#bet-boy

[krizste]

[madeofmobsandmissingno]

Bet-boy and the Old Woods

This is the story that parents tell the children about the boy.

“A long time ago, after the split, there was still a time when all the regions were regular, without any moving rivers or mountains. People could walk from town to town and didn’t have to worry about getting lost each time; little kids could play in streams, and when their parents called, they wouldn’t have to go searching for missing children in missing water.

“In those days, all the kids in Johto would play this game called Hide and Find, where they would take turns hiding from one another in the woods, and there would be one who would go and find them in their hiding spots. Those who were the best at hiding were always praised for how smart they were, how well they spotted good holes or high branches, or how quiet they could be when the finder came.

“But in one town, no one could ever beat the best of all their finders. He knew all the hiding spots in near their town, and could tell when someone was using one. Any time he was playing, the other kids tried best to cover their tracks, but he could find them all after only 5 minutes.

“Over the years, he got so good at finding, he began to boast to all the other kids. ‘I bet there’s nobody in the world who’s better than me at finding people.’ ‘Anyone can try, but I bet I can get them without even looking.’

“Every day he would say the same things, over and over, bragging at how good he was, and finding people every time they played, and soon the other kids got tired with the boy.

“’Who does he think he is, making fun of us and thinking that he’s better?’ ‘I just don’t get why he brags so much, I’m good at school and I don’t brag as much.’ ‘Isn’t he better though?’ ‘Shut up Hao Shuo, just because he’s better doesn’t mean he should brag about it.’ ‘We should knock him down a peg.’ ‘How? He’s not kidding when he’s bragging.’ ‘Then we should change up the game.’

“The next day, all the kids got together to play the game, and asked the boy to be it first.

‘But count to 200 this time, we want to see if we can hide better with twice as much of a headstart.’

‘It won’t help, but good luck trying to find anyplace that’s at least a bit hard,’ said the boy, as he began to close his eyes and count.

“Quickly, all the kids ran as far as they could into woods and hid. As the boy got to 200 and began to search for them, they listened as his footsteps got nearer, and then began to hide further into the woods.

“As the boy searched, he began to realize that the other kids were tricking him, as he found the kicked up dirt and leaves of their previous hiding spots. But he refused to call out their unfairness, not wanting to give them the satisfaction for beating him. He went out deeper and deeper into the woods, following their tracks.

“But as he searched, he began to notice that some of the tracks disappearing, footprints stopping in patches of clover or beside the snapped branches of a bush. The sun was beginning to go down too, and the green of the woods began to grow darker, the leaves and trunks letting go of the golden shine of the last hours of the day. The boy was concerned, but he wanted to win, and so on he went.

“Soon, the sun was fully down and the boy had not found one other kid, though he’d searched in every ditch and tree. Defeated, he turned around, and realized that in the fading light, he’d gone far deeper into the woods than he’d anticipated. The kids had called this part the Old Woods; the trees grew closer together here, and more gnarled, and the canopy held on tighter to the falling light so that very little underbrush grew, only the brown and slimy leaves and the lichen grey against the above ground roots.

“They only ever played in the old woods during the day; noon was the time that a person could run among the twisted trunks and not think twice about what might be behind a rock or just past the grove. The boy did not want to face these woods at night, alone. He began to walk.

“But somehow, the tracks he followed led him even deeper, into parts of the old woods he’d never seen before, the trees now closer, rotting limbs above him and old dead trunks he had to climb, coating his hands with a slime he couldn’t seem to rub off. Again and again, he tried to turn back, but the more he walked, the deeper the darkness seemed to grow, the lower his shoes would sink into moist refuse, he can feel a dampness in his socks, cold and clammy, decay growing in his nostrils, hinting of spores and tendrils under every surface, grey and black fungi beneath every leaf and vine, he is releasing a new wave after every step, he can feel the waves of rot inside him, feel the waves of fear coursing through, the air tastes like the green fuzz of old onions, the back of damp closets, the basement of his old house, vomit, he is on the ground heaving the slime around his hands he can see the grey move up in bubbling stalks he can see his pores growing open the tendrils moving down into the holes he is filled with rot and scum and mold and pus and pain it is filling him up it is eating him through it is speaking to him

D̴O̵͂̔̐̄͌̂̀ ̶̆̒̈̓͗͛̚ ̵̿͊̆̐̈́͒ ̷̛͊̉̆̉̔͝ỹ̷̑̊͌̂́̌Ö̸́u̵͑̋̈́̽̃̈́̏ ̔̆̿́̀̀̈̐͆̓̾̈́̔̊͘͝͠͠w̎̃͌̏͆̔̃͌̎̅͑̉̓̕͘̕͘̚͝ȉ̓̀̇̈́͌̓͂͗̈̏̐͆̀̕͝͝͝š̒̓̍͂́̎̇͒͆̉̀͗̉̉͋̅̊̑h̛̐̇̓̋̒̋̌͌̔͆͌̆̈͘̚͝͝ ̛̂̓̽͊̄̂̀̓̔́̉͒̏͘͘͝͝t̛̉́͛͆͒͛̄̿̾͌̈́̅̏͗͛̃̕͝O͌͆͋̿̏̊̎ ̀̈̿͂͐̋̎̾̆̓̓̋̾̆̓͌̈́͝ ̶̧̣̠̜̺̥͍̠̰̱̎̐̑̆͊̔̾̀̀̚͝ͅ ̴̳̗͍̝̬̙̣͇̥͕̙͒̌̑̉̒͂͗̄̀̚̚ ̶̡͇̮̙̯̖̜̟̪̯̜̾͌̽̈́̄̆̾̿̔͘͘ ̴̡̛̫̲̙̫̘͕͈̯͚̼̀̂̀͛̋̆̓͒̊̚ ̷͈̼̬͓͇̥̳̠̲͔̼̔̃̊̉́̀̃̃̑̎̕ ̵̨̦͍̮͚̩̹͖̱͇̞͂̑̓͐̿̄̀̑̚͠͝ ̵̢̧̮͕̺͍̹̪̦͎̮͊̍̍̐̄̂̏͒̎͗͝ ̵̧̘͔̹̜̰̳͎͚̙̏̂͂̂̈́͋̇̋̒͑̕͜ ̸̧̳͕̪̫̲̣̜̲̦̦̉̽̋̐͌́̈́̃͂̈͝f̴̧̡̛̳̜̖͓̗͎̟̤̰̽̊̊̽́̃̏͌͛̌i̸̛̤̼̬̘̳̟̙͓͙͚̝͒̌̀͊̆̈͐̍͘̕N̴̨̧̨̺̺̰̯̘͎̹̲̒̊̒̋̇̔̒͐͂͌͝D̸̛̻̟̯̦̗̘̩͈̙̖̮̔͆͐͋͂̈́̌̓͠͝ ̸̞͍͚̩͍̮͔̰̪͔͍̎̾͒̿̈́̃͗͒́͘̕ţ̶̟̣̮͈̰̗͇̹̳͗̓̉̂̽̾̎̈̑͘͘͜h̸̨͓͔̟̲̜̜̦̠͒̽̀̂͊͛̂́͐̆͌͜ͅË̷̛̤̱̹̳͍̰͕͓̪̭͈́̎͒͋͐̐́͋͝͝m̴̨̧͚̳̠̰͇͈̼̜͑͆̎̀̆͆̓̄̈́̕͝ͅ?̵̻̪̝̱͙̻̱̰̣̘̭͒̒̈́́͒̂̊̀̑̕̚

