Usurping

by walkswithwheels

"And yet… The woman had to try anyway. For the sake of herself, those who had thrown their cause behind her, and the world that stretched out before her." AU, part of Traveler series, longfic. Sequel to Holly Rising.

1. Fallen Child

Welcome to Usurping! This is a story I've been wanting to do for a while, and has been hinted at many times, but now I'm finally getting around to it! Usurping is a sequel or otherwise connected to every other story in the Traveler series and all future ones. However, it is not required to read those stories in order to understand this one, since references to other stories will be explained either in the story itself or in author's notes. In some cases, you may find it is better if you do not read the other stories until you've reached a certain point in Usurping, because these stories spoil certain twists there and vice versa.

Usurping is a longer story, so it's going to be written a bit differently than some of my other stories. My other very long story, Holly Rising, was written in a group writing (RP). Therefore, I had to write quickly and without a lot of notes and sometimes not having as much description. Other stories, such as Diary and Ghostly Goals, were written as the story goes with a lot being made up on the spot. Still other stories, such as Knowledge and Daughter, do have notes, but almost everything is written out before the story starts.

This is not the case with Usurping.

Usurping is a work in progress in more ways than one.

Not only is the story long, but there's a lot of things happening at once. As a result, I'm planning on writing a lot of notes constantly and always working on having something planned ahead of time. As a result, there will be times when I take a break from writing the actual story in order to write the next set of notes so I have some idea what I'm doing and can progress the plot further. While this may this may mean a lack of story chapters for little bit, it does not mean a lack of updates.

Since notes take a long time to make and are an important part of the story, they will be uploaded alongside chapters. Notes will also be split into arcs, with a new arc taking place every time there is a major milestone within the story (such as getting to a large city, or some personal quest happening to a character that influences the rest of plot). Each arc of notes will be uploaded to my Deviantart page wordwheels, and more about the page can be found in my profile. Currently the notes for the first two arcs are up there, and are about the length of five to seven chapters of my regular stories. However, these notes will contain spoilers for upcoming chapters, and scenarios within notes are not finalized.

As mentioned in the story summary, this story is alternate universe. As a result, this story will also be darker in some parts than Pokémon is canonically, or even in some traditional Pokémon stories. While there's nothing horribly graphic, sexual, or inappropriate for anything rated teen, it does explore some darker topics and implications about and in the world of Pokémon. Those who have read the rest of the Traveler series will know what I'm talking about, but those who are not interested in darker and more realistic Pokémon stories may not enjoy this one. However, I am planning some particularly lighthearted parts, especially in relation to the rest of the Traveler series, so hopefully there should be something to balance that out.

Finally, I'm not going to set an update schedule for this story, and I'm just planning to do as much as I can or go until the story (including whatever companion works I want to make) is finished. If something happens that forces me to take a break on this story, I will try to update both the upcoming chapter and my profile. If for some reason I choose to abandon the story, I will try to post something like an outline that will explain what I would've done. Hopefully, that will not happen, but since I tend to take long breaks, please do not consider the story abandoned until there is official confirmation if I do not update for a while.

Aside from all that, I do not own Pokémon, and please see the author's notes after the chapter for more details. This chapter is a bit longer than what I usually post (about twice as long without the author's notes, and three times as long with them). An explanation for why this is will be provided in the author's notes after the chapter.

Without further ado, let the story begin!

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Prologue: Fallen Child

The woman's feet pounded against the cave floor, the sounds of her footsteps echoing in the area.

The pounding seemed deafening, as the woman's feet crashed against the rock of the immense cave.

But the woman didn't care.

Or perhaps she simply wasn't paying attention.

How could she, with desperation burning in her eyes and etched into her face?

She had to move faster, she just had to!

The woman willed herself to gain an extra burst of speed.

Perhaps some aid from desperation's adrenaline.

Or maybe help from sorrow or anger.

Even fear.

It would make sense for her to be feeling all those right now, she reasoned.

Even though she had a feeling that she knew what was going to happen when she stepped outside the cave.

Even though she knew why it was going to happen.

Even though she knew she was ordered to stop it.

The fact that she would, if she would, remained shrouded in uncertainty.

Alongside the possibility of horrible things happening to herself and her allies.

More horrible things.

And yet…

The woman had to try anyway.

For the sake of herself, those who had thrown their cause behind her, and the world that stretched out before her.

The light of desperation still burned, yet now the woman's eyes were narrowed.

It was her first time in this particular cave, yet she had traversed the area many times.

It didn't stop her from having to pay attention in order to avoid getting lost and frustrated.

No matter how many times she entered this place, the rocky walls and stone floors all looked the same after a while.

But it wasn't long before something broke up the monotony.

For the exit to the cave loomed before her.

From a distance, it had looked like a black, ominous, imposing abyss.

But now, as the woman drew closer, she could see light streaming through.

Even though it was confined to the area, she thought it could illuminate the entire cave.

Perhaps the light would've been blinding, especially as she rushed straight into it.

Yet instead of staggering back or flinching, the woman's gaze was sharper than a knife.

Sunlight streamed through the cloudless sky, yet the woman couldn't even feel its warmth.

Instead, the woman's gaze only stared forward as she forced the surroundings to rush towards her.

The pounding from before was now muffled, stone floors having given way to dusty brown pathways and bright green grass.

Yet the woman could barely see it as she sped by.

She had no time to stop and look, instead expertly navigating the changing environment.

Her knowledge from before had served her well, it seemed.

The woman didn't need to focus on the new surroundings much, letting her body instantly guide her.

For she knew the instant she took her mission that every part of the pathways, every blade of grass, every inch of the cave, was the same.

And yet…

So much was different…

Differences the woman couldn't ignore…

Such as the fact that there were no wandering Trainers around.

A twinge of relief worked its way into the woman's mind.

Things would be a lot harder if there were other wandering Pokémon Trainers around.

A lot tended to gather here, and heading through the crowds would slow things down.

And that wasn't even taking into account those that wanted to battle, and what fierce opponents they could be.

The Trainers that inhabited this place were some of the best in the regions after all.

A long, hard, battle was to be expected.

And that's if these Trainers didn't think they were stronger than they actually were and ended up becoming casualties as they tried to hopelessly stop the current crisis in the regions…

The relief was replaced by sadness, and the woman knew it wasn't just for the possibility of Trainers getting hurt.

Of course other Trainers were not around because of what was happening with the regional crisis.

With the chaos being so severe, she was surprised that anyone was let into this place at all.

Of course, authorities couldn't be everywhere to block things off, and even then, quite a few of them didn't have combat skills.

The last thing any authority figure wanted was to become one of the victims of the crisis.

If they weren't already neck-deep in it.

Or victims already.

The woman was torn from her thoughts as a flash of brown, white, blue, and red and entered her vision.

She could see enough that the brown belonged to long hair, and the other colors to clothing.

If she wasn't running, the other woman would have nodded approvingly.

She had told her companion go on ahead, and it seemed like the companion was fine with that.

If the woman hurried, she could probably catch up with her.

But the instant the woman had those thoughts, something sharply fell into focus.

The environment that she had mostly disregarded before was now plain to see.

Her eyes were greeted by a stone structure.

The stone structure was still in the distance, so the woman couldn't really focus on the details now.

Yet out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something else.

Something on the stone structure.

There was a brown blur with many other colors, still too distant to make out any particular details.

Except that the blur wasn't moving.

The woman's eyes narrowed even more as she put the pieces together.

Her companion!

Something must have happened to her!

The woman had to get to the stone structure and figure out what was going on!

Yet as soon as the woman had those thoughts, a sensation struck her.

The sensation pierced her like a knife, harsh, rapid, and immediate.

It was enough to make her stop in her tracks.

Yet as she now stood in the middle of a pathway, she recognized the sensation's eerie familiarity.

It washed over her.

Engulfed her.

Enveloped her.

And with that, she recognized another feeling.

Authoritative.

Commanding.

And something that she would instinctively obey.

She let the sensation overtake her, and in a moment, she stared forward again.

But though she seemed to be looking straight at the stone structure, she was staring at nothing.

For her body was no longer her own.

Instead, the woman felt like someone else had gently taken control of her body.

No, it wasn't that.

Her body had instinctively moved and acted on its own.

And there was a guiding hand, with another person showing her what was going on and what they wanted her to see.

It was someone she could never lay eyes on, but she knew what they wanted and why they were here.

But as soon as they came…

She was transforming.

Becoming something few ever really saw.

An apparition.

A spirit whose body had not yet given out.

A literal wandering soul.

And all this to enter an area most of the living were barred from.

To be blessed with knowledge and power unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

Or cursed with.

Most of the time, she felt it was both.

These flashes of power and knowledge sometimes allowed her to avert a crisis.

If she didn't accidentally start one or make things worse.

And that was also if they weren't giving more information about something she missed entirely.

Regardless of what took place or how she felt, these situations almost always happened without warning or control.

She'd long since learned to accept them, for the better or worse.

At least her body was protected during these times.

Others left behind had described the rest of her as resembling an illusion, where any attempt to touch or interact with what remained went right through.

Unfortunately, she just had to take secondhand word for it.

She couldn't see her body when she was like this.

But there was something she could see.

The stone structure still lay in front of her, and the woman thought it seemed like some sort of platform.

But what alerted her attention was the sight of two people.

Neither of them being her companion.

The two people that were there made shivers run down the woman's back.

Or they would have, if she had not been frozen in place at the moment.

For the instant her soul whisked her away, she understood exactly what this was.

She was a watcher.

An observer.

A spectator.

And this, stretched out before her…

This was something that had already occurred.

This was information on something she'd missed.

Something she had been too late to stop.

The two people before her, and the complete absence of her companion despite the latter running towards the stone structure before, silently told the woman everything she needed to know.

Now all she could do was watch.

Be forced to watch.

Be forced to absorb the knowledge before her.

Regardless of the fact that she already knew what the result would be.

And regardless of the emotional pain tearing her up inside.

Because now she could only stare straight in front of her.

The woman's gaze focused on the two people at the stone structure.

One was a young girl with long blonde hair and green eyes that shone brightly. She wore clothes that resembled the reds, yellows, and oranges of a fire.

It was almost as if the girl was on fire, colors blazing in the harsh sunlight.

Perhaps the girl may as well have been, a glow of confidence and happiness never leaving her gaze.

The person next to the girl could not have contrasted more.

For although she wore a warm smile in the girl's direction, she stood stiffly and colder than ice.

The most striking part about her is that the woman and the other looked almost exactly alike.

But looks was where the resemblance ended.

For the other was a monster.

