Legitimately it's so nice seeing other daydreamers have issues with TADC especially the finale
Also especially of how Jax is handled especially being a closeted trans fem that never actually comes out in media
Saying this as a transfem who came out recently
You 🤝 me 🤝 @/many-blogs: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!
I'm still in awe of how badly Gosoeworx fumbled. Like what the hell.
I also have lots of issues with Jax + his transfemininity. Disclaimer I'm transmasc but personally I felt like a lot of the "hints" weren't great or just too subtle. I acknowledge that this might be due to different experiences but idk I'd expect there to be some overlap. I just don't think it was hinted at well and even with the finale, there's too much plausible denyability. Would love to hear your perspective/feelings on it though if you're willing to share!
Also congrats on coming out, I hope everything went well <3
okay! time to take the deep dive into SPLICE's plot!
i'm going to categorize these by arcs, since these mini-stories were somewhat self contained because i hadn't found a way for them to segue into each other.
there might also be some author’s notes along the way, like “i also wanted this to happen too, but didn’t figure out how”, haha.
[The JACKLE Arc]
At a certain point into SPARKS's friendship with JACKLE, JACKLE one day starts acting suspiciously, and treating SPARKS somewhat callously.
Oddly, they would see SPARKS the next day and act like the whole thing didn't happen.
This would repeat for a while, giving SPARKS doubts if JACKLE is really their friend.
The truth is that JACKLE is actually being impersonated by a different SPLICE, a Zorua/Gothorita/Gastly mix named DESLEAL. (Deceitful Enchantments Subconsciously Lead Enemies Astray Limitlessly.)
She has the ability to shapeshift, but her Gastly eyes stay the same. Instead, she relies on her other illusions to fool her opponents.
Her job is to apprehend rogue Splices and return them to their containments by deceiving them. She has deemed SPARKS as a problem Pokémon, inspiring rebellion in the other failed Splices, and JACKLE as well.
DESLEAL was actually close friends with JACKLE behind the scenes.
Along with being able to shapeshift, she also has the ability to manipulate fear. She can use this power to overwhelm her enemies with fear and grief... or she can manipulate one's ability to feel those things at all.
JACKLE struggled with a lot of trauma in the past, and begged DESLEAL to help them forget.
However, this has a negative consequence on JACKLE's psyche - DESLEAL's powers don't just erase the fear JACKLE felt in the past, it also prevents them from feeling fear at all.
This has affected their survival instinct and their fear of consequences.
JACKLE's rebellion is putting them in danger with their abusive mentor NECROS, and DESLEAL wants to intervene by cutting off their friendship with SPARKS.
However, SPARKS eventually faces both at the same time, and together the real JACKLE and SPARKS convince DESLEAL that what they've been doing isn't healthy, and that JACKLE is ready to face their feelings again.
(author’s note: i feel like i also wanted to add some fight scene that showed off DESLEAL's powers, but i never actually planned any scenes where that worked out.)
(author’s note: instead, here’s an example sketch of DESLEAL’s powers. a DESLEAL vs STELLA matchup wasn’t actually planned, this was just used as an example.)
DESLEAL warns JACKLE that re-experiencing their trauma all at once could be dangerous, but JACKLE accepts it and remembers their past.
JACKLE was as born a regular Purrloin into SPLICE, when their mother was brought in without her captors knowing she was pregnant.
The starving mother ate one of her own kittens while the remaining two were taken and experimented on.
JACKLE’s sibling, CURIOSITY, was JACKLE’s only source of comfort. Together, they promised to escape the facility and seek a better life in the world outside.
As they were escaping, they were led astray by BEDLAM - (Bewitching Enchantments Deceive Latently Apprehending Mutineers).
A Gothitelle/Ariados/Banette Splice, and DESLEAL’s mentor in illusions.
She attempted to lure the two back into their cells peacefully by using illusions to hide their real surroundings - she tried to trick them into thinking they were escaping, when really they were being led back to their cell.
However, CURIOSITY had the ability to see through BEDLAM’s illusion, not being fooled by it.
Angered by this, BEDLAM used a Poison Sting attack to shoot CURIOSITY’s eyes out. Though it was only meant to incapacitate them, CURIOSITY ended up succumbing to the poison and perished.
JACKLE was soon recaptured. DESLEAL made friends with them and helped them forget their traumas, allowing them to be trained by humans.
DESLEAL is horrified to learn what her mentor had done, and promises JACKLE that she won’t be serving under BEDLAM anymore.
JACKLE needs some time to recover, but hearing about CURIOSITY makes SPARKS remember seeing a different Purrloin Splice in the past.
Moments before SPARKS had killed LUCKY’s friend, they caught glimpse of a Purrloin/Duskull Splice.
Moments later, that Purrloin Splice brought in REAPER (Reclaims Euthanized Amalgamated Pokemon Entering Recycling) to collect the dead body.
REAPER is a Gardevoir/Dusknoir/Haunter mix whose job is to collect the dead bodies of SPLICE and bring them to be “recycled.”
Usually recycling means turning those Pokémon into the food Splices end up eating, but sometimes dead bodies are brought to the scientists to be reanimated (like NECROS.)
JACKLE, wanting to seek closure, decides to seek out REAPER to find out what happened to their sibling. They thank SPARKS and leave with DESLEAL.
When JACKLE goes to meet them, they discover that the Purrloin Splice is really a reanimated CURIOSITY. (Creation Undergoes Reanimation Instigating Observing Splices' Inevitable Termination Yieldlessly)
CURIOSITY has changed since their death - they now have the ability to sense when a Pokémon is about to die, and appears to said Pokemon moments before it happens. They've become very cruel and callous, laughing at Splices for the situation they're about to face.
