Chapter Text
“Alright, guys,” Iris announces one day. You arch your back, grimacing at the ache, paws digging into the ground in preparation for a fight. Even though you just woke up, you already feel ridiculously energetic. Hopefully you’ll get to do something soon. Anything, really.
“We’re going to challenge Drayden,” Iris continues. “Today, in an hour. You’ve all been doing really well so far and I think that we… we might be able to do it.”
Drayden, Drayden, Drayden… the rough-voice person. Right. Challenge was basically another word for ‘fight’ so would you get to fight?
“I just want to get a little more training in,” Iris says. “Can you guys pair up? Rascal, you’re with Rosebud. Pastel and Lollipop, you two are together. Pixel, Skye, you’re with each other.”
Pixel hums happily, vibrating with excitement. Pair up? Were you fighting together? You’d never seen Skye fight (hah. Seen.)
“You’ve never double battled before, Pixel,” Iris says. “It’s pretty simple. Skye will help protect you from incoming attacks and you’ll do the fighting, okay?”
Fighting. Fighting fighting fighting. That was good - better than good. That was great.
“We’ll do great, don’t worry,” Skye says, seemingly interpreting your excitement as nerves. It’s not true, but it still makes you feel warm inside.
As it turns out, double battles are harder than you thought. You can’t see, so you have to rely on your senses of smell and hearing to track everyone and that means three mons instead of just one. Skye tries to help, calling out places for you to aim, but it just makes it more overwhelming.
After one tiring battle where you had to dodge so many attacks and are not sure how many you hit in return, you can safely say that this is not the type of fighting you were expecting. The good thing is that a lot of the excess energy has burnt out and you are starting to feel closer to normal. The bad thing is that the ache in your back has spread to most of your body.
“That… wasn’t too bad for your first time,” Iris says, positive as always. It’s a nice thing to say, but you’re a little unsure on how true it is.
“You’re blind, so it’s harder for you to deal with, and that’s not a… bad thing!” Iris continues and how had they known . “We just gotta practice!”
One day, you decide, you will have similar thoughts as Iris. But not today.
‘Practice’ turns out to be tracking multiple Pokemon as they run about. You end up against something hard, snapping and attacking if you sense anyone getting closer.
“Alright,” Iris says after a bit of ‘practice’. “I think this might not be working.”
“Really,” Rosebud mutters. “That Dragon Pulse stung.”
“Let’s try it with two first, okay?” Iris asks, voice going into that softer range they like to do. “Just, two. And then we’ll go challenge Drayden.”
Two. Okay. You can track two.
You cannot track two. Whenever you have one, the other somehow finds a way to get to you. It’s easier than three, at least.
“Alright, stop,” Iris sighs and their tone of voice immediately puts you a bit on edge. “We have to go now, okay? Come back.”
After a trip to the Pokemon-Center (and you finall y get to see Ca-roline again), you’re headed towards wherever Drayden is.
“Welcom… gym. You… here… challenge?”
“Yeah! And I’ll wi…. this ti…!”
“Fut… dive… where we cann...t. All we… d… is co… selv… Do you ha… what it t… ? Show me, right here and now!”
The battle rages on but this time you have no idea what is happening, locked in as you are. You hear a low roar (Lolli-pop?) and a cry that sounds a bit like Cirrus. Iris’ voice filters in through the metal, low and fierce.
“Drag.. claw! Protect!”
“Drago… sh. Cot… gua…”
Pixel shifts nervously in your ball, anxiety radiating in waves towards you. You can’t help but fidget, gnawing absently at your chest fur. Everything aches and you have an idea as to why. The sounds of fighting don’t help.
“Good job, Rosebud!”
“Co… ack, Cir…”
“Sorry, Loll… op.”
“Yo… ell, Lix.”
“Pastel! You… ood?”
“Eris, co… ack.”
“It’s okay, Skye. You did well.”
Skye?
Wait. Skye?
And suddenly you are being released onto the field.
Rosebud’s voice comes from to your side. “Hey. Your Skye friend got beat down by them. You gonna fight back or no?”
Beat down?