A manipulator.

A schemer.

A tyrant.

A betrayer.

But most of all, a vindictive and corrupted soul.

One that had easily found a way to spread those emotions to others, with devastating results.

Like what was happening now.

Like what was going to happen.

Like what the woman could do nothing to stop.

No matter how much she wished she could.

No matter how much she wished she could run up and destroy both of the people.

No matter how much she screamed internally for the two of them to stop what they were doing.

No matter how much she wanted to shudder and shake.

No matter how much anger was threatening to boil over, or tears threatening to spill down her face.

People sometimes spoke of the woman as having all the power in the world.

She always felt those people were exaggerating, and was never sure how much power she had.

But now…

It was clear she had no power, and had helplessness washed over her like a wave.

Because the only power she had was the power to watch and learn the truth of what happened before.

Even though that really wouldn't help the situation any.

As the scene in front of her demonstrated.

The girl and the other was speaking, although the woman could not hear what they were saying.

However, the girl's face suddenly broke into a huge grin.

The other returned the gesture, face holding such warmth that perhaps she would be the one that was on fire.

But the woman could detect something in both of their faces.

Confidence.

Power.

Invincibility.

And those feelings were amplified even more as the woman could finally hear the girl's voice.

"I'll do anything for this cause!"

The one phrase would have sent chills down the woman's spine.

The girl had no idea what she was promising, and no idea what that would mean for the present!

The woman wanted to tell her that, and explain what was really going on!

Desperately wanted to make sure what was going to happen would never be!

But she couldn't.

She was just a defenseless witness to the events unfolding.

And as she could see the other nodding approvingly, it was as if the gesture was in agreement with that.

Of course it couldn't be, because the two people could not see the woman, so the other was nodding to what the girl had said.

But the gesture still stung regardless.

As much as the words coming out of the other's mouth.

"Of course you will! That's why I can count on you!"

And there was an unspoken, invisible command.

But it may as well have been loud enough for the entire world to hear.

For the silence was broken by two sounds.

One was a horrific ripping and tearing.

The other was the young girl screaming.

The tearing and ripping reverted through the air, the woman's ears being filled with nothing but the terrifying sound.

The girl's scream had echoed through the air as well, but it had only happened once.

Not only that, but there didn't seem to be any indication of where the ripping sound was coming from.

One might think the girl would've been screaming about a favorite toy, or perhaps an important paper.

But the tearing was too loud.

Too ominous.

Too long-lasting.

Too close.

As the woman continued looking on, she knew exactly where the tearing was coming from.

Even though there was no signs of anything being torn.

And yet the source of the tearing couldn't be more obvious.

Because the girl gave it away.

Her face had turned ashen, with her eyes wide.

The girl's mouth parted in a silent scream, as if she was trying to call for help.

Yet she nothing came, and whatever words she wanted to say died within her.

The woman also suspected the girl would've run if given the chance.

But she couldn't.

She was frozen, like ice.

Just like the woman who was watching this all happen.

The girl was frozen, but the cause of her distress was not.

Far from it.

And the woman could immediately pinpoint where it was coming from.

For the tearing sound revealed itself to be derived from the girl's left arm.

But then it was her right.

Within minutes, it was her left leg.

Her right one soon followed.

After that her waist, her torso, and even her neck.

If the woman hadn't been frozen, she might've been screaming too.

Or perhaps the scream would've been just a gasp, as she would have been horrified to move.

Someone or something was tearing the girl's entire body apart, bit by bit!

And yet…

Even though the tearing was clearly going on…

Even though the girl was in obvious pain…

Even though the sound was so deafening, the woman thought that there wasn't anyone in the world that couldn't hear…

The sound and the girl's reactions were the only indication that anything awful was happening.

The tearing should have been a bloody and gory event that drenched everything and red.

The girl's body should've been mutilated.

Dismembered.

Destroyed internally if it wasn't going to be destroyed externally.

Yet there was nothing.

Outside, the girl's body was completely intact.

But woman was suddenly alerted to something else.

A thorough scan of sorts, she realized.

A checklist, almost.

It wouldn't be the first time her current state gave her such powers.

And it was clear what the scan was for.

Scanning for internal damage.

With what was taking place in front of the woman, the girl had to have sustained some.

But the scan turned up completely empty.

Nothing.

Not even a scratch.

If it wasn't for what was happening, the girl could've just run away.

Or fought back.

Or called for help.

But she couldn't.

Because her body looking normal didn't change the fact that she was frozen.

And being destroyed.

In a way that should have been one of the most graphically possible, but wasn't.

And the girl was not only trapped with the pain, but fear, confusion, and her own helplessness.

All despite looking perfectly fine.

The girl was no saint, but even she didn't deserve this!

If the woman herself wasn't frozen, her face would've contorted into a snarl.

Whatever was harming the girl was using some supernatural abilities to make everything look pretty and clean!

But perhaps that made the whole process even more horrifying!

Then the mind was left to try and imagine what was going on!

And that was too gruesome for the woman to think about.

But even more disturbing was why someone would want to make the process of tearing someone else apart look like nothing had happened.

There was no one there to execute the two on the platform, and those against them certainly wouldn't advocate torturing anyone like this.

It could be an excellent way of hiding crimes, or taunting opponents.

But with a track record like the girl's and the other's, there would be no avoiding their crimes.

So disguising a crime scene wouldn't do any good.

The two had taunted many enemies already, and in ways just as devastating as this.

They would not need to do that again.

But, given the enemies' past together…

The woman could only think of one reason as to why this was happening.

She had always hoped that reason wasn't true.

That what she suspected would happen would not.

But there was proof that the reasoning was true.

Proof that the event she suspected would occur was happening when front of her.

Or rather, proof that it had already happened.

And all she could do was watch as it unfolded.

Watch as the other turned to the girl.

A triumphant smile met the girl's panicked, widened eyes.

Even though the girl couldn't do anything, the woman could still read a silent plea for help within her gaze.

The other seemed to understand the message as well, but the triumphant smile never left her face.

Her voice overflowed with mockery, directed at the girl like hundreds of sharp daggers.

"You did say you would do anything for the cause. Foolish of you not to realize what that meant."

There was no mistaking the pain in the girl's eyes, and the woman had a feeling it wasn't just from being torn apart.

If she could've, the girl probably would've asked questions.

Formed a retort.

Broken down and cried, maybe.

Perhaps she would've been repentant at last.

But there was none of that.

For the other's smile twisted even wider, and she suddenly became expectant.

The tearing instantly became more deafening than it ever had before, to the point where the where thought it could drown out everything.

The woman wanted nothing more than to cover her ears, but even if she could have, there was no need.

Because then…

The tearing ceased.

A soft, feeble, gasp escaped the girl's mouth.

The girl's eyes became even wider, but did not react to the sunlight shining into them.

Her jaw dropped open, but she did not scream.

Her muscles relaxed, but she did not move.

The silence was only broken by the sound of the girl crashing onto the stone structure, slumping over in a heap.

If the woman could've done something, her own face might have gone pale.

To think that something like this happened right in front of her!

To think that she couldn't do anything!

But it seemed she was going to be shown more horrors.

For the expectant countenance never left the other's face.

Instead, there was some sort of wordless command.

A red orb was suddenly snatched from the girl's chest.

It floated in the air alone, almost as if it was questioning why it was here.

Red, with light blazing like a fire.

Blazing, like the girl had been just moments before…

No, the woman couldn't think about what happened to the girl.

Perhaps part of it was justified, but it was just so brutal…

If she thought about it too hard, she might cry when she was released.

Or vomit.

But the woman was torn from her thoughts by the sound of something else.

There was a low, sharp cry, but at the same time, guttural and booming.

It was joined by another cry, piercing and high-pitched. It would have sounded like a bird chirping were not for the intensity and volume.

To a powerful Pokémon Trainer like the woman, hearing the sounds meant nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet in this particular moment, the woman could hear something else mixed within.

Corruption.

Pain.

Grief.

At that point, the woman wasn't sure she wanted to cry or if her eyes would've narrowed.

But of course she would be hearing those things!

After all, she was standing before a person that had brainwashed multiple gods, abused their power, and warped and twisted said power for her own selfish interests!

On top of the fact that she was one the few people that knew the truth about who the other was!

Yet the woman was again torn from her thoughts as the other held her hand towards the floating red orb.

It looked like she was beckoning it towards her, but the orb remained unmoving.

Instead, the high-pitched chirping cry came again.

Another bright light shone, dazzling with its rainbow colors.

The light wasted no time enveloping the orb, until the red light was encased within the rainbow one.

A barrier.

A shield.

To protect from any enemies that might take the red floating orb away.

The other did have plenty of those.

But why did the other want to protect the red floating orb?

Last the woman checked, the other couldn't use it for anything…

But things were different now.

Perhaps forever.

Who knew what power the other held?

Who knew what she would do with it?

Perhaps she was preparing to use that power now.

With everything that led up to it, she had to be.

But who or what would she use it on, and why and how?

Now, the other was alone…

But the other suddenly glanced sharply forward.

Within minutes, the woman understood why.

The sound of footsteps could be heard, and the woman's companion appeared.

Her hair was dirty and her clothes disheveled, but there no mistaking the fury burning in her brown eyes.

Fury that later evaporated into sorrow as she saw the young girl's motionless body.

Sobbing filled the air as tears ran down the companion's face. The woman knew her companion was nothing if not compassionate, even towards an enemy that tried to kill her many times.

She couldn't imagine how devastating it was for her.

She knew she didn't want to.

The other suddenly spoke, although the woman once again couldn't hear what she was saying.

The companion hastily dried her tears, shouting back an unheard retort.

All sorrow left her, replaced by pure, unbridled, rage.

The companion grabbed a Poké Ball, beginning to throw her right arm back.

The other instantly adopted a glare as hard as stone.

Another wordless command, and psychic power radiated around her.

Instantly, the psychic power engulfed the woman's companion.

The companion's screams filled the air as she was forced to her knees.

The Poké Ball was still in the companion's hand, but it was rapidly put away against the latter's will.

Her hands were thrown behind her back, bound by the psychic power. The fear in the companion's eyes was broken by a wince. Whether it was because of her newfound helplessness or because of hard she had hit the stone platform, the woman wasn't sure.

However, the wrath in the companion's gaze quickly returned as the other started speaking again.

The woman still couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was clear that her companion gave an agitated response as her mouth parted in what looked like a scream.

She threw even more retorts at the other, and the woman imagined they were just as full of agitation.

Unfortunately, the woman also suspected why that was the case.

There had been another, one that was her companion's close friend.

