideas just jump in, and I'm like, hey, that's pretty good, let's do it!
Argh.
So far, it doesn't seem to bad. Aside from what was supposed to be a brief set-up chapter, turning into this monster.
Also, I added in a little foreshadowing near the start. Did you notice it?
Oh, and that's right, all the countries have their own original languages, however, nobody uses them anymore. Instead, everybody uses a single universal language, Unisalv (aka a totally made up word). Can you guess which real world language Old Kantonian, or Originem, is based off of, and which word in said language the name is?
Probably. It's kind of obvious.
Anyways, her previous Order was Pierce Veil, who had blue eyes and blue hair, though only the right had a black sclera. Yes, Gary is now Pierce, and he also got a makeover.
Ashura has most of her abnormal aesthetics, like the tribal tattoo and black sclera/silver pupil thing, on her left side, while Pierce's are on his right.
Anyways, next chapter, their journey Finally Freaking Starts, my gosh I've been waiting for this!
Oh, and please alert me to grammatical mistakes and such, I have no beta, and this chapter would be a monster to read through, so I'm publishing it as is.
