Chapter 139

The Shifting Mound

Pokémon List:

Luna (Kirlia)

Fay (Riolu)

Midna (Zorua)

The stars were closing in. I could hardly believe it but those conspiracy posters on the Pokéforums were right. Something about a broken clock being right twice a day came to mind still, it bothered me that they were right this time.

The last 2 weeks I had dutifully checked the sky every night. I'm not an astronomer, nor did I have any of the equipment, but I was vaguely aware of something called parallax and how to do it. Or at least what to look for.

These unfamiliar constellations were drifting through the dark sky. Although astronomy was never something I bothered with in my old life, I was at least taught how the Ursa Minor looks and it didn't show up on any astronomical chart here. It wasn't what I had been looking for, but it was something that caught my eye.

My observations could hardly be used in any academic or scientific field but they were enough to confirm what I had read online for myself. A particular star I had kept my eye on the last week shone brighter and was at a slightly higher angle than it had been before. I double checked whether it was a planet but nope, it was a legit star, though no one had bothered to name it yet. Or at least, I couldn't find an official designation. I had decided to name the star Pax.

Space exploration in this universe had never really kicked off. There had been no space race, so this world's version of NASA never got off the ground.

There were some smaller initiatives but to my knowledge these were funded by private companies rather than the League. Or at least they didn't have any public ties to them.

Another issue was Raquaza sometimes friendly firing mankind's rockets, thus making space travel too much of a hassle to pump big money into.

Well, that's the official narrative, my bet was on there being a big secret space program inside mount Coronet or Silver. There's no way this world's humanity wouldn't be interested in exploring the depths of space.

Actually, now that I was thinking about it, maybe they didn't even bother with rockets since there were Pokémon that teleport, go at super speed or time travel.

Could Luna eventually teleport people to the moon if she got powerful enough? Now that was an interesting thought. She supposedly had access to other worldly powers and already tickled the barrier of space once during her fight against Alakazam though that had been short lived and she had yet to replicate it.

I put my thumb between the moon and the star I had been tracking for a while. Pax, as the conspiracy theorist claimed, had indeed moved closer to earth.

It wasn't just that single star. The entire sky had moved slightly closer to earth. It was an uncanny distortion. It was like the sky was sinking, pulled towards the earth like a whirlpool or stormfront.

But what could the stars getting closer mean? The people on the forum had no information on. But considering I, an amateur stargazer, already noticed the difference, the League had to know about this already.

Should I send Hylla a text? …No, yeah I promised to take it easy. Relax a little and focus on myself and my team.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, forced myself to breathe in and enjoy the moment.

Once I opened my eyes again I felt a little bit less stressed. I focused my eyes upon the starry sky itself and tried to empty my mind.

Countless stars drifted across an infinite astral sea, each one shining more radiant than the last. They were like tiny sparkling diamonds, incomprehensibly far away from me, though undoubtedly coming closer.

Coming closer, like a gaping maw that was waiting to snap shut.

That unsettling jerked me out of my mindful moment of peace.

I grinned and in an impulsive moment raised my hand and gave the sky a middle finger. "I don't know what the fuck is going on with the sky, but fuck you Fate! This won't be my problem." I put my hands on my hips and felt quite confident and good for a moment.

The feeling faded quickly however and I started to feel bad about my exclamation. God, Arceus, or well Aurum, she was real. Did I just jinx myself?

"You're talking to yourself again," the darkness whispered behind me.

My heart jumped. Goosebumps covered my skin and without a conscious thought I kicked my leg back, from where I heard the voice, and hit something hard. My hand was already reaching for a gun and preparing to shoot and yell for Fay, but I stopped myself from drawing it at the last second.

I finally slowed down and the shock died.

"Fuck, don't scare me like that!" I hissed as I turned to face her.

My heart was thumping against my chest and it still felt like an electric current was flowing through my nerves. My body just went from 0 to 100 within a split second and now I was feeling the after shock.

Rubbing her small nose with a paw, Midna glared back at me. "Oh you bastard, that hurt!" Her red eyes gleamed in the moonlight, filled with anger at my erratic actions.

