…You know, I was originally planning to take a break from these because I rushed the last set and wasn't happy with it, so I wanted to take a break to recharge and get my thoughts in order before I tried again…yep, didn't work. I couldn't be away from these, but it's okay because I'm writing them and I like them a lot better now. You can tell I was using this to vent out my anger at one of my…friends, or not exactly a friend, by some of the prompts. The prompts always depend on what mood I'm in.
AP exams are done (at least for me) and I finished the Anime Night at my school (which was a few months of planning, bugging the administration several times a day, but we raised $310 for Relay for Life. I'm really proud of us because the Anime Club only had me and Marlena, my vice president, working on this. Just want to thank her for all her help, so thanks Marlena! :) I'm so glad to be done now; it was a lot of stress toward the end, but the movie night went amazing, so I'm happy.) Now that I'm a lot less busy, I'll be writing more and I'll be happier with what I'm doing. I've even got a few one-shots, and maybe some stories, planned. Wish me luck getting everything done though! I'm trying to be more responsible with writing. I'll warn you now that anything longer than a one shot will take a while to post. I want to write it all out before submitting chapters; that way I don't have to worry about taking too long to write and abandoning a story for months at a time.
I apologize for the time this took to get up. I'm used to being able to do these quickly, but I took a lot more time with this one. I kept it up on my laptop every day though to make sure I didn't forget about it. Out of sight, out of mind. Thankfully I didn't forget about this; I have the attention span of a squirrel with ADHD.
Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing. I don't own Pokémon, the characters, etc. I own my theories, but they were based off Greek mythology, which I also don't own.
By the way, the prompts that were based off a song last time were #19 (Candle) (I Can't Fight This Feeling and #50 (Breathe) (No Air). #47 (Highway) was inspired by the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken." I can't even remember if there were any others but whatever xD
#1 (Air): Morty wasn't used to flying – usually he walked where he needed to be or used a form of transportation found on the ground – but after he started getting to know Falkner, he started flying a lot more often; the feeling of flying through the air reminded him of the blue-haired boy and brought him closer to Falkner even when he wasn't there.
#2 (Apples): "Shut up; at least I'm not old like you," Falkner quipped while tossing a Leppa Berry at Morty, who scowled at the comment; Morty took a bite of the berry, replying around it "since when did you grow a sense of humor?"
#3 (Beginning): "With the end of an old era, a new one is ushered in," Falkner commented with a smile as he saw Elder Li of the Kikyou shake hands with the Enju leader, reaching over to squeeze Morty's hand at the sign of peace between their religions; they were one step closer to creating peace between their religions and one step closer to their relationship being approved of – because even though it was just the beginning, every solution needs to start somewhere.
#4 (Bugs): Bugsy stared at Morty with a scrutinizing expression – Falkner standing behind him with an amused expression and Whitney scowling slightly – before muttering that Morty "had better take care of Falkner" with what seemed to be an attempt at an intimidating expression on his face; Falkner had to hide a smile at his friend's protectiveness, mentally reminding himself to tell Bugsy later that he didn't need to worry about Morty.
#5 (Coffee): Falkner was always the first one up when he was staying with Morty – considering Morty was not a morning person and needed caffeine to wake himself up – but it took him a few weeks, and more than a few failed attempts, to understand how a coffee maker works; whenever Morty woke up, he found Falkner in the kitchen – usually with ground coffee scattered on the table or on Falkner himself – with an extremely confused and vaguely hopeless expression on his face.
#6 (Dark): Opening or closing his eyes made no difference to Falkner because the darkness surrounded him all the same, unable to wake from the nightmare his mind – or perhaps a Ghost? – had created; slowly a light began to appear, a soft and warm voice calling to him and telling him that it was time to wake up, and the darkness began to fade, Morty's visage appearing in its wake.
#7 (Despair): "Please Falkner, don't leave me; please, please wake up…" Morty's voice broke as he clutched desperately at Falkner's cold and lifeless hand, despair and anguish clutching at Morty's heart, and each breath he took felt like agony without Falkner's presence; held-back sobs wracked his frame as he held the broken body of his boyfriend to his chest, and oh Ho-Oh, why was this happening to them?
