Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon nor fate series, they are property of their respective creators; can't you fell their all-seeing eyes on you as you defile their property, our punishment sooner or later will come. In the form of mapo tofu in FGO gacha :C
A bright white light temporarily blinded me as the scene surrounding me shattered as if it were made of crystal. The world, full of swords encased in eternal dawn, vanished. The ruins of a destroyed temple illuminated by the soft glimmering moon were left in its place.
The fighting had come to an end. I gave it my all, yet in the end, it was in vain. I have failed.
I have been aware since the beginning that, probably, I was going to die in this fight. But knowing it beforehand is one thing. Really experiencing it is entirely different.
There was not a single human on earth capable of contending with mankind's oldest hero on equal ground. The thought of any human being, past or present, standing a chance was absurd, and for me, it usually would be the same as the rest. However, unlike most of humanity, I had an advantage, my as-in-the-hole, a world full of swords. None of them real, and even so, none any weaker than their original counterparts.
Against a normal heroic spirit, this world full of counterfeits would do very little to give me a real advantage, but against the golden king... it was the perfect counter to his Gate of Babylon, or so Rin had called it during our planning section the night before the fight.
But I was unsure of its reliability, not that I told Rin or Saber any of my worries; they were already reluctant enough to let me face Gilgamesh by myself as it was.
It wasn't a matter of having it or not having it; I could feel it the same way any other person could feel the presence and position of any of their limbs even without being able to actually see them. What really concerned me was whether I would be able to properly deploy it or not. I had seen brief flashbacks of Archer's first attempts at using it, and they weren't pretty. The number of things that could go wrong when deploying a reality marble was astronomical, from Gaia breaking your mind from the inside out to your own personal reality ripping your insides into shreds and other bizarre ways of dying; it wasn't a coincidence that only five human beings through all of history had been able to deploy one. The chances were that the number of people who had one but weren't able to deploy it was probably higher.
Yet against all odds, it worked... Part of it was thanks to Rin, who was providing me the necessary prana, making it possible in the first place; another was the opponent I was facing, who so nicely gave me the time to deploy it; the rest was just pure luck, a fluke.
Thanks to that, an actual fighting chance was given to me. For the first time in the fight, the golden king wasn't just sparingly throwing swords but had to defend himself. Even this, shouldn't have been enough to win against him; it would have sufficed for him to use his most precious treasure for the battle to be over. It was his arrogance what ultimately provided me with a real chance to seize victory. And to seize it, I tried.
The battle unfolded on the wasteland covered in swords, where the first rays of the morning came from the horizon but the sun was never allowed to fully rise. On that barren land, swords flew in both directions, creating a deafening cacophony of screeching metal. If this attrition war were to continue, I was sure that I was going to run out of prana before he ran out of swords, so I decided on a final bet: close combat. To willingly choose to fight against a servant in close combat was ridiculous; not that fighting against a servant in any way was anything short of madness, but to try to best a servant by using physical strength and technique was a whole new level of madness. But that was the only choice that I had left if I wanted a chance of winning. Inside this world, I could probably take my reinforcement a notch higher, hopefully enough to allow the technique and experience that I inherited from Archer and the ones stored on my blades to be enough to win. I was sure that the chances weren't zero after all; my opponent was no close-range fighter.
Determined on following my plan. I ran in his direction; the answer to my charge was a hail of steel directed my way, which I countered with my own. While that was possible at the beginning, as I got closer, using my own swords to deflect his became more difficult as the distance from where the swords were launched by The Gate of Babylon at me grew shorter, making them more difficult to avoid, which forced me to have to wield Kanshou and Byakuya to parry the projectiles that went through my own barrage of swords. The final meters were even trickier, but thanks to Rho Aias, I was able to cover the last stretch relatively unscratched.
Once I was able to get to him, the dance of swords began, and as I had expected, he was stronger and faster, but not so much that it didn't allow me to fight him off. The fighting style of Archer took care of the rest, giving me a slight advantage against the golden king, who was slowly but surely losing terrain. For every nick or glancing blow that I got, he got two, which in turn infuriated him more, making his swordplay even sloppier. The vicious circle continued until, on an oversight, he misstepped in the irregular terrain, causing a slight, almost imperceptible opening that my body instinctively moved on, almost stabbing through his face. Even though he was able to barely move his head to avoid the fatal strike, he wasn't able to completely avoid it, as it cleanly cut his left ear.
A little blood fell on one of my eyes, which gave him enough time to disengage. That was the point in the fight when he probably understood that he could lose, which in turn made him try to take the fight seriously and end it once and for all by using his strongest Noble Phantasm, but at that point, it was already too late. If he had tried to do so before I had closed the distance between us and deployed my reality marble, there would have been nothing I could do to stop him, but now... there was no chance I would let him go.
As he was jumping back and trying to take out the sword of rupture, my prana was already flowing to my legs in a particular way compressing on a single point guided by the experience of the original wielder of the blade currently in my hand. By the time he finished taking the sword from the portal, I was already in mid-swing, having been propelled from where I was before at blinding speed. The emotions of confusion and pain mixed on a single face as his arm was severed in a single motion. In order to maintain my momentum, I pivoted on my right leg and transferred the kinetic force on a second strike, this time enough to slice him in two.