I knelt down and moved closer. "Sorry, you just scared me shitless. Have you not heard of knocking?" I felt a bit embarrassed for kicking my Pokémon like that, though I also felt justified for doing it since she did scare me quite a lot. I still had goosebumps and adrenaline rushing through me.

It was really dark, which was great for star gazing but not for feeling safe.

"Knocking? Knock on what, a tree?" Midna muttered sarcastically, though I could see she wasn't that hurt. "You're out here, 3 in the morning, in the middle of the forest, ranting like a lunatic."

"Hush you, I am just doing research," I muttered. I lifted Midna up her feet and patted her down, making sure she was fine. I wasn't sure what to look for, but she wasn't bleeding, though I did kick her using all my might. The thing with Pokémon is that their protective abilities are weird. If they're taken by surprise they tend to sustain way more damage for some bullshit reason I wasn't fully aware of.

"Of course of course," Midna mocked me. "Excuse me for intruding on your schizophrenic episode. How dare I offer you my illustrious company?"

"I am not crazy, okay? Arceus is real and can listen, I told you," I protested.

"Oh dear, and now you're suffering from a psychosis. How tragic." Midna faked a sad expression.

"You know she's real." I sat down and sighed.

Midna scratched her ears and laid down next to me in the grass.

"Okay so now that we have established I am perfectly sane and doing completely healthy things, now it's my turn to ask some questions. What are you doing out this late?"

I thought I'd double checked that my Pokémon were sound asleep when I'd left, but apparently not? Luna was a heavy sleeper, a bomb could go off and she wouldn't notice. Maybe it was a psychic thing, using their minds more and all that? In contrast, Fay slept relatively light, so I made sure I was at least a small distance away from where I set up camp.

It was a small unremarkable hill that gave me a free view of the sky and the surrounding landscape.

"I came here because I was worried about you," Midna murmured. She averted her gaze. "I once knew someone who suffered from insomnia, so I thought maybe this time I'd be able to help." Her red eyes narrowed dangerously as they met mine. "And then you kicked me in the face."

"It's your fault for scaring me! You can't blame me for looking out for myself. What if it had been a serial killer?" I held my hand up in mock surrender.

Midna flittered her ear again. "I can't hear you over the sound of my internal bleeding."

"Hur dur." I cracked a smile. "Your reaction time is awful. I bet if I accidentally kicked Fay she would've activated Counter and sent me flying."

I expected a witty rebuttal but Midna held her tongue, her ears lowered. The silence between us stretched long, uncomfortably so. I leaned back a little and tried to enjoy the silence for what it was.

It was kind of cold outside, which was to be expected. It was the kind that was barely manageable and didn't warrant more than a sweater, yet too frigid to fully relax.

When the awkwardness became too much, I caved. "Oh, by the way, I know you're lying."

"Huh?" Midna gazed at me curiously.

I explained. "I noticed you always avert your eyes from me whenever you lie. Why are you really out here at this time?"

"Tsk." Midna tried to sound condescending but the remark missed her usual snark. "What? I thought you looked sad and pathetic out here all alone. Can't I help my partner?" She chuckled menacingly, as if what she said was really funny in a way only she could understand.

She overtly looked me in the eyes while saying that.

"That may be true," and hurtful, "but it doesn't explain why you're awake. I'm sure I left the radius of Luna's and Fay's emotional radars and you don't have one as far as I'm aware."

"Fine." Midna conceded with a sigh. "You got me. I've been trying to get in some midnight training."

I looked at the Zorua, but this time there was no edge or cynical laugh. Still, I was waiting for her to pull my leg.

"I'm serious." Midna scoffed. "Don't look at me like that. Besides, you're also out at this time, if anyone's weird, it's you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I believe you oh so mysterious Zorua. Are you working on a secret technique or strategy? Something that absolutely can't stand the pale light of day?"

Midna looked up at the stars. "I wish I were. Getting a new technique would be great, I'd die to have an edge."