yes

ģ̸̤̦͈̱͈̻̙̠̟͖̑̐͌̑̆̌̏̌̈́̀͝O̵̢̦͈̗̮̲̩̠͖̥͎͊͛̄̍̋̍̑̏̈̕͝Ờ̶̢̳̯̗̪̠͎̣̥̟̯͋̿̂̾͑͂͛͑͝D̸̛̹̦̮͖͚̥͖̟̼̘͒̏̉̍͒̿͛̿̓̈ͅ

what are you doing

i̷̬̮͜ ̵̢̤̮ a̸̲̺̹̼̠m̷͔̝̮̫̰ ̸͗̓͛̔̓h̷̓̈́̑́͘E̷̒̏̄̓͐L̵̏͆͂̄̇p̶͑͊̉͗͌i̷̼͙̼̥̋̅̃̀͠ͅN̴̪̘̝͙̺͆̂͂́̊G̶̡͔͇͔̣̾̐͋̅̾ ̵̍̈̉̿̽y̷̛̎̄͑̚Ơ̸͆̿̉͑ǘ̵̀̒̾͝

“The other kids had long been back home and were waiting for the boy to come out of the woods so they could laugh at him. But as the sun came down, they began to worry about the boy.

“’Is he okay?’ ‘Hao Shuo shut up’ ‘I just want to know! He’s been out there for a while!’ ‘Serves him right, he was being stupid, he deserve to get lost in the woods, shows how well he knows them’ ‘But Celia, what if he’s really hurt or something?’ ‘That’s dumb, no one who anyone is gonna get really hurt in the woods’ ‘Guys look someone’s coming!’

“All the other kids turned towards the woods, and saw somebody coming out of line of trees. Relieved, they all started yelling, but whoever it was didn’t respond, just kept walking closer and closer to the group.

“’Hey, are you okay?’ ‘See, you totally aren’t the best at hide and find’ ‘Shut up Joshua we don’t even know if it’s him’ ‘Well I’m gonna say it anyway cause he deserves it’

“The figure comes into the light and the group recognizes the boy. He looks weird though; his has some sort of weird grey hood over his head, connected to his jacket, and he’s walking funny, as if he’s hurt somehow.

“’Hey man, are you okay?’

“The boy looks at the kids. He smiles.

y̖͔̝̫̲̟̞̠̙͉̙̭̠̘͚̯͙̪͍̝̬͜O̧̡̧̡͎̦̯̰̦̩̟̺̞̹̥̜̯̘̟̘͜ͅu̧̨̡̧͇̹̫̠̺̜͉̯͔͉̰͙͔̤̯̘͜ͅ b͋͒̎̓̈́̏̈͆̅̑́͗̚E̽̈̄̍͛̃͋̿͊͐̏͗͋t̛̉͊̎̅̀̍͑̍̈̽͘̕

“And he’s gone. In front of their eyes, disappears into nothingness, no smoke, no sound, no fade. Just gone.

“’OH MY GOD OHMY GODWHEEREDID HE GO? I don’t know HE WAS JUST RIGHT HERE did anybodyseehim somebody get there mom and dad SOMEBODYGET THEI/RMOMANDD\AD where’s hao shuo WHERE’S HAO SHUO DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHERE HAO SHUO IS?’

“Over the next few months, they put out search parties for both missing kids, but to no avail. Eventually, both families hold funerals, holding each other in their grief. The kids go back to school, but they stop playing in the woods.

“After a few years, the kids stop thinking about the games they played, growing into puberty and then into young adulthood. A few of them get jobs in the larger cities of Goldenrod and Olivine, and start hanging out together at the local bars. One night, they meet another group from a different town, and start swapping stories.

“’Oh wow, that’s so weird. Same thing happened to us; we used to play in the woods until one time two of the kids didn’t make it home.’ ‘That’s crazy.’ ‘Yeah, we had a whole funeral and everything. And the weirdest part was that the first guy wasn’t even from our town. He just showed up one day and started hanging out with us. None of the adults even knew who he was, they all just assumed he was someone else’s kid.’ ‘That’s so weird. Do you think there’s a chance that they’re still out there somewhere?’

“One of the quieter guys pipes up,

you bet.”