For a second, as my sword was being swung to his chest, I had the fleeting thought I might have won. And I was indeed a step short of almost succeeding. Only for the victory to slip through my fingers at the last second. My fuel ran out at the worst moment, leaving me only a step short of the goal.
Before my sword could bite into his flesh, the flow of prana sustaining the reality marble stopped as I ran out of energy, causing the scene around me to collapse, and with it, the boost I was receiving from my inner reality also disappeared, giving Gilgamesh enough of a time frame to safely avoid the worst of the attack and survive. At that moment, I already knew I had lost.
It was strange to realize how quickly the situation had changed and you had gone from winning to losing; I wonder if this is how people in casinos feel when they lose all their money, though in my case, instead of losing all my money, I was about to lose my life.
I was not afraid of death; strange as it may seem, I had never been afraid of death since I was a child. The thought of my vision blacking out and my brain ceasing to function was at best trivial. It took me a while to realize that it was not normal, but I could do little to change that. After all, since I began chasing my dream, my death was an acceptable outcome.
What really frightened me were the consequences of my failure. With my defeat at the golden king, the responsibility to stop him fell on Rin and Saber's shoulders now.
To keep worrying about it was useless, seeing how I was incapable of even moving a single finger and could barely open my eyelids. I was left utterly exhausted after the fight; it had taken even the last drop of prana from my magic circuits. That did not mean I could not push my body further beyond its limits; sacrificing my life, I might be able to scrape out some prana, just not nearly enough to try to recast my reality marble or activate any noble phantasm, and without them, anything I did would only hasten my execution.
Accounting that the best I could do was allow the golden king to do whatever he wanted with me, making him lose even more time, and pray for it to be enough for Rin and Saber to destroy the holy grail.
I didn't even need to look up from the ground to feel his burning gaze piercing right through, scrutinizing me as if trying to kill me with just his gaze. But he wouldn't, as if.
In his head, I have wronged him in a way that no one has before. To give me a painless warrior death would be too tame for an offender of the highest order like me. Were not the Babylonians, after all, the creators of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"?
Stabilizing my breathing, I mentally prepared for what was going to happen.
Once my mind had calmed down enough, I decided to face my fate, and so I raised my head to look at him. The passing thought of him being the last thing that I was going to see soured my mood even further.
He had not escaped unscathed, that was for sure. His trunk was covered in slashes, the worst of which ran from his right shoulder to just above his waist. His right arm was severed, and blood continued to pour from it, staining the ground underneath him while making a steady dripping sound.
His face was in a deep frown, and his clothes were torn and dusty with the addition of blood-red details, added by yours truly throughout the fight. Not even then, did the annoying bastard lose his regal and majestic aura.
As if waiting for me to look at him, the golden king finally broke the silence.
"Running out of mana is such a pathetic end."
The king's voice reverbed into the destroyed temple as a portal from the Gate of Babylon opened behind him; a nameless noble phantasm stuck out from there, ready to be launched.
"Victory is yours, but it won't save your life, faker!"
My recently awakened eye of the mind told me that there was no way to avoid it; it wasn't going to kill if the aim was anything to go by. If I had to guess, he was going to turn me into a pincushion before giving me the coup de grace. At least the remainder of my lifespan could be used to delay the golden king further.
Perhaps because of the violent way I was going to die, or maybe because that is just how the human brain is wired, as I was faced with my imminent demise, I couldn't help but start seeing flashbacks of my life. My dream, my friends, my choices This was the end of the path, the end of the dream. And I couldn't help but wonder, "Did I become a hero?"
Thanks to having sent Saber to destroy the grail while I distracted Gilgamesh, a lot of people were saved. Rin would probably be mad when she discovered that was my plan since the beginning, provided she didn't already know. It makes me happy, it really does... But knowing that I am leaving everyone behind... for some reason, I can't understand. I can't help but feel kind of empty.
"At the end of the road, I cannot say I regret my choices... but they left me with nothing but a bitter taste." I closed my eyes, awaiting the blade that would end my life, but it seemed that fate had other plans.
Before my execution could happen, and contrary to all expectations, as if answering my prayers, a second miracle happened that night, and from the stump of Gilgamesh, a black hole formed and started pulling, rapidly swallowing him inside.
I was left astonished about what just happened; I was saved at the last minute by the very thing I wanted destroyed. Maybe God was on my side.
It looked like I was going to go back home tonight. For some reason, for the first time in my life, I really felt overjoyed.
Sadly, the illusion didn't last long. A golden chain shot out of the hole, pinning my arm and pulling me toward it. I quickly planted my feet on the ground to avoid being dragged, letting out a little grunt of pain at the feeling of a chain almost pulling my shoulder out of its socket.
From the black hole, the cursing figure of the king emerged once again, using me as an anchor to escape.
"This malformed abomination. Doesn't it understand that it can't use a fellow servant as his core!?" Exclaimed the extremely irate king
The pain of the chain nearly ripping my left arm off made it hard to stay focused on not being pulled. And Gilgamesh's cursing certainly didn't help.
Step by step, meter by meter. Slowly but surely, I was losing ground. At this rate, I wouldn't last long, it was only a matter of time before I was sucked in with him.
"Bastard, you are trying to pull me in with you."
"You fool, I will not die like this today. Stay where you are mongrel, at least until I can get back over to you."
It seemed that the idea of dying together wasn't appealing to him either. "The golden bastard is basically ordering me to help him out so he can, continue his world-destroying quest as if I would let him!''