#8 (Doors): The first time Morty opened the doors to Falkner's gym with the key card he was given, it was to retrieve a package the younger boy needed while he was busy battling Janine at the Gym Leaders Challenge, but the next time he visited Falkner's gym he entered on his own; slowly Morty got used to unlocking the doors to the gym himself and to considering the Violet City Gym his home away from home.
#9 (Drink): "Drink," Falkner's calm voice commanded sternly as he held a glass of water to Morty's lips, helping him drink the cool water that assuaged the fire burning in his throat; Morty's eyes were glazed over from the fever and he murmured incoherently something that sounded suspiciously like I love you, but Falkner just chalked that up to the fever – although it still made his heart pound either way.
#10 (Duty): Although Falkner chose not to go into the life of Kikyou priesthood, he still followed a lot of duties for the Kikyou religion because Morty often noticed incense burning – although he knew Falkner was not a fan of the traditional incense used by the monks – for the various religious festivals and he wore the traditional hakama and haori of the priests every day; the only tradition Falkner broke was the decree that the Kikyou must not consort with any Enju, and Falkner had a feeling he wasn't going to start following that rule anytime soon.
#11 (Earth): Neither Falkner nor Morty belonged on the earth and maybe that was why they got along so well with each other; Falkner belonged in the sky and Morty belonged to the spirit world and because of this, neither male truly fit in on earth, but they fit perfectly with each other.
#12 (End): "This isn't the end," Falkner said resolutely after yet another failed plan to unite the Kikyou and Enju sects; his fingers laced with Morty's, a clear defiance in the face of his elders, telling them that he would fight for unity between the feuding religions until his dying breath, not just for himself and Morty, but for all the peoples of their respective religions.
#13 (Fall): Although Morty loved the winter, Falkner loved autumn because of the warm and mellow nature of the season; unlike summer's sweltering heat and spring's overbearing vibrancy, autumn was the perfect season for the Flying specialist, not to mention he frequently visited the Bellchime Trail to have lunch there with Morty while the leaves were changing.
#14 (Fire): "I'm willing to endure your damnation," Falkner bit out, his tone as fiery as the punishment the monks threatened him with, "because I'm just trying to establish peace between our sects; why do you continue fighting with the Enju if our message is peace, because I refuse to be a hypocrite and I will brave any punishment you see fit until you can see the truth of my actions."
#15 (Flexible): "The Kikyou are not exactly flexible…" Falkner, looking frightened amongst the people who he had been told to consider his enemies, attempted to explain at a meeting with the Enju elders, Morty's hand on his shoulder reminding him that he was not alone; sweet Lugia forgive him, he felt like a traitor for this, but it was all for the sake of peace between the two religions.
#16 (Flying): When Falkner flew in the air, he felt a physical sense of freedom, the feeling of flight penetrating every fiber of his being, but when he was with Morty, his heart felt like it was soaring; the sense of freedom and weightlessness he thought he could only experience in the air always seemed to spread through Falkner whenever he was around Morty, despite his feet being firmly on the ground.
#17 (Food): Food was a necessity, not a luxury to Falkner – having been raised with monks who lived on next to nothing – which explained the bland foods he ate and his small figure, but Morty couldn't stand to eat anything without at least some form of flavor; Morty stored spices at Falkner's gym for when he was staying for dinner, but he noticed the way the spices were used throughout the week, his influence slowly creeping into Falkner's eating habits.
#18 (Foot): Although Falkner didn't blame him, Morty blamed himself because of the ankle injury Falkner got during a trip with him, the injury keeping Falkner out of the air and on the ground; Morty winced every time Falkner would look out the window longingly, clearly wishing he was out flying, and made a mental note to find a way to make it up to Falkner – even if Falkner didn't blame him and didn't want him to try making it up to him.
#19 (Grave): Just like the sky was Falkner's domain, graveyards were a second home to Morty and Falkner would often make trips to the local graveyard in an attempt to understand a piece of Morty's world; graveyards always felt dark and morbid to Falkner, like the hand of death was lingering there, but Morty always seemed calm and peaceful as though he was shielded from death's presence.
#20 (Green): When Falkner was at his first Gym Leaders Challenge, his heart was pounding with nerves, which were not soothed in the least when Morty came up to warn him that because he was the new kid, everyone was gunning to knock him out of the tournament; after Morty told him that Falkner was going be cheering for him during his match, Falkner's heart began pounding for a completely different reason than his nerves.
