Work Text:
Maybe you just can't do it.
Maybe it's impossible.
Maybe, no matter how good you are at fighting specifically, you just don't have a team capable of defeating the Elite Four. And when you can't even do that... how are you supposed to defeat Team Plasma's king? He has the power of a god, supposedly, and the one you're meant to summon has never said a thing.
You know The Zorua has issues with that. She's worried it's something to do with her species, even as The Pignite recites specific tales to refute it.
Well. You think that's how it went.
It's been a very long time since you listened in on that conversation. It was just a week ago, but a week can be an eternity sometimes. Especially when you're trapped in a luminous time loop! You don't really remember it that well.
It's never come up in your challenges, so you don't think you'll ever need to.
"Siffrin, what do you think?" The Togepi asks you. You hear this over and over again, and you know what the right answer is so well you don't know why you have to keep hearing it. "C'mon, you know you have to be the tiebreaker!"
Your claws curl. You'd be worried about hurting yourself if you weren't immune to your own toxins. The imprints on your skin aren't painless, but that just means you're feeling something that isn't guaranteed. The other option for that is the Pinaps in the bag, and your team notices when you do that.
You don't like hearing their reaction to why you eat them. So you don't do it a lot. "Figure it out yourselves."
...That's not the script.
The Zorua blinks at you. "Siffrin? Is something wrong?"
Her whole body's wrong.
...No it isn't. She's been like this the whole time you've known her. She's never looked like anything else, at least in her true form. She doesn't use it as often as- as somebody- but that's always what she reverts to, when she wants to rest or to play with a fluffy toy.
But it's still wrong. "I- I..."
You should have a script for this. You have a script for everything, you think, there's only so many situations that can come up in a day.
But this isn't one of them.
"'Frin..." The Togepi reaches forward.
You grab the bag and run.
...Well. This loop was a bust. But... you don't want it to end yet. You have the berries, you can go back at any time- and it has to be back, or they'll remember this and it'll all be wrong- you can afford to look somewhere else. Just to try and find something new.
You jump into the vent system and run until you find a room you've never seen before.
You fall into a playroom, and the newness of the environment strikes you at the same time you realize your head hurts. That's not something that usually happens.
...Oh. You tore your feather out. Good thing you're in a time loop, or that might be a serious problem!
It wouldn't really be too much of an issue if it were permanent. It signifies something you only half identified with even before this started, and you don't think it'd be that hard to shed it entirely. You've already lost your team's names, you may as well discard something a bit more personal to go with it. It's just that if you make that decision, you'll have to repeat it every loop, because it's something you'd have to tell them about.
Every time.
For the rest of eternity.
Space, you remember when you thought this would be over quickly. When you thought this was a gift. You learned better when-
You don't remember when. It just happened, at some point. You can't even tell if it was before or after you stopped counting your loops.
When you gave up on ever reaching this room for real.
Whatever it is.
You're underground, but the air doesn't smell stale. It's full of scents of those who have been by recently, human and Pokémon. Some of them you even recognize. Bisharp... Ferrothorn... Multiple Zoroark... Hydreigon.
If you somehow defeated Shauntal, these are the Pokémon you'd be expected to fight.
How could you possibly hope to win against something like that?
Maybe you're not. Maybe you're the prologue for some other group of Pokémon capable of using the truth to refute Plasma's ideal. Fallen mentors from plays and movies were the heroes of their own stories, after all.
Btu even that would require the loops to end.
You look down at the golden berry in your claw. This will fix the mess you made with your team.
It won't change that your team isn't good enough.
You bite in anyway-
There's a legend of a great power-
-wishing that someone, anyone-
-one that can give you anything you want-
-would appear with the power you need to end this.
-that can exist for only a week at a time.
All you get is deliciously spicy juice staining your fur. Clogging your airways in a way a Poison Type should never have to suffer. Don't really have to suffer if you're smart about it. It's only deadly if you eat the whole thing, and don't seek medical attention.
You shove the rest of it down your throat.
You don't wake up in the right place.
That's not the weirdest thing. You'd say you've evolved, except the only Pokémon you know that changes type completely on evolution is Eevee, and whatever you are, you were never one of those. Your muscles are gone, there's no poison rushing through your veins...
There's nothing but ice.
Is ice what you needed to win this? You aren't sure. Maybe you'll just see how it-
There's someone in your bed.
There's someone in your bed that looks just how you used to.
Space.
You turn and run, and that might have been the end of it if he didn't catch up.
You call them Pearl, because it's that or think about the mess you're in. It's a name you like, at least, even if you don't remember where you heard it from. And he's so enthusiastic about having unlimited chances to win this, his face is bright like a pearl, too.
You think you might have acted like him once. Or... been like him. Not an act. You've always been good at acting.
That's how you slipped into this new part so easily. "Advice? Hm... Don't eat Pinap berries."
"...What."
"You're allergic." You'd been wondering if you knew about that before the loops started. Apparently, you didn't. Probably. You do remember that you never really trusted your memory even before this.