"Trace on"
I chanted my mantra as I charged to him at all the speed that my recently reinforced body allowed me to, and stabbed forward with a dagger I had just traced.
He mustn't have expected my suicide charge at all, seeing how he was unable to halt the attack that was directed at his head. His skull was pierced by the dagger from his right eye all the way through to his brain. putting an end to his life once and for all.
That was the last thing I saw before passing out and being swallowed by the darkness.
-scene end-
Black. that was the first thing I could see not pitch black but the kind of black you see when your eyes are closed which implied that I was able to see, typically there wouldn't be any problem with that however I was pretty sure I died. How? I don't fully remember. My memories were jumbled. It took a while before the dizziness started to recede and the flashbacks started to flow, flooding my mind.
It was far from pleasant; the sharp headache that assaulted my head through the process of reliving my entire life was mind-numbing, and that falls short of describing the amount of pain I was feeling as memory after memory was violently reintroduced in my half-split skull.
It was only thanks to my ridiculously high pain tolerance that I did not end up fainting.
That pain lasted an instant, though it definitely felt like an eternity. One second it was there, and the next it was not. Once I had recovered enough from the assault on my brain, I decided to open my eyes.
The first thing to greet my sight as I opened my eyes was blinding white, which forced me to squint my eyes. It took a bit before my eyes fully adjusted to the light, allowing me to see the blurry green outline of trees, bushes, and a wide array of other plants. After some seconds, my vision fully refocused, allowing me to clearly see the vegetation surrounding me.
The foliage of the trees was so densely packed that it only allowed a very small amount of light to pass through. The air carried the moisty scent of nature while creating a soft rustling as it made the leaves brush against one another. It was plainly obvious that I wasn't in Fuyuki anymore.
"How did I end up in a forest?"
I tried to remember what happened before. Using my recently re-acquired memories; the holy grail war, the battle against Gilgamesh, my reality marble, the black hole of the holy grail... that was probably the reason I was transported to the middle of nowhere. But the real question was...
"Where am I?"
I quickly scanned my surroundings, taking in every bit of information I could about my new location. The first thing to catch my attention was the vegetation. It was unusual, almost unearthly; I did not know of a single forest on earth with plants like that, not that I had that much knowledge of forests anyway.
After pondering a bit on that, I decided that it was better not to spend more time thinking about what I could not understand. So, I stood up and decided to start looking for a vantage point from which I could get a better notion of the surrounding geography so I could try to find a settlement or at least a path or river that could guide me to one.
The first thing to come to my attention as I started moving was how I did not feel tired anymore and that my body had been completely healed. That was strange considering the state in which I was after the fight against Gilgamesh.
But I decided to play it down for now; I had more important things to worry about, like how to get out of an unknown forest.
I couldn't help but notice that my clothing was completely mended, different from the rags that were left after the golden calamity struck.
And what was weirder. The floor was closer than usual...
I immediately started feeling my body; it felt smaller without a doubt, though not by much, and it didn't feel awkward despite the different proportions. Having decided to assess the new situation, I went through a set of motions to check if there was any problem with my body. It felt, for lack of a better term, natural. In fact, I felt so attuned despite the changes that it was weird.
The fact that my body was altered while I was unconscious and I did not realize it until now did not fail to make shivers run down my back. The only good news was that the new changes were not going to heavily impact my ability to defend myself.
I quickly calmed myself down. I could not allow myself to lose my head just now. Panicking in an unknown place with scarce information about the whole panorama was a recipe for disaster.
What had happened to my body could wait; my main concern right now was knowing how I ended up here and how to go back.
As I was trying my hardest to put down the strange happenstance with my body, a letter materialized out of thin air and remained magically floating in front of me, until gravity decided to make itself known, quickly correcting the abnormality of an object that seemingly ignores its almighty pull.
I didn't move, not knowing how I was supposed to react to that. Under my gaze, the letter drifted in the air while swinging back and forth, from left to right, as it made its slow descent to the ground.
After a second, I hesitantly lowered my gaze to look at the letter on the floor. The inscription "from Zelretch to Emiya" could be read on the top of the envelope. It was addressed to me.
The name was familiar, even though I had never been acquainted with a person going by the name of Zelretch.
"It must be a memory from Archer."
Allowing the anxiety about the situation to take control of me, I picked up the envelope from the floor, proceeded to open it without wasting any more time, and started reading the only clue I had about my new situation.
Dear Emiya,
It saddens me to inform you that you have been transferred to another world. After being swallowed by a rift in spacetime created by the imploding holy grail, I decided to send you to another world in order to save your life.
Said world contains substantial differences from your previous one, though without a shred of doubt, the honorable council of Zelretchs will reach the consensus that the most defining feature of this world is the presence of strange creatures called pokemon. That, and this is one of the most interesting worlds out there. I would tell you more, but I wouldn't want to spoil the wonders of this world. So let me be concise with my advice.
First, do not kill Pokemon; it would have terrible consequences for you in the future. If you are still wondering how you are going to be able to recognize this pokemon, then worry no more, as you will be able to recognize them easily. Just look for those strange creatures roaming everywhere. Second, don't be afraid to use your real name; I even left some gifts for you in your name. Finally, remember to have fun.
I wish you an interesting journey.