The person was skilled with supernatural abilities, despite the fact that the woman's companion was not.

Yet the other person would protect the woman from attackers that used supernatural powers. The protector's powers were so formidable that the woman was sure no one would dare antagonize anyone when she was around.

And yet…

The protector was now no longer among the living, dead and gone before the woman even got to this place.

According to her companion, the protector had sacrificed herself for the woman and several others. She fell in battle before anyone could save her, hoping to turn the tide of the current conflict.

But now the woman wondered if that sacrifice had been useless.

The current conflict was still going on, and now it looked like she was on the losing side.

She wondered what the protector thought.

If that protector grieved.

If she was angry.

If she was fearful.

If she would welcome those who joined her this day.

But the woman would never get answers any of that.

For all she knew about the protector was from hearsay.

And…

From another place where the protector was still alive.

Where the protector was protecting her.

Where there was no conflict, or at least nothing as horrible as this.

But she couldn't ask that person about any of this now.

It wasn't like the woman would anyway.

What happened to the protector here wasn't relevant to what happened to the protector she knew.

But what was relevant was her companion's reaction and reasoning.

The woman knew the other had no issues insulting the dead.

So it was effortless to guess that she just insulted the protector.

And the fact that the protector's absence left the woman's companion completely vulnerable.

When the companion was noted for being one of the most powerful forces fighting against the other mere moments before.

And the companion rapidly seemed to come to this bleak realization.

For although fury had burned in her gaze before, fear now flashed in her eyes.

Perhaps the other would end the companion's life right there. It would be the perfect time to do so.

Yet the other didn't take a single step towards the woman's companion.

Instead, she walked towards the young girl's lifeless body.

The other continued until she was standing right next to the body.

Confusion filled the woman's head.

What was she going to do with the body?

Kick it?

Touch it?

Bury it?

The other had never been much for burials, even with fallen allies.

Yet…

There was a prickle of dread that had been hiding alongside the woman's confusion.

And when she tried to figure out what the other was doing, the dread turned into a wave that washed over her.

The cries of the gods within the woman…

Her final message to the girl…

And the fact that the girl's body was completely unharmed despite her brutal demise…

The other's own state of being…

And the woman's suspicions from beginning…

It was eerily clear what the other planned to do…

And the woman's suspicions were turning into a devastating reality…

And there was nothing anyone could do about it…

But given how many of the woman's allies the other had destroyed to get here, many of them effortlessly…

Perhaps there was never anything anyone could do about it…

And the woman was now watching destiny take its course…

To think that her mission, her reason for being here, all of her actions and the allies she had made along the way…

All of it had been useless.

Useless as she failed to stop what was going to happen.

Useless as she merely observed the events unfold.

Useless as she watched the chaos that would arise from it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by another piercing cry.

This time it was the high-pitched chirping, seeming louder than ever before.

An almost blinding, rainbow colored, pillar of light erupted from the stone structure.

The light enveloped both the other and the girl's body, and the woman thought she could faintly see the other smiling before the light engulfed her completely.

The woman's companion, however, was cringing.

The poor companion probably wanted to cover her eyes or ears.

But with her hands being bound behind her back, she couldn't do either.

She and the woman were united in their helplessness, as all they could do was watch and listen.

The creature's cry pierced their ears again.

This time it was even more deafening.

Harsher.

Sharper.

The woman thought her ears would burst, and regretted not being able to throw her hands over them.

And yet…

This was a grim reminder that was about to happen.

Because then…

The rainbow light disappeared.

But the other and the girl's body were nowhere to be found.

Instead, another woman stood in their place.

Long blonde hair contrasted well against purple clothing. The person stood tall and confident, and the woman could see physical strength in the woman's limbs. The woman slowly opened her closed eyes.

Her completely normal, piercing, dark blue eyes.

Chills ran down the woman's spine.

For although the woman had no idea who the person was before, she simultaneously recognized the person on-sight.

Especially when the person spoke.

Maria. From now on, my name is Maria.

The woman was grateful her current state did not allow her to shudder.

This was a name she'd recognized instantly, but she couldn't remember the last time she heard it.

She heard it so little that she never thought she would hear it again.

Least of all during something like this.

Now, the woman wondered if she would ever want to hear it again.

The woman was snapped from her thoughts as she noticed her companion was silently shouting.

Yet even though she couldn't hear what the companion was saying, other sounds pierced her ears right away.

One, the low pitched cry of one of the gods from before.

The other, the sound of a little girl laughing.

She recognized the latter like her own name.

It was the sound of something that had been there almost as soon as her journey started.

And that continued to be with her now.

This was one sound she knew she didn't want to hear in this context!

Even now she was forced to listen to it now.

If she could have, the woman would've clenched a fist.

For the two cries represented something else.

Pain.

Suffering.

Abuse.

Horrors.

Imprisonment.

All things that these creatures didn't ask for and didn't deserve.

All of which they were forced to endure as the newly named Maria made them travel with her.

Yet now…

Maria had another creature, another god, and this one went with her by choice.

From what the woman had heard and seen, this creature lived in luxury, never once being enslaved.

At the height of its power, it was stronger than both of the other creatures Maria had called forth.

Perhaps they could even defeat the two combined.

It certainly had all the abilities the other two did.

And since Maria had a habit of discarding anything she didn't need anymore, regardless of who or what it was…

Perhaps she was throwing them away.

Destroying them.

Ending their lives without a second thought.

As cold as it sounded, death would a mercy for them.

But Maria wasn't one for mercy.

Because instead another sound reverberated through the air.

A mocking, taunting, laughter.

The cries came again, but this time they were strained and subdued.

The companion's eyes went wide, and the woman was surprised her own face did not turn red with rage.

The creatures had hoped for an end to their torture, even if it was death's release.

But Maria had brought them out just to tantalize them.

Torment them.

Pretend to give them hope, and then snatch all that hope away.

Because of course Maria wouldn't be merciful!

She never had been!

Maria would not destroy the creatures if their power would still useful to her!

And in some cases, it was.

But there was a darker, more sinister reason, buried underneath.

One that made the woman's guts churn.

Maria had always wanted power over others.

Control.

A target for all her negative emotions.

But most importantly…

Revenge.

Revenge on a world she believed wronged her.

And even though some of that revenge was justified…

Even though there were people that had wronged Maria and deserved every bit of her wrath…

There were just as many who hadn't.

Just as many who were innocent victims caught the crossfire.

But Maria was so blinded by her revenge she couldn't tell the difference anymore.

If she ever had.

Perhaps she was so caught up in punishing those who deserve her revenge that she became trapped in the past.

Unable to ever move on but still having that desire.

Even after those who needed to be punished were.

And there was no greater example than the two creatures within their prison, with Maria dangling a chance to escape that they could never take…

But the woman's thoughts went away from the creatures, as another sound filled the air.

This one was a low, growling, roar, one she also recognized instantly.

This was one who dispensed justice to the wicked.

The leader of the part of the afterlife below the mortal world.

And once there was a target in his sights…

There was no escape.

And even though the newcomer most likely knew taking down Maria would be a suicide attempt at this point…

The girl still could be brought to justice.

After all, what remained of her was floating in the air, almost waiting.

The only trace of the girl now was the red orb, encased in the rainbow protection of the barrier.

The barrier.

Of course.

That was why Maria had placed it there.

She knew the newcomer would come for the object, to drag the girl down to receive eternal punishment.

And she knew when that occurred, regardless of what happened here…

Her opponents would have a chance at justice, even if it wasn't in the mortal world…

Of course, Maria didn't want that.

Couldn't have that.

So made sure that type of justice could never happen.

And that the one who handed out said justice would be rendered useless.

After all, what better way to gloat over her victory than to spit in the face of the one that could still give her opponents some peace?

Maria smirked as she looked in the direction of the new sound.

She started speaking again, but the woman still couldn't hear.

But then, she didn't need to.

For even before Maria finished speaking…

Another sound echoed.

This one was the same as the one the newcomer had made before.

But now it was hollow.

Mournful.

Defeated.

The sound got quieter and quieter before there was complete silence.

And a signal that the newcomer had slunk away.

Yet despite the newcomer's defeat, a question still lingered in the woman's mind.

What was Maria going to do with the object she so fiercely protected?

As far as the woman knew, she still couldn't do much with it.

If anything.

Then again, there was no telling what Maria could do now.

Especially since all of her enemies seemed to be disposed of, or at least incapacitated.

But just as the woman finished her thoughts, another pillar of rainbow light erupted from the stone structure.

This light surrounded the floating red orb, and engulfing it so completely not even a trace could be seen.

The high-pitched chirping cry was as harsh as it had been before, and just as deafening.

The companion seemed to want to look away as she was cringing again, but the psychic power held her in place.

The woman also braced herself, listening to the cries piercing her ears and then eventually fading.

And that was exactly what happened.

Just as with the girl's body, the red orb disappeared.

And there was a person standing in the orb's place.

The scenario was the same, yet it couldn't be more different.

Unlike before, the woman had met the newcomer several times, to the point where she could recognize this person anywhere.

For this person had distinctive long blonde hair and green eyes. The clothing was the colors of fire, unmistakably looking like it was blazing in the sunlight.

There was no denying that this was the girl from before, standing alive and well despite being devoid of life and on the ground moments before.

There were no injuries.

No fear.

No pain.

Nothing to even hint at the horrible way the girl had gone down before.

It seemed like the woman was witnessing a miracle…

Even if that miracle benefited her opponents…

And yet…

With the girl's appearance was something else.

Something that wasn't recognizable.

Either here or otherwise.

The girl held a pitch black sword in her hand, along with a matching shield.

That wasn't too surprising; she had used a sword and shield as her weapon before.

But the sword and shield had been a ghostly Pokémon acting as the former.

It had been something borrowed from Maria, and the woman hadn't seen the Pokémon before this.

Perhaps Maria had taken it back.

After all, the girl wouldn't have much need for it with what Maria had been planning.

But even still…

The Pokémon sword was much lighter in color, even though this sword was anything but light-colored.

And the Pokémon sword had been large and thick, impossible for the girl to wield without help.

The woman remembered there were many names for these types of swords, but she couldn't think of a specific one.

Yet it was clear that this sword was not the same type as the Pokémon.

Instead it was smaller.

More slender.

Something the girl could easily wield herself.

It had two bladed edges with a sweeping hilt, and a pommel that matched the rest of the weapon.

Even though she had never seen that particular sword before, the woman knew instantly what it was.

A rapier, a sword that she wondered if most Pokémon Trainers saw.

Not only would it be easier for the girl to use, but it was fitting.