#21 (Head): Falkner stifled a laugh as his Pidgey begin pecking at Morty's hair, the tiny bird attempting to preen Morty's perpetually messy hair, and he eventually needed to take the Pidgey outside to get him away from Morty; when he returned from bringing the Pidgey outside, Falkner laughed and told Morty it was the Pidgey's way of welcoming Morty to the family.
#22 (Hollow): It felt like the breath was stolen right out of Falkner and his chest was hollow – oh Lugia, how could being hollow hurt so much? He thought if you were hollow, it meant you couldn't feel anything – when he walked in on Morty and Eusine against the wall; his heart felt like it had been torn out, but somehow the wound that it left behind hurt more than being broken.
#23 (Honor): One of the things that drew Morty and Falkner together was their sense of honor; Morty believed in bringing justice to all those who were in need and Falkner wanted to spread peace between people, and somehow along the way of following their respective senses of honor, they found each other.
#24 (Hope): "Bring him back; please, just…bring him back," Morty begged through his tears, holding Falkner's bloodied body close to his chest, the other's blood staining his clothing and covering his hands; Jirachi glowed warmly, smiling at the two before flitting away and when Morty looked down at the body in his arms, Falkner's wounds were already healed and his chest was rising and falling slowly as he began breathing again, the soft sound of Falkner's breathing enough to make Morty begin crying again.
#25 (Light): When Morty looked at someone's aura, he was able to see someone's inner light, the very essence of their soul; when Morty looked at Falkner, he saw a soft blue color but as time went on, he noticed hints of bright pink seeping into the younger boy's aura, a sign of love and affection.
#26 (Lost): Morty was surprised that as often as Falkner flew to foreign lands, he never got lost; when he asked his boyfriend about it, he wondered if perhaps Falkner had some sort of internal compass that pointed him in the right direction, but in reality, it was just because Falkner carried his Pokétech with him and it had a map application.
#27 (Metal): "Are you sure it was a good idea to practice with real swords?" Falkner asked with a smirk as he knocked the sword out of Morty's hands easily, the tip of his blade tilting the other's chin up carefully; as Falkner sheathed his sword, Morty couldn't help but both admire the other's talent with a sword and fear the deadly capacity of a blade in Falkner's hands.
#28 (New): Morty blinked in surprise, turning to Falkner when he felt a hesitant hand grasp onto his, and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze back; their relationship was still new and Falkner wasn't sure how to express physical affection, but he was beginning to step in the right direction because even if it was just holding hands, Falkner had to start somewhere.
#29 (Old): "You make me feel so old, Falkner," Morty complained after meeting with Falkner's friends, having been the only nineteen year old in a group of sixteen year olds, "they're going to start calling me a pedophile soon for dating you, and it doesn't help that you're so innocent and I'm the big bad Ghost trainer who's almost expected to corrupt you."
#30 (Peace): Although sleeping through the night without nightmares would seem like a simple feat to some, it was almost a miracle to Falkner when he was sleeping over at Morty's gym; the first time he woke up peacefully in Morty's bed was a pleasant surprise because it meant that the ghosts under Morty's ownership had finally accepted Falkner as a part of their life.
#31 (Poison): Eusine was like a poison, a toxin that had entered his system and traveled to his heart, draining him of vitality; Falkner was revitalizing with gentle hands and even gentler words, the cure to the poison that had plagued Morty's heart for so long.
#32 (Pretty): When Morty looked into Falkner's eyes, he saw clear azure depths within the boy's eyes, the color of the sky reflected in the orbs; whenever he'd tell Falkner that he had beautiful eyes, the younger boy would blush and deny the claim, saying that his eyes were nothing special, but that didn't stop Morty from continually telling him how striking his eyes were.
#33 (Rain): "How exactly do you see in the rain?" Morty asked in exasperation after Falkner showed up soaked outside his gym, having flown from his gym in Violet City to Ecruteak City; Falkner just gave him a sheepish smile, keeping quiet about the fact that he couldn't see, but he didn't let that stop him from going to see Morty.
#34 (Regret): Morty held a hand out as if to stop Falkner as the younger boy as he fled the room, the bitter taste of regret filling Morty's mouth; he didn't want to let things end this way, with Falkner leaving angry and hurt, the possibility that everything was…no, he wouldn't let things end this way – Morty refused to regret this if he still had the ability to change things – and he ran after Falkner with the plans to get rid of the bitter taste of regret.
