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devilsskettle · 14 days

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hey so because you seem to be really into it at the moment: I've never seen any of the chunky/child's play movies what's the lore

okay so the sparknotes version of the child's play lore:

this is still gonna be pretty long, sorry

child's play (1988): serial killer charles lee ray aka the "lakeshore strangler" (played by brad dourif) is shot and killed by police detective mike norris (played by the inimitable chris sarandon) but before he dies he transfers his soul into a good guy doll. btw good guy dolls in the story are similar to my buddy dolls or cabbage patch kids in the 80s and they move a little bit and have some pre-recorded phrases they can say, they're super popular in-universe, it's kind of a commentary on consumerism and how companies market to children to "create future consumers" etc. so, the doll makes its way to the home of andy barclay on his 6th birthday. chucky's main goal is to get revenge on mike and his old partner eddie who drove off without him during the shootout, but he's happy to kill some other people along the way. he pushes andy's babysitter (his mother's best friend) out the window, leaving andy to be the main suspect in her murder, which the detective is brought in to investigate. ofc nobody believes the doll is actually alive and he's taken into children's psychiatric care. then his mother and the detective realize the doll really is alive and possessed by charles lee ray, who they found out was super into voodoo. meanwhile chucky realizes after getting shot by the detective that he can get hurt in his new body and he goes to the man who taught him about voodoo, who tried to kill him for being an abomination and abusing everything he was taught. chucky kills him but not before learning that he will be trapped in that body forever if he doesn't jump bodies again soon but he has to possess the body of the first person he revealed he was alive to, which was andy. so the mom and detective also go to the teacher and with his dying breath he says to aim for chucky's heart to kill him because it was almost human now. cue big showdown between chucky and the three protagonists. there's a couple false endings where he gets set on fire and decapitated but finally he gets shot in the heart and dies. unfortunately the protagonists (+ another cop who witnesses the killer doll) realize that nobody will ever believe what happened. which is where...........

child's play 2 (1990): ...........picks up. the police deny everything but andy's mother corroborates his story and is placed in under psychiatric care while he is placed in foster care. the company that makes good guy dolls is threatened by all the rumors about what happened, including the possibility that there was something defective about the doll or someone tampering with it, so they rebuild the doll to show that there was nothing wrong with it and they were not culpable for what happened. so that's how chucky comes back. not only does he want revenge, he still wants to get out of the doll body, and he can only possess andy. meanwhile, when andy goes to live with a new family, the wife is very caring and the husband is very suspicious and callous towards him. he meets kyle, a 17 year old girl who is also a foster kid. he also meets tommy, a good guy doll left by a former foster kid who stayed in his new room, and to prove that he is a well adjusted, normal kid no longer believing the chucky story, he pretends to play with it and keep it around. of course chucky destroys the doll and buries it in the backyard and replaces him and starts killing people again. andy is sent away again, leaving kyle to discover that chucky is real by herself. they end up being lead to the good guy doll factory for the final showdown, which is really quite a fun ending sequence. again there are a couple false endings but eventually kyle kills him by exploding him with an air hose. andy and kyle leave together wondering where they can go next. something interesting to note is that there is also a novelization of this movie that adds some backstory to charles lee ray, which has been completely overwritten by the canon established in the tv series. also the film features actress grace zabriskie (who you may know from twin peaks) as a character named grace poole (a name borrowed from jane eyre by charlotte brontë) which is a fun little easter egg to me. apparently there was also controversy around this film since it was known to be a favorite of the man who committed the port arthur massacre although there is no connection between the content of this film and the crime

child's play 3 (1991): there's an eight year time skip (if that doesn't make sense to you based on the release dates, you would be correct - production of this movie began before they even finished filming the last one). the company that makes good guy dolls decide it's been long enough since the murders happened to start making those dolls again. unfortunately chucky's remains were still in the factory, and they contaminate the first doll that was made, bringing him back to life. again, he wants revenge and a new body so he immediately tracks down andy. meanwhile, andy is now 16, played by a different actor obviously, and he's enrolled in military school after bouncing around different foster homes for a few years. so chucky sends himself in the mail to andy, only to get intercepted by a younger kid, tyler. since chucky technically is in a new body, he realizes he can tell tyler his secret (that he is charles lee ray - this is a deviation from the first movie, where the secret was that he, as the doll, was actually alive, but this new meaning of what the secret is is used for the rest of the series) and possess him instead, which is what he tries to do. murders occur, andy tries to stop them, nobody believes him, etc. there's a very underdeveloped love interest story arc also. the most memorable part of the film is when the school has a paintball "war" and chucky replaces the fake ammo with real bullets. eventually andy, tyler, and the girlfriend face off with chucky in the haunted house of a carnival that happened to be nearby (yeah, it's contrived lol) and chucky gets pushed into an industrial fan, which destroys him. so, this movie is widely regarded as one of the weakest in the series and i agree, it's pretty boring. the writer don mancini has said that there was pressure from the studio to rush production and he was basically out of ideas so soon after making child's play 2 and i think that is very clear. however i would say that this is the movie that paves the way for the humor and personality that is the foundation of the future chucky movies. there was also a lot of controversy around this movie in connection with the murder of james bulger, a toddler who was kidnapped, tortured, and killed by two 10 year old boys (the youngest convicted murderers in modern british history) although there is no real link or even confirmation that either boy watched the film. also, another notable horror actor andrew robinson who played the dad in hellraiser was featured in this film