For the girl's tongue had been as sharp as a rapier, and the weapons she had carried before, even more so.

But before the woman could contemplate the differences in the swords more, she was aware of sunlight streaming onto something.

It resembled fire, and at first she thought it was the girl's clothing.

But then she was aware of a distinctive sound.

Something that should've never belonged here, but it was.

There was crackling.

Blazing.

Burning.

If the woman's eyes could have gone wide, they would have.

This didn't just look like fire.

This was fire.

And the girl's sword was the source.

Sunlight reflected off the girl's burning blade, the weapon engulfed in a fierce, furious, almost blood red flame.

Of course there would be something like this.

Fire had been the girl's other main weapon, to the point where she felt it defined her as a person and as a Pokémon Trainer.

She had hardly ever gotten a chance to use it alongside the sword Pokémon, since that Pokémon was weak to fire.

But now…

Maria had found a way to make the two fighting styles work together.

And so it was demonstrated with the flaming sword.

It felt so fitting.

And yet it also felt so wrong.

So eerie.

So… corrupted.

Corrupted.

Like the look written in girl's green eyes.

A look that made the woman's blood run cold.

There was no surprise.

No fear or confusion.

No remorse.

No emotion.

Only sheer ruthlessness.

At first glance, the woman might've thought that was appropriate.

After all, the girl had become ruthless, willing to do anything, even murder, to accomplish her goals.

But there was the fact that she had become ruthless.

She hadn't started out that way at all, even though she had been willing to break rules get what she wanted…

And even after her mental transformation…

The girl was no killing machine.

She had never been good in combat without the assistance of Maria or her own Pokémon.

And if things got too rough, she would escape or watch from the sidelines…

The actions that caused her to become ruthless were at Maria's urging, as she swooped in and took advantage of the girl in a moment of weakness…

But even then…

The girl had standards.

Emotions.

Shreds of humanity.

But now all that had disappeared.

Been destroyed.

Replaced by a cruel, unfeeling, being that did nothing but cause chaos and take lives.

Despite the fact that that being looked human on the outside.

Despite the fact that the being was once human.

And the girl's eyes were evidence of that.

But something else was the confirmation.

Because an aura made of shadows surrounded the girl.

The imposing darkness enveloped all of her body, even her clothes and face.

For even though the girl looked at the same as she had before, and that could clearly be seen…

This was also a clear indicator that she wasn't the same.

And the indicator became clearer and clearer.

Because it seemed the more time passed, the more encompassing the shadowy aura became.

Threatening to devour, take over, annihilate, everything.

With not even ashes left in its wake.

Despite everything, sadness washed over the woman.

This time, she knew it was not for the girl.

The woman had used similar shadows to conceal her own face and voice, and it was something the pair had seen her use.

But these shadows had been gentle.

Guiding.

Protecting.

And now, twisted beyond all comprehension…

Had Maria taken inspiration from her?

At that thought, the woman internally shook her head.

No, this had nothing to do with her shadows.

This was because of the power of an enslaved god.

One of Maria's playthings.

One that held the power of resurrection.

A sacred but draining power used in only the direst of times.

But Maria had taken it.

Warped it.

Manipulated it.

Contaminated it.

The end result was a helpless god, her own shadowy undead weapon, and the means of creating more.

And that was probably the least of her powers.

The woman turned her gaze away from the girl to glance at her companion.

There was no mistaking the companion's widened, frightened, eyes.

Any traces of the fury and resolve she had before was gone, as if she was finally accepting her own helplessness.

The woman's companion has called the pair shadows and corrupted before.

Was she regretting those words now?

Now that solid proof was before her, and was most likely out to end her life?

Yet suddenly, the woman's thoughts dissipated as she became aware of something else.

There was some unspoken command…

And then, a glimmer of light…

Instantly, the girl's eyes changed…

And though the woman could only see ruthlessness before…

Another thing had replaced it.

Emotion.

Awareness.

Humanity.

The woman felt her own confusion taking over.

Why would Maria take away the ruthlessness and determination that had been seen before?

Whatever the reason, it couldn't have been anything good.

But the woman was jolted away from her thoughts as the girl glanced around wildly.

Bewilderment filled her eyes as she tried to process where she was.

What had become of her.

And the instant she looked down at herself…

She received her answer.

A piercing scream tore from the girl's mouth.

Another deafening sound could be heard as the girl fell to her knees and slammed on the stone structure.

The woman thought the girl would try to lift her new blade, or use her flaming sword in defiance of the one that made her this way.

After all, as naïve as she was, the girl had always been defiant.

And she would most likely do that, even though Maria would shut her down immediately.

But that was nothing.

Nothing as the girl stayed collapsed in a heap.

Not even the tiniest attempt to lift and use her sword and shield.

Instead, the objects remained in her hands, unmoving.

Perhaps Maria was holding them there somehow, as the woman suspected if the girl had her way, the weapons would've clattered to the ground.

The confidence and later confusion was now completely overtaken by fear.

The girl looked like she was about to start crying, but miraculously, no tears fell.

If the girl even could cry in her current state.

For a moment, she looked like a lost, misguided, child.

Nothing like the coldhearted killer she had become before her final moments.

A child being what she had been before Maria had trained her to be the latter.

Or perhaps she always was the former and Maria just covered it up with dreams of grandeur and a willingness to take down anyone in her way.

Even if that included those trying to point out how lost she was.

Yes, the girl had always been a lost and misguided child.

And now she was finally realizing how badly she wanted that persona back, but never could have it again.

All because of Maria.

And so, there was only silence after the girl fell.

It wasn't even broken when the girl spoke, for the woman still did not hear the words.

However, it was obvious what they could be.

Who are you?

Why are you doing this to me?

Please stop this!

I don't want to!

Yet Maria's answer was the same to all of them.

She shook her head with a malicious smile.

In another moment, the girl screeched again.

Before her emotions.

Her humanity.

All that was gone.

Replaced by the ruthless, unquestioning, undead machine she had been before.

Yet the woman noticed a flicker of light.

It was barely noticeable, but it was there.

And it was the same color the red object before had been.

The woman wished she could clench her fist.

Because at that moment, there was one thing Maria had not taken away.

And that was the girl's awareness.

No matter what happened after this…

No matter what atrocities she was forced to commit…

No matter what Maria thought of the girl now…

The girl's mind would be alive and aware, while her body was Maria's helpless, soulless prisoner.

Death would've indeed been a mercy.

If being punished eternally in the afterlife would have even been called a mercy…

But of course Maria had offered no mercy, had kept going in her ways…

And the girl was just another victim, one that she had wanting to use for a long time…

And the girl, and perhaps everyone else, had no idea was what coming…

At least, until it was far too late.

Until there were no ways to offer any type of mercy left.

The woman was abruptly directed to the sound of her companion's strangled scream.

The girl now glared in the companion's direction, helplessness reflecting in the latter's eyes.

Yet, a moment later, the woman's gaze was drawn to Maria.

Psychic power orbited around her, engulfing the woman's companion.

There was no mistaking the confusion and fear in the companion's countenance as the psychic power intensified.

Maria's confident smile turned into a smirk, and the woman felt her own confusion and fear.

What was Maria going to do to the woman's companion?

Was she going to dispose of her right there?

She certainly could, and it wouldn't be out of character for her to do so.

Yet instead, the companion's arms were no longer behind her back.

Instead they were slammed against her side as the companion's eyes widened in surprise.

The companion continued moving against her will, and the woman realized her companion was being forced to her feet.

Yet the way Maria made the woman's companion made her perform the movement…

She was standing up slowly.

Carefully.

Methodically.

As if Maria was trying not to leave a scratch on the woman's companion.

Yes, that's exactly what this was.

The woman's blood ran cold as she realized she most likely knew why.

Maria wanted a fair fight between the woman's companion and the undead girl.

But knowing Maria, this was no mercy.

No, it was probably because she found the whole prospect amusing.

And this would be a good test for her new shadowy weapon.

After all, what better test subject to use than one of the most powerful Trainers in all the regions?

Especially since she knew one just as strong, if not stronger was coming.

If Maria could do anything to weaken the woman, she would.

And it was just as much of a test to see just how much Maria could break her.

Or just as much of a test for the woman to make sure Maria didn't succeed.

And the companion was surely realizing all of that, too.

For there was no relief as the psychic power dissipated.

Instead, confusion turned to complete fear and the woman's companion's eyes remained wide.

It was easy to see that the companion was suppressing shuddering as she stared at the girl in front of her.

It was as if Maria had defeated one of the greatest Trainers before any battle had even begun.

But if setting up a battle had already defeated the woman's companion…

Then any actual battle would tear her to shreds.

And Maria understood that.

For her smirk only grew wider.

She gave a tiny, subtle, nod.

And then the girl lunged.

The flaming sword was outstretched in front of her, and it seemed like her entire body was wreathed with fire in the sunlight.

A shrieking sound pierced the air, and the woman thought a battle cry had torn from the girl's throat.

Yet she rapidly realized the cry came from her companion.

The woman's eyes were still wide, the fear in them never being more obvious.

Yet even though the companion was fearful, she thankfully wasn't paralyzed.

For footsteps pounded on the stone structure as the companion fled at a speed the woman didn't think was possible.

A second set of footsteps joined those of the woman's companion, as the undead girl wasted no time chasing after.

Between the flames on her blade and the way she dressed, she seemed as though she was a moving fireball as she charged after the woman's companion.

Perhaps she was now, considering everything.

But regardless, the woman was aware of the pounding sounds leaving the stone structure.

The woman's companion and her pursuer were now on a dusty walkway surrounded by grass. This walkway was to the left of the stone structure.

Within time, it led to a huge building.

A huge building where allies resided.

Yet with everything going on now, there probably wouldn't be any allies there.

And that wasn't even taking into account the girl decimating any allies that were there.

Allies that didn't even know of her existence.

Allies that would be completely unprepared.

Allies that were sure to take severe casualties.

And that's if the woman's companion even got to where she was going.

As soon as she had that thought, the woman heard the sound of something far away.

Steel clashing.

Something burning.

A distant scream.

The woman didn't know the outcome of the battle, but it seemed like the results were already in.

There was nothing she could do.

Just like with everything else she was seeing.

She was watching.

Gaining knowledge of.

Perhaps even being protected from.

But then…

The stone structure faded away.

Maria disappeared too.

The sensations of the hand guiding her…

Of the woman not being in control of her own body…

Of only watching as a spirit…

All of them dissipated abruptly…

The world sharply flew into focus, as the woman realized her body was her own again.

But nothing as sharp as another sensation.