------

“That was a weird story mommy.” “Yeah? It’s very spooky, isn’t it.” “Yeah. I don’t know if I like it.” “Well, you don’t have to like it. You can just learn from it.” “What do I have to learn?” “Well, what were the other kids doing?” “They were being mean to the boy.” “That’s right, and what happened?” “I don’t know.” “One of the boys got taken, right?” “I guess.” “So what does that mean?” “Don’t be mean?” “That’s right, you shouldn’t be mean to other people, otherwise the Bet-boy’s gonna get you!” “STOP, THAT TICKLES.” “Okay, alright, I’ll stop.” “That was mean, Mommy. Bet-boy’s gonna get you.” “Okay, I’m sorry.” “That’s okay.” “Hey guess what?” “What?” “There’s something else to learn here.” “Okay.” “Do you want to learn it?” “Okay.” “It has to do with Bet-boy.” “Mommy, stop being slow and tell me.” “What was Bet-boy doing before he got lost?” “I don’t know.” “Well, try something.” “He was looking for the other kids?” “Yes, but why was he looking for them?” “Cause they were playing the game.” “Okay, but why were they playing the game?” “Cause they wanted to trick him?” “Yep! And why did they want to trick him?” “Cause he was bragging!” “Yes! And why did he get lost in the woods?” “Cause he thought he was really good?” “Exactly! And so what happened after he got lost?” “He got eaten.” “So?” “So what?” “So what does that mean?” “Uhm, does it mean you shouldn’t brag?” “Yes, but what happens if you do brag, like Bet-boy?” “You’re gonna get eaten!” “That’s right! So don’t be mean and don’t brag, okay hon?” “Okay mommy!” “Good, now go to sleep okay?” “You bet!” “Good night hon.” “Good night mom!”

[canisaries]

here come dat be̷t̨bo͠i

 ơ̷ s͢͡͡͏h҉̧̢͟

[canisaries]

very very quick betboy sketch because

well

i don’t even know

[storylocke]

Drabbles 7

Alpha didn’t know where he was, but at least it wasn’t in darkness. In fact, the whole area was blindingly light, and felt as unstable as if walking on air itself. He kept staggering, unable to stop shaking, and called for anyone to answer as he wandered aimlessly. He thought back to the meeting on the mountain, the gateway, the old man he’d never met in his life, yet filled him with dread to hear the familiar voice. A shadow of a man who knew him by another name. Was it possible the Corporal had taken someone else after being purged? A stray thought answered him immediately; no it didn’t, because XD001 wouldn’t have known anything about “Çeth” or “Sho.” But, he tried to argue, if the old man was like him, then the Corporeal would be controlling him by feeding off his own bitterness and desires. If that were the case, it might have known them through him. Even if that were the case, he calmed himself, it couldn’t be the same monstrosity that he’d been held under all these years because then it would have targeted him, not Abe… Right?

Alpha paused in his internal debating, as he was struck with the realisation of a few things. First, it didn’t matter what happened considering he should have been more concerned with his current situation. He was alone, and lost, and whether the creature intended to target him or not, he’s the one it dragged off to this endless space. Secondly, and more annoyingly, he wasn’t fully alone. He instinctively placed a hand to his scanner, and manually drew it out to see to see the image of himself, dressed in green with blue hair so dark it was almost black. The reflection stared back at him as if surprised to be seen. The redhead let out a frustrated groan. “Aw, damn it, we’re out of sync again!”

“It also seems we’ve regained the ability to swear.” The counterpart added quietly as he placed his bare hand to his lips. He didn’t mean for it to slip out like that. As Alpha felt his hand drawn into the same pose by his other's action, he warily glanced to his normally metal covered arm. There was no machine to be found this time. Only the blackened, clawed hand of the Shadow. This…. was… bad… Again his thoughts went back to the night before with the others. Everything had happened so fast once the gateway was open, but surely wherever the others had ended up, they still had his Snag Machine.

He could feel counterpart taking over as his panic started to rise. Alpha tried to assure himself, “No, no, no, we’re fine. We don’t need it. I refuse to believe I am so dependant I’d start to relapse as soon as it’s gone!” Despite his insistence, he immediately started to check himself over for any sign of the gun. No more fighting, no more killing, no more “jumps,” no more-!

B̹᷆͆e̫̠͟t͔̦̐o̗̬͡s̙͕͇…

If he hadn’t been panicking before, he certainly was now as the redhead felt his blood run cold. A whimper caught in his throat as he closed his eyes and hoped it was all in his head. It came as a whisper, a hiss of static, a soft musical calling with an air of sweetness, and a sleepless and exhausted sigh. He didn’t want to look, didn’t want to hear, but the gentle crooning of that name came again which caused his heart to sink. He opened his eyes to look, but no one was there. “What do you want?!”

A̡͛̀ ġ̖͏ř᷂᷇e͒͐a̞͈ͮt̲̤̓ d͕̹̽e̮̽᷀a̵̗͈l᷀ ö̗᷉f̷̨͟ m̃y̶͖̐ p͆ow̵ͦͮễ̫r̤̈́᷃ w̤̘͗ãͣ̽s͍̗̫ s̵̤͞p̡͎̺e̫͘n͏̺̓t᷃̇̚ o͏͘͘n᷂͟͡ ṯ̖̒h̩͍ͯe̩᷉̋ t̓r̘̆̓a̛ͤ̂n̦̞͟ş̵̋fͨé̼̔r̘̎᷄. The dual tones shifted to a more masculine tone, painfully paternal, but with a slick air of knowing exactly how it made the boy seethe. I̡̐́ n̠̦̿ě̡̮ȩ̷̹d᷊͓̍ t͛͊͜i͂͏̕m̶ͦ͠eͨ᷇ t̞͙͘ö́͗̽ ṟ̨ͯe̴̼᷇c̙͑̊o̢̦ͅvͫ̓͗e̹͆͆r̨ͨ͡, a͖͏͚n᷁͆d͙͂᷈ ẳͮ s̤͗́ū̴̎ǐ̤̫t͂̚a̼͚᷀b̮᷁l̴͈̽ȇ̳̼ v͇̄᷇e̴̗͆sͫ̔͘s̮͑̔el̤͙ͥ.