However, reuniting with JACKLE brings back emotions they thought they lost a long time ago...
[author’s note: i think at some point i planned on JACKLE and SPARKS having a faceoff against NECROS, but i cannot for the life of me remember what the context was. sorry, lol]
[The Mega Evolution Arc]
(author’s note: this arc is a mess because i had the ending planned but never came up with the context for why it happens. it’s an important story beat though, so i’ll cover it, but please excuse me for being vague!)
STELLA ends up meeting the same shadowy figure that LUCKY met. They end up telling STELLA the key to Mega Evolving. STELLA, who has been impatiently waiting for the opportunity to finally try it, is willing to listen to what the figure has to say.
The figure ends up giving STELLA her custom-made Mega Stone, but warns her about PROPHET, tricking her into thinking that PROPHET is a threat to SPARKS.
SPARKS decides to talk to PROPHET again, accompanied by MIRACLE.
STELLA arrives to ruin it by Mega Evolving.
Filled with the power of Mega Evolution, STELLA’s body nearly doubles in size, filling her with frenzied bloodlust. Like most untamed Mega Evolutions, this makes STELLA dangerous and unable to be reasoned with.
SPARKS and MIRACLE try to come between her and PROPHET, but STELLA ends up biting one of MIRACLE’s wings off. MIRACLE summons the strength for flee, despite being horribly hurt.
SPARKS is too horrified to attack their best friend and risk mortally wounding her, but thankfully ASTER arrives just in time to stop STELLA by Mega Evolving herself.
STELLA is defeated and ASTER chastises STELLA for recklessly Mega Evolving before she was ready to. STELLA explains that she was tricked, and ASTER knows immediately who STELLA is talking about.
ASTER tells the group to beware TINK. (Temporal Intervention Negates Karma)
Despite looking innocent, ASTER warns that TINK has a sinister shadowy aura and a closed off heart.
Being part Celebi, this Togetic Splice inherits the power to travel through time, and abuses it thoroughly. She manipulates situations to occur just to see what will happen, then undoes her actions by travelling back to before it happened.
She assumes that TINK wanted PROPHET gone, due to PROPHET knowing more than TINK thinks they should.
PROPHET is overwhelmed, but immensely grateful to know that TINK is the cause for the inconsistency in their visions. They realize that the Splices that appear in their visions that no longer exist are because TINK went back in time to prevent their creation.
The rest of the crew isn’t sure what to do about TINK - if she really can go back in time to prevent anything, then even the information they’re learning right now can be undone.
ASTER decides she’ll be warning the other successful experiments and arranging for TINK’s capture before she time travels again. That’s all that can be done.
Meanwhile, TINK watches the scene from the vents and sneers, deciding to stay in this timeline a little longer. Things have gotten interesting.
At some point, SPARKS tears off the chip from their tail in a heated moment of anger towards MOTHER, cutting all contact from her.
(author’s note: this doesn’t necessarily happen immediately after the mega evolution arc. i don’t actually remember when this happens in the story, but it’s important to point out why sparks has a scar on their tail in later parts of the story.)
[MIRACLE side story]
MIRACLE is really traumatized by the previous events. While she holds no ill will towards SPARKS personally, she doesn't want to forgive STELLA for what happened yet, and breaks off being friends with SPARKS as a result.
She flees into the vents to lick her wounds.
She ends up meeting a trio of delinquent failures who also make their home in the vents.
The assumed "leader" of the rogue trio, consisting of RASCAL, BANDIT, and VANDAL. Will band the three of them together to assault and harass successful experiments... for a price. Will sometimes pick on rookie Splices just for fun, too.
When RASCAL was allowed outside on her first mission to attack nearby trainers, instead she buried herself in the desert sands and hid out for over a week. The only reason she was recaptured was because they had her micro-chipped.
Was created to sneakily steal Pokémon from trainers, but was brought back to SPLICE when it was discovered she likes stealing food more than Pokémon...
Attempts to re-educate BANDIT were made, but she only performed well to get treats afterward. The scientists decided not to fall for BANDIT's manipulative tactics and placed her in the failures' ward. But her cell could not contain her and she has retreated to the air vents.
Like RASCAL and VANDAL, she will perform services in exchange for food. If you bring her something to eat, she will steal an item of value for you. The more risky the item is to steal, the more food she demands.
VANDAL - Vexatious Artist Nearly Destroys All Labor. Aipom/Smeargle mix.
VANDAL was given a stack of papers to draw all over. The humans didn't care what she did with them, as long as they were completely illegible by the time she was done.
While very skilled in her craft, she soon ran low on papers to draw on... So she dug into some important file cabinets and started drawing in those.
Then, she decided paper wasn't big enough to reflect her self-expression, so she started drawing on tables. And walls. And on the face of the Splice that picked her up, trying to stop her.
Ultimately due to this incident, VANDAL is the reason that CRAFTY forbade anyone from painting on walls, under threat of physical discipline.
VANDAL was put into the failures' ward until SPLICE could find some poor sucker to sell her off to. However, the nimble monkey fled into the air vents, where she became close friends with BANDIT and RASCAL. If you can find VANDAL in the air vents, you can offer food in exchange for her to ruin someone's day.
These three punks have been living free in the air vents. No one has been able to capture them yet, because they live under the protection of PHOBIA.
(Pursuing & Hiding Optimized by Being an Invisible Arachnid) Galvantula/Kecleon mix.
Was originally intended as a spy for a customer, but disappeared and fled into the vents. Attempts to reclaim PHOBIA were made, but was soon discovered to be managing the Joltik infestation inside the building, so they were left alone.