Something stinging, something burning.

Something streaming like water.

It took the woman only a second to understand that it was coming from her nose.

But then, the ever-growing giant puddle on the ground made things easy to figure out.

A bright red puddle, the color of blood.

The color and the origin betraying exactly what it was.

The latter.

And something that had startled many people over time.

Including her, at first.

After all, when someone bled from their nose as much she did, it usually meant there was else horribly wrong.

But the woman and others quickly found out the nosebleeds did not harm her, but also that there was nothing anyone could do to stop her from having them.

So over time she had gotten used to it, almost accepting it as normal.

If it wasn't just another indicator that she couldn't be normal.

But the woman didn't have time to worry about that now.

On an unspoken command, psychic power radiated from her.

Instantly, the blood flowing from the woman's nose dried up, and the puddle along with it.

The woman nodded in affirmation as the psychic power disappeared.

With that, she slowly approached the stone structure.

She had thought about sprinting, but she had already seen what had happened there.

There was no need to tire herself out by breaking into a run.

Besides, she knew what awaited her.

Who awaited her.

The woman stood straight and tall as she stepped onto the stone structure.

It wasn't long before she was facing a smirking Maria.

Yet suddenly, blackness briefly overtook her.

It was an inky, eerie, darkness that seemed to commandeer both her mind and her body.

Perhaps the woman would've fainted, if she hadn't been standing on the stone structure perfectly fine.

And yet…

Despite not being able to see anything…

To hear anything…

To feel anything…

The woman could remember.

Could remember everything that taken place during that time.

Could remember something horrible.

Ominous.

Heartbreaking.

Something meant to be distracting.

Meant to be an agonizing reminder of her own futility.

Meant to drive her off her path.

But she wouldn't let it.

She would block it out completely.

Make it so that whatever happened never existed.

She would let the darkness overtake her.

Protect her.

She would let the darkness help her keep going.

Because she couldn't remember.

Wouldn't remember.

Or perhaps…

She didn't want to remember.

Yet the confrontation went on regardless of how she felt.

For Maria was still smirking, and the two spoke silently.

The woman consistently held the gaze of stone-cold determination as she parried Maria's verbal strikes.

Yet Maria's smirk turned into another huge, confident, smile, to the point where the woman wondered if she was about to laugh.

But instead, Maria spoke.

And this time, there was no missing the words.

"You see? I not only have her power now, but I also have all of theirs. It's something you could have had too, if only you weren't so obsessed with having a moral compass instead. Especially since people couldn't care less that you're always playing the hero."

The words were like piercing needles, to the point where the woman wondered if she would show weakness in her defenses.

Because what Maria had said was at least partially true.

Perhaps mostly true.

And yet the woman couldn't let her guard down!

Not with someone as vile as Maria!

She had to recover quickly!

The woman's eyes narrowed, and there was more silent speaking.

Maria's smile never left her face as she fired back retorts.

And then…

Words arrived again.

Words that left Maria's lips, but ones that the woman could hear clearly.

Words that finally broke the silence, in only a few simple sentences that Maria brought to life.

"Then I will destroy your family, your friends, and everything you care about!

And when that happens…

When misery, guilt, and grief is all you have left…

I'm coming for you."

After that, everything was gone.

My eyes flew open, and the first thing I was aware of was my own shaking.

I wondered if I would fall, but thankfully my body chose not to move without me telling it to.

Instead, I could feel sweat plastered everywhere, and possibly that was more dripping down my face.

Even though the place I was in didn't feel particularly warm.

Then again, I had no idea where I was.

The only thing I could see was darkness.

And the only thing I could hear was the sound of panicked panting.

My own.

I had to get out of the darkness…

Had to figure out where I was…

I thrust my hands out front of me, reeling back as they met something soft.

Despite that, I shoved the object away from me, only for it to give immediately.

Blinding light hit my face, and I couldn't resist cringing.

But the blinding light didn't occupy my attention for long as I realized there was something else sailing through the air to the side.

It took me only a second understand what it was.

There was now a set of covers on the floor next to a bed.

A bed that I was lying in.

Something that I felt I couldn't move from.

And as soon as that thought crossed my mind, voices filled my head.

The voices called my name.

Mold Breaker.

Kristine.

But I knew one name fit me best.

Failure.

And no clearer was that true than now.

As I tried to glance at the place where I was, I couldn't focus on any one object.

And I knew it wasn't just because of all the light.

I was always like that after a horrible dream.

Those who knew me understood that well.

Nightmares weren't exactly a new occurrence for me.

But this one was more disturbing, more haunting, more horrifying than almost any other bad dream I'd had.

Because even though some parts of it were silent speaking…

Even though a part was drowned in blackness…

Even though some more parts of it moved faster than they should have been…

The truth was that I could remember everything missing the instant I woke up.

That my mind always secretly omitted fragments it claimed were not important.

The fragments it felt didn't matter in the long run.

Or perhaps the fragments it didn't want me to see.

But no matter what happened…

No matter what my mind or body did…

There was one fact that was undeniable.

And that fact was the worst part about what I dreamt.

The worst part was that the dream had all been real.

The woman in the dream was me.

And I had watched calamity unfold, despite desperately sprinting to stop it.

I had watched an entire world fall and countless people die, while being unable to do anything with all the power in the world.

And the horrible dream was my brutal reminder.

Of how I failed on my last mission.

And there was no going back.

Because even though I was lying here safe and sound, despite feeling frazzled…

Even though the people and places I knew were fine and prospering…

The world I had tried to save was dead.

And the nightmare…

A manifestation of my memories involving its final moments…

A cruel tormenting about how that world was experiencing its final dying gasps…

While I was far away, in a place where the chaos couldn't touch me…

Far away in my own world, which was almost completely safe…

Taunting me that the other world was doomed, so that there was no reason or even method to come back…

That nightmare, that manifestation…

It ensured I would never forgot.

---

Author's notes:

-So Usurping starts off with a lot of action, but also a bit of tragedy. Tragedy and action that probably needs a bit of explaining, especially for those that haven't read Holly Rising. Most of this is currently also planned to be less directly explained next chapter. However, for those who want some explanation now or can't wait until then, I've included some information here.

Starting with the protagonist.

The protagonist Kristine is a markedly different character from the protagonist (s) in Holly Rising, and from anything seen in that story. However, she is also a protagonist those who read Holly Rising may recognize.

That's because Kristine appears in Holly Rising about three quarters of the way through that story as a major antagonist. However, her identity and name are not known, and she's mostly mentioned in passing up until near the very end. Instead, she covers her face in shadows and does not speak. Kristine uses magical power to write words in the air in order to communicate. Rather than using her name, she instead uses her Trainer Title, Mold Breaker, although there's a few people that know who she is.

The reason for this is later revealed in the last two chapters, where it's explained that she's actually an alternate version of the Kristine that readers have been following for most of the story. This Kristine comes another world, and is sent there to try and stop the crisis in the world of Holly Rising. While Holly Rising's Kristine was eventually revealed to be malicious from the get-go and manipulative, the Kristine seen in this chapter is her opposite. As a result, she is much more powerful than her counterpart, eclipses the rest of the cast with abilities no one has ever seen, and is the only one that can match Holly Rising's Kristine blow for blow. Unfortunately, for various reasons that are revealed in Holly Rising, Kristine cannot stop her alternate self, which eventually leads to her myriad of failures.

-Regardless, I always wanted to write a story about Kristine and her undertaking a journey. This story was first conceived in the beginning of Holly's Rising's development, but changed and evolved a lot since then.

Starting with just who Kristine was.

In the original draft for Usurping, the story was going to be something of a spinoff. The reason has to do with something that happens in that story inspiring the beginnings of this one. In Holly Rising, Holly (the young girl seen in the dream sequence with blonde hair and green eyes) commits a crime against one of her own Pokémon, her traveling companion Anabel, and that version of Kristine. The others are considering forcing Holly off of her journey, and having that version of Kristine take her place. Luckily, that Kristine declines, instead joining as a third traveling companion and at Anabel's urging. It's worth noting that in the early stages of the story, Holly Rising's Kristine was benevolent. While she did make some extremely bad choices on a previous journey, she was still incredibly powerful because of said journey, and willing to take responsibility for what she did. So her going in Holly's place wasn't too much of an issue.

The problem with Holly Rising was that it was based off of an RP. For those who don't know, an RP is a group writing where several people make characters. The group leader then post prompts, and he will have to respond with the characters and what they do. Holly was the character created for the RP, so she had to be the point of view and the main character (at least up until the very end, when I had gotten permission from the group leader to have more freedom because I was the only person playing at that point). Since the whole RP was about young Trainers going on the journeys, Holly had to remain on the journey as well. However, that didn't stop me from favoring Kristine almost instantly over Holly.

Which led me to wonder what would happen if there was the same world with no restrictions.

What would happen if Kristine was the main protagonist, and did accept the offer to journey in Holly's place?

Answering those questions was the basis for Usurping, and led me to start drafting that story alongside writing Holly Rising.

But it was when Holly Rising got further that I ran into another problem.

And this also had to do with Kristine's other role.

Because Kristine was more than just an original character, and still is.

Kristine was and is meant to represent me in Pokémon, with her journey and story based off of my own life. There are a few changes since the story is Pokémon instead of her life, as well as some other aspects that could not carry over or had to be adapted differently. But, overall, Kristine serves as an author avatar. This was because I was inspired by the canon Pokémon media to write my own Pokémon journey and had been for years. In addition to experiences from her life, it would also involve my thoughts on canon media and a couple different interpretations. So Kristine from Holly Rising seemed to fit that bill, even if she had to get her own spinoff to do that.

At least at first.

I was favoring Kristine so much over Holly that I started having her manipulate and set almost everything that led to Holly Rising's story in the present. This also included more minor things, like what Pokémon Holly could catch and use in battle, what order she did things in the journey, and how she reacted to certain sights. At first, she was meant to be an excellent but overprotective and slightly misguided mentor that got forced into the role by Anabel. At that point, Kristine's character development would have been that as helpful as she was towards Holly and the others, her overprotectiveness was also damaging. She also was avoiding the horrible choices she made in her previous journey and the consequences of them, so she would have to face that as she went along this one. However, I quickly realized that she was coming off as more as antagonistic than initially planned.