P.D.: Do not attempt to return to Earth; Alaya and Gaia will kill you before you even set foot here.
My hands were trembling after I finished reading the letter. It seemed like a bad joke, something unbelievable, yet, for some reason, I couldn't help but accept these words as reality.
My instincts were telling me that everything I read was true. I was in another world and was basically told that I would never be able to return to my original world through a letter that used the same amount of ink to give me information about my new situation as it did to say how "fun" and "interesting" said situation was.
I tried to deny it, to tell myself that I had a chance to come back, that this was a sick joke from a higher being, and that said being would send me back to earth after having laughed enough at my reaction. However, even that was short-lived. My brain was rapidly assaulted with scenes of what Alaya and Gaia were capable of in order to dispose of unwanted visitors. And so, my hopes were utterly crushed again, courtesy of Archer's memories.
Frustrated with my present situation, I couldn't help but curse my luck and the person responsible for the present situation. The infuriating vampire not only sent me to another world but also had the nerve to write a letter that didn't have any useful information under the pretext that he didn't want to spoil the fun for me.
For god's sake, I didn't even know if there were other humans here.
"Curse you, Zelretch, and you too, Archer," I muttered quietly.
Taking deep breaths to calm myself, I decided to let my anger go. I wasn't being completely fair to him. After all, he did save my life, and I at least owe him that.
Tired of thinking about the person who threw me to my own devices in an otherworldly forest infected with potentially dangerous creatures. I tried to reinforce myself to start looking for a safer place where I could order my ideas and see what I was going to do about this whole situation.
But before I even started pronouncing my mantra, I found myself with an unexpected problem, I wasn't able to find my magic circuits. I focused my consciousness deeper, but even then, I couldn't find any trace of them; it was as if they had never been there.
"The good news doesn't stop coming," I mentally snarked.
While I kept cursing my luck. A sound coming from the bushes in front of me took me out of my internal ramblings, startling me.
I was painfully aware that I was defenseless, the only weapon I had were my two hands. And my greatest strength, my magic, was inaccessible. Unless I was willing to risk my life by cannibalizing my nerves.
Lowering my body's center of mass, I prepared for what was going to come.
A strange creature got out of the bush.
a small humanoid creature with white skin, short legs, and teardrop-shaped arms. It has shoulder-length green hair in a bob cut with bangs that obscure its eyes and two red horns protruding from its head.
I had never seen a creature like that on Earth.
"I wondered if that thing is what Zelretch called pokemon"
The creature in question trembled and was battered; it appeared as though it had seen better days. The little being examined me in the same way that I did with it. We stayed staring at each other for a brief period of time before the little creature started running and hid behind me. It took all of my willpower not to lash out at it. I had to suppress the instincts telling me to attack it. "That surely was Archer's fault."
Another set of strange noises began to emanate from the bush, though this time they were louder and accompanied by grunts. It didn't take long before another odd creature emerged from there.
The strange being looked like the unholy union between a rhino and a bunny with pink hide. It had the size of an average dog but was bulkier, and its sizeable ears made it seem even bigger.
The rhino-bunny, temporary name, didn't seem very friendly if its corporal language was anything to go by. It was growling a strange sound while getting ready to pounce at us.
The little creature behind me hugged my feet harder as if sensing the oncoming assault. The pink abomination continued to gaze at me with the eyes of a predator looking for any weak point.
Deciding to try intimidating it to see if I could make it flee, I made myself seem bigger by extending my arms. It didn't seem to have worked at all, actually, I think it made it angrier.
At this point, the confrontation seemed unavoidable. The tension continued growing until reaching a critical point. Without further ado, the predator charged at me.
My body reacted instinctively, picking up the little thing hugging my leg, making it let out a little high-pitched yelp, and rolling to one side, barely avoiding being hit.
By the time I was on my feet, my enemy was once again charging at me. Fortunately, this time I was better positioned, so I sidestepped the assault and then kicked its stomach with all my strength, making it let out a small cry. I instantly came to regret that as a sharp pain assaulted my shin, which felt as if it had hit a steel ball. That thing was sturdier than it appeared to be.
With the exception of pushing it back and causing a little pain, my previous attack proved to be ineffective. That made me realize I sorely lacked a method to actually damage my enemy.
The overgrown bunny rapidly regained its footing, but instead of charging blindly again, this time it opened wide its jaws. What came next caught me by surprise. Strange purple energy needles started being launched from its open mouth. It was only thanks to Archer's battle instincts taking over that I avoided being hit. My body moved, guided by the reflexes honed by my future self, executing a roll to the side.
A small cry of surprise could be heard from the thing I was carrying at the brusque movement, but I didn't let it distract me too much.
I tentatively took a look at the place where the volley of pink energy stuck, it was a tree. Said tree was pierced multiple times, not too deep but not too swallow either, and from the orifices, a white mist came out with a hissing sound. I couldn't let that attack hit me, or I wouldn't live to see the next day.
Without any new surprises, the battle started to fall at a pace. The pink menace would either charge at me or shoot the purple energy needles, and I would execute the corresponding evasive maneuvers.
I couldn't flee seeing how my enemy was faster than me, so I didn´t have any other option than fighting it off, in a desperate attempt to chase it away by inflicting pain attacking it this time using a wooden stick I found.
