INM 10: Identity Crisis
"Yeesh, that story was even wilder than the very first one." You told the god-like llama.
"You've seen the tip of the iceberg. We've got plenty more where that came from." Arceus told you.
"Oh really now?" You gave a nonchalant glance at Arceus.
"Obviously, but never mind that, I've got many stories to go through, so let's get on with it." Arceus rolled their eyes and flipped through the pages of the book.
"Ah, I've found it. Have you ever heard of Locusts before?" Arceus questioned.
"Maybe." You shrugged.
"They're grasshoppers, and they tend to live in swarms, but this one, this one is different." Arceus noted.
"How so?" You tilted your head.
"Oh you'll see." Arceus smirked, and she started to clear her throat.
"Let's begin." Arceus held the book.
(Lushwood Rainforest, January 8th, 2024)
This story is about a Lokix, their name is Loren Ax.
They were walking in the rainforest by themselves after the competition that was Cryogonal's Newer Roadtrip.
Lokix was walking back home, they needed some time to think over things, after everything ended they weren't sure what to do.
Loren kept walking until saw a bunch of working Lokix's working on their nest.
"Work, work, work!" The Lokix all worked together as a team.
Loren sighed, rolling their eyes; he couldn't comprehend why his species would work together instead of just for themselves.
The Lokix didn't care to think about it too much, it was deemed unimportant by his programming.
"As a team, we work! Day and night, we strive together!" The Lokix all kept working with each other.
Loren walked up to the crew out of pure boredom, no one noticed them until one of their best bud's got closer.
"Heyyy! Loren! Wassup!" The Lokix ran up to them and was ecstatic to see them again.
"Who are you." Loren gave a cold stare and glanced at him up and down as if analyzing every detail.
"It's me, Jayson? Don't you remember your own pal?" Jayson gave a nervous smile.
"I do not remember you, therefore you are deemed unimportant; I must go now so see you hopefully never." The Lokix spoke almost robotically to Jayson and passed him.
Jayson looked very sad and confused.
"Yeesh, what's up with them?" A worker Lokix questioned while Loren was walking away from them.
"I dunno, something is up with them, he seems so… cold." Jayson was concerned over Loren.
"Maybe something is up with their programming?" a female worker Lokix told her friend.
The other worker Lokix all just looked confused over what had happened.
Loren kept walking and got in the nest hole.
Many workers were working for their swarm, trying to protect it from those pesky Lurantis' that keep on infiltrating their base.
One of those Lokix was strolling, checking if everything was alright, that Lokix had their right folded leg slightly bitten off, but he seemed fine.
"Keep working, we don't want those bug fakers to enter our hive! Ya hear!?" The Lokix manager ordered around.
Then, that Lokix saw his son.
"Loren? Is that you?" Loren's father (yes the manager) seemed shocked to see his son Loren back after all this time.
"Yeah..." Loren glanced uncaringly.
"What happened in your journey, what kind of stuff did you see?" Their father asked.
"Nothing important, failure after failure only... It was a complete waste of time for me... I regret it..." Loren spoke.
Loren's father looked concerned for his son.
"Surely it couldn't have been for nothing?" He told them.
"I gained nothing from it, other than realizing I was not as good as I once thought..." Loren looked upset.
"Don't be so hard on yourself son... You're capable of many things..." Lokixs Dad spoke.
"Whatever you say... I really need to rest, if you'll excuse me..." Loren began to walk deeper into the nest.
Lokixs Dad frowned, he knew his son grew, but he didn't know that they would become so cold hearted.
"I wonder what's up with my boy..." Lokixs father felt worried.
Loren kept walking until finding some tunnels.
The rocks were blocking some tunnels, Loren kicked the rocks away, which accidentally went towards some workers.
"HEY! WATCH IT!" A worker yelled angrily.
Loren gave them a slight uncaring glance and continued to walked away.
They didn't have time to care for such unimportant things as they walked away, a female Lokix was seeming to look for someone in particular.
"Loren!~ Loren!~ Where are you?" The feminine Lokix tried calling Loren and was seeking for him.
Loren sighed and turned around.
"Yes mother?" They asked.
"Loren? Honey? Is everything alright?" Loren's mother spoke, her voice as sweet as honey.
"It's decent." Loren told her.
"If there's anything you need, then you can come talk to me honey." Loren's mom told them smiling.
"I assure you mother, I am completely fine." Loren told her.
"If you say so..." Lorens Mom left deeper into the tunnels.
Loren went towards their old room and layed on the bed.
"Calculating stress levels, which is ninety percent; better get some sleep to swiftly recharge." Loren calculated, as they attempt to sleep.