“Well forget it!” Even as a part him screamed how bad an idea it was to taunt such a force that was able to rip holes into reality, Alpha’s blood boiled as his anger won out. “I refuse to be anyone’s weapon ever again! I did not spend a lifetime s͇-̹s͇-͋sͥt͡r̯ùgͬg̭lͦiͅn̚g̭ to be free of your a̰c᷂c̵uͤr͇s̑e̅d͖ t᷃a᷃ȉn͠t̪ only to have you…y̥̓͐ŏ̓u̱̬ͩ...” The boy began to wheeze as he placed a hand to his throat, a fire settling in as he felt himself choking on the words. There was little point in arguing how the Shadow, no, the “Glitch” as Abe had called them, still lingered within him. He tried to hope that maybe it was just something about the realm here that brought it out of him. As he tried to focus on the scanner, he could see his red haired reflection dressed in yellow, glaring at him in disappointment, as the deep blue bangs fell into his face. The switch had been done.

M͟yͪ k̄iͦn̸d᷀?᷿ The mysterious voice brought him out of his thoughts with a hissing laughter. Ō̸̆u͐ͯ͝r͔̘᷾ k̺᷀ͤi͚ͬ͢n̢͙᷇d͔̞͍, Bͯ᷄͝ë̡͈́t́̓̀o͏̷͓s͆᷇ͧ. T̫hͅe͞ “Côrͤpͦo᷾rͬa̒l͒” y̒ou͡ r̂e̘f̙e͈rͅ ṭo̎ w̡a᷾s̹ aͩ ro̤u͞g̖e̾.͘ De̼l᷉iri̜ǒůs͎ f̵r̶o̙m͠ ȳe̪a͆r̫sͥ o̍f͒ o̲᷁f̺᷂ t͢o̪͎̔r̢᷁᷀t͈͎᷅u̠̳̜r᷂᷾e͍ a̰͒͂n̬͋̋d̺͑ ḭ̂͂s͇̅̌ȯ̤̱l̫̍̊ā̗̕t͉ͯ̄ȋ̬ͦó͍ͣn̙̏̆, i̡̩ͬt̞᷇ fì̡̩n᷅aḻͯḽ᷃͗y̎ to̦̦͋o̲᷁̌k̬̍̔ i̡̘͘ț᷉͡'s r͙ͧ᷾e̪᷆̂v̾e᷈nͭ̎g̲̱̃ě᷊᷆ t̪͎́h͔̮͆r͂͒͟o̴̐͠ṷ͚̚g̙͂᷇h̗͒̈́ y̫͛͢o᷈ͯŭ̫̹. The voice turned to a soothing air of pity. I᷈ ẘa᷇n̖t̩ t̨o͈ hͭe͆l̷p᷂ y͉o̙u̜, i̱f̝ y̓ǒu᷊ wi̼l̑l r͛ḛt̏u͚r̴n t̜o̷ m̂ẽ.

“That’s not my name…” The teen muttered begrudgingly. The voice seemed amused to hear what he thought it was then. The boy spoke firmly, “My name is Alpha.”

A͟n͖dͩ b̅éf͐ŏr̆e̪ t̆h̚a͉t̤?̽

“Alpha.” The teen came again with rising temperament, but the voice came again with mild mockery.

A̜̍͑rẽ͔ y̷̘̯o̝̍͠uͪ s̘̀ͨu̥͢͞ṟ̳ͬë̡᷊́?᷄̉̚

“MY NAME IS ALPHA BETOS AVICI!” As much as it hurt to say “Betos” really did have anything to do with him and not XD001, to say it out loud seemed to resonate with something within him. Something in his heart that had been fading in and out as if on the tides of memories. He tried to think of his time with the others, how he had wept to apologize for Betos’ misdoings, how he raged at Baba for how she had wronged him, but it wasn’thim so much as the name he demanded she remember. An L… an M…? … A J. The J certainly didn’t belong to him, but it started to stir up other memories that hovered in and out of his shadowed mind. Lu, he concluded, the J was really a G. He started to look around the space in slight fear of himself. Images of a ship and a vast desert came to mind. And while a part of him whispered to put it out of mind, that it wasn’t his doing, he couldn’t help but sink down with weight of regret. “My name… doesn’t matter. I cannot help you….”

'I ‘knøw. Y͋o̡úrͥ f᷇r̟i͡e̝n̟d̀s̤ d̗ò n̠o̹t̮ t̒r̫u᷇s͜t͈ y̡o͐u͟.͎.͒.᷂ T͙᷄͂h̩̱᷇e̘ͧ̌ V̴͖̉o̵̗̗i̛̠̯cę̮̿s h͎̱᷅a᷁̉᷈t̥̅̓e᷿᷄͡d͎᷅̊ y̞᷇͝o̡ͩ᷈u͓͒̃.̹͂̕.. Ŷͮ̓o͔͒͌u͚͎̦r͕᷀᷾ f̳̄̎á͗͠m̌͌͜i̶ͬ͞l̈́᷾͑y̩͑᷉ i᷿͉͏s͓̑̕ g̰̣᷊o̴̼᷿n͇̜᷀e͕̠̅ bͬ͗̚e̷͖͐c͉̙͊a̮̓͞u͇̐̈s̜͒͂ẹ᷉͠ o̮̻̺f̼ͩͨ y͓̽͠ǒ͉̪ȗ̓̂…. A͔̹̖n̮̂̓ḑ̊͗ I͒͟͝ c͈a̭͊̅n̙̞͢n̓͘ő̡̤t̟ͥ᷀ t̖̯᷁ak̒̽̽e͉̕ y̨̌͂ō̺᷉u. The teen looked up in the direction of the sound, confused to hear it reject him so thoroughly after pushing him all this time. Ḅ̄̉u̧͙͗ṱ̳̜ I̷̱̒ c͕̻̼â̹͐ń̦͊ s̼̹͇t̩͖͊i̻l̇ͅl̜̒͑ u̜s̈̍̚e̵᷅͞ y̢̬͞ỏ̘͠uͥ.

