Hey-o! I am a new lurker on your wonderful blog! And now I have an au idea I would like to share with you.
This has very little plot and is mostly just vibes, but anyways.
So, at some point in the grand history of Pokemon, Arceus and the various deity pokemon saw what both humans and Pokemon were doing to each other and themselves. (In reality it was mostly the shenanigans of the deity Pokemon, but to be fair humans have caused a few problems themselves)
So they made so humans -and their Pokemon partners- could achieve some level of godhood, minor deities of a sort. The Elite Four and Champion are titles held by the strongest humans and their Pokemon teams, held through trials and tribulations that few try, and fewer survive long enough to fail. They are the most stalwart protectors against Legendary Pokemon. Gym Leaders are like elemental gods, or beings of their particular type, and act as regional gods in charge of their particular city/area, making sure things are in balance and working in order.
There are others that have reached godhood, whether by intent or accidental, and become keepers of their particular domain.
Such as Emmet and Ingo, who become twin gods of travel and trains within the Unova region. Their domains also include victory, perseverance, patience, passion, understanding and learning. (We could also go the Truth and Ideals route but that could be something later)
Now, this helps keep the world in check. Whenever Legendaries and god-like Pokemon get up to their shenanigans, there are humans who can keep them in check (or at least do damage control if things get Really Out Of Hand), and if the humans get too rambunctious or the god-humans get too power-drunk then there are both other humans and the deities themselves to keep things from going to hell in a hand-basket.
Except one day things go wrong. I imagine team Plasma manages to, somehow, seal away the Legendaries and strip the power from the human-gods, forcing them into a deep slumber. They manage to more or less rule, and things are overall terrible. While the others from outside the region would want and even try to help, there are laws that keep them from interfering to the degree they would have to if they wanted to boot out the damn plasma usurpers.
The train station and the gyms, and many locations are shut down and abandoned, become forbidden to enter.
Until, one day, you appear. Maybe you were sent with special permission to document the subway, or you found yourself homeless and use one of the subway stations as a makeshift home, or you're a little rebellious and decide this is the perfect place to hide out when you don't want to be found (whether by family, friends, work, or the law is up in the air).
You explore, and learn little by little, and clean up and document and record and see all that once was and yet is such a small part of the World That Was. You offer little prayers, and small gifts and offerings. Maybe not with Intent or true Belief, but you offer nonetheless.
You find Pokemon that have made the place home, and make friends of them (the joltik population quickly associates you with snacks, and vow to protect their supplier of sweets). They help you learn the secrets of the expansive subway system, lead to safety when you inevitably get lost, and eventually you learn to navigate it yourself. You help baby Pokemon that wandered from parents and lead them back, a few times you come across people who wandered, or fell, or sneaked in, and lead them out to safety. You learn how to work the trains, and even repair them! Well... in theory. You learn and learn and eventually come to understand.
Meanwhile, those who have slumbered here begin to stir, awaken, and watch as you come and go. Some try to scare you away at first, or keep certain secrets safe (and how odd when you listen to the little voice in your head saying 'I shouldn't go here'!). They see how kind and understanding you are, or that even if you don't understand then you try to. You learn until you do. And with every prayer and offering, you don't realise you're giving them strength, energy, power enough to influence things within their domain. Soon they'll have strength enough to take on physical forms, and they eagerly await the day they can.
So they can thank you.
So they can ask for you help.
And that's kind of all I got so far, in broad scopes of things. Depot agents, of course, are part of this, and this could be romantic or platonic to various degrees (but we know why we're here, this is gonna be romance- at least for me).
Hope you enjoyed the read! And the au idea. Until next time, toodles!
Hello there! Welcome on in! ヾ(•ω•`)o
This is a very lovely idea! I like the idea of slumbering gods, and you, the reader, being one to wake them up with hard work and kindness. Its a soft feeling (❁´◡`❁)
Old gods wanting to thank you, and ask for your help restoring peace, willing to defend and protect you while doing so. They must! You are very kind and sweet, not many humans are like you, nowadays. A special human like you must be protected at all costs! Especially after you had given them strength to regain their forms!