Loren tossed and turned in their old bed, the Lokix was still coldhearted and calculating, they knew something was wrong with them but couldn't figure out what.
Eventually they began drowsing off into sleep until eventually they slept and began dreaming.
In their mind, they laid on the ground, having a headache.
"Ughhhh… what the hell…" Lorens head ached.
The Lokix stood up, and they looked around, it was just pure darkness.
"What happened when I was…asleep…" Loren seemed confused.
But then, Loren saw another Lokix in his mind turned away from them.
"What the- Hey! Who are you?!" Loren shouted at the Lokix.
The Lokix glanced behind him.
"If it isn't Loren Ax themselves…" The Lokix glanced coldly at Loren.
"What… who are you!" Loren gave a surprised, but scared look.
"Don't you recognize me, I am you... Loren Ax." The Lokix spoke.
"You can't be, I'm me!" Loren yelled.
"Negative, it appears we both co-exist inside of our programming therefore we both are real." The Lokix told them.
"So you're the reason my whole viewpoint and personality changed, you're what's wrong with me." Loren glared ready to fight.
"Negative, I was always a part of you just like you are a part of me; technically I wouldn't say there even is anything wrong with you." Lokix told them.
"You made me be a cold heartless monster, nothing more than a machine! You made me crash out and insult all of my friends!" Loren screamed.
"I never did that, I can't control you Loren... You did that all yourself, and I believe it's time you take responsibility for your own actions instead of trying to blame, yourself." Lokix spoke robotically.
Loren didn't know what to say, they were so frustrated and upset.
Lokix just gazed back at them, with little to no interest in their eyes.
"What… is going on…" Loren stared at his hands.
"i calculate you are undergoing through an identity crisis…" Lokix told them, Loren seemed shocked to find out.
"What do you mean?!" Loren asked.
"Isn't it obvious? You are attempting to fight with yourself to find an excuse for your previous actions, looks like you aren't so smart after all…" Lokix gave a cold look.
Loren stayed silent, he felt awful remembering the things he did to others in the past.
"You're trying without much success to blame me for what you have done but in the end... I am you, so what you did so did I." Lokix spoke.
Loren stayed quiet.
"You have no one to blame other than yourself, you felt those emotions, you choose to insult and attack your friends..." Lokix began walking towards Loren.
"Now you hide inside your own head pretending I am taking over you, when in reality you choose to ignore everyone around you so you don't hurt them like you hurt others in the past..." Lokix stood in front of Loren.
"You are the true evil side Loren." Lokix told them.
Silence.
"...you're right..." Loren said softly.
"I am a machine, of course I am right." The Lokix android rolled his eyes.
"...I was bossy, overly strategic and analytical, I stopped caring about my teammates feelings and I hurt them when I snapped at them for losing so much..." Loren began saying.
Lokix was quiet as he was listening.
"...I really can't blame anyone other than myself for what I've done, in my attempts to hide my regrets, I've hidden who I really am..." Loren kept talking
Lokix crossed his arms.
"Not anymore, this ends here... I need to stop hiding and just be myself again, thanks for making me realize how foolish I was being..." Loren smiled at him.
"Affirmative, glad I was able to aid you in overcoming this major obstacle, just remember that I will always be a part of you just like you are a part of me." Lokix told them.
Loren nodded and then they began waking up
"...wow that was, a very strange dream..." Loren felt a bit exhausted.
Then there was a loud screaming from outside, Loren rushed quickly out of his room to see what it was.
Outside, there were a group of large Lurantis' in front of their hive.
"Oh would you lookie here crew, we found some delicious bugs to feast on!" A male Lurantis pointed at them.
"Yeah, so many options to choose from, we'll go with that juicy fat one first!" A female Lurantis smirked and was ready to feast with her friends.
The last member cackled with a stupid grin.
"P-please! D-don't eat me!" The female Lokix looked scared.
Loren ran up to the other locusts.
"What's going on?" Loren questioned the others.
"They're going to eat us all!" Jayson was panicking as the other Lokix all ran flailing around screaming.
Loren looked shocked, and ran up to the Lurantis crew.
"Well well well, look who it is, another delicious prey for us to snack on!" The female Lurantis grins.
"He seems even more delicious than ever…" The other Lurantis looked very hungry.
"Yeah, isn't that true Edgar?" The male Lurantis nudged him.
Edgar nodded while his tongue was out.
"Listen here, if you attempt to hurt anyone in this nest, then you'll have to go through ME!" Loren challenged them glaring.
They all gave a bruh face, and they burst into laughter.