While it proved to be unable to do any kind of damage to the pink beast, the good news was that it somehow was causing it pain, it didn't show externally, but its body language denoted that it was wary of me now, doing fewer charges and attacking more from a distance. The bad news was that the piece of wood had already been broken so many times that the remaining pieces were too short to be used.
"I really wish I had a real weapon now...
Maybe if..."
As I was heavily considering cannibalizing one of my nerves to trace an actual weapon, a soft glow interrupted my train of thought. An ethereal light was coming from the horn of the little creature in my arms, immediately, two stones slightly bigger than my head and a piece of rotten log started levitating around us while giving off a strange light pink sheen.
The floating objects didn't stay leisurely floating for longer than a second as they were quickly launched at the stunned pink monster.
It was barely able to dodge two out of three projectiles by jumping. Unfortunately for that thing, the rotten log impacted fully on its face, exploding into tiny fragments of deadwood. The impact was so strong that it sent it flying like a rag doll until it hit a tree, making it let a pained howl.
I lowered my gaze to look at the one responsible for the attack, the little thing seemed a little winded but otherwise didn't show any sign of exertion.
"Did you do that?" The words slipped out of my mouth without thinking. The little creature raised its head to me, letting me catch a glimpse of its crimson-red eyes under its bangs, as it nodded surprising me.
"Can you understand me?" At my question, the creature in my arms nodded again. In spite of being a non-human from another dimension, the petite creature seemed somehow able to understand me. Neat.
I continued eyeing the little humanoid being on my hands in disbelief, which seemed to make it uncomfortable, as it lowered its head, hiding its eyes behind its bangs again, and started making little shifts trying to hide from my gaze. Deciding to give it a little space, I looked away to the second alien creature I had found since my arrival in this world.
Turning my gaze back to the injured creature, I catch it slowly raising its wobbling body. The pink long-eared rhino immediately shook its head to get rid of the dizziness. It seemed that thing was ready for round two.
I had expected that hit would have knocked it out; that log had traveled with enough force to break some bones. Even though the hit didn't knock it out, one thing was certain: that creature won't be able to endure a second blow of that caliber.
"Hey, would you be able to do that again?" I asked the little one in my arms. the answer I got was the two rocks that had been previously thrown, floating again encased by the same ethereal pink glow.
Nodding to myself, I proceeded to slowly lower it to the ground.
"Launch them at my signal!" At my instruction, it nodded again, showing its understanding. After conveying my instructions, I turned to face my foe again, who was cautiously looking at the floating stones. Without wasting any more time, I rushed in its direction. For the first time in the fight, I was the one taking the offensive, the roles had inverted: the predator became the prey, and the prey became the predator. Surprised by my action, the creature opened its mouth to attack again, but before it could attack, I was already in front of him. And with swift footwork, in a single movement, I was positioned at its unprotected back. circling my arms under its belly, I started spinning, rapidly gaining momentum before throwing it up.
"Now!"
At my order, the floating rocks sped up in the direction of the ascending creature at an even faster speed than the previous throw. One of the rocks flew past it, missing the mark, and the other hit its head on; a sharp cry could be heard before gravity did its thing, causing its body to collide with the hard ground for the second time.
After some seconds of not giving signals of awakening, I decided to take a closer look. It wasn't dead, judging by its chest raising and lowering, but it didn't appear it would be waking up anytime soon.
"Two to three hours I would say," was the verdict of my mental analysis influenced by the experience of a being who spent an eternity traveling from battlefield to battlefield.
Letting out a tired sigh, I decided to face the only strange creature who was still awake. My sight fell on the little green and white creature. It seemed calmer now that the other creature was knocked out, I didn't feel any hostility toward me, and it didn't seem to have the intention of fleeting.
The little creature turned its head to me and raised its head slightly, looking at me, allowing me to see its red eyes. The visual contact lasted a few seconds before the little thing swiftly turned its head to avoid keeping the visual contact in a way I could only interpret as shyness.
Clearing my throat, I decided to break the silence.
"My name is Shirou, Emiya Shirou," I introduced myself to the small creature slowly turning its head to look at me again, this time from under its bangs.
"I don't have a name... however, you can call me Ralts" a soft feminine voice spoke in my head
Before I could continue my conversation with the recently identified Ralts, bone-chilling roars, reminiscent of those of our last enemy, echoed in the distance. That wasn't a good sign. Judging by the volume and only accounting for their high speed, I could estimate that they were going to reach us in a little less than five minutes. We barely were able to fight against a single one of those creatures, we had no opportunity against an entire gang of them. We needed to get out of there, and we needed to do it now.
"Follow me" her voice sounded in my head again, this time instructing me, with what I could only perceive as a distressed tone before I could answer, Ralts darted off into the deeper forest.
I didn't have much of a choice, so I silently followed her while trying to avoid the numerous obstacles that littered the forest floor.
As expected from its short legs, the petite creature was rather slow, and judging by the already nearer howls we were rapidly losing terrain. I had to do something, or we weren't going to make it out of this alive.
Before Ralts knew what was happening, I scooped her up in my arms and took off running at breakneck speed. She let out a startled yelp, but I didn't slow down, I couldn't afford that.
"Guide me!" I shouted louder than intended, as I dextrously dodged branches and leaped over fallen logs.
The little creature took a short moment to settle down before giving the directions.