"What do you need an edge for? You're fine."

"Ha!" Midna laughed sarcastically. "Don't play dumb, you must have noticed."

I finally put the dots together. I had a good idea what she was talking about. I didn't think too much of it myself, but apparently she did. I decided to play dumbo in case I was wrong. "What do you mean?"

"I…" Midna opened her mouth to say something but closed it. Then she opened it again, only for her to take back the words before they could be spoken. "Look…" she muttered reluctantly. "I've been thinking and… I noticed I'm falling behind in terms of skill and usefulness. In Alamos, when things were dire, I could barely do anything."

"No one did anything in Alamos," I snorted. "In terms of power I am even lower than average. I just have a gun and I can shoot people. Everyone was terrible during the incident."

"You're you. You'll manage to scratch by, barely, but still, you'll do fine. Fay is strong, fast and quick on her feet. If she keeps training she'll maybe be able to fight someone like Darkrai head on, and Luna-"

Midna shuddered. "Her utter psychotic nature pushes her far further than any training could or should."

I was forced to consider her words, and then consider them again just to make sure I wasn't having a stroke. "Huh, well that's a very accurate assessment."

Midna rolled her eyes. "I'm not strong but I have a brain and eyes. It's been 2 weeks, Fay and Luna are improving and yet here I am. Still a little Zorua with some weird genes."

"You've been tremendously useful. You've saved me countless times with your well timed transformations and without you we couldn't even have gotten the sword or Lustrous orb in and out of Alamos."

Midna smiled slightly. "Yeah they taste great and all but I don't really think being able to transform will remain useful much longer."

"You're kidding right? You are one of a kind."

"Yes and I'm quite literally a one trick Ponyta," Midna responded immediately. "I can transform because some douchebags in A2 wanted to see what would happen if they smashed DNA together. But that trick is already useless against opponents who are stronger or faster than any form I can take." Midna took a breath. "I thought about this a lot the past few days. Most of the battles I won were because of my transformation trick acting as an ace. But a trick remains a trick, once people catch on it will wear out its surprise and then I'll be toast."

Midna looked at me expectantly. "Go on, speak your mind. Something about friendship, or love blah blah blah. Or how we're good as we are and that you'd never abandon me."

"I think you're worrying too much," I said, without thinking. Not my best moment, but also, it was past midnight and I was feeling tired.

Midna was sharp as a blade however and immediately snapped back. "I wonder why? It's not like the last friend I had died a preventable death and you're also trying to chase the same fate."

"Sorry that was dumb to say." I apologized.

Midna chuckled. "Relax. Look, the way I see it, danger will find us one way or another." Midna narrowed her eyes. I didn't protest, she was absolutely right, though I blamed Fate. Midna continued, "but at this rate I'll fall behind."

I took a deep breath. Finally, after composing my thoughts, I said, "I agree."

"No look, if Fay and Luna can alr-" Midna stopped abruptly. "Wait, you agree?"

I nodded slowly. "I hadn't put too much thought into it but I think you're correct that you're lagging behind." I lifted my hand above the ground. "You may have hit a skill ceiling or are soon about to hit it."

Midna's expression soured. "Yeah, that's what I thought as well."

"So then why the hell did you not tell me this earlier?" I complained.

"Huh?"

"You don't need to sneak out in the middle of the night to get in some secret training like a ninja or whatever. Just tell me and I'll help."

Midna looked at me.

"Wait, you're not going to tell me I should stop doubting myself and that I am already good as I am?" Midna looked confused. "Or say something else lame?"

I shrugged. "I mean, you already are very useful but if you want to push further, then why the hell would I disagree?"

"I don't know!" Midna hissed. "Nobody ever explained to me how this trainer-friend relationship works."

"Neither have I ever gotten the tutorial, to be honest," I countered. "But alright. Give me a second." I quickly pulled my laptop out of the bag. The screen lit up and for a few seconds it felt like I was staring straight into a flashbang.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the screen, but when they finally adjusted I put the laptop down next to Midna. Realizing I wasn't going to go back to bed anytime soon, I also pulled 2 cans of energy drinks from the backpack. Unova's High the gold glossy letters said; it should have enough caffeine to last me an hour. I tossed one of the cans towards Midna. She caught it with her mouth.