Thank you for sending this in! I hope you continue to explore this au!
First off, love your blog. I haven't seen anything like this before and it's a treat! Do you think Sakura would write down random thoughts/idea's? Or would that be Naruto? I like to think that each member of Team 7 would carry something that the other members need for their stimming/being comfortable and stuff like that. It means their packs/holsters are a little crowded/messy, and people ask why they carry all that junk. But they don't know how necessary it is for them to have these things.
//I’m happy you’re happy with my word vomit =)
Oh, this is a trick question; they both have ‘write it down’ energy, but they also both have that dumbass-confidence in themselves that ‘they don’t need to write it down cause they’ll remember it this time’ and they never do.
Sakura breaks out of this once her remembering things is important to saving lives as a doctor, but she can’t for the life of her carry around a notepad without leaving it somewhere, so she just. writes on her own skin. Everywhere.
Tsunade can’t decide if she’s proud that Sakura found a solutution that seems to work for her ‘memory issues’ or horrified by all the ink. How is it in her ear. It’s everywhere but her hands somehow and Tsunade is scared and impressed.
And Naruto tries to follow her lead but his skin is already covered in ink from doodles 70% of the time and he’s still semi-illiterate so it doesn’t really work for him rip.
Listen. On their first few missions Kakashi insisted that ‘they were shinobi’ and they ‘can’t be reliant on toys and garbage’ and all the other rhetoric he fed himself growing up b/c it’s second nature for him.
Then Sasuke has a full on sensory meltdown while they’re patrolling during a festival or something and he gets a (very unwelcome thank you very much) flashback to when this would happen to him like all the time as a baby ninja and Minato would help him and Kakashi’s like ‘oh right. These are literal children and I’m supposed to be the adult thing. Shit.’
He doesn’t know how to help but Sakura does and she makes him babysit Naruto while she does some Doton that puts her and Sasuke in a stony escape from the noise and light (she literally learned it to help herself when she gets close to this rip).
After this, Kakashi has a. Change of heart, to say the least; these kids aren’t him, he can’t treat them the way he treats himself.
There’s a storage scroll exclusively full of chewy stims for Sasuke (Please stop chewing on twigs Sasuke) and ear muffs for Sakura (loud sounds are bad and BOTH of her boys are loud) and light up toys for Naruto and all sorts of fidgety shit for all of them. Suddenly, team productivity is through the roof.
Course he has to teach them how to either go long periods of time using them sparingly or be inconspicuous while using them.
They try gum for Sasuke but it doesn’t work because it’s too Rubbery and he hates rubbery textures. In a pinch, he can settle for a lolipop. Naruto just ‘Transforms’ into a little kid so it isn’t weird that he’s playing with a light up toy. Stuff like that.
Sakura doesn’t need this ‘extra training’, because she’s been living the ADHD Civilan Hell Life since she was 6 and actually had to interact with adults growing up, unlike her teammates. She has mastered the art of the ‘socially acceptable and excusable stim’. She hasn’t had any skin on her lips in years
Once a client or someone they got teamed with or something is like ‘why are your kids just goofing off aren’t they shinobi’ and then has to dodge 3 kunai from 3 adhd disasters with an inability to filter sound at all who accidentally were eavesdropping and refuse to have Kakashi even entertain the thought of taking their stimmy-toys away again. Like. Sakura looks Kakashi dead in the eyes and says ‘If you even fucking think about it I will put gaegogi in your fridge’ and Kakashi’s like ‘how did you get my address again’ and Sakura sticks her tongue out.
And Kakashi doesn’t even fucking think about it. He loves his kids too much to put them through that again;
Hey! I absolutely adore your blog! Your art and au’s are so cool. Some funny, some dark, some a mix. I was a casual fan of The Dark Crystal, then I came across all the stuff you did and went “Welp, time to jump down the hyperfaxation water slide, weee~!” and here I am. Seriously, you have the most awesome stuff!