Her initially good-natured mentoring was easily seen as manipulative, selfish, or even abusive. Furthermore, even if she was repented and tried to atone for the choices she made on their previous journey, she would never be truly free of them. This was because her choices led to such drastic consequences that she would always be maligned, even if she somehow fixed everything or was given a clean record. Kristine then became a manipulative and antagonistic character who didn't care what she had done and was always blaming others. Holly was none the wiser, and some of the others weren't either. Even those who did realize something was wrong couldn't convince Holly that there was anything suspicious going on, and couldn't stop what Kristine was doing. Holly instead almost worshiped Kristine, since Holly believed Kristine was the only character that paid attention to her and was kind. Even though, as this chapter indirectly shows, that couldn't be further from the truth. As hinted in this chapter, Kristine's character led Holly to be antagonistic as well, and cause a lot of damage in the process.

But even though it fit the story better, Holly Rising's Kristine no longer resembled me at all. Her character was so far gone that there was no way I could write her as myself otherwise.

Therefore, the instant Kristine's character changed, I knew she couldn't be an author avatar anymore.

So Usurping's Mold Breaker Kristine was created to fill that gap, being a true representation of me and heroic character.

The end result was that she became the one to go on the journey instead. Usurping was also no longer a spinoff, but an indirect sequel that could still be read as a standalone.

And that version of Usurping is the current one.

-But as stated before, Kristine's story wasn't the only one that changed drastically.

Holly's did as well.

And just like Kristine was always went to be another avatar and a character that I would probably favor the most, there was one thing that was consistent in Holly's story.

She was always planned to die.

It was just a matter of when and how.

Originally, Holly was benevolent, even though she was a bit rebellious and mischievous. This led to her becoming one of the most powerful Pokémon Trainers in the Kanto region and regional Champion. However, a huge theme I wanted to emphasize in all of my stories taking place in the series is that powerful child Trainers are still children, and that leads to a lot of trouble. This idea, as well as the fact that it was almost guaranteed for Holly to take the Champion title in the original prompts of the RP gave me ideas for two direct sequels.

In the first sequel, Holly was going to be kidnapped by a new group of antagonists that planned to use her as bait to lure out Holly Rising's Kristine. Their reasoning was because of one of Kristine's past crimes that she refused to face, and for some pretty justified reasons (which Kristine also admits are justified), they wanted to get rid of her. Taking Holly would also allow the villains to have control over the region, since Holly was the Champion and its leader regardless of how much political power she actually had. Therefore, others would stop at nothing to get her back. Holly Rising's Kristine led the charge, along with Anabel and a few other people. However, aside from a rough idea for that story and a potential a second sequel, I didn't have much of a plan for where I wanted to go after that.

But as I started drafting potential ideas, I thought of a major plot point.

If Holly was a child and was kidnapped because of her lack of power, why would she have the power to survive her kidnapping?

Not to mention, she was already established not have the power or street smarts to get away from her kidnappers, survive alone, or otherwise defend herself.

So having her die seemed like an inevitability.

Still, I also had a plan for Holly Rising's Kristine to die, especially since she had a personality where she would've willingly sacrificed herself for the regions despite being the cause of a lot of the problems there.

So I asked the original RP creator who they would prefer to have die (or survive, I don't remember the exact wording). Holly was the one chosen to die, and Holly Rising's Kristine survived. The reason was that Kristine was more a competent character and also seemed to have compassion. So she would be able to avoid situations where she would die, and it would take a lot more to bring her down.

Thus, the original sequel was set in motion. I had already written out that Holly Rising's Kristine would die protecting Holly and civilians about halfway through the first book. However, she will be able to continue the journey as a sort of ghost. She would look and act like she was alive, but there will be several signs indicating she wasn't completely. Since not many people were skilled in magic in the story, not a lot of people would be able to detect that. As Kristine's character changed, that idea was shelved. However, the death still happened. However, it was inconsequential and Kristine came back to life completely and almost immediately. Why and how this happened was one of the mysteries surrounding Kristine's character, and was revealed much later in the book. This is one of the few ideas in the original setup for the sequel that remained almost nearly unchanged.

Regardless, in the original plans for that idea, Kristine was able to finish the journey in her ghostly form. After that she tried to perform a ritual to resurrect herself after Holly had been taken (summoning the Pokémon Ho-oh, which can resurrect things canonically and has a lot of canon lore surrounding the powers of resurrection). Unfortunately, she fails and decides to go on journey of the sequel in her current state. This journey takes place in an alternate version of Hoenn where the canon villains there have had more success and there are also other factors that caused a lot of damage. This is tough on every member of the journey, but especially Anabel, who originally hails from this version of Hoenn. As a result, there are a lot of hardships, injuries, and many people die. However, Kristine is motivated for the journey to succeed and for things to be put right again. Therefore, she keeps going.

Near the end of that story, Holly dies in combat, and Kristine is devastated. In a cruel twist of irony, she is finally able to complete the ritual for summoning Ho-oh and resurrect someone. She tries to use this power on Holly, but Holly is incompatible because of her lack thereof. Furthermore, she realizes she also can use the power on anyone else who died during the journey for the same reason. As a result she is forced to use the power to resurrect herself, but is extremely bitter and unfulfilled about what happened. She also realizes that none of the overall problems in the regions have been solved. She feels both responsible and guilty for them (and was planned to find out that she actually is responsible for some of them, including problems that she didn't know she cause originally), and resolves to fix everything herself.

This sets up the basis for another sequel where Kristine journeys alone. On this journey, Kristine heads to her version of Kalos. She wants to get the power of the two main legendary Pokémon there, Xerneas and Yveltal. It's assumed that she wants to use Xerneas's power over life to resurrect Holly, and Yveltal's power over disruption to defend herself while she goes finding that power. However, it's revealed much later that she also wants to destroy herself, seeing that many of the problems in the region will be gone when she is. The reason is that Kristine has an uncontrolled power that no one knows what to do with, and it's causing the entire world to distort. This is why the villains are after her, and she agrees with what they're doing. However, she also wants to make sure that the distortions she cause beforehand are fixed, Holly is resurrected, and doesn't want to go out being killed by someone else. She keeps her true motivations separate from everyone else, and although the others find out at the end, it's too late to stop her.

She succeeds in obtaining the power of the Kalos legendary Pokémon and destroying the enemies that originally kidnapped Holly. After that, she uses the power of Xerneas to resurrect Holly. The power of Yveltal is used to take her own life (although she words it as destroying the source of the distortions, which he knows is herself) and then destroying the remaining distortions along with her. She does get some brief moments as a spirit that is shown ascending to heaven. She is a bit sad it had to end that way, but is happy she was able to sacrifice herself for the regions, she will die and be remembered as a hero, and that everything will finally be at peace.

Except it's revealed that everything is not peaceful.

Holly, for one, is devastated and never accepts Kristine's death or sacrifice. The others are also angry at her, believing that there could open another way, and that could've been found she just opened up to people. She made many friends along her journeys, so the people she trusted feel betrayed. It also pointed out that the other problems in the region unrelated to the distortions are still not sold and they've lost one of the people that could really help with solving those problems. Additionally, Kristine never faced the consequences of what she did on her journey before Holly Rising, and instead only solved one problem and ran away from everything else. Finally, although Kristine did stop the distortions and the uncontrolled power she had, it didn't stop anyone else from obtaining the power and losing control of it. Thus, the conflict would start all over again, and the only one who knew anything about the power that started it all would be unable to help. As a result, Kristine is remembered as a betrayer and a criminal who died a pointless death, rather than the hero she wanted and believed herself to be.

Once Kristine learns of all this, she becomes a restless spirit and a true ghost. She starts harassing many people, especially those who were with her on previous journeys. She is captured and placed in some sort of prison until others can figure out what to do with her. Early ideas had that prison be the Cold Storage in Unova, but it's unknown what the final version would have been.

Regardless, Holly find out about this, and is still angry about people not stopping the problems in the regions or what happened to Kristine. In a combination of desperation and rage, she travels where Kristine's spirit is, hurts or even kills the people guarding it, and frees the soul. At some point Holly would've also learned about the idea of resurrection and fusing things together, but it's unknown how she would have, what type of power she would've had, or what she would've done specifically. Regardless, she would've merged with Kristine to gain her power, becoming the figure Maria seen in this chapter. However, it's worth noting that Holly is considered dead at that time, because there was no way to get her back to the person she used to be, and if the new being dies, so do both Kristine and Holly. Things would have been more benevolent though, with two people combining powers and personalities as opposed to a complete takeover of someone that couldn't fight back.

They would've also learned that another version of Kristine (Usurping's) was in the early stages of her own journey that she was taking in her Holly's place. They understood that the difference with this Kristine is that she's actually trying to stop the problems in the regions, figure out a way to control her power, and confront the past with whatever consequences might happen to her. Both Holly Rising's Kristine and Holly herself are furious that another person is trying to do what they could and after they suffered so much in their own efforts. In their fused form, they use their powers to jump into Usurping's world. They then become one of the major villains, intent on taking Usurping's Kristine's power and identity for themselves. With that, they would become the heroes they wanted to be originally and it would erase all their previous problems. However, other people start to find out who they are as soon as they confront Usurping's Kristine. As a result, their reputation is vilified, people become aware of their crimes, and unite against them. After Usurping's Kristine solves the problems in all of the regions, she confronts the fusion of Holly and Holly Rising's Kristine as her final opponent. She is able to defeat the other person after a long hard fight, restore the damage they have done to the regions, and annihilate both Holly Rising's Kristine and Holly completely. As a result, both of those two are irreversibly dead. They end up in Traveler's equivalent of Hell for their betrayal the regions and the damage they thoughtlessly caused.

So Holly was heading towards the same fate, only it was a much more roundabout way and a much different context.

However, it was one that didn't work when her and Holly Rising's Kristine's characters changed.

Conversely, I still wanted to use some of my old ideas, such as different characters being developed as they went different regions, something happened to Holly to kick that off, some of the villains that were shown, the idea of confronting the past or lack thereof, and the idea of there being sequels at all. Unfortunately, as Holly Rising progressed I had no idea how to pull that off. I still didn't know too much, aside from the fact that I wanted to have the sequels take place in the same areas as they were originally, with some of the same villains and some of the same characters being in the group that traveled around. I also had to use a new character for the second sequel (eventually deciding to use the canon character Nia from Pokken) since Kristine obviously could be the point of view anymore.

The Mold Breaker Kristine wasn't around at that time originally, although I did try to work her when I made her character later. I knew I wanted the protagonists to fail when they went after Holly and that version of Kristine the first time, to set up the sequel, the power they would obtain, and what they would try to do. However, I wasn't sure how I wanted the story to end, especially since I still wanted the Mold Breaker Kristine to take her own journey. I originally thought of the protagonist being successful the second time, and Mold Breaker Kristine would return to her world to begin her own journey and fix the problems there. She would realize that the people could protect themselves and were mostly at peace, leaving her free not to worry about what was going on in that world. So she left content, knowing that regardless of what her role was, she had completed her mission.