bride of chucky (1998): released the same year in which child's play 3 was set, this movie takes place a few months after the events of the previous film. after this film, the series drops the "child's play" name and uses the naming convention "x of chucky" for the remainder of the films. bride revitalized the series, taking it in a more overtly humorous direction. it's also the first film in which andy is not the protagonist and establishes a LOT of the pre-doll possession charles lee ray lore - so let's get into it. enter tiffany valentine (a role made iconic by jennifer tilly), charles lee ray's girlfriend before he died. she finally tracks him down after 10 years, stitches him back together, and brings him back to life with voodoo magic. she tells him that she found the ring he left on the mantel and knew he was going to propose to her before he died, and he laughs at her, telling her that he got it off one of his victims and was gonna pawn it. obviously she's pissed so she locks him in a cage with a talking bride doll similar to a good guy doll. he breaks out, kills tiffany, and traps her soul in the bride doll so that she's stuck with him. unfortunately this is a stupid fucking idea because neither of them want to be trapped as dolls forever but to switch bodies they have to get an amulet called the heart of damballa, which chucky was wearing the night of his death, out of his grave in hackensack, new jersey (but wait! you might be thinking, i thought he could only possess the body of the first person he told his secret to! which is why he kept going after andy in the first place! yeah forget all that, there's an amulet now. idk. btw damballa is the god that gives chucky his power via voodoo magic, it wasn't really relevant until now so i didn't tell you but this is consistent in all of the movies and the tv series). so tiffany gets her neighbor jesse to drive the dolls to hackensack. the reason that jesse agrees to do this is because he and his girlfriend jade are being kept apart by her asshole cop uncle who is her legal guardian and keeps threatening to ruin both of their lives if they keep seeing each other, so they want to leave town together and need money to start a new life. this works out great for chucky and tiffany because they'll each have a body to possess once they get the amulet. so jesse and jade go on this weird roadtrip, then everybody around them starts dying and they're the main suspects in their murders. both of them start to be suspicious that the other one is guilty. meanwhile chucky and tiffany are killing people and falling back in love with each other. eventually they reveal that they are alive to jesse and jade, who, while being held hostage, turn them against each other. they make it to the cemetery in hackensack, but at that point tiffany is so pissed at chucky and feels sympathetic to jesse and jade's love story, so she tries to kill him instead (saying, "we belong dead," a line from the movie bride of frankenstein (1935) which she was watching right before her death). chucky kills her and then is killed by jade. the very last scare is tiffany giving birth to a little evil doll baby. which sets the scene for.........