—-
Darkskek:
Aww Thank you very much! What a wonderful and heartfelt compliment! I admit i drew/draw like a maniac when i got into TDC, and so it isn’t suprising you saw my stuff. Also, i get ya, hyperfixation. The sad thing with my one, it wears off, when not fulled enough. That is why i don’t post as much as to begin with. I try to provide for you and the others stuff, the best way i can!
You're, like, a 4 on the intimidation scale. You're just so nice and friendly and awesome! People don't like upsetting you, but it's less a 'oh I've fucked up now' and more a 'oh god what have I done!?' thing, like upsetting a puppy or accidentally hurting a kitten. Though, you have a lot of people who are ready to go to war if they hear so much as a sniffle because some idiot was being mean! You're just too adorable!
omggg thank you??? lol I love it. Honestly im okay with being associated with a puppy and or kitty. <3 <3 <3
I only discovered I was Ace/Aro a few years ago, but I didn’t have the labels ‘Asexual’ and Aromantic’ until about last year. I was never interested in dating, while some of my friends had been in long-lasting relationships or were looking for a partner.
I was never interested in dating, my friends only asked why I never dated once, and my reply had been “I’m not interested.”
My friends, bless them, accepted my response and never really brought it up again. It did, however, get me thinking on why I was never interested in dating. I don’t see the appeal, and the unspoken belief that dating eventually equals sex really repelled me of the idea of dating anyone.
I didn’t want sex and I didn’t want to date, even if my prospective partner didn’t want sex, I still wasn’t into the idea of dating.
When I accepted that, I never really thought about it. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon the word Asexual and looked into it that I really understood. The word wasn’t so important, it wasn’t any big revelation or a moment of clarity. It was more “Oh, so that’s what it’s called. Okay, cool."
I am still single, and I am still happy. Don’t let anyone try and tell you otherwise. You know your body, you know yourself.
I just thought this while doing laundry. Graphic T-shirts, they have pics or funny/cool phrases. Quotes or just random stuff, it's normal for us, but what if the aliens think that they're warnings? Safety labels or signs or something? I have a shirt that says "Nothing but Trouble", imagine an alien reading that and just becoming terrified? Just a thing to think about.
Nice. My brother has a shirt that says “Me, sarcastic? Never.” an alien would be so confused. On that topic, would they even get sarcasm at all?
Here's a snippet of dialogue for the Slumbering Gods AU, I haven't made the scene for it yet but I have it saved because ~memory~
"You still pray?"
"As a courtesy."
"The fruit?"
"Bribery."
"Or offerings."
"Yes."
"Ha! You academics are always so superstitious. The old gods are dead."
"Yes. And weren't we taught to respect the dead?"
....
This line has been haunting me, I am so excited to write this whole scene... eventually.
“And weren’t we taught to respect the dead?” Now THATS a good line here if I ever seen one hell yeah
That’s very exciting though! I hope to see more in the future!
Well, I hope you know that now that I've talked about it, I'm writing bits of it. I am this close to just making an OC and doing a full blown story with it. I hope you're happy (I am! But also dreading the writing process...)
Here's a tidbit of the Slumbering Gods AU!
***
You were putting off actually going into the tunnels. You could go to the other stations first, but the higher-ups made it clear they wanted the underground documented as well. As most of the maps had been lost, and while you were no master cartographer you certainly could make a basic, legible map. You weren’t too worried about wild Pokemon, as you and yours have dealt with them often enough, and have also undergone rudimentary Pokemon Training and even participated in mock battles (that you rarely won, but that’s what happens when you face off against experts whose entire careers bank on battling ability).
It was just. Well. Being in a dark, confined space, with no guarantee of finding an exit… the possibility of getting lost down there, perhaps trapped in a cave-in, or a Pokemon causing the tunnel to collapse, or getting ambushed by a Pokemon while you’re alone… not to mention all the spooky, supernatural, superstitious dangers that could possibly lurk down there in the deep, dark, tunnels that span across the entire city and possibly the entire region.