#35 (Roses): "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," Morty murmured, his face buried against Falkner's hair and his arms wrapped tightly around the boy's slight frame as though Falkner would be taken away if he let go; Falkner's arms returned the hug, his voice murmuring back that they would be able to find a way around their families' prejudices.
#36 (Secret): Morty originally wanted to keep his relationship with Falkner to be a secret, but his reasons weren't for himself; he was afraid of the backlash Falkner would endure from the Kikyou monks if they discovered he was dating an Enju – although the Enju were a bit more accepting of Falkner so there was less reason for worry on Morty's side – and also the rumors that would start flying within the League when it was discovered that two Gym Leaders were dating.
#37 (Snakes): "I didn't know you hated snakes," Morty commented as Falkner's eyes widened and he took a step back as a Seviper slithered across their path; Falkner shuddered and turned away from the large snake, muttering in reply, "they eat birds; why on earth would I like them?"
#38 (Snow): "Oh come on Falkner, walking through the snow won't kill you," Morty laughed as Falkner stared at the snow warily, still standing on the porch away from the cold white snow; Morty just rolled his eyes and grabbed onto Falkner's arm, dragging him through the snow and laughing as Falkner yelped as the cold snow began seeping through his socks.
#39 (Solid): Although many people were surprised at the revelation that Morty and Falkner were dating, they were even more surprised when they found out how solid and stable their relationship was; no one expected them to get along well, or that their personalities would clash, but somehow their personalities fit together perfectly.
#40 (Spring): Although spring wasn't Falkner's favorite season, he definitely preferred it more than Morty, who had springtime allergies; Falkner had to hide a smile as he watched Morty sneeze every few minutes, the force of his sneezes enough to make him stop whatever he was doing.
#41 (Stable): "You know, I've always wondered how you built the lift…and how stable it is…" Morty mentioned one day as he and Falkner were taking the lift to the upper level of Falkner's gym; Falkner simply smiled mysteriously, staying silent and secretly amused by his boyfriend's apprehension at taking the rickety lift.
#42 (Strange): There were a lot of things that were considered strange about Morty – namely the fact that he was a Ghost specialist with a mellow and good-natured personality, almost unheard of in the Pokémon world – but Falkner couldn't quite say he minded; the tiny quirks of Morty's personality were what made him Morty and Falkner wouldn't have it any other way.
#43 (Summer): Summer meant a break from school to students, but it meant more challengers for gym leaders because the students no longer had classes to attend or homework to finish; Morty's least favorite season was summer – although it was also partially because of the overbearing heat – because it meant that he had less free time and got to see Falkner less often than he liked.
#44 (Taboo): "Not only is Morty Matsuba male, he is part of the Enju clan; this is forbidden Falkner, and as a Kikyou priest, you should know that!" Elder Li, the head of the monks at Sprout Tower, shouted after Falkner came to the tower with the news that he was involved in a relationship with Morty; "well, I supposed that isn't a good thing that I didn't become a priest after all, isn't it?" Falkner replied icily before turning his back and leaving Sprout Tower to join Morty outside.
#45 (Ugly): "I look horrible," Falkner complained, his voice muffled by the pillow he was talking into, and pulled the covers over his head; Morty chuckled, setting down the soup on the nightstand, and pulled the blankets away from his sick boyfriend to smooth down his hair and attempt to convince him that he didn't look too bad – although there was on denying the blotchy redness on his cheeks and the tired look in his eyes.
#46 (War): The war had been going on since the Brass Tower had burned down, forcing Lugia to leave its home and Ho-Oh abandoning its perch at the Bell Tower as well, but the war was not between the humans and Pokémon; the war was between the people of Ecruteak City, who dutifully awaited the return of Ho-Oh, and Violet City, who blamed the exodus of the Legendary Pokémon from the two towers on the Enju clan of Ecruteak.
#47 (Water): Johto didn't have beautiful beaches like Hoenn or crystalline lakes like Sinnoh, but the shores of Olivine City were beautiful; Morty loved playing in the ocean – and usually dragging an unwilling Falkner into the frigid water – and Falkner loved the way the moon would reflect on the ocean at night while watching the tides and laying in Morty's arms under the stars.