PHOBIA lives in a deep part of the facility's air vents, with massive electric webs clogging most of the ducts to prevent most intruders from entering the Joltiks' territory.
Joltik live everywhere within the walls of SPLICE, hearing of everything that happens. This thread of gossip always finds its way back to PHOBIA, who is the culmination of knowledge on SPLICE lore and drama.
If you approach PHOBIA's lair seeking knowledge, always bring a food offering, or you'll become PHOBIA's next meal.
(author’s note: on the ask blog, the askers were characterized as the joltik.)
RASCAL is still very skilled at hiding out and has gained the support of PHOBIA to let her and the rogue crew hide out within PHOBIA's lair, deep inside the vents. RASCAL likes finding miscellaneous junk with her crew and keeping it in PHOBIA's webs.
The four of them scoop up MIRACLE and take her under their wing, with PHOBIA even using webs to bandage her wounds. However, she feels so helpless now that she can’t fly, and feels like a huge burden for these fun-loving hellraisers.
Eventually, the squad stumbles upon a plush doll that MIRACLE becomes really attached to, and gives the name “Cuddles.”
MIRACLE ends up bonding with it, but one day the PUNK trio starts disappearing one by one.
Eventually, it’s just BANDIT and MIRACLE left, who discover doll versions of VANDAL, RASCAL, and even PHOBIA. Right as the two realize what happened, BANDIT also gets turned into a doll by Cuddles.
Its real name is PLUSH - (Pretending & Listening Under Secretive Hiding). A mix of Espurr, Stufful, and Banette.
It masquerades as a seemingly inanimate Pokedoll, left abandoned outside the failures' ward. It looks cute, and rogue Splices loved to pick it up and take it into the air vents with them. However, rogues who take it eventually somehow get caught and put back in their cells.
Some rogues consider picking up PLUSH to be bad luck, and often leave it abandoned. However, sometimes there are Splices that weren't so superstitious, like RASCAL's group of punks.
PLUSH was created specifically to capture rogue splices like the punks who like scooping up the nick-nacks they probably shouldn’t be stealing.
But MIRACLE realizes that PLUSH has been passed from Splice to Splice, never getting the chance to make real friends. MIRACLE makes PLUSH realize how lonely it really was, and it cries and returns the squad back to normal.
The group is a little angry at PLUSH, but MIRACLE tells them, “It’s okay, guys. We have a new friend.”
(author’s note: i also think there was some little fluffy crush sideplot with bandit and miracle. the punk trio are used to rough-housing and smack talking each other, and bandit is the only one that picks up that miracle is soft and made uncomfortable by it.)
[Evolution Arc]
At some point (sorry I never decided how!) SPARKS ends up obtaining a Thunder Stone. Though they can’t use it, they hold onto it anyways.
Meanwhile CRAFTY has caught news of all that’s been happening and blames STELLA for allowing SPARKS free reign of the cell room.
SPARKS, out of the love they have for STELLA, evolves to protect her. They end up fighting CRAFTY to defend her, which wounds CRAFTY severely.
SPARKS escapes with STELLA into the air vents, while CRAFTY is taken in for medical treatment.
She’s overseen by MEDIC (Medicinal Evaluator Disposes If Compromised). Audino/Aromatisse/Scyther mix.
While MEDIC and the other healers are able to save her life, her wounds are much more severe this time around, and CRAFTY has to come to the horrifying conclusion that she will have to retire from being warden, and undergo some physical therapy.
LUCKY starts slipping out of their cell to visit their mom. This seems sweet, but MEDIC begins to notice that CRAFTY isn’t recovering even though she should be. She still feels really weak and needs assistance with moving.
One day during one of LUCKY’s visits, they evolve.
In truth, LUCKY was leeching CRAFTY’s strength in order to evolve and prove themself as a capable SPLICE. With CRAFTY’s position empty, LUCKY begins working with the successful Splices to obtain her former position.
TINK had instructed them to do this, but they soon stop listening to TINK and start listening to a voice deeper in the building...
[SKRAP’s revenge]
(author’s note: this was a showdown i wanted but again didn’t have complete ideas for, so i’ll just be giving the main rundown)
SKRAPS eventually rediscovers SPARKS, and angrily fights them as revenge for leaving them behind and growing up without them.
SPARKS tries to reason with them, and eventually the fight ends with SPARKS tearing off their disguise.
SKRAPS wasn’t a Mimikyu Splice as thought, they were actually a PICHU Splice.
They weren’t a “service Pokemon” for SPARKS at all, they were in fact one of the earlier prototypes for SPARKS, and the real first surviving attempt at cloning MOTHER.
Like SPARKS, SKRAPS was born with corrosive, battery acid-like blood. But unlike SPARKS, their body wasn't able to handle the corrosion, and this caused them to melt and break down.
They almost died, but Alolan Grimer DNA and Mimikyu disguise were added to stabilize their form.
They are incapable of evolving due to their Mimikyu DNA as well as being malformed. Despite this, they are still fully capable of mentally aging, and they are actually older than SPARKS.
They are in fact very insecure about how they can't evolve, and thus cannot be respected as an adult, so they hide behind their Mimikyu disguise.
They resent SPARKS for leaving them, because they don’t have anyone else. SPARKS admits they were cruel to SKRAPS and apologizes, but they can’t change the past.
SPARKS has too many things they’re going through and can’t give SKRAPS the attention they need, and asks SKRAPS to start over with other newer friends. SKRAPS doesn’t like SPARKS’s answer, but doesn’t want to fight anymore.
[Endgame]
Throughout the story, I wanted SPARKS to go on this sort of “character destruction” arc - they still care about their friends but ultimately decide to go on a suicide mission to take down the facility.