Saying how the others didn’t trust him, well, he already expected that. It did give him some slight hope to think if they even warranted mentioning, they were still alive. But where could he go? The dark haired boy tried to shove the idea from his mind that he could, and should, try to outsmart this thing. But if he played his cards right, he argued, it would at least allow him to leave the strange plane he was being held in, and he could make his escape from there. He placed his hands to his head as he let out a childish whine, sinking down to the floor in pain as the two sides were fighting for which course of action to take. One thing was clear. “I just want to go home…” He gazed up in terror as he felt the overwhelming presence sinking in. Cold, heavy, and the world around him started to grow dark. What had he agreed to? He never asked anything of it, but the voice now came in his ears like static.

D̝̊̂̑̽ͨ᷉͞O͇̗̟̯̥᷿̝ͭ̃᷇̄ͨ̓̄ͅŅ̸̼͉͇᷁ͧͧ᷄ͣE̪̣᷈᷁᷉̾͆̉̂͟

~~~~~~~~

A/N: Sometimes I like to make my own glitches. .... And sometimes I just really need to abuse a generator (and myself apparently). Olden doesn’t really do well with being told no.

This is probably really confusing to anyone who doesn’t know about my XD fic, but basically Alpha came about when a “glitch” caused Michael to pick up a straggler when trying to summon the Voices. I think by now we all know who. Poor kid though, that Run was so broken.

[canisaries]

ALRIGHT GEEZ WOW FINALLY IT’S DONE

not kidding this whole project took like literal days to finish

well anyway; welcome to auntie canis’ crazy LORRE story time hour. today we’ll hear the flipping weird tale of the alphabet kid who turned into just bet kid. about the content? uhh i dunno i suppose there’s some violence, but nothing really special, just guns and murders with said guns.

and without further ado, find the story after the break, and take a seat or something because it’s over 3500 words long so you know, might take a while

1. We begin right after XD. Alpha is tired from the long journey. The media takes great interest in Alpha’s story, and he starts off humble, but after a while the fame starts going to his head. 

2. Being so famous, Alpha gets attention from all around Orre. He goes to visit not only the places he was to during his journey, but also many other, more obscure locations. During his travels, he gets acquainted with the local people and Pokemon, but also with the leisurely activities. As a result, he picks up gambling – he develops no serious addiction, but he spends a good part of his time among the cards and chips. 

Seeing more of Orre, Alpha begins to realize what a huge and devastating impact the nuclear strike decades ago has had on the region. There are shortages of water and food in places; all the while mysterious glitches are running rampant. The old Orre the elderly describe is nothing like the deserted wasteland of today – the way the talked of it, it sounded like a green paradise. 

3. This inspires Alpha to read up on Orre’s history. He learns of the events preceding the strike, of the attacking Shengdu region and a certain president Baba – her origins, her Pokemon friends, the ups and down of her career, the attempts on her life and her final decision to drop the bomb. Alpha begins to wonder what Orre would be like today, had the nuke never happened.   And just like that, he gets an idea. Along his journey, he skipped back in time on multiple occasions. He goes to his PC to consult his old friend, Parafox, and she lets him know that yes, she indeed has the power to bestow the power of time travel on single people and Pokemon. She tells him that her powers are currently weak, and her current powers allow someone to operate on only a radius of a few days, maybe weeks. However, if she were fully evolved, this might not be the case. 

So Alpha obtains a Firestone and evolves Parafox with it. Parafox comments on how she feels her powers grow even greater. She confirms that she can now grant him the power of time travel across multiple decades. She instructs him on how to use his powers, and Alpha is now nearly ready to begin his quest. He puts on a disguise, cutting and dying his hair and changing his clothes, just to be sure no additional time-trouble will happen. Since he plans on going alone to minimize the risks, and what he read from Shengdu suggests that it’s not the safest region out there, he acquires a gun for self-defense. 

Alpha examines the historical records numerous times more and finally chooses the best time to go back to. Parafox wishes him luck and emphasizes on how he should use his powers sparingly for, despite her impressive knowledge of time, travelling through time is always somewhat unpredictable. Every jump back or forwards is a risk, and he should try to complete his mission with as few jumps as possible. With an acknowledging nod, Alpha is off to set right what once went wrong. 

4. Alpha arrives in the past. He checks himself and is relieved to find no major harm caused to his body. He repeats his mission to himself: locate Miss Baba and convince her not to give the green light to the nuke. And so he finds her, and at first everything seems to be going according to plan. He stops her in the underground passage and requests her to listen. Baba first appears frightened, but then lets her guard down and hears him out. She agrees to withhold the planned attack on Orre, and the meeting ends. Baba walks away with her signature odd and wobbly gait, and Alpha’s elated. “That was easier than I expected”, he thinks to himself. 

He’s sure of his success as the following few days no news of a nuclear attack is heard, but he decides to wait around for a while longer. After all, he’s in the past, so why not have fun. He heads to the Game Corner, and while he ends up not being so lucky and losing most of his cash, he at least wins a level 10 Slowpoke. 

Now being short on money, he decides it might be wise to go back to the future now. But as he checks the Shengdu news one last time, he’s devastated to find that the nuclear strike had just been fired on the president’s request. 

He realizes that Baba had lied, of course she had lied. Why else would she have been so accepting. He had been blinded by his enthusiasm, and now his region was aflame once more. However, he soon pulls himself together, and decides that he just has to try again. He stands up, concentrates and sends himself back to when he first appeared in the past. 

Upon arrival, he’s surprised to find that he apparently forgot to take the Slowpoke’s Pokeball out of his pocket. Fearing the worst, he lets it out, but luckily it seems to have survived the jump just fine. Alpha’s intrigued by this for a while, but then he shrugs it off – after all, he has a job to do. 