But that still didn't give me an idea of much of what was going to happen. And if in many ways it still felt inconclusive with plot threads dangling. Additionally, instead of Usurping's journey being a continuation of what was going on, it just seemed to drag the story out and felt unnecessary. This is because it and Kristine's character would barely be connected to the story at all, and the world would already be at peace for the most part, or at least the one the readers knew. So there would be no reason for Kristine to go on her journey aside from making this series much longer and it could be something that could easily be standalone instead.

For a long time, I was unsure what to do, even though I was working on Holly Rising almost every day at the time. Therefore, the unofficial deadline of when I had to decide what to do was looming closer and closer.

Then, I watched a fan project called Pokémon Emperyan.

Pokémon Emperyan is a completed Pokémon fan game that is both much longer and more difficult than traditional Pokémon games. It also adds concepts that are never been seen in traditional Pokémon games, or even other fan projects. Pokémon Emperyan takes place in a huge original region, with the story being darker and more complicated than what is typically seen. Despite this, it's not overly popular in the Pokémon fan project community, and I found it by accident while looking for something else. However, it caught my eye because of the above factors.

And as I continued getting further into the story, I discovered another factor.

One of the Pokémon Emperyan's main themes is time travel, including what it would realistically take to do so, and the consequences of it. In addition to dealing with evil teams and other villains, the player has to eventually square off against powerful beings called Emperyans. The Emperyans are similar to fallen angels, are stronger than almost any Pokémon or person, and some have even brought destruction in many different eras. The player eventually learns that their missing father, Hal, had traveled to a future timeline to battle the Emperyans and those who would want to use the beings' destructive power for themselves. However, Hal failed, and was captured by the evil team supporting the Emperyans. The player, in addition to trying to become the Champion and take down the evil forces in their own era, sets out to find their father.

They, alongside a few others, finally time travel to the future era where their father is being held captive. There, the player finds a group rebelling against one of the Empyreans and villainous team backing the creature. Those more experienced with time travel warn that this timeline is doomed, that the rebels will be slaughtered, and that the world cannot be saved. They say to just find the player's father and then leave.

However, a number of younger people in the group, including the player themselves, disagree with that. They decide to find a way to defeat the villains, including the Emperyans, regardless. As a result, the entire group spends a lot more time in the future than planned, and come up with a method for destroying their foes. Once they defeat their foes in battle, it seems like the timeline's horrible ending may be averted. It's to the point that even those who are experienced in time travel and have seen the future admit they may have been wrong. To everyone's surprise, the remaining Emperyans outwit the players group. This dooms the timeline anyway, and kills nearly everyone in it. The player's group manages to escape, and the player's father is still rescued. Unfortunately, the player still regrets what happened.

Luckily, they discovered that from their travels in the future timeline, they have discovered information to prevent what happened in said timeline from happening in any era ever again. However, as of this writing, player characters have yet to act on that information. This is because that while the main game is complete, content available after that is not. Once the player returns from time traveling, they have to go become the Champion and complete the main story before they can do anything else. Unfortunately this includes working on adverting the horrible future they saw. Once the player becomes the Champion, it's revealed that the quests for continuing that part of the story have not yet been implemented. As of this writing, it's unknown when or if those quests will ever be put into the game.

Regardless, all of this gave me an idea anyway.

Some similarities to Pokémon Emperyan were in Traveler long before that. This includes alternative timelines (worlds), someone taking a trip to them to fix things and rescue others, fallen angels, people rebelling against evil, and showing the consequences of all the otherworldly travel.

But the idea the main character failing to save everyone regardless of all the power…

The idea of the rebellious protagonist going down and the world being doomed…

The idea of the main villain outwitting the characters despite I'm trying to find ways to save the world…

And the idea of one person taking back knowledge that would prevent something like that from happening another time, or even destroy the villains entirely…

Something like that was not in Traveler.

Not only did all that makes sense to put in there, but it was the perfect solution to the problems I was having.

So I implemented that all almost immediately.

The final result was Kristine's nightmare and the set up for Usurping

-But Pokémon Emperyan is not the only thing referenced in this chapter.

Another reference is to the game Undertale, and it's in the chapter's title.

The theme Fallen Child is the motive of the character Chara.

It's also probably the creepiest song in the game, if not any videogame tracks.

And it's for good reason.

Chara is a human child who fell into the underground and the world populated by monsters. Their gender is never revealed, so they are described with gender-neutral pronouns. Regardless, although Chara is integral to the game's story, the player will hardly ever hear their theme. This is because the theme only plays once the player has gotten the worst ending and cannot go back. Chara will make their only physical appearance in the game, rewarding the player's efforts by permanently tainting the saved file. Tainted save files cannot achieve the best ending, and trying to do so anyway will reward the player with the variant of the worst ending instead. While third-party software has been developed that removes the taint, options are very limited, and depending on what system the player is playing on, these options are impossible to use.

All of this is because Chara passed away before the events of Undertale. However, their death sets the story in motion, and their spirit still lingers on. Another human child, the player character (canonically named Frisk and also having no revealed gender), eventually falls into the underground. This child is heavily implied to have fallen directly into the area where Chara died. It's also implied (and confirmed if the player completes the worst ending) that Chara's soul is still lingering there. As a result, Chara's soul latches onto Frisk, and takes the journey with them through the underground monster world. Some theories also speculated that Chara's soul possesses Frisk at this point, and the character going through the journey is actually a resurrected Chara. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support this, especially given what happens in the worst ending.

Regardless, the player finds out that Chara has a lot of lingering hate and issues that indirectly lead to their death. This is despite having a good relationship with the monsters in the underground and even being adopted by the royal family there. How Chara deals with these issues in the present day depends on the player's actions. Chara can either work through their issues and be at peace as/with Frisk (best ending), have their hate and issues validated (worst ending, and subsequent runs for the best), or have something in between happen and have the chance to go back and try again (any of the normal endings, and the player must to get a normal ending first to go for the best ending).

In order to get the worst ending and trigger Chara's physical appearance, the player must kill every monster in the game. Chara's theme will play as they both congratulate and mock the player. Chara will then revealed that they are the one behind Frisk getting stronger in battle (even though the game explains that is what the player is not supposed to do). Every time Frisk became stronger in battle, Chara exerted more and more control over them. At the end of the bad ending, Chara is only able to influence the living world. However, they also hate the world at this point because their issues never got resolved. They ask Frisk if they want to destroy the world, seemingly presenting them with a choice. Unfortunately, regardless of what choice the player picks, Chara will destroy the world anyway. If the player tries to back out of the choice, Chara will mock both Frisk and the player for thinking they ever had any control. Chara then destroys the world regardless. However, no matter what action the player takes on the final choice, Chara will end up fully possessing Frisk.

On all subsequent playthroughs, dialogue will change. This dialogue directly reflects Chara's thoughts on various things throughout the game. This dialogue will also be shown in a different font and colored red (dialogue is usually white). Several other minor changes will also take place, reflecting Frisk's changed character. If the player tries to go for the best ending in this state, there will be in addition to the ending. In this ending, Chara is shown taking control again (or still being completely in control). In order to get the best ending, the player must not kill any monsters among fulfilling several other requirements. However, the extended ending on the tainted version on the route shows a mocking Chara killing everyone anyway. As stated before, there is no way to prevent this, and with third-party software options there are happen to be limited.

Thus, even though the theme is mostly associated with Chara, it's also indirectly associated with Frisk as well. Frisk has fallen in the sense that they went against everything the game tried to teach them. This is much more literal when they die from Chara's possession as a result.

The whole scenario with Frisk and Chara is something I found similar to Holly and Maria (her version of Kristine). Holly fell because she abandoned everything she stood for, and then eventually died by Maria's. Holly also thought she was in control of things and getting stronger by herself. But the reality is that Maria was always in control and behind everything. Every time only got stronger, it was actually Maria becoming stronger. Maria asserts this and her control over Holly when she murders and fuses with her. As a result, the relationship is a lot like Frisk and Chara, only much more direct and with even deadlier consequences.

-Kristine's nightmare underwent a lot of changes, and these changes are part of the reason why the chapter is so long. Originally, the nightmare was going to be very short, with her only seeing Maria and remembering what that meant (not even seen things like the fusion or Holly's death). I even thought about making her not have a nightmare at all and instead just jump straight into a vision that would lead to some of things in upcoming chapters.

However, this was changed for major reason.

And they had to do with how the series was written.

When I first started Traveler, I had the idea of writing three books from Holly's world detailing journeys involving her. Kristine, then a separate character, would get three books of her own detailing how she handled certain events on the journey. Eventually, Kristine's version of the events was planned to be stretched out to nine books. Each book would cover a region that she went through a second time. The books involved each of the main regions (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar). The ninth region and part of the nine books involved many of the side games being combined together and placed on different islands (based off of the Sevii Islands in the main games, but with more expansion). This region was unnamed at first, but early drafts called it Katoenn. The idea of Kristine going through all these regions and solving the problems there was something that remained for a long time, even as plots and characters change. Only recently was a discarded for something else, and are still references to it in some of the current books.

Even after Holly's character and ending of her story changed, I still wanted to do three books worth of content. This continued for a long time, to the point where the resolve of references in other stories in the series. When I was trying to get together different things were a single, I realized that might not be the best idea.

It would be difficult to write because the characters would fail consistently, and I would know that their actions would amount to nothing in the end. Additionally, something like this could easily turn off readers as well, since there would be a lot of death and destruction no matter what lightheartedness I tried to put in between (and in a story like that, any lightheartedness could easily be seen as inappropriate). To make things even more complicated I really wanted to get to Kristine's story, but realized that writing two more stories where she fails and experiences a lot of, before she starts her journey was getting in the way. To make matters worse, I didn't know a lot of what I wanted to do plot-wise. Unlike usurping, I had no blueprint of a journey to go off of, so I would be spending a lot of time trying to figure out what I want to do. With two books worth of that, it seemed unlikely I would write the story at all.

For all those reasons, I decided to skip writing two books worth of content and just jump straight to Usurping as a sequel.

But then I ran into another problem.

The ending was one of the few things I had figured out a lot of things about, and I knew I needed to show it to connect things to Holly rising and have certain story elements make sense. But since I had never planned for Usurping to be a direct sequel, I wasn't sure how at first. The end result was making the nightmare much longer, and having Kristine reveal more information about what happened. But it also made the chapter much longer, since I couldn't have her stop in the middle without it seeming jarring.