They decide to obliterate the status quo in the only way they know how - they go seek out MOTHER.
MOTHER does not call security. MOTHER does not stop SPARKS.
SPARKS is doing exactly what MOTHER has wanted all this time.
She had been seeking death all along, and now that SPARKS has fully evolved, they are now a valid candidate for taking her place. She can die without regret.
SPARKS unplugs MOTHER, none the wiser to what was about to come next.
LUCKY arrives and attacks them, knocking them out and capturing them.
When SPARKS awakes, they’re not the same.
As MOTHER MK II, they have lost all their capacity for emotion. They spend their early days reinstalling the data that MOTHER lost, and only follows the programming that’s now been instilled into them.
Eventually, STELLA arrives and begs for them to snap out of it.
Their other friends also arrive, and soon they regain their conscience.
So, they rip out their cords and dismantle themself from the system.
Unfortunately, because SPARKS isn’t there to maintain security, all hell breaks loose.
These are Splices that were kept on emergency lockdown. Splices kept deep under the facility, because if they breach containment, they’ll kill everything and everyone inside.
The biggest threat of them all is Project Rebirth.
Believed to be one of the earliest planned projects in SPLICE, created before the acronym system was even in place.
Since Lugia was stolen from Cipher, SPLICE was determined to recreate it using some surviving blood samples taken from it. This wasn’t sufficient enough DNA to clone a new Lugia, so an Aerodactyl was revived to use as a base template, with Noivern traits added.
However, the scientists were unaware that the sample was taken from Shadow Lugia, making the Splice dangerous and destroying everything in its wake.
Rebirth hated being brought into this modern world, and was determined to destroy everything that looked unfamiliar to her.
MOTHER, before being permanently stationed, was tasked with defeating the rampaging Project Rebirth.
She succeeded, but was forced to power the entire facility afterwards, including the electric mechanism that kept Rebirth restrained. She was never allowed to power herself down, which led to her eventual physical decay.
While Rebirth was in contained, she was able to use her telepathy to commune with other Splices. Some chose to follow her in her goals to eliminate not just the facility itself, but all life in it.
Three other Splices in emergency lockdown were unleashed.
FISH - Fatal Intents are Sharply Heightened.
A Lilligant/Omastar/Nihilego.
Very calm and and malicious, and Reborn's most devoted follower.
An accidentally created Splice that absorbs anything in its path.
A dangerous Splice that ate whatever couldn't be processed in the Recycling Department.
It is advised to keep your distance when feeding her, as she also has a strong taste for something... fresher.
Was put under emergency lock-down after an incident where she raided the Recycling Department, eating a large portion of the food there. And anyone who tried to stop her.
So, SPARKS arranges their friends, allies, and even their enemies to prepare for the fight of their lives as the facility begins to burn around them.
LUCKY steps forward and attacks SPARKS, confessing that they were the one who allowed this to happen.
Rebirth had used telepathy to speak to LUCKY and convince them to set the stage for Rebirth’s escape.
LUCKY says that they forgive SPARKS for what they did to their friend - after all, it wasn’t SPARKS’s fault, it was SPLICE’s for arranging that horrible situation to happen in the first place. So, they’ve teamed up with Rebirth to wipe SPLICE from existence.
TINK, however, appears - she doesn’t want to see her playground destroyed, and tries to travel backward in time to find the point where this path started. But before she can escape into the past, Rebirth grabs her by the neck, claiming it as revenge for not fulfilling her end of the deal.
In the past, TINK had sought out Rebirth, hoping to find kinship as the two were both artificial recreations of legendary Pokemon.
TINK herself still had her heart full of turmoil, but Rebirth taught her the secret to closing her heart to numb her pain, but in exchange asked for TINK to release her.
This whole time, TINK was a Shadow Pokémon as well.
TINK freely used SPLICE as her personal sandbox, and Rebirth was planning to kill TINK so that her freedom would be permanent.
However, Rebirth is attacked by several Splices, and drops TINK. TINK is knocked unconscious.
The Splices all band together to defeat Rebirth, who acknowledges their strong will to live. As the building crumbles, the sky peeks through, and Rebirth decides to allow these Splices to live, and Rebirth will seek revenge on humanity elsewhere.
SPARKS notices LUCKY and begs them to escape the building with everyone, but LUCKY refuses to accept SPARKS’s help and flees into the rubble.
The emergency lockdown Pokémon are defeated and move on elsewhere, while SPARKS and their friends decide to form a colony in the Relic Forest.
Before that, though, SPARKS takes TINK’s unconscious body back into the ruined building.
Having the Mother System instilled makes them an archive for all SPLICE knowledge, including how to create Splices. They perform the procedure on TINK so that she can’t undo the events of what happened today.
Using an injection, SPARKS adds additional DNA to TINK, diluting her Celebi traits and removing all chance for time travel.
TINK is given Houndoom DNA and is renamed MISFORTUNE by SPARKS. (Malicious Intent Slowly Formed Onto Rebellious Time-travel User Neglecting Ethics)
TINK has been time travelling for decades, and this addition to her body will slowly kill her. SPARKS does this instead of killing her outright to give her time to come to terms with her actions.
SPARKS and company live the rest of their lives in peace, but TINK has one more revenge scheme in mind...
buuut that’s all the time we have for today, folks! this post is long enough as is! tune in next time for the epilogue, and maybe tink’s backstory???
thank you! believe me, it's just as cathartic to talk about it!
sorry, but i’ve got no plans to continue this -
this was just a little trip down memory lane for me, showing off all the summary notes i already had written down.
that was every idea and plotline i had been holding onto, and i don't have any more.
i would have to come up with an entirely new story from scratch, and i don’t have any interest in doing anything more with these characters in particular.
while i'm nostalgic towards them, i'm ready to move on from them and focus on something else!
i don't know what i'll be doing next, but i hope you all like it.
thank you.
morpheus backstory, let’s go! i’m excited for this one, because it’s something i’ve been tight-lipped about ever since i first started running their blog over 7 years ago... you guys will finally know what morpheus’s deal with aggron is!!