seed of chucky (2004): for the record i think this movie sucks. it's easily my least favorite in the series. i didn't even get through the whole thing the first time i tried to watch it. however, it also has some of the best lore of the series, which is pretty fun, and it has some queer themes that are interesting to see. so obviously chucky and tiffany have an orphaned freaky little doll monster baby. they end up being kidnapped (?) by a cheating ventriloquist who keeps them in a cage and calls them "shitface" and makes them perform in their ventriloquist act. at the same time, the chucky and tiffany dolls are being used in a movie based on the "urban legend" of the killer dolls. shitface realizes they must be their parents because they share the same "made in japan" mark on their wrist as the chucky doll which they see on a promo on tv, so they to hollywood to find them. when they get there, they accidentally bring their parents back to life by reading the words on the heart of damballa, their only family heirloom. chucky and tiffany try to settle on what name to give them and debate their gender; chucky wants him to be "glen" and tiffany wants her to be "glenda." unable to come to an agreement, they focus on the real problem which is how they can get different bodies. they decide they'll possess actress jennifer tilly and the director of an upcoming film who she's trying to "impress" to get the lead role. however, tiffany swears off killing and tries to forbid chucky from killing, too, for the sake of their family. obviously both of them immediately kill a bunch of people. glen/da kills a couple people accidentally but under a high amount of stress reveals that glen and glenda are actually separate identities, glen being sweet and innocent, glenda being a killer. anyway they impregnate jennifer tilly, who through voodoo magic gives birth to twins. however, chucky abandons the plan, deciding he's going to embrace his identity as a killer doll. he and tiffany fight and she flees with glen/da. she finds jennifer tilly at the hospital and possesses her. chucky makes a reappearance and attacks them, but glen kills him by dismemberment/decapitation. they possess the twin babies, a boy and a girl, one for each of their personalities. in the epilogue, tiffany lives as jennifer tilly, raising glen and glenda by herself. she kills the nanny when she complains that glenda is unstable and violent. so yeah! this one gets really meta. john waters gets his face melted off with acid. etc. a fun fact about this one is that the movie promoted that paris hilton was NOT in the film - this is because she's briefly featured as a character in the film played by a lookalike, and her press team didn't want people to think it was actually her

curse of chucky (2013): a soft reboot of the series that returns to a more straightforward horror approach. introduces the character nica pierce (played by fiona dourif, brad dourif's daughter), a young woman who is paraplegic and lives in a big, old house with her mother, who she has a somewhat tense relationship with. someone sends her mother a good guy doll (without the scars and stitching chucky had in bride and seed), which she dismisses as a joke or a mistaken address, but of course she winds up dead. nica's sister, her husband, her daughter alice, alice's nanny, and a priest she has invited (to nica's chagrin) come to stay with nica. the sister tries to convince her to sell the house and tells her that she's not capable of living alone. family tensions rise to the surface; namely, that the sister is having an affair with the nanny and the husband suspects, so he puts a camera in the good guy doll. they also watch some home videos together and notice a creepy guy hanging around their mother in the footage, who nica later recognizes as charles lee ray. anyway people start dropping dead in this big old dark house and nobody can find alice, who is playing hide and seek with her new best friend chucky. before she is killed, the sister peels off the paint covering the scars that reveal that it's the same doll from the other murders. nica figures out that the doll is possessed by charles lee ray but of course nobody believes her. after killing her whole family besides alice, he tells her that before he died, he had been infatuated with her mother, kidnapping her while she was pregnant with nica after killing nica's father. she somehow called the cops on him and, enraged by her rejection of him, he stabbed her in the stomach, causing nica to be born paralyzed from the waist down. nica and chucky fight, and she injures him, but he gets away when she's found by a cop who comes to the house. she is found guilty of the murders in court and sent to a psychiatric institution. in the end, tiffany gets chucky from the police evidence and sends him to alice, who he plans to possess. in a post-credits scene, chucky is mailed to an adult andy barclay, who shoot him as soon as he cuts his way out of the box.

cult of chucky (2017): last movie!! nica has been held in a high security psychiatric institution and now is being transferred to a medium security institution after "making progress" by accepting that chucky was a product of her psychosis after she killed her family. her therapist brings in a good guy doll as part of her treatment, and it is adopted by one of the other patients who thinks it's her dead baby. the next day, nica has a visitor. expecting to finally get to see alice again, she's disappointed that it's actually tiffany valentine, who says that she was alice's legal guardian, but alice had died - we later learn that chucky possessed her, but she died when one of his victims fought back and his soul jumped back into the doll. tiffany gives the doll to nica in remembrance of alice. nica eventually recognizes her and realizes that chucky really is possessed. she tries to slit her wrists with a spoke from the wheel of her wheelchair but he stitches her back up and slits the wrists of another patient, starting off the killings. knowing that no one will believe her, nica tries to stop chucky herself without drawing suspicion back on her. meanwhile, in the outside world, andy has been having trouble adjusting to normal life. he's been keeping the decapitated head of the original chucky doll and torturing it (as he deserves to, tbqh). he hears about the murders and realizes that chucky has found a way to split his soul into multiple bodies. so he goes to the hospital to try to stop him. at the hospital, there are now 2 chuckys running around, soon joined by a third doll that arrives in the mail. not only does chucky possess the new doll, but he also possesses nica, supernaturally giving him the ability to walk even though she is paraplegic. so andy gets himself committed to the hospital by attacking a guard, and he's locked in a room by himself. the newest chucky doll attacks him, but andy reveals that it was him who sent the doll, hiding a gun in its stomach. then nica!chucky comes after him and he tries to shoot her, but he runs out of ammo and she locks him back up. she reunites with tiffany and they drive away together with the tiffany doll who is also possessed. in a post-credits scene, kyle shows up at andy's house to keep torturing the original chucky doll.