He meets Baba in the tunnel for a second time, a bit bitter about her lying to him the first time around, but he tries his best to not make it show. He and Baba talk, just like last time, but this time Alpha is more calm and collected and tries to make her understand his cause better. She leaves with a ‘yes’, and Alpha’s hopeful. The conversation had gone well in his opinion. 

He knows he has to wait again this time to see if it had worked, but he also realizes something else. Now that he’s back, he knows how to win that Slowpoke on that certain day. He’s well aware that he has to leave his Pokemon this time to avoid putting them in risk, but he’s curious. And indeed, he enters Game Corner on the same day and does the same things to win, and he soon finds himself with another Slowpoke friend. He goes outside and lets both out. They don’t seem to react to each other. “Well, they’re Slowpokes. I don’t know what I expected”, Alpha thinks to himself. 

Alpha waits around, following the news vigilantly, and again, there is no word of any attack. He waits even longer, and still nothing. He’s hesitant to leave, but after another week, he’s certain that the attack isn’t happening. In fact, it looks like the president is resigning. 

He’s about to turn off the TV, but then out of the blue, a special news report. A nuclear bomb unexpectedly dropped onto Orre, with no word to the public beforehand. 

Alpha is enraged. He immediately sends himself backwards, but this time a day before the original time. He wants time to think, to plan. He’s about to leave for the tunnel, when he realized that he’s brought the Pokeballs with himself again. He checks them, but no damage has been done. He calls them back, but as he has put them in his pockets, he feels something. Something is… off. He pauses to look at his hands. They look normal. But they don’t feel normal. 

But suddenly, the feeling is gone. Everything’s back to the way it was, and now he’s just standing there, in the middle of the street, looking at his palms like an idiot. He sighs and goes to find his usual place to stay the night again. 

Alpha spends the rest of the day like he had planned, thinking about the best way to approach Baba. He finds and pinpoints the mistakes he had done before and constructs another strategy. The following day he puts this strategy to use, and the outcome turns out different after all. Just not the outcome he was hoping for; Baba says no. And as Alpha suspected, the nuke is fired even sooner than ever. “At least she didn’t lie to me this time”, Alpha sneers. He finds himself not only disappointed but also out of money, so he decides to sell the Slowpokes. “I can just get a new one on my next try”, he thinks to himself. 

And so he tries again, with another extra day of planning, another strategy, another Slowpoke to sell… and another failure… and another jump backwards.   And another try. 

And another try. 

And another try. 

He arrives once more on that street of Shengdu, and then he stops himself in his tracks. “This can’t go on”, he thinks. “This isn’t working. I have to try something else.” 

He reaches for his pocket, and something cold and heavy touches his hand. He moves himself somewhere more hidden, and takes out the gun. “I don’t want to use this, but…” 

“If I just scare her…” 

Alpha takes a deep breath, and leaves the street. He waits for the time of the meeting, then enters the underground and watches. 

Soon she appears, staggering forwards from the entrance. Alpha walks to her, seizes her by the arm and tries to sound as intimidating as possible. “You’re gonna listen to me this time.” 

“What the…” Baba exclaims, trying to struggle, but Alpha raises the gun and she freezes in place. 

Alpha threatens to ‘do something’ to her unless she complies, and fearful of the stranger with the gun, she does. He lets her go, remarking that ‘he’ll be watching’, which he won’t be doing but he thought it sounded frightening enough. 

Afterwards, Alpha goes to the Game Corner to calm himself down. He decides to try his luck with the other games again, and what do you know, he wins. It brightens his mood, and after going and winning another Slowpoke, he goes back to his room with a smile on his face. He closes the door and lets himself fall on the bed. “You know”, he says to his new-but-technically-old friend, “I have high hopes for this timeline.” 

Just then, the door is busted open and the police barges in, accompanied by Miss Baba. “That’s the guy!” she says. “That’s the guy who threatened me!”   “No, no, wait-” Alpha tries to say, but he’s handcuffed before he can say anything more. He feels his heart pounding fast, his blood pumping through his body – and then something strange. There’s a flash, and he suddenly finds himself outside the room, the handcuffs nowhere to be found. For just a few seconds, he stands there, but then he realizes this was his chance to escape. He runs to the janitor’s closet to hide himself, and concentrates yet again. A split second before he gets away, he sees the door swiftly open and someone yell “He’s here!” 

As the asphalt makes contact with his feet and he smells the smog of the familiar street, he finds himself blind. All he can see is black and brief flashes of bright colors. Alpha falls on his knees and tries to rub his eyes, but finds that he has no clue where his arms are. He is just about to scream for someone’s help, when his vision clears. He can feel his hands again. He fixes his eyes on the surrounding gray cityscape, trying to relax himself. In some time, he feels well enough to get up and walk away from the street to catch his breath in peace. “What was that…” 

He checks his pockets, finding his wallet and the gun, but no Slowpoke. Well, of course not. It was out of its Pokeball when the cops came in. Why even question it. 

He is frustrated, but knows that he has to try again. And this time he’ll hide better. And try a different strategy. And meet her in a different place. Yeah. That’s it. 

5. Alpha waits in the tunnel again as usual, but when Baba appears, he doesn’t move a muscle. Instead, he waits until she’s gone past him, and then slips after her. He follows her around for a while, until they’re alone in a small passageway between buildings. Alpha decides now would be a good opportunity to confront her. This time he doesn’t wait. He immediately whips out his gun and starts to talk. “Not a word, Baba”, he hisses. She turns around. “You’re gonna do what I say this time.” Baba looks both startled and confused, as Alpha makes his demands clear, inching a bit closer with every sentence. Then, when Alpha’s standing right next to her, she sees her chance and tries to knock off the gun. It doesn’t work. A struggle follows, and somewhere amidst it all the gun goes off. Baba falls to the ground. Alpha backs off, panicking. “But it’s alright”, he soon thinks, “I’ll just go back, and then she’ll be alive again.” He waits no longer and prepares to jump, but finds himself unable. Instead, he realizes that everything’s gone silent. He walks around the corner to see people still moving, and the people see him. They see his gun, and then they see her, there on the ground. Alpha sees them shift about, and then his hearing comes back. A commotion had formed, and he knew he had to get out. He tries again, shutting out the noise of the street and the people, and succeeds. 