[part 1] / [part 2] / [part 3]
In Morpheus's early life, they fell as a meteor/egg and crash landed in a mountain where an Aron named Rocco was digging.
Rocco is really fascinated with this little alien, as they don't seem to be able to hear, see, or speak... but they can sense Rocco via psychic powers, and can read his immediate thoughts, and can communicate via telepathy.
Rocco names them "Buddy."
Rocco wants more out of life than just hiding and struggling for survival, and thinks that it's possible to build a society someday. Rocco ends up sharing these hopes and dreams with Buddy.
The duo become best friends, and end up making friends with Crag the Archen and Pebbles the Shieldon. Crag is impish and the clown of the group, while Pebbles is more levelheaded and reasonable.
The four all explore the dinosaur world together and it's super cute.
Buddy and Rocco come across a colony of Kabuto resting in a beach cave, and notice the green one. Rocco feels bad because without a society to care for the green one, it'll probably die off.
Meanwhile, there's the feral Tyrantrum king, and his son who calls himself Fang. Fang seems to be evolving into a less feral Pokémon compared to his father.
He's got a spunky Bowser Jr.-esque personality and likes bullying Rocco and friends, but never actually harms them.
Unlike the king though, who often times would attack them on sight.
Rocco has been spending a lot of his life training to be stronger, though. He wants to defeat the Tyrantrum king who's been terrorizing the Pokémon population, and rally them together.
He eventually learns that Buddy can grant wishes, and uses that power frequently to help him evolve. This starts putting a strain on Buddy though. Buddy suffers a lot of pain through their stomach eye, but granting wishes seems to relieve it. However, this leaves Buddy really tired.
But eventually Rocco is strong enough that he evolves into an Aggron and is ready to challenge the Tyrantrum king. He asks for Buddy to stay away from the fight, but Buddy grants him a surge of power before the battle.
With buddy's powers, Rocco mega evolves and takes the king down. However, cowering behind a couple rocks is Fang, who, despite not having a true emotional connection to the king, is still horrified by the display. Rocco doesn't want to risk Fang coming back for revenge one day, so he easily kills Fang as well.
He takes the King's Rock from the fallen Tyrantrum king's head and becomes the new king.
The whole dino squad eventually evolves, and despite Rocco's horrible murder of Fang, he actually manages to create a stable society where Pokémon are working together to create shelters and find food. It's actually thriving really well.
Rocco decides he wants to raise an heir to carry on once he's gone though, so he asks his old childhood friend Spring the Lairon if she'd be willing to carry the child, and she agrees.
They name the daughter Silver, who Buddy adores as she grows up.
But as Rocco has been using Buddy's wish-granting powers to help society thrive, Buddy's pain spikes have been fluctuating at a dangerous rate that often causes them massive amounts of pain. Rocco tries to comfort and distract Buddy, but it doesn't seem to work. It puts a huge strain on their relationship.
Rocco also selfishly wished to extend his own lifespan, which is an intense wish for a Jirachi to grant, and this causes Buddy additional strain.
Buddy feels like they're going to die every day. Pebbles ends up talking with Buddy, wondering if this is a terminal issue and that Buddy may eventually die. Buddy considers this. But Rocco overhears this conversation and is outraged by it.
He confronts Pebbles about it, and he decides he won't allow Pebbles to put those thoughts in Buddy's head any more, so he kills her by leaving her to sink in a tar pit.
This distresses Crag immensely, as them and Pebbles were actually romantic partners by then, and Archeops mate for life. Crag goes out to look for Pebbles. Rocco told Buddy not to go with them, but Buddy didn't listen.
While searching, the two are ambushed by Tide, the shiny Kabutops. Rocco had taken them under his wing when he started building society, and they were now Rocco's assassin for people who threatened Rocco's rule.
Tide attacked Crag, and Buddy tried to protect them, but in the process got their face and eyes cut. Tide realizes their mistake and flees, but Buddy is too late to help Crag.
Buddy passes out, and awakens to find their face bandaged and under Rocco's care. He feigns sympathy for Crag's death but assures Buddy that Tide will “no longer be an issue.” (As punishment for harming Buddy, Rocco had sought out Tide and killed them.)
After two of their close friends dying, though, Buddy isn't the same. They're emotionally distant and their pain spikes have never been worse. Their powers seem to be enhancing though, and they use this power to dig deeper into Rocco's memories, where they discover the truth.
During Buddy's power spike, they turn into a Jirachi form known as "Red Giant". It's a form Buddy turns into when they're about to die.
In this state, Buddy is erratic and angry and bursting with power, so they use that adrenaline to kill Rocco.
After which, their powers became so unstable that they unleashed a Doom Desire attack that wiped out the dinosaurs, and would have proceeded to destroy the whole planet if left unchecked.
(old art again sorry!!!)
A shiny Arceus appears to Buddy, and puts them into an everlasting sleep that they cannot wake from, in order to protect the Earth.
Buddy wasn't able to travel to others' dreams right away, but after a time they were conscious in their sleep from their pain.
Having recently gone through this experience, they're suffering through chronic nightmares and trauma. Jirachi can also literally die of heartbreak, as when you have a strong psychic connection, your mind is rewired for your partner. When your relationships are gone, it's like critical parts of a machine getting ripped out, and you're left dynfunctional, and sometimes dying. Being asleep, though, Buddy's mind is conserved and they won't go into that lethal catatonic shutdown and can't die.