child's play (2019): a reimagining of the original movie that does not tie in to the rest of the series

chucky (2021 -): i'm not gonna do a full synopsis of this one because there's just too much plot but i will give you a rundown of 1) the relevant lore you need to know to watch the tv series, 2) the pre-doll possession charles lee ray lore that's established by the series, and 3) other lore that is established in the series and relevant plot points

what you need to know:

there are multiple good guy dolls possessed by chucky out there, which andy and kyle are on a mission to track down and destroy

chucky is still possessing nica and tiffany is still possessing jennifer tilly, they're on a murder spree but their relationship is as tumultuous as ever, and sometimes nica regains fleeting consciousness/control of her body

the twins glen and glenda are in their 20s now (they're both nonbinary and use they/them pronouns btw) and they don't remember anything about their doll self, which tiffany-as-jennifer has been hiding from them, and they don't know anything about their absent deadbeat dad

apparently chucky is still using good guy dolls to possess because he can only split his soul into identical forms ? which doesn't make sense lore-wise but that's what don mancini has said lol

charles lee ray grew up in hackensack, new jersey which is why his body was buried there in bride and that's where the tv series takes place (in season 1)

the first 3 child's play movies are canon but the series always goes defers to what's established in bride of chucky when it comes to any differences in plot (as well as overall tone/humor)

pre-doll possession charles lee ray lore:

charles lee ray grew up in the suburbs with his parents in the 1960s. it's a pretty normal childhood until a serial killer breaks into his house and kills his father. when his mother tries to get him to hide in the closet, he kills her, "helping" the serial killer. that's his first kill. after that, he starts seeing a therapist, who encourages his violent behavior. eventually, he goes to live in an orphanage. he's a leader to the younger boys, introducing them to the story of peter pan. one day, they're playing in the woods and he leads them to "captain hook," the body of the janitor who he killed and replaced his hand with a hook. the other boys run away crying except for eddie caputo, who later becomes charles' partner in crime (the guy he vows revenge against in the first movie after his betrayal). after this, he goes on the run. years later, he meets tiffany valentine at a nightclub. they kill a woman together. he tells her she should be blonde and she tells him he should go by chucky, which brings us to the versions of the characters as we know them throughout the series. tiffany and chucky move in together in chicago, but after the honeymoon phase is over, chucky starts killing people by himself, annoyed by her "nagging" that she misses when they used to kill people together. angry, she calls the cops on him, leading to the police chase that is the opening scene of the first movie.

so, the premise of the tv show:

14 year old jake wheeler is a misunderstood kid living in hackensack. he buys a good guy doll at a yard sale for an art project that he's working on. obviously it's chucky and he starts killing people, but he also attempts to befriend jake and coerce him into killing people, too. of course things start spiraling out of control from there.

more lore:

chucky keeps trying to get a kid to commit murder because he needs to get an innocent to kill for this voodoo spell where he can put his soul into a bunch of dolls

season 2 takes place in a catholic school and a bunch of the legacy characters return (andy, kyle, nica, glen, and glenda) to perform an exorcism along with the main characters jake, lexy, and devon and the headmaster of the school (played by devon sawa). because of the exorcism, chucky is infected by catholic magic and can no longer call upon damballa to give him his power, and he becomes trapped again in the doll body which starts becoming more and more human and aging rapidly. this becomes a big part of the plot in season 3, which primarily takes place in the white house, as he tries to sacrifice as many people as possible to appease damballa, but it doesn't work. at this point in the story he is slowly dying of old age

at some point there's a cult of chucky dolls in the woods near the catholic school who kidnap and torture andy ?

at the end of season 2, glen is fatally injured. tiffany transfers their and glenda's soul into the original glen/da doll, now called g.g.