You were scared.
But, of course, you could only put it off for so long And your superiors might begin to notice if you didn’t at least make an attempt, and soon. It sucked, but you suppose this is what happens when you talk out of turn. Though, you heard that the knight you scolded had been forced to take remedial history lessons with a focus on the influence of past customs and systems had on their modern day lives. The Tangela of gossip was a sweet thing, sometimes.
Finally, you got a backpack ready, alerted your superiors and fellows of your next venture, and made sure to get an extra good offerings for the station. A collection of the best berries you could this season, a box of those little cake collections, some chocolate, some tea and coffee in disposable take-away mugs, and of course more energy drinks. You thought about getting alcohol, but you remember the ‘no drinking’ signs half-faded on the walls, as well as on some pamphlets and books you had managed to salvage (the book-keepers had been ecstatic at your finds, certainly), and decided against it. If this was a ‘no alcohol zone’ then you would respect that.
Shade was a cool comfort at your side, watching your back even before you entered the tunnel. Houdini was whizzing about and cackling, excited for this new adventure. You were too, you just- had to get going. Once you’re in the tunnel, and had some time to adjust, you’d be fine. You know you will. You’ve done this before in actual caves. Far less stable. Far more winding and easier to get lost in. But they also had maps, and -usually- markers. This did not.
(There have also not been rampant rumours of people disappearing in the tunnels, and the few who make it back out are change, haunted looks sunk in emancipated faces, moaning and screaming and crying, stuttered warnings of demons and monsters, figures of bright lights and clinging shadows and horrifying ramblings of the mad and dying. They always died, not long after being found.)
You dropped down onto the tracks, having tested to make sure it wasn’t live. Just in case. Better safe than electrocuted to death. Your ears pricked when your landing echoed through the open space, and you swore you heard something in the gaping maw of the tunnel entrance. Like a shifting in the walls, a dusty, whispering skittering or scuttling.
Pokemon, probably. You don’t know whether to feel comforted by that or not.
You breathe, deep and slow, steeling yourself for the journey ahead-
“HAUN!”
You scream.
You could have cleared the platform with how high you jumped at Houdini appeared in front of you, a weak Astonish adding flare to his scare. He laughs, rolling through the air as tears of mirth fall from his eyes.
“Houdini!” You screech, you don’t deny it, “You little shit! That wasn’t funny!” You are more incensed by the instinctive tears that pricked your eyes, and you know you will laugh at this later, but right now you are scared and nervous and your bastard of a Pokemon saw an opportunity to scare ten years off your life.
Shade is disapproving, clearly scolding her fellow Ghost Type along with threatening, if by the way she flies after him as he runs away from her retribution is anything to go by.
“Alright guys, enough playing around, let’s get- hey!” You yell as Houdini snatches the torch at your waist while he passes you by, using you as a shield against an angry Shade, and uses the torch to make scary faces at them both. This only pisses Shade off more, and she actually throws ice at him. He dodges and makes for the tunnel, Shade in hot pursuit, and unthinkingly you follow after.
“Guys! Wait! Houdini, Shade, both of you need to settle down!” You yell after them, following the flailing light that your pilfering poltergeist had nicked. You give a small prayer to the station, “Please. Please, please, please, don’t let me get lost and die here. Don’t let me get lost and die. I don’t wanna die because of something stupid like this.”
Somehow, you lose sight of the light. You lose the sound of your Pokemon. You reach for your spare, and pull out a notebook, and as you carefully make your way through the tunnel, marking your way as best you could, you call for your Pokemon. Hoping they answered, and feared what would happen if something else answered.
It’s okay. You know which direction your going. You have a compass. You marked out the locations of other known stations within the city. You roughly calculated how long it would take to reach one by walking (you tried. You’re lowballing it at six-hours, but it could be a full day of walking and you would rather not camp here-) and you have enough provisions to last at least three days. Four if you ration. Six if you really ration. And that’s assuming you don’t find something to eat down here.