"You!? Think you can beat us?! You are just tiny and weak!" The male Lurantis laughed the grasshopper out.
"You're gonna be easy pickings for us!" The female Lurantis smirks.
Loren cracked his knuckles and went into showdown mode; he ran up to her and used a lunge.
"HOLY-" The Lurantis jumped as Loren hit her hard in the face.
The Lurantis grunted in pain, while the other two looked in shock.
"Banzae! You'll pay for this! Edgar, get him!" The female Lurantis ordered.
Edgar charged forward yelling.
"Okay, no time to fool around." Loren focused on the target and calculated a strategy.
As Edgar got close, they used their legs to jump into the air.
Edgar looked confused, he wondered where Loren went, but Loren was up in the ceiling of the tunnel holding into a root.
Edgar was still looking around for Loren, but then, he focused on Loren's mama, she was scared.
"There are so many, I need to make sure I don't commit a single flaw..." Lokix whispered to themselves, and he used his folded legs to catapult themselves into the air, and did a dropkick.
"Loren!? W-where are you honey!?" Loren's mother looked scared, witnessing the drool of the big orchid mantis and flower mix as it opened its mouth, ready to feast.
"Take this foul beast!" Loren shouted, Edgar looked up, and then, Loren's foot hit Edgar's face.
Edgar groaned as it did injure him a lot.
"Gasp, Edgar!" The female Lurantis gasped and prowled to Edgar, who was groaning in pain.
"Yo Shekenzi! Get that pesky bug! He's perfectly distracted." Banzae told Shekenzi that there was a chance to strike.
Shekenzi was angry at Loren, and rushed at Loren.
"Loading successful counter attack." Loren turns his back, and charges at the Lurantis, bawling their fist while running.
The two of them were ready to attack, both jumped into the air, Shekenzi slashed Loren while the Lokix led out a devastating throat chop to the her neck.
Both of them landed on the ground safely, until Shekenzi felt ñthe pain of her neck sting and she fell; instantly Lokix did a roundhouse kick at her back knocking her out even more.
"Pathetic I didn't expect you all to be so unbelievably weak, is that all you predators can do?" Loren smirked meanly, and chopped off half of the flower of Shekenzi's back.
Shekenzi screams in pain as the flower pedals come off, she cried in agony.
The other Lokix' were in shock, but all of them clapped and cheered for Loren as he was the one single handedly saving the pack.
"I suggest you all leave and never come back before I decide to not spare your meaningless lives." Loren smirked at all the terrified lurantis.
"Ugh…We'll come for OUR revenge!" Shekenzi warned the pact as she stood up, her flowers cut off.
"C'mon Shekenzi, we'll heal Edgar and clean you up, we gotta go!" Banzae moved his head, as they went back home together.
The Lurantis' leave the scene, as all of them were injured, everyone looked happy for Loren.
"Whoooo! Good job Lurantis slayer!" Jayson gave him a fist bump.
"Heh, thank you Jay." Loren returned the fist bump.
Loren's mother and father came up to Loren, while the rest were cheering for him.
"Oh, hey mom and dad." Loren talked to them.
Then, his father puts one of his hands on their right shoulder.
"Son, I am so proud of you." Loren's father gave a smile.
Loren, obviously surprised to hear this, couldn't believe their eyes.
"You… you are?" Loren gave a dumbfounded look.
"Yeah, you handled it like it was no sweat, and you packed a very good punch mister." Loren's father grinned.
"Wow… thanks dad, I appreciate it." Loren put a smile on his face.
"And we wanted to tell you some news Loren." Loren's mom beamed.
"What is it?" Loren asked.
"Well, you see, me and your father had some fun a few months ago while you were gone, and…we proudly want to say that, Loren, you are gonna be a big brother." Loren's mother announced, and rubbed her belly.
"W-wait mom, Y-you are having another baby!?" Loren was flabbergasted.
Loren's mother blissfully indicated.
"Yeah! And I hope you'll take care of your sister or brother when they are born." She seemed very happy.
"I hope so too, but..." Loren smiled, but that soon faded away.
Loren's father glimpsed at Loren's expression change.
"Are you okay son?" Loren's father questioned.
"Yeah, it's just I was planning on leaving again.. I feel I have some stuff I need to do first..." Loren looked sad.
"Well Loren, we can wait for you, it's alright if you want to leave, it's your choice after all if you wanna stay or not." Loren's father told them
Loren smiled at their parents and hugged them.
"Thank you." Loren only said, but then, they noticed something rambling in his pockets.
"Huh?" Loren was confused, he checked his pockets and saw something…familiar.