You feel Pixel’s anger before you feel your own and that in and of itself is terrifying. Conflicting smells and voices come from the opposite side of the field and you snarl, ears flat.
“Cleaver, Dragon Claw. Lego, Iron Head.”
“Pixel, Dark Pulse and protect Rosebud! Rosebud, X-Scissor!”
How are you supposed to -
“Move,” Rosebud growls and you bristle angrily but move anyway, sliding towards where Rosebud is and throwing out a Dark Pulse. Hopefully it hits.
Thankfully, there’s a sound of impact confirming the hit. And then something strikes you in the stomach - hard.
You are thrown up, flailing. What was that? It felt like metal. You manage to orient yourself and land on four feet, snarling furiously. Rosebud roars somewhere in front of you and there’s a grunt as something hits the floor.
“Take that,” Rosebud growls. And then lets out a pained sound. “Ey. Any help?”
Right.
At Iris’ command, you focus on one of the smells and throw out a Dragon Pulse. There’s another grunt and then footsteps are rushing you. There’s no time to dodge so you brace yourself for the incoming hit -
but -
it never happens.
“I’ve got this one,” Rosebud says, next to you, and you can’t help the shocked noise that comes from your mouth. “What? Didn’t think I would help you? You got him off my back so it’s only fair. Hit him, quick!”
“Lego, Earthquake! Cleaver, Protect!”
There is, you decide, one good thing about having people yelling what to do. And that’s the fact that you can predict the moves.
The ground shakes violently, cracks ripping the floor beneath your feet, but this is something you’ve done too many times to count. You push off the ground just as it splits apart and throw out a Dragon Pulse, hoping desperately that it hits.
There’s a cry and then the sound of the tremors stop. You land and hiss as pain flares through your back.
“Pixel? Did you… ?”
“Damn,” Rosebud murmurs. “Never expected you to do it.”
You stand there for a moment, breathing hard.
“Pixel? Pixel are you -!”
Whatever Iris meant to say is drowned out by the sudden ringing in your ears. You crumple into a ball on the cracked floor. There’s a screaming sound in the distance and you realize belatedly that it’s you.
Pain. Pain rips through your entire body. Your back feels like it’s being ripped apart, your legs feel like they’re being torn off. Pixel is panicking and someone is yelling and you can’t think, can’t breathe because everything hurts. You’re splitting in two, you’re drowning, you’re burning, you’re being frozen.
And just like that, it all melts away as everything comes rushing in.
Sound is the first thing you detect: Iris’ high-pitched voice and Drayden’s gruff one. Smell is the second thing; everything seems sharper suddenly.
You can’t describe what it feels like, but something on your face is opening… ?
And the world unfolds in front of you.
Oh, you realize as you twist your head around, staring at everything because it’s so new. This is sight, isn’t it.
It’s. Strange. Before there was just nothing and you were fine with that. Now? Now you can see what is presumably the ground, cracks running through it. You can actually detect the shape of them instead of relying on your feet. There are other Pokemon on the field (you recognize their smells) and you can actually find them without smell or hearing. They’re just. There, all of a sudden.
Sight, Pixel murmurs and their voice is a lot clearer. You turn your head to the side and you can actually make out what they look like. We can see.
“Pixel,” Iris whispers into the silence and you find yourself awkwardly turning (Your new body is so large ) to, well, see them. “You’re… you’re a Hydreigon! I can’t believe it!”
Hydreigon. Is that what you were?
Wait.
Is this what - ?
Because suddenly you feel yourself being removed from the ground as a new wave of pain passes over your back and suddenly you’ve got new limbs, sprouting from your back. Hesitantly, you move them and find yourself going up, like if you were jumping.
Flight, Pixel whispers, awed, as you keep going up and oh, you can change direction. You can move wherever you want in the air and it feels incredible. Disorienting, a bit, but still incredible.
With a bit of careful back-limb movement, you manage to descend, lowering yourself so you’re hovering above the ground (the ground, the ground that has suddenly appeared, you’ll never get used to this).
“Good job,” one of the figures on the field says. You recognize the voice as Rosebud’s and oh. So that’s what they were; tall and sharp and something else you can’t put your mind on. “You’re a Hydreigon now, huh.”