After a good time running and dodging, I was sure that we had lost our pursuers. So I decided to make a stop and rest a little. lowering Ralts from my arms and sitting on the nearest fallen log to catch a breath. My heart was hammering in my chest, and my lungs begged for fresh air. My legs screamed in protest at the amount of exercise they were subjected to.
After having recovered from the sprint, we continued marching to our destination, this time at a more subdued pace.
As we journeyed through the forest, we were constantly on alert for any sounds that might indicate danger. Whenever we heard something in the distance, we would quickly change our course to avoid any potential confrontation. The little communication we had was mostly one-sided, with me relying on her telepathic directions to guide our path. We knew that any noise we made could alert predators to our presence, so we were careful to keep our voices down.
As the sun began its slow descent toward the horizon, we finally arrived at our intended destination. The forest began to thin out, and we soon found ourselves in a small clearing. It was no more than a few meters wide, and at its center stood a solitary tree. it had a twisted trunk and gnarled branches that pointed upward.
As we drew closer to the tree, the air was filled with a strange, pungent odor. It was an odor unlike any I had ever encountered before, both sweet and repulsive at the same time. The source of the scent was immediately apparent; the tree was heavy with strange, yellow fruits,
"This plant has the ability to keep other Pokémon at a distance," she explained. "It emits a strong odor that is highly unpleasant to Pokémon."
With that, she gestured towards the plant in question, a tall, leafy specimen that towered over us. As we drew closer, a single one of the fruits started to emit a familiar purple glow. before violently falling and smashing against the hard ground.
The scent hit me like a wave, causing me to wrinkle my nose in disgust.
"Ugh, that's pretty bad," I said, trying to cover my mouth and nose.
"Exactly," she said with a nod. "But it's worth it if it means we can survive."
For a moment I couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt about how effective the tree could be. After all, how could a single plant grant us safety from creatures capable of supernatural feats?
as I mulled over the question, I realized that there was just not any other feasible explanation for the Ralts' survival in such a hostile environment. It had almost nonexistent combat abilities and no other companions to rely on, yet it had managed to thrive in this area.
Even after learning about this safe haven, it remained a mystery how this small creature managed to survive on its own; it was obvious that it was completely outmatched by its potential predators. Even the telekinetic attack that Ralts used at the end was only able to successfully hit its target the first time because the target was taken by surprise, and the second time because it couldn't move. That is not even taking into account that Ralts was left utterly exhausted after its second use in contrast with the pink rhino-bunny who seemed able to use its pink energy needles much more freely.
"You are thinking mean things about me, are you not?" an accusing voice reverbed in my head, jolting me back to reality. I instantly froze, turning to look at the petite creature, who was eyeing me with an inscrutable expression. As my face gave space to a guilty expression like a kid caught red-handed. "Sorry," I muttered as I didn't even try to deny my unkind thoughts.
trying to steer the conversation in a different direction I decided to quickly change the topic "By the way, did you just read my mind?" at my question she averted her gaze from me before her voice sounded this time more timidly and softer in my head " I can't read thought but I can pick up emotions of other beings. Even though most of the time yours are too strange to comprehend, sometimes I am able to understand their intention."
seeing how there was little time before it was too dark to see anything, we started to make some preparations for spending the nights outdoors. There wasn't much that I could do except for gathering some dry leaves to make a makeshift bed. I considered trying to make some fire but I decided to not take the risk of bringing some unwanted attention over us. meanwhile, Ralts used its telekinesis to spread pieces of the recently smashed pungent fruit throughout the proximity. I had to make a grand effort to not throw up at the pungent smell that now extended through the perimeter. if Ralts was feeling the same she didn't show it.
As the last rays of sunlight faded into the horizon, the sky turned into a soft shade of purple, heralding the arrival of the night. With each passing moment, the darkness grew thicker, casting shadows across the forest floor. Yet, as I looked up, the sky was a sea of twinkling stars, shining brilliantly against the darkness.
The full moon, now directly overhead, added an ethereal glow to the surrounding trees, casting an almost magical ambiance. Its light danced off the leaves, making the forest floor look as if it was illuminated with a faint blue light.
But amidst this surreal scene, I couldn't help but feel a pang of homesickness. The stars were different from what I was used to seeing back home.
As I continued my nostalgic stargazing while lying in the newly made leaf-bed, a soft rustling alerted me of a presence at my side. When I turned, I found Ralts tentatively stealing glances at me. The awkward situation continued for a little before Ralts decided to finally talk.
"How did you end up in this forest?" was the question she uttered.
"To be honest, I'm not sure myself," I admitted; while I had a general idea of how I got here, the specific mechanics and reasons eluded me. "But the only thing I know is that I probably won't ever be able to come back," I said as I turned my head to continue looking at the alien star-filled sky full of nostalgia. How many times had I done the same from the porch of my home?
"I see, so we're the same," her voice softly echoed in my head, prompting me to turn to face her. Something had changed this time; something in her demeanor screamed determination.
"Then... become my partner," was what sounded in my head.
"Partners?" I asked, baffled by her proposal.
"Partners," she said again. "I was told that pokemon and non-pokemon typically form a partnership," she explained. "I know that I am weak, but if you give me the chance, I promise you that I will be the best partner you could ever ask for."
I couldn't help but have a sense of deja vu about this whole situation. The image of a certain petite blonde swordswoman momentarily flashed through my head. I couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at it.