tiffany-as-jennifer is put on trial for all the murders and at this point in the story is in prison on death row

so devon sawa is in every season of this show despite being killed (at LEAST once) every season. in season 1, he plays jake's father and uncle who are twin brothers, in season 2 he plays the headmaster of the catholic school, and in season 3 he plays the president of the united states

there was also a documentary that was released in 2021 before the tv series came out called living with chucky where they interviewed the filmmakers and a lot of the actors who are featured throughout the series. i thought it was pretty good, it's on tubi

anyway i think it's really interesting to see a series last so long and make so many pivots to keep exploring the story and the characters in new ways. at the end of the day the first two movies will always be my favorite but bride of chucky is also so fun and so iconic and a perfect response to changes in the genre and brought a lot of new humor and energy to a series that had pretty much fizzled out, and it has been really fun to watch the tv series in real time as it comes out. the next episode actually comes out tomorrow night!! so let's see what happens. anyway i hope i didn't make you regret asking me this and thank you for giving me an outlet for my crazy about this silly little movie series

#chucky

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thespectral-wolf · 11 months

Text

Junctions - Part 2

Weeks after the space-time rift closed, Rei runs into Warden Ingo. It soon becomes apparent that despite sharing a similar fate, they don't know how to put themselves in the other's shoes.

Part 1

---

“Psst! Rei! Hey, Rei!” Akari poked him in the shoulder, rousing the boy absorbed in his Pokédex. “Do you think we should worry about the alpha?” she pointed towards the large Clefable between the trees.

They were currently at the Fabled Spring to study the moon-dance of the Clefairies. While Rei usually completed the requests alone, with his hand still healing and unable to call the ride pokémon, Professor Laventon insisted that they go together. Of course, Akari didn’t need to be asked twice, as she wanted to see the phenomenon herself.

They even got to borrow the Professor’s camera to take some pictures – although between Akari, who was relatively new to the concept of photography, and Rei, who only ever used digital devices, figuring out how to use it was a challenge on its own.

He put down his ‘dex and brushed away some of the tall grass to see better. He watched the massive pokémon for a moment before shrugging.

“Clefables aren’t normally aggressive. As long as we keep low, we should be alright.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she nodded and rested her head on her hands. They were out there for more than an hour now, the full moon already bathing the mountains in its bright, silver light. So far, nothing happened.

“Have you ever seen Clefairies dance?” she asked, suppressing a yawn.

“Nah,” Rei scratched his temple. “It happens very rarely and I guess I couldn’t get myself to stay up late to watch it. But Cotton would always get very jittery during full moons. I had to make sure she got a good view of it, otherwise she wouldn’t let anyone in the house sleep.”

“‘Cotton’?” Akari raised her brow.

“Oh, right, Cotton is my Clefable… back home…” he felt a lump in his throat forming as he was reminded that his pokémon were left behind in his own time. His family probably looked out for them in his absence. He hoped that they were alright.

Akari lightly nudged him, snapping him out of the thought. “Hey, that means you know your stuff about Clefairies, right? Now I know who to turn to if I ever want one on my team,” she tried steering the subject. Her face showed understanding. She may not know everything about his life before Hisui, but she knows how much thinking about it hurts. Rei smiled.

“Hey look! Something’s happening!” she suddenly called out in a whisper, and they both laid low, eyes fixed on the lake.

Just as if on cue, a group of Clefairies appeared, lining up on the lakeshore. They started moving in unison while letting out small cries at the full moon. Akari and Rei watched the event with wonder. They were so enamored by the spectacle, they almost forgot to actually record it. Akari quickly jotted down notes on her own Pokédex, while Rei maneuvered the professor’s camera with one hand. He hoped there was enough light for the pictures to come out well.

But just as quickly as it started, the Clefairies got alert and dispersed.

With it all over, the two teens packed up and made their way back on the riverbank, carefully treading the rocky environment while whispering excitedly. It was a long walk back to the Mountain Camp, especially without the aid of Wyrdeer, but with the full moon lighting the area, they didn’t mind.

Arriving at a ledge, they decided to cut some of the way and drop down instead. Akari went ahead, taking the almost two-meter jump with finesse. Rei hesitated a bit. Despite the months he worked as a surveyor, he was still behind her in terms of physical fitness. Maybe he should just take the way around.

“Don’t get so worked up, I’ll catch you,” she joked, holding her arms out in emphasis.

Rei grimaced at her, took a deep breath, and aimed at an outcrop of rock to jump on, hoping it’ll make the landing easier.

As his foot made contact, it jolted, almost causing him to fall. The ‘rock’ pushed itself up and angrily rumbled at him.

“Shit!” he yelped, jumping away. They were staring down a Rhyhorn that looked very upset. The teens backed down. It roared and soon enough, the whole ground around them seemed to come alive. Three, four, five, six… they stumbled on a whole herd of Rhyhorns and Rhydons that now started to surround them.