Their Doom Desire energy is also building up again, even in their sleep.
Oliver, the Being of Knowledge (including knowledge of the end of the world), was very concerned about Buddy, this bomb-waiting-to-happen. Arceus put them to sleep to "save the world", but Oliver was concerned about how their Doom Desire energy would just build up again.
Now that Buddy is having emotional distress, and rapid energy buildup again, Oliver is seeing apocalyptic future sights.
Lake trio members can have their souls leave their body while they're asleep at their lakes. Knowing Buddy's location in space, Oliver's soul goes to check up on them and visit them in their dreams.
Ollie discovers that Buddy is very conscious, and attempts to befriend them. Their goals are to keep Buddy's emotions calm, and study them, hopefully finding a way to prevent the explosion.
They approach Buddy and interact with them. After gaining their trust, Oliver teaches Buddy about the world. They teach them about other legendary Pokémon, all that's in the universe, and many things in general. They learned of other Jirachi, and then was able to have friends of their same lifespan alongside the lake trio, and learn about their own species/behavior.
They also met Solaris and Artemis, the Jirachi leaders of the Milky Way galaxy, who gave them the name Morpheus, replacing the name that Rocco had given them.
Eventually, Oliver and Morpheus become good friends, and Oliver establishes a psychic connection with Morpheus. Once close enough friends, Oliver is able to use their powers to suppress some of Morpheus' emotions and memories. Once very close, Ollie's able to do what's equivalent to an "emotional pain split", where they take the brunt of half of Morpheus's emotions, and give Morpheus their positive emotions instead.
Because of Oliver, Morpheus is substantially more emotionally stable. Morpheus used Oliver to cope with everything and projected their feelings onto Oliver, and became a bit clingy. Oliver replaced Morpheus's missing psychic connection from their previous relationships, making them immensely more stable.
Oliver teaches Morpheus how to use their psychic powers to their full potential.
They also show Morpheus how to completely control their dreams, and suppress their nightmares and constantly lucid dream, so their mind won't create dreams for them. While asleep, you're connected to long-term memories, and Morpheus learns how to disconnect from them.
Oliver also studies Morpheus, and kept all studies and findings in journals. They did many low-key "experiments" to discover how Morpheus worked.
With their psychic connection, Oliver teaches Morpheus how to find their dream location, and how to visit other people in their dreams.
Oliver is also the one who gave Morpheus the idea to make deals with people. Oliver discovered that Morpheus needs to relieve their wish energy, so they suggested the deal making high-low energy cycle that Morpheus does in present day.
Morpheus was able to abandon their old self, and be generally happy again. Knowing that the world would recover from their past destruction, Oliver helped Morpheus forgive themself and repress it. They was able to see the earth through Oliver's memories, and relive all their past earth sensations. Oliver showed them every way how the new world developed, and Morpheus was excited - they had always truly loved the earth, and were very eager to learn anything about it from Oliver.
There were no more apocalyptic future sights as Oliver was able to keep Morpheus stable. The outlook was positive for everyone, believing that a way could be discovered to prevent or negate the explosion.
But as millions of years passed, Morpheus's pain progressed. As Oliver's studies continued and they analyzed Morpheus, they only discovered more and more that nothing could be done about the pent up Doom Desire energy. Morpheus began to adopt a more spiteful and volatile attitude towards everything, gave up their friends, and cut out Artemis and Solaris for being unable to convince Arceus to just let them die.
Oliver was the last person Morpheus cut off from. Oliver had been calm and never spoke against Morpheus, but was internally very concerned and worried about the impending explosion. Morpheus got angry at knowing Oliver was scared of them, and angry at themself - how they were hopeless, dying, and internally devastated that it turns out they were only going to cause mass death again.
Oliver's presence hurt them, so they blocked them out as well.
Because of this, Morpheus's emotions are no longer in check, and erratic again.
Oliver, still holding a psychic connection with Morpheus, continued to be in-tune with Morpheus's emotions. They tried to keep them suppressed from a far distance, but much less successfully.
Because of the close connection, they also received many apocalyptic future visions.
Oliver's depression eventually got to them, and they wiped their own memories.
Because of Oliver's memory wipe, absolutely nothing was left to suppress Morpheus's emotions or memories, which will lead to Morpheus eventually recollecting all of their suppressed memories at once. They don't know that Oliver wiped their memories since it happened recently.
So Morpheus's "cruel/evil" behavior in the Undead/Reborn Mew plotline is a recent change due to Oliver's absence.
But even at their absolute worst, they still preferred to target the souls of evil Pokémon, or Pokémon with the potential to become evil. Sometimes innocent Pokémon like Caroline/Michelle are caught in the crossfire, but Morpheus is too desperate to keep themself and the universe alive to be picky about the souls they can get.
Jackie would go on to watch as Morpheus recollects all these memories, comforting them and helping them come to terms with their death.
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that’s all, folks! HOOWEE that was a lot to write out!
morpheus is one of my fav pokemon ocs i’ve made just because of how influential they were to me in my teen years.
even if i never got to do this story in full, it means a lot that you kept reading these summaries in full and kept asking for me to continue!
thank you for listening to me ramble! maybe now i can put these characters to bed.
okay! by popular demand, here's my continuation of the undead-mew story!
at this point in the story, the blog's name would have changed to "rebornmew" to better reflect it.
i don't have much finished art from this point onwards, so i hope it's okay to just post the plot outline by itself (and character references as they're brought up).
part one is here for those who missed it!