I opened up a new pack of potato chips and sat down, placing the potato chips between myself and Midna. I took a sip. "Aaahhh, that hits just right. Okay so Project Midna, eh?"

I closed the current tab, which was an star map and instead opened a file.

"Oh, that's me?" Midna looked at the screen.

She was looking at a rough assortment of notes, pictures and files. Some of the notes were incoherent scribbles, I was especially proud of those. They really felt like they looked like I knew what I was doing.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about ways you could specialize more though I kind of forgot to do anything with it." I sheepishly scratched my hair. "Most of this shit is rambling but there's some interesting things we could look into. Both as another ace and just a general improvement for you. For example, do you know the move: Fling?"

"Never heard of."

"Well, it's a Dark type move," I pulled up a small data sheet. "Basically you charge an item you're holding with dark energy and then…fling…it to the opponent. Dark type energy causes the item to temporarily obtain some weird effects. Seeing how you can already store multiple items I think this could be a great hidden technique for you. For example," I enlarged the spreadsheet. "There's many forms you can take that we could try to use for item storage. We have to test what forms will actually preserve the objects but for example, the flower of an Ivysaur, or Kangaskhan's pouch, a Shuckle's shell or inside a Mimikiyu's…well actually don't do that. But just think about it! I don't imagine you'll ever find a use for Vanilux's shape, so we can use a useless Pokémon for storing flingable items. There's not a lot of data on this but a few items that would be guaranteed to work are Orbs and Fangs, they even have their own typing, somehow. And if you then can memorize every shape of yours and execute Fling consecutively you could become a walking artillery beast!"

I took a deep breath and realized I had been rambling.

Midna looked at me wide eyed. Like I just told her to insert multiple foreign objects into her cavities so they could be weaponized later.

"Uh… this is of course assuming it works and you're comfortable with it…" I added a bit late.

"You spend a lot of time thinking about this, eh?" Midna said. She was carefully reading the data on the sheet. "Wow, I am legit at a loss for words. This is so much."

"I don't think it's tournament legal though, since Pokémon can only hold one item but outside of tournaments you could use it as a trick to stack up damage really fast, in theory of course." I murmured the last part. "I wrote these a while ago. I actually was questioning whether you'd be able to swallow grenades but dropped that plan."

Midna nodded thoughtfully. "How wise you have become." she coughed. "Okay but wow, damn. This would be great outside of tournaments."

A bit expensive as well, but I'd consider it as an investment in security.

"Of course there are also other things you could do with your shape shifting abilities." I closed the Fling section and opened another one. "So for starters, I think you're wrong about your transformation abilities being a one time play. I agree that on its own your transformation ability isn't actually that good. You can't use most moves or some unique abilities of the Pokémon you copy. Basically, you're less useful than any Pokémon you copy. But I also believe we just haven't gone deep enough into investigating everything you can do." I paused for a second. "Your transformation makes you special Midna. I can say something really cheesy but it's the truth. I think it would be a big mistake to disregard it as a simple trick, or quirk of your genes. The shifting is indeed just something you got blessed, or cursed with, by Galactic. But what you do with it is totally yours. Every strategy, every adaptation and even the way you move is completely up to you. No matter what form you take, or maybe even despite what form you'll take, it will be you. Don't ever forget that."

I tapped the screen. A blurry photograph of Mew was visible. "Galactic already tried to have you transform into a Legendary Pokémon and they failed, but that's their stupidity. You can be so much more than just your separate parts, you have to find a cohesi-" I stopped and caught my breath again. "Oh god, I am totally fucking rambling again." I took a, forcefully, relaxed sip to water my throat.

"I'm blushing," Midna said abruptly. She looked at me. "Fuck you. I don't like doing that but you do make me sound like a god."