Slowly rising to a sitting position, I smiled at the petite creature at my side and extended my hand to it, saying, "I will be counting on you, partner." At that, her expression brightened. She curiously looked at my extended arm before cautiously extending her own.
"You won't regret it."
As her teardrop-shaped arm made contact with mine, an electric current seemed to pulse through my entire body, leaving me with a tingling sensation that I couldn't quite explain. I looked up at her, expecting to find an explanation for this strange feeling, but her face was just as perplexed as mine. Despite the unfamiliarity of the sensation, it didn't feel unpleasant or off-putting in any way. In fact, it was almost familiar, nostalgic even; but I couldn't quite put my finger on where had I felt this sensation before.
And so, after a brief period of uncertainty, the clogs of a certain world of swords started moving again. A new world; a new path; a new destiny; a new dream. Little did I know that this was just the beginning and that my life was about to change in ways I couldn't even imagine.
Omake 1(canon)
Another version of the fated encounter
"I had grown careless." I was, after all, the only one at fault for this situation. As I continued to chastise myself for the mistake that was going to probably end my pathetic life once and for all, my pursuer continued to quickly shorten the distance between us.
It wasn't my intention to end up in this situation. I just tried to harvest some fruits on what I thought was neutral ground; I should have known better. It turned out to be the new home of a pack of those vicious, pink-colored pokemon.
It didn't take long for one of them to find the trespasser stealing fruit on their territory. The violent creature surprised me before I could even make an attempt at using the fetid bomb I always carried with me. Catching me by surprise, with a single attack the vicious creature succeeded in separating me from my lifeline.
I should have felt its presence closing in on me; the amount of killing intention and other violent emotions that it constantly flared should have been enough for me to notice it from a distance. But i didn't, I didn't notice it until it was too late.
I was distracted, my overconfidence took the better of me, making me lower my guard in hostile territory, and now I was going to pay the price with my life.
Quickly standing up, I tried to escape the fastest I could, but I was quickly outrun by my previous attacker. My would-be predator, made a beeline for me and tackled me again, sending me soaring through the air again.
It wasn't until the fifth time that I understood this sick beast was only toying with me. Playing with its food before...
I wanted to scream, to curse the havens and the creator who made me this weak. But I couldn't find the strength to do so. After so much time surviving by the skin of my teeth, I had given up; I just couldn't anymore.
My enemy continued to toy with my body, throwing me to the sky just to search it and repeat the whole process time and time again. I didn't even try to avoid it or escape anymore, as I just patiently awaited my death.
And then, after being thrown again for the umpteenth time, as I was floating in the sky, I felt presence. It wasn't like anything I had felt before; it was so alien, so strange that I was sure that it couldn't belong to any pokemon.
I was reminded of the stories I was told about so many years ago. about teams of pokemon and non-pokemon, who banded together in pursuit of strength and glory. as the almighty creator had willed it.
Desperate for a chance to survive, I summoned every ounce of energy I had left and ran towards the mysterious presence. I ran faster than I ever had in all my life.
And there it was, the strangest creature I had ever seen, with red fur over its head and amber eyes, standing proudly on its two feet, and with a thought process so complex that I couldn't even guess what he was thinking.
I could only stare at this strange being, feeling a glimmer of hope for the first time in a long time. This was a chance for a brighter tomorrow, and I was determined to seize it.
Omake 2 (Canon)
Another version of the night talk
Shiro had been lost in thought; the emotions coming off of him were about me, and they were not kind. He surely was thinking about how weak I was, and I couldn't deny it, but it wasn't as if he was strong enough to look down on me; after all, he needed my assistance to fight off the pink bastard. "You are thinking mean things about me, are you not?" I accused him, my voice ringing out in his mind. He froze and turned to look at me with a guilty expression, like a child caught in the act. He muttered a quick apology, not even attempting to deny his thoughts.
I felt uncomfortable with the silence that followed. "By the way, did you just read my mind?" He seemed interested and asked me to explain. I told him that I couldn't read thoughts, but I could pick up on emotions from other beings. Most of the time, his emotions were too alien for me to understand, but sometimes I was able to understand his intentions… like just now.
As the sky darkened, I started my usual preparations for the night. I used my telekinesis to spread the pieces of a pungent fruit that we had recently smashed as a demonstration, they were a scarce resource after all and I couldn't afford to waste one of them. The smell was nauseating, but it would keep any unwanted attention away from us. On the other side, Shiro was playing with the leaves, or something like that. It was not as if I could understand what he was doing.
After finishing playing with the leaves, Shiro lied on top of them and started to stare off into space, lost in thought. Making soft rustling I made my way to his side. Noticing the noise I was making, he turned to look at me. After a moment of awkward silence, I decided to break the ice. "How did you end up in this forest?"
He admitted that he wasn't sure himself and that he probably wouldn't be able to return home. I felt sympathy for him; I could understand what losing your home and then being left alone felt like. "Then... become my partner," I proposed to him. I knew that pokemon and non-pokemon typically formed partnerships. I had heard so in the stories the elder used to tell. This was my chance to attain strength, to not have to simply survive.
He seemed taken aback by my proposal, but after a moment, he smiled and extended his hand to me. "I will be counting on you, partner," he said. I slowly joined our hands, and a strange sensation flew through my body. Making me feel warm and cold at the same time.
That day I pledged to be his best and only partner, and that was a promise that I intended to keep forever. And so, our journey began.