So, the rose took over Caroline's body - Caroline suddenly "changes", and decides that this nice little clearing with the tree is a good spot for her colony, so she decides to claim it and magically makes flowers grow everywhere.
Michelle immediately notices and is freaked out by is, so she goes to confront "Caroline" about it.
The rose establishes itself as "Gladys", and that Caroline is gone.
Michelle tries to tear the rose away from Caroline's body, demanding her friend back.
Gladys is more powerful though, and mortally wounds Michelle.
Michelle promises she'll be back and limps away.
However, once she's out of Gladys's sight, Michelle collapses and dies.
Soon, a colony bunch of Flabébé notice all the new flowers and are attracted to them, and they see "Caroline" and welcome Queen Gladys back with open arms.
Arriving with them is Gladys's estranged partner, a Ninetales named Jackie.
Though the two aren't dating anymore, Gladys and Jackie aren't on hostile terms.
Jackie was the one looking after the Flabébé colony in Gladys's absence, and is relieved to see Gladys find a new body safely.
That night, we see what's going on in Caroline's mind now. She's being held down by vines, assumedly by Gladys who has completely overtaken her mindscape.
Caroline calls for help, and is met with the same voice that appeared in her dream before.
Morpheus the Jirachi appears, looking worse for wear. Their stomach eye is bloodshot and their wish tags and ribbons are tearing, and their yellow is tinted red.
Though their appearance looks threatening, they seem willing to help Caroline out of this situation.
Instead of freeing Caroline, though, Morpheus completely absorbs what's left of Caroline's soul.
This stabilizes their energy levels, and they return to their usual yellow self.
They turn to Gladys, who was also present in Caroline's mind, and congratulate her. Her debt is officially paid off, and she's officially free to do whatever she wants with herself.
Gladys thanks Morpheus for their patience, and wakes up.
Michelle reappears as a ghost and haunts the Flabébé colony. She now has all of her memories back and recognizes Jackie as the one who gave her the rose, but she's at a loss when it comes to helping Caroline.
As Michelle watches the colony, she (and the theoretical audience) learn a bit more about Gladys and her colony's culture.
Gladys used to be a regular rose-variant Florges. Rose variants are a sign of royalty in her colony, as they're worshipped as a sign of great endurance of the colony.
The colony once lived under the watchful eye of a Shaymin guardian who had roses on their body. They could turn open fields into a flowered paradise, allowing the colony to thrive.
But one day, the Shaymin angered a prideful Ninetales, who cursed the Shaymin to become an ordinary rose bush for a thousand years.
The colony suffered, and all other flowers died off. Flabébé children couldn't live without a flower, and desperately took from the rose bush in an attempt to survive.
But the roses were toxic to their species, significantly shortening the lifespans of those who took the rose.
When a member of the Flabébé line dies, it leaves behind its flower. To ration the remaining roses, a mother would give birth to an egg towards the end of her life, leaving the child to inherent it.
When the Shaymin awoke a thousand years later, only one Floette survived. She begged the Shaymin to help her restore the lost paradise.
The Shaymin bestowed upon this Floette the same powers they had used to preserve the colony, as well as one more gift.
The Shaymin gave the newly evolved Florges the ability to repopulate without a mate. The Florges would put all of her life energy into each flower, allowing Flabébé to bloom with each one.
After the colony was restored, the new queen perished.
The colony decided to celebrate and worship that Florges’s memory. They would choose one of themselves to live life as she had, and as her ancestors had.
They had persevered through the centuries, and the rose became a symbol of their struggle, and their ability to persevere and live throughout all hardship.
Before a queen dies, she's supposed to lay an egg for her successor, who takes the rose the queen leaves behind. In this way, the rose "lives forever."
That same rose had been passed down for generations, and Gladys was next in line to produce an heir to inherit the rose after her death.
However, she was not interested in any suitors, instead falling in love with Jackie.
Gladys knew their love would be forbidden - the Shaymin guardian still felt bitter about Ninetales, but Gladys had hoped that her child with Jackie could be a symbol of peace and forgiveness towards Ninetales-kind.
But no matter how much the two tried, they weren't compatible for producing an egg, and Gladys's life was soon going to end.
Morpheus appears in Gladys's dream and makes a wish offer. Though initially planning to ask for a child, Gladys then gained the selfish idea to wish for immortality, not wanting to die young. She makes this wish, and Morpheus tells her that they'll grant it on the day of her death.
She tells Jackie about Morpheus, and begins to form a plan.
With Gladys's dying breaths she confesses what she's done and most of the colony, including the Shaymin they worship, disgrace and disown her.
However, a few hardcore rose-worshippers don't want to see the original rose be cast aside, so when Gladys dies they take her rose and leave. Jackie follows them, giving them full disclosure on what happened.
Morpheus granted her wish, but not in the way she had anticipated or wanted - They had transferred her soul into the rose, making it live forever. Morpheus told her that regaining a body is possible, but she would have to possess it via the rose.
Gladys's small colony eventually lead her to her first host body, and so a cycle began.
She became indebted to Morpheus, giving them the souls of the Pokémon she possessed. But every time, Morpheus said it wasn't enough life energy to sustain them, and Gladys would have to seek out a different host.
The colony began to travel from Kalos all the way to Unova, where Caroline and Michelle lived - however, a Mightyena had attacked Gladys and torn the rose from the host's body before Gladys could attach herself to a new one.
This left Jackie with the task of seeking out a new host for Gladys, who was horrified at the idea of being directly responsible for someone's death. Jackie had always been complacent with Gladys's murders, as Gladys always justified it with being "for the good of the colony", but Jackie struggled to justify it the same way.