-One thing that didn't change throughout the story was the use of Xerneas and Yveltal for the major plot points at the end. This has to do with their powers canonically, and also my interpretations of them based on what information is given.

Xerneas is a Pokémon representing life, and his canonically shown to be able to resurrect things. Many fan interpretations have a resurrecting things as well. Canon also hints that it can make people who harness its power immortal, although the because of that are not known and it's not actually seen doing that someone. The only implication even has this power is a character named Lysandre talks about using it to make his opponents suffer forever. There's also another character, AZ, who is immortal. However, it's not known if Xerneas's power is the reason why. Regardless, fan interpretations also ran with the idea that Xerneas could make things immortal. Therefore, Traveler follows suit and I thought it appropriate if it used the both those powers on Maria.

As for the corrupted form of power Xerneas uses at the end to make Holly Maria's empty shadow servant after the former is killed, the power is never seen canonically. However, it was established earlier on in the series that Maria (or rather, the person that would become her) was able and willing to corrupt and control powerful Pokémon given the right circumstances. She is currently doing that for most of the series and it was the source of a lot of power. So I figure that wouldn't be out of character for her to corrupt Xerneas's power and use it that way.

Yveltal is a bit of a different story. The idea of using Yveltal's powers in the way they are here was introduced a little bit later, but it's also closer to the canon interpretation. Canonically, Yveltal can destroy just about anything, and is shown using the power many times. However, is only shown destroying things that are tangible, and canon doesn't elaborate on if it can destroy things that aren't. I decided to assume it could, and that led to some major plot points.

Probably the largest one was something that was revealed around halfway through Holly Rising. This reveal was one of them one of the protagonists, the Kristine from Holly's world, had actually died 15 years ago. She and Tulip (a Nihilego who was fused with her) died from misusing their combined power, but Kristine refused to accept her death. In the world of Traveler, Yveltal is one of the Pokémon species representing death and the afterlife, specifically being the one that ferries people to the world beyond death. As a result, it was in close proximity to Kristine when she died.

When Yveltal tried to force Kristine to pass on anyway, Kristine revealed that she still had Tulip fused with her and use the latter's power. She then used Tulip's poison to corrupt Yveltal's mind (something Nihilego can do canonically, but on a much smaller scale) and force the creature to serve her. No one else could do anything to help, since they risked getting mind controlled themselves. They also risked getting attacked by Yveltal since Kristine having control over the creature's power meant that she could use it at will.

Kristine's first application of Yveltal's power was to make it destroy the fact that she died. Any subsequent deaths would instead have Yveltal also destroying that particular death and reviving her. Thus, from that point forward, she was able to live as a normal person as though she had never died. She also hid Yveltal as a spirit within her body, so almost no one knew what she had done. Even the few who did know couldn't do much against her, and Yveltal also destroyed even the tiniest trace of a body. So Kristine's secret appeared to be safe, until was revealed during an argument. However, there wasn't much proof either way at that point, and the person that revealed that wasn't exactly reliable. So the secret continued to be kept until near the end of Holly Rising. The Mold breaker Kristine forces her counterpart to take spirit form and make her true body appear. Unfortunately, this doesn't do any damage, Maria can still use Yveltal's power, and doesn't change anything in the long run.

With all this history with Yveltal, I figured it would make sense to have Maria use the enslaved Pokémon's power to murder Holly. While canon does mention it can destroy almost anything, it doesn't give a lot of information as to how. Therefore, I was free to kill Holly however I wanted with Yveltal's power. It took me a long time to think of what I wanted to do, but then I decided on the method that's used in this chapter.

This is because I wanted to make it horrifying and clear that Holly was suffering from a painful and slow death, but at the same time I figured it would be even more horrifying if a person could not see it but only hear the minor details. Furthermore, that would normally be gory and messy, but using a magical equivalent could eliminate that and still do fatal damage. The most important thing was that I wanted Holly's body to be completely intact, with her soul ripped out to make it clear she was dead. That way her version of Kristine could transfer into it, and become Maria. Going with the method used in this chapter was the best way to do that.

There were a couple things Holly's death was based on. One thing was a game called Knights in the Nightmare. In Knights of the Nightmare, the main character is a deceased King who has become a floating soul called a Wisp. The soul is then able to possess the spirits of his fateful knights to attack opponents and solve a crisis in the world. He can do the same to whoever the other main character in the game is, with the person depending on the route the player takes (either a Valkyrie named Maria, a hot-blooded half-spirit warrior named Melia, or an otherworldly princess trying to get home named Yggdra). Unlike the knights, these characters are clearly living and never meet each other. Some of them even have a chance of dying at the end of their routes, and if they do, they cannot be revived. However, it's revealed that the king and his knights are simply separated from their bodies. Anyone who has their soul separate from their body can be completely revived, but those who are explicitly killed stayed dead. If the player gets the best ending in the routes, the king and his knights are revived.

Another basis was the book the Golden Compass (also known as the Northern Lights). In this book, peoples' souls take the form of shape shifting animals called daemons. People and their daemons normally cannot be separated, or even be far away from each other. This bond is present for a person's entire life, with the two dying together when the person does. However, ways to separate humans and daemons are developed throughout the book. One of the early ways is something called tearing. With this method, a person and their daemon are forcefully moved away from each other. This continues until the bond an invisible link between them is broken (torn). The person and the daemon then act similar to zombies (with the victims are outright called zombies at one point). In many cases, the method is fatal, to the point where one major character dies on-screen from it. It's also made clear that the character died in agony and fear, even though he wasn't actually being torn apart. Even though the context is different and bloodlessly tearing someone apart is explored more here, I still was inspired by the Golden Compass's concept.

-The thoughts about Maria and how much of her character was revealed was changed even after Kristine's nightmare was expanded upon. Originally, Maria's motivations and character were not going to be revealed until much later. There was a chance they might not even be revealed at first in the story at all, but instead in the companion story that I would write from her point of view (including a bit from the time before she became Maria). I chose to reveal her motivations here because it would allow me to get deeper into the story and Usurping Kristine's thoughts. It also allowed me to get into more into Maria's character as well, showing that she wasn't just doing things for the sake of being evil.

-Holly's shadow form was based off of her fighting style in Holly Rising. In that story, Holly is shown to be extremely athletic, easily delivering punches and kicks to disarm and hurt opponents. Later on, Holly gives a giant sword and shield Pokémon called Aegislash (with said Pokémon being nicknamed Morgana). With this, she becomes far deadlier in combat. Shortly thereafter, she even kills her first opponent, although with only a wild Pokémon and the kill is in self-defense. Holly is always shown to have a love of fire, and about midway through she realizes she can use it as a weapon too. Early on, she acquires some Fire Type Pokémon, so she realizes she can train them to directly attack other people. So they start to do so, to the point where she has them burn down buildings that her opponents are in with the intent of murdering them. Therefore, the flaming sword encompasses all those different fighting styles, and the fact that Holly no longer has to rely on any Pokémon. The flaming sword was going to appear later in a different context, but I figured I would show it off now to showcase Holly's fighting style and the fact that she herself is now a tool for war.

-Holly becoming a shadow is a later addition to the chapter. I want to show how Maria would destroy the world, but I didn't know how she would do originally. I only knew she would. In earlier drafts, Holly was going to the proper funeral and burial. She would also be dragged out Traveler's equivalent of Hell by Darkrai (who is the equivalent of Hell's ruler in this universe, although he is not evil and did not rebel against Heaven). However, I realized it made more sense if Maria decided that Holly made it so that their enemies were not the satisfaction of burying Holly or forcing her to receive any sort of justice even in the afterlife. And with her corrupted abilities to resurrect, Maria choosing to resurrect Holly as powerful shadow slave while forcing the latter's spirit to watch was not unfeasible. And with that much power and the ability to potentially resurrect anyone who died to turn them into shadow slaves, Maria would have an easy means of destroying the world.

As for whether or not she would use this power going forward, I am currently unsure of the details. Right now I am planning to have her use it, but nowhere near as much or directly as seen in this chapter. The reason is that she would give herself away which is currently planned to be a bit more subtle and in the background. Another reason is that she's also planned to have quite a few living allies, or at least those who agree with her, in Kristine's world, where she doesn't have hardly any by the time the scene in Kristine's nightmare occurs.

-Holly's shadow form originally looked different in the first drafts of this chapter. She was originally based on the brainwashed fighters from the game Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. These fighters were gray with red eyes, although they retained some of their regular looks when they were fought in battle. Another previous inspiration was Super Smash Brothers Brawl and its corrupted fighters. These fighters were made of purple shadows, and would dissipate upon being defeated.

I eventually decided to use neither of those. The reason is that while it was clear something was wrong with the characters, they just looked out of place. Sometimes they getting be seen as silly due to how blatantly amiss the situation was. I wanted something a bit more intimidating, and realized I could also expand on that idea by being more subtle about there being something wrong. I ended up using something similar to the corrupted Pokémon (Shadow Pokémon) from Pokémon Colosseum and XD. In those games, corrupted Pokémon are surrounded by a dark aura few can see. Even to those that can see it, it's not immediately obvious that they are corrupted or that there's even anything wrong. The Pokémon also look normal in battle, and don't act any different aside from being a bit more vicious, occasionally using harsher and unusual attacks, and, in rare cases, attacking people that get in their way. Since this type of corruption is more subtle and already was mentioned in the story of Traveler, I thought it would be appropriate to use here.

-In the original notes, as soon as she took refused form, Maria was going to murder Tulip and Yveltal. The reason was that she would feel she didn't need them anymore, having the power of her dragon Pokémon. This was taken out for a few reasons. One is that the two of them would've immediately gone to heaven, as they were two of her victims. Thus, she'd be granting them justice for the actions she caused, when she was previously established to be a person that denied others justice. The second is that even though Maria wasn't relying on their power anymore, it didn't necessarily mean she didn't need it. In fact, she would probably need it even more because there would be all-new set of enemies after her. The final reason is that she is an abuser and enjoys controlling and taunting others. Therefore it would make sense for her character to keep the two imprisoned, just have control over them and have freedom dangling out of their reach.

-Finally, the commentary about Kristine's nosebleeds comes from how she reacts versus real-life. In real life, a nosebleed as severe as the one in this chapter is usually indicative of a severe medical problem. These can include things like diseases, and some of these diseases can be fatal. However, when I first came up with the idea of Kristine having nosebleeds, it was because I wanted them to have a supernatural cause and be something she found annoying but eventually got used to. Therefore, I added an explanation in the chapters where her nosebleeds first appear to clear up any confusion.