#48 (Welcome): Falkner winced as he took another look at Sprout Tower before turning his back and walking away from the place he had called home for sixteen years; he knew he would never be welcome there as long as he and Morty were together, but if that was the price to be with the one he loved, he'd gladly pay the price a thousand times over.
#49 (Winter): It was a well known fact that Falkner hated the winter – it was freezing and dreary – but Morty was attracted to the somber and serene nature of the cold season, the essence of winter seeming to be a spirit itself; although Falkner hated the winter, he had to admit that walking down the Bellchime Trail with snow covering the path and Morty's arms around him to keep him warm made him a little fonder of winter.
#50 (Wood): Although Falkner hated the winter, there was one aspect of the cold weather that he loved: whenever he was too cold and Morty was around, he'd throw wood into the fireplace and curl up with his boyfriend, a cup of hot chocolate in his hands; he'd often fall asleep in front of the fire in his boyfriend's arms, leaning against Morty and using him as a pillow.
Mm, I feel like I should explain the entire "war" between Ecruteak and Violet City someday. I haven't really written a lot of notes yet, so I guess this will be my exposition for the Legendary Pantheon and the war. The "war" is actually a split between the Kikyou and Enju religions (the Japanese names for Violet and Ecruteak actually) because of the Brass Tower burning down, resulting in the Burned Tower. When Lugia left, the Kikyou peoples blamed it on Ecruteak City and the people who lived there. The Kikyou hold great hostility toward the Enju for Lugia leaving and the Enju resent the Kikyou for blaming them on something that wasn't their fault. The Kikyou took up Lugia as their primary Legendary after the split and the Enju took Ho-Oh.
And the Pantheon? That's what I consider the order of power among the legendaries. If you understand Greek mythology, it helps. Arceus is basically your Zeus; he holds power over all the other legendaries. Giratina is Hades and the Distortion World is pretty much the Underworld; he's the legendary of the underworld and death. Palkia controls space and Dialga controls time; that much didn't really change. Ho-Oh and Lugia are the principal flying legendaries; Ho-Oh is the sun and Lugia is the moon. They have dominion over the other legendaries. Articuno is the embodiment of ice. Zapdos has the power of thunder/lightning. Moltres is the spirit of fire. Heatran has dominion over volcanoes though. Mew created the Pokémon and is the Legendary creator. Celebi is the guardian of forests and purity. Shaymin is the Legendary of vegetation/flora/etc. Kyogre controls the oceans of the world, Groudon rules over the earth, and Rayquaza protects the skies. Darkrai controls darkness and healing and Cresselia promotes good dreams and healing; Cresselia's power is drawn from Lugia and Darkrai's power is from Giratina. Raikou is the physical power of thunder, drawn from Zapdos and his power is used for destruction. Entei is wildfire, drawn from Moltres. Suicune controls rain and its healing properties. Regice draws his power from Articuno and created the ice regions of the world. Regirock created the deserts and mountains and Registeel created the minerals of the world. Regigigas created the continents and their layout. Latias and Latios are the twin embodiments of the soul, female and male respectively. Jirachi is the Legendary of wishes and hope. Deoxys is the Legendary of outer space. Azelf is the embodiment of willpower. Uxie represents knowledge and Mespirit is emotion. Each lives in their own sacred lake, a shrine to them. Manaphy is the spirit of the sea, rather than a physical embodiment; Phione is its child. Each Legendary is a deity and there's a specific region associated with their worship. In my world, there's only one of each legendary. The best way to understand it is to think of Greek mythology. Hope this makes sense to someone other than me xD
…I didn't realize how long this was though. o.o I don't think I forgot anyone. I don't count Mewtwo though, sorry. Oh, and more often than not, for last names I prefer to use the character's name in another language (usually Japanese) hence the reason Morty's last name is Matsuba and Falkner's is Hayato.
You know what's really ironic? The prompt I had the most difficult time with was "honor." I'm not a huge fan of what I did with the prompt, but that's okay. I'll live. Oh and for #25 (Light) the colors mean:
Soft blue: Peacefulness, clarity and communication; truthful; intuitive
Bright pink: Loving, tender, sensitive, sensual, artistic, affection, purity, compassion; new or revived romantic relationship. Can indicate clairaudience.