"You're far from a god but I'm not joking, you have crazy potential, we just haven't taken a serious look at it. Being busy with everything and what not, but now our schedule is mostly empty we can start working on it again. Working on getting everything out of your shifting and even optimizing the tiny bits and trying to find an overarching strategy that will unify all your transformations into a winning combo."

"I'd love to." Midna nodded. "I at least need to be able to win against Luna. Losing while having a type advantage is embarrassing."

"Luna's speciality is ranged combat and oppressive power to nail you down and choke you out."

"I noticed," Midna snarled. "Stay at range and she pelts you with Psychic and Confusion, try to get in close and she'll punch you or just teleport away. It's not really fair."

Aw that made me feel so good. Luna really is taking my lesson of not fighting fair to heart.

"First you should look into mastering Quick Attack. I believe making yourself more mobile and fluid will be a crucial step for improving the way you approach fights."

"Noted, Quick Attack should be mastered. Okay, but why does it need to be mastered?"

"Actually scratch that, I think you'll have to master it like 10 times over," I bit my lip as I was trying to think the scenario through in my head..

"Excuse me, 10 times?" Midna scratched her ear, concern crossed her face. "What does that even mean?"

"Well you can use Quick Attack right now, change shape and preserve the momentum to crash into something but what if you could also use Quick Attack in that form without breaking pace?"

I got a confused look from the fox.

"Imagine the following scenario." I drew a circle on the screen using a program similar to Paint. "This is Luna and you want to approach her, however she's a cannon and will blast you away. You'll have to zigzag to get closer to her and strike back. Unless of course you want to try and fight her at range." I drew a black line that crossed across the entire thing. "Now, try to visualize yourself using Quick Attack to get into this position as your regular old self. Then you shift effortlessly into an Ekans while maintaining velocity. We mostly focused on Pokémon to transform into for their physical abilities such as strength, flight or speed, but even their passive abilities and shapes are something to consider. For example a snake-like Pokémon is harder to hit, has a weird shape and will throw off Luna's aim. If you can use Quick Attack, and then shift again, this time for example a Pidgeot, you'll be able to both throw off Luna's rhythm because both Pokémon use Quick Attack slightly differently and have a different movement pattern. You can utilize the snake-like body for cover and the Pidgeot's form for flight and all the while Luna won't know which of your forms you'll use to attack."

Thinking about the possibilities, I got really excited. "Your fight style already relies on laying traps, baiting and trickery. If each form, or at least each archetype has mastered Quick Attack, you'll be able to keep your foes guessing which one will be used for the true attack, use each of their natural abilities to their fullest and be able to use their shapes for cover. I imagine a snake would be harder to hit and wrangle down yet an Ursaring would be something that an opponent can't afford to ignore and that you can use to force opponents to play at range."

"That makes sense, yeah," Midna said. "I mean, right now I just learn a move in my base form and apply it to my transformed self, but it never feels quite as fluid as when I do it like myself."

"I think that's the problem. Every form of yours should feel as natural for moves as your own. I want Fury Swipes to be something you can do no matter what shape you take. And you should learn the benefits of each form and how to use them in battle for more than just offensive capabilities. A Vulpix for example is way faster and more agile than an Ekans, but easier to hit. Sandslash' spines are something you could use as a deterrent against close range fighters and you can use Scyther to build momentum and use flight!"

I looked really proudly at Midna. I thought I was doing amazing, though I knew I didn't make the best decisions at 3 am. The paint program was now showing something that could loosely be interpreted as an expression of modern art.

My excitement was contagious though and I could already see the spark light up in Midna's eyes. A vulpine smile adorned her face and I could see her already coming up with new and bizarre ideas.

"You're right!" Midna said. "I can already see it. Some of my forms have weird physical traits, like poisonous sweat or sweeping tails! If I just focused a bit more on that, and mastered each form…" Midna started counting. "Shit, that's a lot though."

"You can make it easier on yourself by breaking up all the transformations into archetypes and then master every move you have between them. I could be completely wrong since I don't shape shift, but most bipedal Pokémon should feel pretty similar to each other, right? If we divide each type up like this." I started outlining some classes.