“Run!” Akari grabbed his good hand and pulled him towards the direction not yet blocked by angry pokémon.

Their getaway did not last long though: they were quickly met with a cliffside. Without the option to climb it, all that was left was to battle the pokémon that quickly encircled them again. Akari sent out her Staraptor, Rei his Decidueye.

The owl ruffled its feathers and sized up its opponents. Their adversaries snorted and grunted in anticipation, ready to strike. Rei couldn’t waste time.

“Leaf Blade!” he pointed at the Rhyhorn directly in front of them. With quick moves, Decidueye sent a barrage of sharp leaves at the enemy, overwhelming it. At the same time, Akari’s Staraptor took on a Rhydon with Close Combat. The Rhyhorn fell immediately and did not get up, whereas the Rhydon weathered the damage, but seemed to be on the edge of fainting. Rei breathed out. So far, so good. If they can create an opening, they can flee without prolonging the fight. One of the Rhydons roared in rage, kicking up sharp rocks at Decidueye, digging into it. Another caught Staraptor off guard with a Rock Slide, the bird not standing a chance with its lowered defenses. Akari breathed in sharply, as she recalled her partner. Not good.

Rei was ready to shout another attack, when the earth started to shake beneath them. The kids grabbed at each other for support. Rocks and soil moved around as the glistering snakelike body of an alpha Steelix emerged, roused by the cacophony of battle. The other pokémon yelped in surprise but didn’t flee. Slowly and drowsily, the Steelix shook the last pebbles off it and its burning red eyes sized up the teens. It roared.

The kids shared a look. There was no way they’d be able to fend off this many opponents. They had to make a run for it. Wordlessly, Rei gave Akari a nod.

“Triple Arrows, Strong Style!” Rei called out, pointing at the alpha. Decidueye acted quickly, barraging it with sharpened feathers. The Steelix staggered.

“Go, go, go!” Rei yelled, and Akari bolted off. She rushed past a small gap between the pokémon, hoping that in the chaos they will not have enough time to react. But the sudden movement caught the Steelix’s attention: it turned, lashing its strong tail at the girl, and struck her with such force, it sent her flying to a nearby rock. Rei shouted in panic, forcing the large metallic snake’s attention back to him and Decidueye. It slammed its head against the bird, albeit with less force.

Rei anxiously watched Akari. She lay on the ground several meters away from him, clutching her shoulder, face contorted in pain. He had to do something, and quick. If he tried to run to her, he was risking being attacked by the pokémon, the only barrier between them and him was his stalwart partner demanding their attention.

“Triple Arrows again!” Rei cried out.

The arrows hit true, and the Steelix faltered, but it refused to back down. As Decidueye landed, he was immediately rammed by one of the Rhydons. Rei winced. Despite the type advantage, Decidueye cannot fight against this many. Should Rei send out another one of his team? Gastrodon or Goodra could fight the rock types, but he never had a double battle in his life. No, this wasn’t a trainer battle, wild pokémon rarely abided by arbitrary rules, this shouldn’t matter. His chest was tight, his thoughts becoming a scrambled, panicked mess. Decidueye side-eyed him, the battle already wearing it down, but still waiting patiently for his command. He needed to reach Akari, but how? He can’t, he couldn’t-

Something from the cliffs dropped at the Steelix, hitting it hard on the head. The figure of a tall pokémon stood in front of him, the moon practically lighting it up. It was Sneasler. The pokémon hissed in warning, claws ready to strike again. The alpha turned at the new offender, giving Rei the opening to gather himself and make his way to Akari.

“Are you alright?” he asked, trying to look for signs of injuries.

“I’m in… one piece…” the girl heaved. She tried to get up, but could barely pull herself from the spot.

Rei glanced behind him. Sneasler and the Steelix were not attacking yet, instead they exchanged growls and hisses in an attempt to intimidate the other.

He heard running footsteps, which soon came to a skidding halt. Rei looked up to see Warden Ingo standing frozen at the scene. His figure was clear in the moonlight, but his face was obscured by the brim of his hat. He seemed hesitant, hand hovering over the pokéballs on his belt and looking between the teenagers and Sneasler facing off the Steelix. Sneasler broke the stare-off with her opponent, and mewled at her warden. It seemed it was all that Ingo needed. He sprung up with surprising speed, throwing two pokéballs, releasing his Tangrowth and Machamp then ordering the two to fend off some of the Rhydons. As soon as the pokémon were distracted, Ingo sprinted past them, reaching Akari and Rei in only a few steps.

“Is anybody hurt?” even when keeping his voice down, Ingo sounded very loud.