Or get eaten.
Okay! Bad thought. Let’s try good thoughts. Shall we?
…
Wow this is harder than you thought.
Okay. Okay. Good thoughts. Positive. You haven’t run into any wild Pokemon, or cave ins, and the tunnels look structurally sound. Which is impressive, considering it’s been- what? Nearly three centuries? More than two, you know. The rest you’re unsure of. The records are iffy, so clear dates are hard to come by. Which every scribe is universally miffed by.
Your ears prick at the sound of scuttling. It’s distant. You freeze all the same. Strain your ears for the source. Tilt and turn your head back and forth. Slow. Careful. Steady and quiet your breathing. Distant. Getting quieter. Farther. Gone.
You sigh. And decide that calling out is too risky. You continue on, deeper and deeper, on and on. You turn off your torch, when you feel rumbling, when you hear skittering, when you feel a breeze that shouldn’t be there. When you want to be, you can be near-invisible. Unnoticed. Unseen. Ignored and unimportant. Not worth the time.
You still feel watched. You almost wish it was Houdini, planning another scare or a prank.
You feel the wall curve, and follow. You turn your light on, see that the track tilts to the left and down. You follow.
Left and down.
Left and down.
Left and down.
Left and down.
You blink. Left and down. You blink again. Can trains bend this way? They had couplings, you know, connections that allowed them some flexibility so they could turn. But to turn, and turn, and turn? Why does that seem wrong?
Left and down.
Well, it’s not like you have seen a proper train before. Most of them were buried and abandoned on these very tracks. Or destroyed during the various conflicts during the Time Of Strife, the Chaos Period. The line straightens, and you sigh. Continuing. You glance down as the sound of crunching changes in tone, dry and brittle compared to the gravel and pebbles of the tunnels.
You see white. You look back up.
Left and down.
The tracks themselves are in surprisingly good condition. You would think that the tracks, rails, would have suffered from oxidation. Rust should be coating them, but they look fine. A little dirty, maybe, but perfectly functional to your non-trained eyes. The wood would rot, though, surely? You lean down and press against the wood, it held firm and did not yield. Strong. Good quality? Maybe the dry, cool air helped preserve everything? You know that is important for preserving things.
You looked up, ignoring the white, and checked the walls. Bleak grey with lightless light fixtures. Concrete. That’s good. You were worried it would be stone and rock and dirt. Far less stable than reassuring concrete.
You look down, avoiding the white. The rails are thin lines crossed with stone. Concrete. Something.
Left and down.
You blink. You may have gone the wrong way. But it hasn’t been too long. You can go back up, maybe take a different tunnel. You think there is a divergence somewhere. You turn around, back the way you came.
Down and left.
You continue, hand grazing the wall. Feel it change from concrete, to something smooth and cold like glass. Tile. Then something rougher. Stone. Then softer. Dirt. Then harder. Concrete. You don’t look. You know. The walls are changing. The rails are changing. You do not look.
Down and left.
Ah. You are lost. Your feet hurt. Your legs are beginning to ache. You know that isn’t right, since you’ve lived an active life, and books are no light cargo. You haven’t been walking that long. Have you?
You stop. You stare at the tunnel ahead.
Down and left.
Turn around. Look back around the other way.
Down and left.
This is really well done! Bravo! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
I really hope you continue this, whether its a reader insert, or oc, the concept is incredibly interesting!
You can also really feel the anxiety here! You did really well!
I dunno, the concept alone of Ingo and Emmet being Forgotten Gods is so good, i think I've talked about this idea a while back in some friend's dms. It was such a fun topic!
The world building though you have here is amazing! It's genuinely a good read! The idea of such a bleak future, and finding such caring gods who want to help you,,, its sweet.
Even if you get terribly lost in their domain first jfkjdfjsfj
I do hope you continue this at some point!
