#salvage updates

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 47…

"No! Mewtwo!" Is it anger or horror rising in you now? Both. Has to be both. "You can't just kill people until you get what you want! You can't--!"

And why not? To the weak, it might seem impossible. There's too much risk, too great a chance that someone stronger will threaten them in turn. I have no need to live in fear. What can the humans here do to me? They don't even have slaves to set against me. They have not the numbers of Kanto, nor its might. I have no patience for slinking about, ducking the gaze of those so far below me. My mother has waited too long for me already. If this Krane human is asleep, we wake him. If he refuses to answer our questions, I will scour the knowledge from his mind. I have no more patience for waiting on the whims of humans.

"Okay, well, not to interrupt your villain speech or anything," Rats says...

And now for the actual Tumblr chapter announcement, after the chapter commentary! Very happy to be in Orre at last. The next batch of chapters has technically been published, in some form, before, but after that? We're on to completely new material and, though it may feel far-off yet, the end of the story. Exciting for me, and I hope for you as well!

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 46…

One day passes, and then another, and in the night that follows Mewtwo comes upon you in slumber.

Back with another chapter afer far too long of a delay. We're so close to reaching Orre... So close I can taste the gritty postindustrial Western vibes! The next chapter will be out in a much more reasonable amount of time. In the meantime, please enjoy this one, and I'll get back to writing!

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 45…

"Great Nathaniel Morgan. I need to ask you something."

"Why am I not fucking surprised?" he says. "Let me guess, you got some bullshit scheme you want to rope me in on. I'll save us both some time, Freak, and tell you to go fuck yourself up front."

"Just listen. You do not have to say yes, I promise. I will not be mad if you say no. I just have to ask. Will you listen?"

The great Nathaniel Morgan raises an arm halfway, hampered by Raticate, and makes a circular "get on with it" motion. "Doubt you're gonna shut up about it, so let's get it the fuck over with."

You nod and take a deep breath. "Great Nathaniel Morgan, will you come with me, to Orre, and help me rescue Mew?"

Happy trails, Nate.

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 44…

"I don't understand why I always have to be the one to rampage," Steelix grumbles. Even coiled atop himself he takes up most of the Saffron back-alley you're huddled in, spending a moment to organize before setting your plan in motion.

Raticate looks up at twenty feet of diamond-hard metal-spiked serpent and says, "Steelix, bud, some people are just born to rampage."

One last chapter at the tail end of 2020. Happy new year, all! Here's to a brighter 2021.

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 43…

"I need you to keep watch while I'm asleep," the child says. "If you feel any psychic pressure, even a tiny bit, you need to wake me up right away."

"Psychic pressure, huh? And who are we expecting to sneak up on us while you're asleep?"

"Mewtwo," the child says, shifting and turning and trying to get comfortable. The rocky floor is rough and uneven; about the best the child can do is to wedge itself in on its side. It doesn't even feel up to digging a bigger depression out of the rock. This will have to do.

"Oh, is that all?" Rats says for some reason. "You've been having an interesting time, haven't you, Boss?"

Oh, hey, remember this fic? Remember the last chapter... all the way back in March? We're getting back into the swing of things with a chapter that features several characters we haven't seen in a good long while, healthy and effective coping mechanisms, and a little insight into what Mewtwo's been up to since we last checked in. Only good things, right? Only good things.

It's good to be back, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 39…

The child's heart starts to pound, and fear-sweat coats its palms, the last of its numbness evaporating before a wave of adrenaline. It's only barely realized where the fear is coming from when Mewtwo asks, What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?

This chapter went through plenty of back and forth. I was initially planning to keep 39 + 40 together, since 40 was under 3000 words long, which I thought felt a little insubstantial and would look odd next to all the other chapters in this arc. But then! I added a lot to it late in editing, so it ended up getting bumped over 4k. So we’re doing the split thing in the end--39 today, and 40 will go up on the 31st. After that I’ll be gunning to post 41 on January 14.

Merry... Christmas? This is one of the more brutal chapters in the story, oops.

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 40…

To the east the sky's taking on a burnt purple-pink just above the ocean. Soon the sun will come up, and then Mewtwo will rise, and he'll make the child do whatever he wants. He's in charge now. He'll make the child take him to Fuchsia, find their boat... The child's going to need new clothes. These ones are shredded and bloody. It doesn't have any others because they all got burnt up.

The child's tears are barely warm, sliding down its face. Stupid Mewtwo. Everything seems too hard, all of a sudden. The child can't even lie there and not hurt and the entire day stretches before it with painful certainty.

It could run. It could just run away and Mewtwo would never be able to find it. He can't teleport, and the child could live out in the wild, far from humans, where no one and nothing is.

And then Mew might never get free, because of the child. What would it be then, except a coward?

Here it is! Coming in with about three minutes to spare in my timezone, this is the last chapter of 2019. I guess that means you're going to have to wait all the way until the next decade to get a resolution for that cliffhanger. ;)

[negrek]

Salvage: A Pokémon Fanfiction of Change and Rebirth

You lost a lot when you died. Your life, for one, and your name and your family and even your humanity. What you gained was power, and a purpose to turn it towards. You may have died, but Mew hasn’t, not yet. And you’ll do whatever it takes to find her.

Genre: Action, Suspense, Original Trainer, Pokémorph Characters: OC, Mewtwo, Absol Rating: M (strong language, dark themes)

In Chapter 41…

"It's not a person!" Lance snaps. "It's a dangerous wild pokémon, and it's well within our authority to handle how we please."

Here we go, the beginning of the chapter that's been trying to kill me since October! "The beginning of" because, naturally, I was sure this would be a relatively quick transitional chapter without a ton of ground to cover, and then oh god why is it 13k. Too big to even hope that a bit of editing could get it down to a reasonable size. Still does my head in, because reading this chapter it feels like it's only half as long as the word counter claims. I hope it's a brisk read for you, too!

Well, if it takes me a month to write a chapter, but then that chapter ends up being two chapters... That's still a chapter every two weeks, right? Progress!