“Congratulations, Iris,” Drayden is saying.
“Thank you - I - Pixel! You did it! You made it!”
You did?
We did?
And as strange as it seems, you really, really did.
“May we continue?” Drayden says and oh. Right. The battle.
“Yeah - yeah, of course,” Iris says, still sounding a little awestruck. “Alright! Pixel, protect Rosebud! Rosebud, Outrage!”
Rosebud roars and the sound ripples through your bones. You move your back-limbs awkwardly and find yourself going forwards as Rosebud charges, managing to stay next to them.
“Cleaver, Outrage!”
The other figure (Cleaver, probably) lets out a fierce cry and leaps forwards.
“Dark Pulse!”
You take a deep breath, draw up the energy, and let it loose in what is probably the strongest Dark Pulse you’ve ever made. This time, you don’t have to rely on scent or hearing; you can just aim at the figure that’s appeared. It hits, pushing them back. Rosebud immediately rushes past you and lands blow after blow. And this time, you can see them fall.
(You can’t feel the impact anymore, now that you’re not on the ground, but it happens and you know it all the same.)
Silence, pure silence. You twitch your back-limbs and find yourself moving to one side. Twitching them the other way sends you moving to the other side. Huh.
“You’ve grown, Iris.”
Drayden.
“I see you now, standing tall with your Pokemon,” they continue. “I’ll be honest; there were times when I was unsure that you could succeed. I thought you were too immature, too impatient. Too eager to throw yourself into everything that you found fancy. But you had this spark that was - it was just incredible. I knew you could be great so I kept pushing.”
“Drayden,” Iris says, voice thick. “Drayden, I - ”
“I made mistakes,” Drayden says. “I pushed you too hard, sometimes. Or I was too rough. I would try and force you one way and that would only push you the other. But, against all odds, you’ve become an amazing trainer.”
“You were amazing! You were like my father!”
“And fathers are flawed. But, no matter. Iris - and I really do mean this - I am proud to present you the Legend Badge.”
Rosebud nudges you back and you almost tip over, flailing midair to reorient yourself. Iris laughs and it doesn’t feel mocking. It makes you kind of want to laugh as well.
“Here you go, Iris,” Drayden says. You lean forwards a bit, trying to spot what he holds. It looks sharp. “The Legend Badge.”
Iris takes it (you can see it disappear into them) and abruptly throws their figure at Drayden. “Thank you, thank you thank you thank you!”
“Thank you,” Drayden says and their voice is equally as heavy. “For showing me how beautiful the future can be.”
“Pixel? Is that… is that you? Oh, you have a new head!”
You… you do?
hmm?
Hi, Pixel murmurs.
mmmm.
Hello, you say.
hrrmm.
You can actually, well, see the new ‘head’ now. Their…. what was it? Eyes? Eyes. Right. They appeared to have them shut.
wrmmm.
Pixel coos out loud, a sound that makes you thoroughly embarrassed. You ignore them doing their thing in favour of taking time to just look at what has now been shown to you. It’s surprisingly nice. Of course, you have no idea what anything is, but nice all the same.
“Hey, Pixel?”
That was Iris. Yes. You swivel your head, flailing a little to keep yourself balanced in the air. Iris was smaller than you and oddly shaped. Then again, you’d never seen anything else so perhaps it was normal.
“I thought… do you want a name now? Not you, Pixel. The other two.”
Do you?
You kind of do, actually.
“Can you shake your head if yes?”
Hesitantly, you sway your head side-to-side. This time, at least, you don’t overbalance. You can sense the other-other (the non-Pixel one) swaying their head a little.
“Alright!” Iris says. Some things would never change. “Okay. What should I name you… what about Jewel?”
Jewel? Pixel wonders. Jewel. It sounds kind of nice.
Jewl?
Je-wel, Pixel corrects.
Jewl. Je-wel.
Yes.
Jewel! Jewel~
“I think that’s a yes? Ye-es? Yes! Okay. Now, uh…”
What were you going to be, you wonder?
“How about Marvel?”
Marvel?
“You came such a long way,” Iris says quietly. “But you made it. You’re a marvel.”