Word counts main story: 7630
Word count omakes: 1060
A/N
Hi there! Here is el-trino-de-la-gorda and this is the first time I write a fanfic; it's also the first time I write a story in English. As you may have noticed, English is not my main language, but I did my best effort to write something readable.
I want to give special thanks to my most dearest collaborators:
In the first place, I used Grammarly, which helped me edit most of the text, until I hit 5000 words and it started getting laggy, so I moved to a Word document.
In second place, WordReference and DeepL translator: They kindly helped me to pass some ideas from my mother tongue (Spanish) to English. (If you find strange words amidst the text, it is their fault, not mine.)
And last but not least, chat GPT! It was a good help in expanding some scenes of the story, and though most of the time it wasn't of any use, it did give me words and expressions to improve the quality (and length) of the story.
Now with all that said, let's talk about Kaguy... I mean the story Te-he-hee~
The process of writing just this short part of the story took a lot of me, so if you liked the story and want to read the next chapter, don't expect anything less than a full month for the next chapter.
I am also normally too busy to write, so it's very difficult to make time for the story.
If you are interested in how I, a humble Spanish speaker, was able to write a (probably) somewhat readable story, then it is all thanks to the software available online (Grammarly, Quillbot, DeepL Translator, Word Reference, even Chat GPT).
Personally, I used Grammarly to write and deepl translator and word reference to get some ideas out of my mother language. Finally, I passed it through quill bot for one last round of editing. In the middle of all that process, I gave some scenes to chatbot GTP to rewrite; sometimes it was useless, especially with the action scenes, where chat GTP would just erase any trace of violence in the fragment. But most of the time it would give me some words or expressions I could use to enrich the vocabulary of the story. So yes, this story was written 10% by me and 90% by online bots. TT_TT
Anyway, my objective wasn't to become a writer or anything noble like that. I just wanted to write the story I wanted to read, but nobody wrote.
About the story itself, I have at least all the current arc fully planned; I know what I want to happen, and I just need to write the specific scenes.
As you probably noticed, this Shiro is not the canon one, though it is not that different from the normal UBW version. This one is… less determined about its ideal. You could say that this one was more heavily influenced by Archer, and that almost dying made him divert even further from canon. How? Wellp, discover it in the next chapters.
About Ralts Not much can be said about why I chose this peculiar creature for my deuteragonist, you could say I was influenced by the story "Zafiro Oxidado," but ultimately other things made me choose this character. Again, I can't say too much without spoiling important parts of the next chapters.
Now let's quickly go through what I can disclose to you. This entire volume will take place in the forest, so to all lovers of survival isekai, this entire arc is for you. Also, I haven't watched pokemon entirely, and I have never played a game of pokemon in my life, but I remember the feelings I got while watching it as a kid, and using the summaries of the story, I can get a rough idea of the main story points, though this will be more important for the next arc. For now, the only you shold know is 1) pokemons will be more violent toward themselves and other humans, that is the main reason why it will be difficult for our poor protagonist to find other humans, not that he know that there are other humans out there. 2) This will be a more violent take on the pokemon-verse, but don't expect a lot of gore because that just won't happen. 3) pokemon mechanics won't be anything like in the game, so movements, stats, levels, evolution, and other stuff will work in a different way, one that's easier to write :P. 4) You surely noticed (if I was successful) that in the last scene of the omake 2 (that was canon by the way), Ralts sprouts some yandere-ish lines, so I will be concise here, this won't be a love story between a pokemon and a human; you are warned.
And so, this brief author note ends; now, to all the lovers of LitRPG, let me introduce you to the Zelretc-dex!
Name: Shirou Emiya
Age: 17 ▹▹▹16
level: none
Gender: male
Origin: sword
Element: sword
Abilities:
Mana perception ▹▹▹Energy sensibility (locked)
Magic circuits (27) ▹▹▹magic circuits (0)
Makeshift magic circuit creation
Enchanced smelling
Enchanced sight
Unlimited blade work (locked)
Eye of the mind (false) B
Status: distorted, PSTD, depressed
Team:
Ralts (Lvl5)
Name: none
Specie: Ralts
Evolve to: kirilla
Evolve from: none
Type: psychic/fairy
Age: 15
Level: 4▹▹▹5 /100
Gender: femeale
Skills:
Trace
Telepathy
Synchronize(locked)
Movements:
Psychic
Status: inferiority complex, PSTD, joyful
Team:
Shirou (none)
Don't forget to comment ;D
Name: Shirou Emiya
Age: 17 ▹▹▹16
level: none
Gender: male
Origin: sword
Element: sword
Abilities:
Mana perception ▹▹▹Energy sensibility (locked)
Magic circuits (27) ▹▹▹magic circuits (0)
Makeshift magic circuit creation
Enchanced smelling
Enchanced sight
Unlimited blade work (locked)
Eye of the mind (false) B
Status: distorted, PSTD, depressed
Team:
Ralts (Lvl5)
Name: none
Specie: Ralts
Evolve to: kirilla
Evolve from: none
Type: psychic/fairy
Age: 15
Level: 4▹▹▹5 /100
Gender: femeale
Skills:
Trace
Telepathy
Synchronize(locked)
Movements:
Psychic
Status: inferiority complex, PSTD, joyful
Team:
Shirou (none)
Don't forget to comment ;D