Akari tried to sit up, but hissed in pain as she tried to move her shoulder. Rei caught her and glanced at the Warden. Ingo’s face was tense, he took in a sharp breath before standing up straight.

“Hold on you two,” he told them and commanded his pokémon, which forced the wild Rhyhorns to back away with devastating attacks. He reached for Akari, and lifted her.

“Come on, quick,” he called out, moving away from the fight while holding the girl. Rei called Decidueye back and followed. As they were getting further and further away, he couldn’t help but glance back ever so often at the pokémon still battling.

Ingo noticed the boy’s anxiety. “Worry not,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road. “They know how to handle themselves.”

Once they reached the camp, the security corpsman stood up with alert, raising her lantern.

Laventon, who was snoozing by the fire, jostled at the sudden noise. His eyes widened when he saw them and rushed there with panic.

“Oh my stars, what happened?” he immediately started looking Akari over.

“A whole herd… and an alpha… too many… overwhelmed,” Rei sputtered, hands on knees, his head rushing with adrenaline.

Meanwhile Laventon got Ingo to lay Akari down at the tent, and helped the girl take off her coat to get a better look at her injury.

“Can you lift your arm?” Laventon asked while examining the damage.

Akari winced as she tried to move it.

Rei only glanced towards them, catching a big, ugly bruise forming on her back, and her side where the Steelix hit her.

“It’s swollen, but I don’t think anything’s broken,” Laventon sighed after inspecting the bruises,” but captain Pesselle could tell more… you must get to Jubilife immediately,” he urged.

“We really don’t have to, I’ll be fine,” Akari tried to reassure him.

“I say you rather not go this late,” the guard chimed in, “Jubilife is almost a day’s walk from here. It would be risky to go out so late.”

“But you can’t expect them to camp out in the mountains in this state!” the professor protested.

Rei scratched at his bandaged hand. He wished he could call for Wyrdeer. He got better at handling stuff with one hand, but failed repeatedly to use his Celestica flute, the notes never coming out right. Now Akari’s hurt. This was his fault. He should’ve been more careful.

“My home isn’t that far,” Warden Ingo spoke up suddenly. Even he himself seemed surprised at it, and now with all eyes looking at him, he was shifting uncomfortably. He continued, eyes on the ground. “Akari can stay the night there. It would be more comfortable to sleep under a roof. If you wish, of course,” he quickly added.

“Oh, in that case,” Akari piped up, as if she just remembered something, “could Rei come along? I think he could use some proper rest too.” Rei’s attention snapped at his fellow surveyor. Akari was the only person he confided in about his fight with the Warden, and now she was setting him up for an uncomfortable situation. He gave her a dirty look, at which she just rolled her eyes. Oh, she knew exactly what she was doing.

He looked at Warden Ingo, who seemed equally awkward at the suggestion, eyes flicking between the kids, swallowing hard.

“Of course,” the man stammered.

Ingo did not have a reason to invite him. Rei did not have a reason to go. Rei sighed.

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Thank you,” he said reluctantly.

Laventon did not catch on to the tension between them, and smiled at the warden.

“Thank you, Warden Ingo, you truly are kind,“ he then turned to the children, “But you two should head for Jubilife first thing in the morning so you can get properly treated.”

“Should I send a message to Jubilife for an escort?” the guard asked.

“No need. I’ll sort it out,” Ingo said. “Signal, once you’re ready for departure,” he composed himself, straightening his back as much as he could.

After taking a little breather, Rei helped Akari up, supporting her. Ingo threw his arms up in his signature pointing pose, and led them. The teens walked a few paces behind him.

“Traitor,” Rei whispered in her ear, making sure Ingo did not hear him.

“Oh, come on,” she whispered back, “Warden Ingo hasn’t been to Jubilife since you apparently yelled his head off, and you refused to come to the Highlands because you didn’t want to run into him. You two act like little kids. Sort it out! Seriously, how did you manage to save Hisui when you can’t even handle an argument?”

“Throwing balms at pokémon is not even comparable to talking to people,” he hissed through his teeth. But Akari’s words did make him think…

It was true that he felt betrayed by the warden’s inaction. Did he only trust Ingo because he felt familiar? The uniform that had seen better days suggested that Ingo was coming from the same time or at least time period as Rei, and the man seemed as out of place as Rei felt. Comrades in fate, or something like that. Was he too quick to latch onto that idea?

Did he ever stop to think whether Ingo felt the same?