Marvel.
You actually kind of like it.
“Yes or no?”
You sway your head, hoping it conveys the yes. Pixel hums. Marvel, they murmur.
Marrel.
Mar-vel, Jewel.
Mar-rel.
“Yes, then,” Iris says. “Marvel, Pixel, Jewel. I’m so proud of you guys, y’know?”
“Pixel? Is that… is that you?”
Skye is just as pretty as you’d imagined them to be. They’re all rounded edges and smooth swirls, bright eyes staring at your own.
“Yeah,” you say, floating over - slowly, so you don’t overbalance.
“Wow,” Skye murmurs, drifting closer. They’re on something that looks bright and kind of soft. Something glitters in it. “You can fly now? Do you have eyes? Is that a third head?”
“We can fly!” Pixel interjects.
“And see.”
“And see!”
“You’re incredible,” Skye says, sounding awed. “You look incredible, too.”
Do you?
“Look in the water,” Skye says. Oh, that was water. It seemed a bit underwhelming. You float over and stare at the water. Was that - was that you?
You sway your head and the thing in the ‘water’ moves, too. Pixel ducks their head closer, yelping when you fall too far and get splashed. Skye laughs, somewhere to the side.
It was you, then.
Your… head, you suppose, has some sort of sharp frill around it. Your neck and part of what you think might be your torso is covered in fur. Your back-limbs spread out wide behind you. Your… was that your tail? You had a tail now. It wasn’t fully grown, but it was there.
“Congratulations on your evolution,” Pastel says. You snap your head around, flapping your back-limbs hurriedly so you don’t fall over. “You’ve come a long way.”
“YOU HAVE WINGS! AND ANOTHER HEAD! AND - ”
“Calm down, Rascal.” Lollipop’s voice. You peer curiously at the small, flappy Pokemon. So that was Rascal. “Good job, Pixel! You look incredible.”
“You’re pretty tough now,” Rosebud says. Their voice holds some sort of grudging respect and you’re honestly fine with that. “Good battle, by the way.”
“Thank you,” you say. Your voice comes out oddly deep. Huh.
“You made it,” Pastel says. “You should be proud.”
You should be proud. That’s what everyone said and you want to be, but the moment feels rather bittersweet. It takes a moment to realize why.
Cass should have gotten this. Kelly, too. Everyone in the place you were before - the smuggling ring thing - should have been able to be happy. You didn’t know where they were now and the thought weighs you down.
“What are you thinking about?” Skye asks, gently bumping your side with their head. You fall back and quickly push yourself back up (Flying is hard) .
Should you say it, you wonder? Or should you just say it’s all okay?
“I miss my… friend,” you say. The word ‘friend’ rolls off your tongue rather awkwardly. “My friends. Everyone. They… I don’t know where they are.”
Skye hums understandingly. “I know. I don’t… I’m not sure where my family is. I don’t think I’ll ever see them.”
There’s a moment of silence as you reach out and carefully bump Skye’s head.
“But… here I am. I never thought I’d be happy again, but that’s how I feel right now. And I thought, well.”
Skye’s words echo in your mind as Iris calls you out to battle, facing up against a floating pink (colour, that’s the colour, colours are still new). You twitch your wings (they’re wings, not back-limbs) and rise up into the air. Pixel and Jewel are a steady presence in the back of your mind.
“Never forget them. I know I never will. But you deserve to be happy… wherever you are or whoever you’re with.”
Maybe, you think, as your opponent falls to one Dark Pulse, you really do.
Iris cheers in the background and a new Pokemon comes out, green this time.
“Don’t live for someone else,” Skye had said.
Your opponent launches a glittering sphere at you but you swerve around, making full use of your new wings to dodge it, and retaliate with a Dark Pulse.
You’ll never stop missing Cass, you know. Pixel won’t ever stop missing Kelly. It wouldn’t be right to stop missing them.
But maybe happiness was something you could find on your own.
The hit from the black Pokemon stings but you survive it and fight back with your own attacks.
It was time, you decide as Iris sprays you down, healing your injuries, and then recalls you. Time to look to what would be instead of what was.