Snake, Insectoid, Massive body, Bipedal dragon, Multi-body, Winged, Fish, Humanoid.

"This is just an example but if you maybe try to train for a class, rather than each individual shape it should speed up the process. In theory I think it should be relatively easy to transfer and apply that knowledge to every Pokémon that fits a category."

"Yeah yeah. This all makes sense." Midna tilted her head. "It sounds like 10 times the pain in the butt but god damn I am getting excited."

"Don't be a jack of all trades, be a master of all trades." I finally concluded. "That should be your next goal." With a dramatic gesture I slapped the laptop screen shut. A bit too hard actually, I should be more careful with my materials.

Now there was no longer a screen blasting light into my eyes. I had to adjust to the darkness of the night again.

No longer distracted by my own excitement I began to notice the cold again. It was a beautiful and peaceful night, but still really cold.

I got up from my feet and stared at the sky that was slightly closer to earth than yesterday. Nothing had changed really but I felt a bit better about it.

At least I didn't have to worry about it alone. It felt good to know that my team would have my back and be worried with me.

The dark forest extended into the horizon. Small city lights flickered just past the horizon. Hearthome was waiting for me there, but staying in the wild for a little longer wouldn't hurt, right? I just really enjoyed the quiet atmosphere here and it was a good break from all the crazy.

"Well I think this was a productive late night snack." I yawned. I rubbed my arms together. "Shall we head back? It's way too cold and I am getting tired."

"Uhhh." the small fox whispered. "Wait a second."

"Why?"

"Please," Midna spoke softly. "I want to share something."

I hesitantly sat down again, "okay…"

Midna was avoiding looking at me directly. Her voice had changed a little. "Close your eyes for a second."

"This is a prank isn't it?" I chuckled, only to see Midna's nervous expression.

"Just do it, okay?" Midna sounded sincere in her question.

"Fine." Unsure what this was about, I put my hands in front of my eyes.

"Don't look!" Midna already started accusing me. I wasn't looking though.

I waited for a few anxious seconds. I was expecting a lot; ice water, mocking laughter, a flash bang. But instead I heard the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and stuff being hastily moved around.

And just when I thought I got pranked and Midna had spirited away, leaving me like a fool alone I heard her say: "Okay, you can look."

Hesitantly I opened my eyes, expecting the unexpected and ready to react to it appropriately.

Until…

My hands froze and my brain grinded to a halt. Somehow, this was beyond my criteria for unexpected.

"I never told anyone," Midna muttered, blushing. "It's not very useful for anything and you never asked. Frankly, this form is kind of embarrassing…"

I still couldn't say anything. Thoughts were slowly being put into place but only bits and pieces at a time and were slowly trying to fuse into a comprehensive whole.

Slowly I took in each detail. Black hair. Soft red highlights. Legs. Scarlet eyes. Soft white skin. Cute nose. Fingers.

Oh damn.

Midna was sitting in front of me, wrapped her arm around her knees.

Of all the things I could've said, in that moment I could only really make one observation. "You're naked."

"That's all?" Midna raised an eyebrow.

"Oh my god, you're naked and fucking freezing, put something on." I immediately got up and moved to get a blanket from the backpack.

Lighthearted laughter came from behind me.

I couldn't help but wonder if this was Fate's way of giving me the finger back.

This time you win Fate.

A/N This chapter took a while because I wanted to nail the mood and atmosphere of this chapter. Tried to get more bonding without making it overt and straying from the themes of the story. I hope it was enjoyable and all. I'm not particularly great at intimate moments but I believe this should be satisfactory.

I want to thank OSpearow, King the Rat Muffin, Dolta and Fae for helping me develop Midna's moveset.

On another note, I finished watching JJK and my Dark Souls 2 sl1 run. So I'll probably have more time to procrastinate on writing now!

See you until the next time (also thanks for leaving the kind reviews and words of encouragement. They mean a lot 3)

-CaptainMoonShine-