No flashes this time, perfect vision, but the feeling… it’s back. And this time it didn’t go away. He doesn’t know what it is, but it’s there. 

He still moves away from the street and goes to find his place. He still waits in the tunnel. He follows her again, he approaches her, he threatens her. But he makes sure his hood is on, stays further away this time and when he’s done, lets her go. He knows it’s not much different from the time before the last time, but he’ll stay hidden this time. After visiting Game Corner. He’s deserved that.   He goes and wins again, along with another Slowpoke. He doesn’t go back to his room, however, and instead finds another place to stay. He waits a night, constantly checking the hallway and his window, but no one comes. And nothing is said in the news. 

He waits another night, and no one comes. And nothing is said in the news.   

He waits another week, and no one comes. And nothing is said in the news. 

“Maybe this time?” he dares to hope. But no, just the next day, Orre nuked. Again. 

And so it’s back to the past, again. Back to the street. Back to the room. Back to planning. But what good will it do? The feeling’s still there, too. 

Alpha recaps all the different times he’s come back. Somewhere in there, there’s a mistake he keeps making every time. Every time has led to the nuclear strike. Except… not every time. 

He never waited around to see if the strike was fired when Baba was shot.   No, of course it wouldn’t have been fired. The president is who triggered it. And with no president, no one will be there to push the button. 

But that’s horrible. He couldn’t just go and… murder someone like that, in cold blood. But if he didn’t? An entire region of people, their children, their grandchildren would pay the price. 

What’s worth more? Millions of innocents, or one cold-hearted, lying, corrupt girl? 

We all have to die someday. 

The next day, he’s there in the tunnel. He spots Baba and he follows her. They enter and leave many empty streets, but Alpha doesn’t stop them once. “Not yet… I’m not ready.” He tries to gather courage with every passing building, but as ‘the right moment’ just never seems to come, he decides he just has to go through with it. But how to do it? Talk to her first? Apologize? Just pull the trigger now, when she’s unaware of his presence? Maybe. He doesn’t feel like talking. 

“Hey, miss!” he shouts anyway. Why? He didn’t feel like talking. 

Baba turns around and flinches like before. Just shoot her now. Don’t make this harder for yourself. 

“I’ve got something to say…” He tried to pull the trigger, but he can’t. It’s like it isn’t even there. 

He continues to talk, to mock, to torment her. This wasn’t the plan. Where’s the trigger? There, he can finally feel it again. He’s mid-sentence, but he wants out. A gunshot. Another gunshot. Another…? What are you doing? Stop! 

Bullet after bullet, he couldn’t stop. He pulled the trigger over and over again. Too many times, this gun doesn’t even has this many rounds. What is happening? 

Finally, after what must have been the twentieth shot, he stops himself. He swiftly puts the gun away and tries his best not to look at it. Baba is on the ground, deader than dead. He’s standing there. Nobody’s around. Did nobody hear? 

Minutes pass, and no one arrives. Seems like he’s in the clear. 

“…Well”, he thinks, “I did what I came here to do.” What else is there. Now is the time to hide and wait. 

He goes back to his room. Not even Game Corner is worth it now. He’s too tired. He switches on the news. Nothing about a nuke, yet. While it plays in the background, he checks his gun. All the ammunition is still there. It’s like it was never fired. Did he get a new one somehow and just forget? Did any of that even happen? 

He then hears a familiar name in the newscast. President Baba. They found her? 

Well, yes and no. Baba’s certainly onscreen, but she’s… alive? 

That’s right, there she is. Standing upright, no wounds, no worries. Not a single mention of him. Everything seems completely normal, like nothing had even happened. Maybe nothing had indeed happened. 

But that’s crazy. He was there. He fired those shots. He saw her die. He killed her. 

Alpha checks the clock on the wall. The time sure had passed like normal. The time hasn’t been reset. So what gives? Who cares. He had a mission and he failed. He has to try again. 

He bears in mind the scene of the newscast, and goes out to look for her. She is still there at the scene, but there are people around her. He waits for her to leave, and follows her again. They enter another empty passageway, and Alpha takes the gun. This time he’ll just shoot, no chatter. Then suddenly, Baba turns around. “You again”, she mutters. 

“Y-you recognize me?” Alpha stutters. “But I-”

“Make it quick, bettor boy. I ain’t got all day. I’m the president, you see.”

“How do you know I b-” Alpha started, but stopped himself. No chatter. He raised the gun. Baba acquired an impatient expression. 

“Do it.”

“…No”, Alpha said, lowering the gun. “I want answers.” 

“So now you get curious”, she mocked. “Well, alright, boy. You see-” 

Her sentence was cut short by a gunshot. She fell on the ground, and looking at his hands, Alpha saw the gun raised again. He quickly dropped it. “Wha-” 

He then fell to his knees in pain, as a loud, high-pitched noise pierced his ears. He covered them with his hands, but it made no difference. This noise was inside his head. 

And then, just like that, it’s gone. He looks around and sees that so is Baba. She’s nowhere to be found. There isn’t even blood anywhere. He checks the gun. No rounds missing. 

Alpha runs to the street. She’s not there. He has to find her again. He enters a bar where there’s a TV. He waits for the news to come on, and there she is. The radio tower. 

He runs to the tower, and finds Baba there, being interviewed. He stays there until the interview is over, and Baba is on her way, along with some bodyguards this time. Alpha assesses the situation. He could wait for them to leave as well, but then again, what would happen if there were witnesses? She can’t just disappear, they’d see it. 

He follows, watches them stop, secures a clear shot, and bang. She’s down, and the guards see him. He refuses to put the gun down. They come closer. He doesn’t take his gaze off Baba for a single second. 

Then, when one of the guards is lunging to tackle him, all the weight of his body disappears. He doesn’t feel the street beneath his feet anymore – in fact, it feels like the only thing keeping him in that place is the fact that he wants to stay there. 