And it wasn’t like Rei was one to hold grudges. He didn’t use to, that is. He always strived to be on everybody’s good side and the idea of somebody hating him was one of the worst things he could have imagined. He knew better now of course. He has his captain to thank for that lesson. And he was angry. Angry at Kamado, angry at Jubilife, angry at Arceus, angry at whoever was responsible for all of this mess. But in the end, he didn’t tell those people outright how he felt, did he? Was Warden Ingo any different from those people? Would staying angry at him do any good?

Rei made his decision: this was not a bridge he wanted to burn. How he was going to mend it though, was another question.

They walked in silence for the rest of the way to the Warden’s hut. It stood under a treeline, protecting it from the ocean winds that blew from the shore not far from there. Ingo opened the door for them and urged them in. Before entering, he fished out his Celestica flute and played on it.

“Now my partners know where we are,” he explained.

Inside, Rei helped Akari sit down and took place next to her. Ingo opened a chest and started rummaging through it.

Rei looked around the room. It was barely furnished, only the essentials found there: storage chests, a dresser for clothes, a workbench, a futon haphazardly left on the floor. The Pearl Clan insignia hung from the wall, and there were all kinds of little stuff laying around the place… There were several items that looked like they were used for training and entertaining pokémon; a wooden beam from which he just noticed Ingo’s Gliscor dozing on; failed attempts of making pokéballs around the bench, tools and wood for whittling; a small figure of a dragon-type Rei couldn’t recognize sat on the dresser. In its simplicity, it resembled his own quarters in Jubilife, yet it couldn’t be more different. It actually looked lived-in. It actually looked like Ingo made a life here.

Ingo stepped to the kids, a vial and some wrappings in hand.

“You can use this on the injuries. It should help with the pain and the swelling,” he explained as he handed them over. Rei took them with a quiet ‘thanks’, and with some embarrassment, helped Akari to lift her garments to treat the bruises.

Meanwhile, Ingo turned away, took off his torn coat, and laid it on the dresser neatly folded, putting his hat on top of it. He then quietly turned to the hearth to stoke the fire.

Rei occasionally peeked at the Warden while carefully applying the medicine on Akari’s injury.

“If you are perhaps hungry, I can prepare something quick,” Ingo said in an unsure voice, turning to them. Rei couldn’t help but notice how every time the man addressed them, he always looked at Akari, not him. If Rei did manage to catch his glance, Ingo quickly avoided the eye contact. This whole situation was… awkward, to say the least.

Akari hissed as Rei applied too much pressure on the wound. He quickly apologized, and tried to be more careful while wrapping it. Akari answered Ingo:

“Thank you, but we’re more tired than hungry, I think.” She looked at Rei, and he agreed. It had to be around two in the morning already, and with all the action they had to go through, he wanted nothing more than to conk out.

Ingo nodded and went on to prepare a second futon, laying it out next to the other one. He made sure both of them were neat for his guests to sleep on.

“I do apologize in advance for the amount of fur that may be on the sheets,” Ingo coughed with a little embarrassment in his voice, “I hope you’ll be able to rest well nonetheless.” With that, the Warden sat back at the hearth, poking the wood to catch more flames.

Rei stared at the futons for a moment with furrowed brows.

“Uh, where are you going to sleep, Warden?” he asked. “I mean, Akari and I are used to sharing the camp’s tent when we’re both out surveying. It’s… really not that a big deal.” he tried to sound reassuring. Akari snorted.

“Speak for yourself, I like it when you don’t punch me in your sleep,” she joked.

“That only happened once!” Rei snapped back.

“Three times.”

“Fine.”

Akari snickered, and turned back to Ingo, “He’s right though. You don’t need to sleep on the floor, Warden.”

Ingo just waved it off.

“Don’t worry about that. The comfort of my passengers takes priority over mine,” he answered without taking his eyes off the hearth.

There seemed no point in arguing, so they thanked him and prepared to sleep, although it took Akari some time to find a comfortable position with her aching side and shoulder. Nevertheless, she was fast asleep, judging by her slow breaths. Rei wasn’t that quick to doze off. Thoughts still racing, he stared at the man for a little while – the smoldering fire deepened his wrinkles, making him look so much older and tired than Rei had ever seen him. Slowly but steadily, he drifted off.

#pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #pla #pokemon rei #trainer rei #pokemon akari #trainer akari #pokemon ingo #warden ingo #pokemon laventon #professor laventon #sneasler #steelix #pokemon fanfiction #fanfic #my works #gonna start experimenting with making illustrated fics

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