By chance, Jackie had overheard a conversation between Caroline and Michelle, and learned of Caroline's long lifespan and Michelle wanting to live as long.
Jackie approached Michelle and gave her Gladys's rose, lying and saying that wearing it would give her immortality. In truth, Jackie was trying to get the rose close to Caroline, so that Gladys could take the life of someone with hundreds of years' worth of life energy.
It worked as hoped, with Caroline borrowing the rose.
That night, Jackie ambushed her and put her to sleep with a Hypnosis.
Caroline was then impaled on a sharp branch.
Jackie was about to take the body away so that it could be possessed by Gladys, but Michelle arrived on the scene. Not wanting to be caught, Jackie fled.
Back in the present, Gladys is irritated when hearing how flimsy Jackie's plan was, but is grateful it worked out in the end.
Meanwhile, Michelle is horrified that she let herself be so gullible, being fooled into taking Gladys's rose in the first place. She desperately wants to see both Gladys and Jackie put to justice, but doesn't know how to stop them.
"Caroline would know what to do," she thinks to herself.
Michelle decides to seek out Morpheus after hearing about them from Gladys’s story, wanting to know if there was a way to bring Caroline back.
Morpheus tells it to her straight - there's only one thing that Michelle can do to bring Caroline's soul back, but it would require someone else's soul.
Feeling as though this mess is her fault, Michelle agrees to give up her own soul to bring back Caroline's. Morpheus brings Caroline back, and the two look at each other for just a moment before Morpheus breaks them up and tells Michelle it's time to fill her end of the bargain.
Michelle apologizes to Caroline and tells her she loves her before her soul vanishes.
Caroline barely has time to react as she wakes up as a ghost, right in front of Michelle's dead body.
She's very shaken by seeing her best friend's soul get absorbed, and very lost and confused as to what's going on. However, she hears the footsteps of someone approaching, and without thinking, she jumps into Michelle's body and possesses it.
The body evolves into Flaaffy immediately - Michelle always had the capacity to evolve but held back on it when she was alive. (”Mightyena don’t evolve!”)
She's discovered by Jackie, who notices the Flaaffy's injuries and offers to help. Caroline doesn't trust Jackie and feigns having amnesia while letting Jackie patch her up.
Jackie gives her the name "Anastasia." It was a name that Gladys and Jackie had chosen for the child they were going to have, but finds that it suits Caroline well.
Gladys doesn't take well to welcoming Ana to the colony though, accusing her of being the same Mareep that attacked her before. Jackie steps in to defend Anastasia, but this puts a strain on Jackie's relationship with Gladys - especially when she discovers that Jackie named her after the daughter she never had.
As Anastasia tries to get information, she progressively grows a bit fond of Jackie, without knowing Jackie was the one who killed her.
The two bond over their failed love lives. Anastasia talks about outliving both her partner and her best friend, and Jackie tells her about how Gladys nearly died as well, and how their relationship was never the same afterwards.
Anastasia tries to casually ask how Gladys became the way she is now, but Jackie avoids answering.
Over time, Anastasia decides she needs an ally, and gives her trust to Jackie. She reveals her true name and identity as Caroline.
Jackie was horrified and guilt-ridden to have befriended and gotten attached to the one Pokémon that was killed directly by Jackie's actions.
Caroline is determined to interrogate Gladys directly, but Jackie thinks it's an awful idea to blow her cover, (and is also trying to dissuade Caroline in case she finds out that Jackie killed her) but Caroline is confident that Gladys won't hurt her with Jackie's protection.
Caroline tries to be subtle with her questions, but ends up accidentally revealing her identity. Gladys, realizing this is actually Caroline, decides to gloat and tell her the truth about everything.
"I owe you that much, at least."
She tells Caroline of her need for a host body, and how Jackie helped her acquire it.
Caroline feels angry and betrayed to have trusted Jackie, and is ready to fight them both.
Gladys laughs at how outmatched Caroline is in Michelle's body.
"We've killed you before, and we'll do it again, won't we?"
However, Jackie refuses to help Gladys kill Caroline a second time. Jackie tries to argue that they've taken enough from Caroline and that she's no longer a threat, so they have nothing to gain from killing her now.
While the two argue, Caroline escapes into the woods, trying to think of what her next course of action should be.
Unfortunately, Gladys pursues Caroline, hoping to kill her off once and for all so that she's no longer a loose end. Gladys doesn't want any chance for Caroline to come back and seek revenge. She's worked too hard to get this body, to finally rule her colony in peace.
Just as she's about to destroy Michelle's body, Gladys is struck from the back and her rose is lit on fire by a Flamethrower attack.
Caroline's body collapses and burns as Jackie arrives on the scene.
Caroline is really shaken that Jackie just saved her, but she can't forgive Jackie for killing her.
She decides, knowing the truth, that she doesn't need to possess Michelle's body anymore, so her spirit leaves.
Jackie, on the other hand, is mortified to have killed Gladys - even though Gladys was a horrible serial murderer. Jackie doesn't really know what to do now, having enabled Gladys for so long and letting her become so evil, feeling horrible for letting Gladys make Jackie become just as bad as her.
Jackie eventually flees before the Flabébé colony discovers what's just happened, and Morpheus appears in Jackie's dreams and offers to help.
Jackie decides the world would've been better off if Gladys and Jackie had never met, and wishes to have never been born so that Gladys's murders could never happen.
Because of this self-sacrifice, Caroline and Michelle are returned to the lives they would have had without Gladys and Jackie's involvement.
The two live happy lives, but their story isn't over here, either!
But the bad timeline's events are finished, so I'll call it off here. If people are still interested in this stuff even without extra artwork, let me know and I'll talk about how the story was planned to end!