Alpha takes note of this, and using only his will, he finds himself next to Baba. The bodyguard flops on the pavement. Alpha takes out his gun. It still feels solid. He raises it and aims. The other guard puts his hands in the air. He shoots. Wait, why? He didn’t need to. He just wants to get away now. 

Having thought that, suddenly he’s back on the street. In the past. No guards, no Baba, only the past like it was time and time again, the same way.   But he’s not the same. He’s not there. He sees this place, hears this place, smells this place, but he’s somewhere else entirely. 

Keep going? 

Keep going. 

6. He keeps going. 

He tries shooting her, threatening her, battling her with his Slowpokes, doing all of these in different places and different times, but the outcome is never the one he’s hoping for. It’s always either a nuke or the time restarting. The few and far between oddities - flashes, noises, unwanted actions - become more frequent. He remembers doing things that couldn’t have taken place. The gun is fired again and again, but the number of rounds never decreases. 

He never succeeds, but he has to keep going. He knows what price he has to pay if he gives up. He came here to save his region’s future and he will not stop before he completes that mission. 

He tries and tries and tries, time after time again. The cycle never stops. And when he’s deep enough, he can’t even remember what he did last time, and repeats his actions exactly, thinking they’re a brand new idea. 

And what’s most tragic, the thought never occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, he’s the one who caused the nuclear attack to begin with.

[madeofmobsandmissingno]

Alpha/ABC is already watching the news?

Much like a previous protagonist in another Orre game?

I don’t want to say brothers, but...

We’ve got similar protagonists here people

[hoenn-hakase]

I think my brain is in a weird place today, but after seeing both CanisAries and Cunninglydisguisedkeybearer’s posts, got my mind going.

So it’s no surprise that one of my favorite things to come out of S1 was the possibilities opened by the theory of the split-timeline created when Napoleon went comatose between attempts to finish Cyrus in the Distortion World. Even though I know most people want to try to have it all one timeline, I just… like the idea of two. Platinum, iirc, is when we first started seeing glitches (albeit, relatively small compared to later runs. Heck, even in the next game, Aooo’s starting arc was because of her glitching out.) And this got me to thinking of two major things:

1) I’ve put out there before how I believe the Voices and Glitches are similar to each other, if not like two species from the same dimension. Neither is good or evil, but the Glitches certainly are more harmful than the Voices considering that sometimes it’s all fun and games, but sometimes it turns outright malicious. (Which is also why I think these are what came to be called “Unseelie” in Hoenn because they do seem to have Blue-Orange tendencies as Fae are often known to do. –coughs- )

The Voices, as current lore goes, seems to have a very strong connection to Mt. Silver as it’s the gateway to the “heavenly realm” where the Fossil Pantheon reside. It would have to be a host/former host after all, as their connection to the Voices would be the only reason they can withstand such awesome and terrible power that’d be coming through the gateway. Would it not make sense then that the Glitches would have to come through another doorway? Since they seem to be a force that the Voices don’t like and try to keep out of the world for the most part, I doubt we’d let them in with us. We’d never been before, or since, to Sinnoh, and its possible the CRISIS we arrived for wasn’t only to stop Cyrus from destroying the world, but also to stop him from obtaining the power to do so. Having succeeded (OR SO WE THOUGHT) there’s no reason to mess with this land steeped in its own mystery and religion apart from the rest of the world.

But what is it they fear and hope to appease? The beings of Time and Space. Which, might I remind, are normally the two biggest terrors a Glitch can bring: Loss of time, particularly hours of progress or completely stuck in a time loop, and warping of space, as texture glitches not only cause much “wutface” but have been known to make navigation a bit difficult at best, and create invisible barriers to completely halt progress at worse. Therefore, it seems most likely that the gateway for the Glitches rests atop Mt. Coronet. I don’t mean to say that Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina are the gods of the Glitch Dimension though that would also make sense but were needed because of their innate powers to break the powerful seal that had long been placed on the gateway. Remember, not only was our final battle to take place at the ruins of the Spear Pillar; a place that had been inaccessible for centuries because the path to the ruins had a freakin’ wall built in order to throw off visitors to the mountain (in game it comes up that Cyrus and his team bore through the ancient mural to gain access to the top of the mountain) but also this is the cut scene that happens in Diamond and Pearl. Granted, that only happens when one of the Creation Trio is present, imagine if Giratina hadn’t shown up to devour him. o.O;;

And even then, it couldn’t eat him, but instead kind of went completely shadowy and insane (hyper mode?) from the contact with him until Leo just outright knocked some sense into it. At least, in the non-comatose timeline.

In the Comatose Timeline... I’m just going to shamelessly plug my comment from a Reddit discussion. |D;;

2) More shameless plugging, but it reminded me of my own headcannon concerning Napoleon. Which, just a brief summary, is that he didn’t get destroyed when the Distortion was unleashed. He instead had his being somewhat scattered across multiple timelines.

In one, he is still Napoleon as we’ve come to know and love him.

In another, perhaps he did become Bet-boy after waking to the twisted and shadowed world of VC. His pokemon gone and considered mentally unstable (by Elf World standards him being “normal” for us is probably considered off his rocker to them) and him wondering if he’s lost it too when he can’t communicate with anyone and being told the world as he knew it doesn’t make sense. There’s at least two things he’s familiar with: the way of the gambler  (and thus finally settling down in Goldenrod and learning to defend himself in the darker more violent ways of Elfs WORLD), and the call of the Voices. Maybe it was just some sick fantasy, but after meeting Baba the first time, what if he could still HEAR us? Enough to cause him to flip out at least, and then firing when she tried to approach him to see what was the matter with him. After realizing she somehow survived is curious enough to catch his interest and so he started following her.

Spooky stuffs, I could go on forever about as to all the possibilities what might have happened to him in the end. But this is getting ridiculously long.