Loren's mother gasped.
"My locket! You…you kept it while you were away?" Loren's mother's eyes widened with happiness as she opened the locket to reveal a photo of her, her mate, and Loren.
"Yeah obviously, I may be cold but I never wanted to throw that locket away," Loren smiled looking at it, and went to his mother and told her: "Here, you can have it back mom, so you can have a new picture."
"Of course honey, I'll cherish it to my heart's content." Loren's mother hugged him.
Loren hugged back.
"And… I'm also sorry for being rude to everyone, I did not want to harm the pack, I'm sorry..." Loren apologize.
"It's alright, Loren, we forgive you." Jayson gave thumbs up, the other worker Lokix nodded and smiled.
"Thank you, all of you, I wish you the best of luck with the pact, and mom, I wish you the best of luck with the birth of my little sister or brother." Loren wished them good luck and bid them farewell.
"Goodbye sweetie!" Loren's mother waved goodbye as Loren started to walk.
"Take care on your new journey dude! Come back soon!" Jayson waved goodbye at Loren.
"And remember to bring us food!" His father shouted while teasing.
Loren rolled his eyes out of amusement and chuckled.
"Hehe, you're always so gluttonous, dad." Loren gave a small laugh while he turned his back facing his dad, but then faced back to the right direction.
Loren felt better after apologizing, they were hoping that doing the same to the friends he hurt in the past would also fix things.
Loren, after a long and thoughtful day, was ready to meet his friends after months of his disappearance.
(Rakkenstan, January 8th, 2024)
Loren walked through the sidewalk, he looked at the letter from Mr Glove, it said: "Dear Loren, I've good news for you, you are being welcomed back into another season, this time it's gonna be an All-star brawl, competing with eighty competitors, a few newbies, and a lot of veterans, Galia will also be there, alongside Giratina, you can wait for a couple of weeks to go the door, or wait until it opens, I hope you have fun during Ninetales' fun show!, and you can also see your friends again! - Mr Glove."
"Huh…I wonder how I got this…" Loren pondered.
Loren shrugged and kept walking, but then Loren saw a few people sitting there, just wondering when the door would open.
"Wait a minute, that must be the spot they must've talked about." Loren noticed and ran to the door.
Loren quickly got there with no trouble, he saw new faces, of course, but, he saw a few of the paldean pokemon that he competed with, Iron Hands, Meowscarada, Spidops, Iron Valiant...
They weren't really friends with the Lokix, and they did hate him for yelling at them a long time ago, but someone saw Loren and they gasped.
"Loren!" Someone shouted.
It was a Ceruledge, and it was none other than Charlie, they went up to Loren.
"Ey, Charlie, what's good." Loren did their secret hand shake.
"Oh, nothing much, but I'm glad you are invited. Say, are you looking for Willow and Amber?" Charlie foresaw.
"You've read my mind." Loren snaps his fingers in a cool pose.
"They're over there, may I come with you?" Charlie pointed over to the right and politely asked if he could come with.
"Eh, sure." Loren shrugged as the two boys went to the two girls.
"RAH! And that's why I love pecking wood, it's oh so delicious!" Wattrel blabbered about wood.
"Hehehe, you're so funny dear…" Arboliva giggled.
"Hey girls! Loren is back!" Charlie spoke up.
"RAH! Already!? He surely got there in a lickity splickity!" Willow smiles.
"Hey guys." Loren walked up.
"Hello dearie Loren, how have you been?" Amber calmly queried.
"Eh, I'm feeling tired, I really want some coffee now that I think about it." Loren yawned and stretched his body.
Amber giggled. "Oh, you are so cute when you say stuff like that." Arboliva told him.
"Heh, thanks…" Loren blushed a bit.
"So, you guys want to do something to waste time?" Charlie questioned them.
"Sure thing!" Wattrel blared.
"That would sound absolutely lovely dear, how about you tell our story Loren, about your adventures while you were gone." Arboliva smiled and nudged Loren.
"Uh, sure, I remember a bit of it, but I'll try my best." Loren explained.
Loren started talking, Loren found comfort in themselves, they might be mean, but maybe some kindness was still in their heart.
Loren finally stopped their cold actions, and that's all that mattered to them, to return to their normal life, like it was before.
But even so, he was still a robot, he was still filled with mechanical thoughts and emotions, somewhere deep within his subconscious we saw a Lokix still in him.
"...everything is going according to calculations I shall initiate my plan soon, never forget me Loren, just like I am you... You are also me..." Lokix spoke in a cold robotic voice as the screen slowly faded to black.