You'd say it was funny if it was happening to literally anyone else.
Pearl crosses his arms. His claws don't even pierce fur. "How about something combat related?" You don't think they believe you.
Oh, well. They'll figure out you were telling the truth soon enough. Maybe even before they can decide they taste good.
Besides, what other advice do you have to give? That's for successful people.
There's a sudden tap on your shoulder, and just as suddenly, Pearl receives an Ice Shard to the face.
"Ack- I'm sorry I'm sorry I won't do it again!" You believe them. You could easily have hit his good eye.
You know what it feels like to have it gouged out by an accidental attack. "I'd hope so. It's a mistake most only make once!" Because Pearl's the only one who's made it, and it's only happened once, but details! "At least you can patch yourself up before your next challenge."
Or loop away entirely if it feels too difficult.
Given where you ended up, you... aren't sure how much you want to recommend that.
"...Oh." Their claw reaches up to their face. "The others are gonna see, aren't they?"
You never went to them injured. You have no idea how they'd react. Things are going dangerously off-script.
This isn't something you can rectify. "Why not see how they react? It's something new, after all?" He needs to learn to cherish the new, no matter how bad it is, because eventually, there won't be any of it left.
Even you can't constantly make it happen.
All you can do is stare at his footprints and think you could have done without this new thing.
Done without the wondering of what if it happened again.
It's not like that can happen, anyway. Pearl knows better. They can learn.
...Maybe new's a bit less finite than you thought.
That's what leads you here. "You know, Pearl, you don't have to do it all in a row. Why not skip ahead a bit?"
He stares at you. He does that a lot. "Skip ahead?"
"Yes, loop past the fights you've already won." You try to make a relevant gesture with your claws. It doesn't work. "Do you really have anything to gain by beating Grimsley over and over again?"
Satisfaction, maybe. You think that's a thing Fighting Types feel, when they win a tough fight. You just stopped feeling it even before you lost your Type.
"Um..."
"It means you only have to actually win once, and you've won forever!" And then you don't have to have these conversations. You don't have to stare into your face, at everything you used to have-
"So how do I-?" You don't entirely mean to shove them off the cliff. You think. And you don't really like the sound you hear when he hits the bottom, either.
But the body is gone, and the sun is further in the sky than it used to be. So they learned what you needed them to.
Their fur is still stuck between your claws.
The next time you see Pearl, neither of you talks about it.
Pearl gets caught in the same place you do. You aren't even surprised about it.
You know what you'd do if you'd had more than one day. If you'd had all the time in the world in a less metaphorical way. Just rope one Dark-Type into this, and everything would be... if not solved, potentially solvable. You think that's something that needs to change.
You think you might have wished for it once.
...You need to take a walk. The comet trail hasn't faded from the sky yet, you aren't sure it ever does, but you find yourself walking towards the Pokémon Center either way.
You see The Gothitelle sitting by the front, a book that must be from the Center's stocks on her lap, Pearl sitting at her side.
This is new, even for you. It's so new, you think you make a noise about it.
The Gothitelle's eyes fall to you. "I haven't seen you around here before." You should know her well enough to know what her tone means. But for some reason, the flickers of emotion you'd hear along with her voice just aren't present.
Even in your final loop as yourself, you'd always been able to hear that.
Pearl's eye widens. "Loop? What are you doing here?"
"You know this Weavile?" The Gothitelle asks, and your breath catches.
Weavile. It's not a name you've heard before, but it matches the words you say. It must be the name of your species.
...It's funny. You hadn't actually thought your new species had a name. "Yeah, Pearl and I go way back. Why don't you tell her about that time I-?" When you blasted him in the face with ice? When you shoved them off a cliff? What stories are there to tell that won't reveal you as a luminous idiot? As the most pathetic Pokémon in all of Unova?
There's really no good answer. Except The Gothitelle can read minds, as long as she doesn't think they'll collapse from the strain, and she knows better with Pearl, but you-
...You don't feel anything trying to probe your mind. Not even a tickle.
You aren't sure what excuse you make when you run away, but Pearl doesn't even get past Marshall this time, so it must not have been very convincing.
The next time you're sure they're gone, you slip into the Pokémon Center. You still don't know how to read Galarian beyond what's needed to navigate a PC interface and screenreader, but you know the website Pokémon Dot Com, and that's something.
You also don't know how the word 'Weavile' is spelled in Unown characters, but the Audino behind the counter is helpful enough about that.
The image that comes up looks just like you.
The little box where Types are meant to be announced has a slash denoting dual-typing. You're still dual type? You've only used Ice Type moves since your pseudo-evolution, you'd thought...
Weavile, the electronic voice announces, is an Ice/Dark Type Pokémon native to the Johto region-
Your claws sink into the keyboard. If you weren't in a time loop, this would be a very expensive mistake to make.
As it is, it's a convenient target for you to vent about your own idiocy.
Maybe you should have let Pearl make you look bad to The Gothitelle. It's not like she'd take away any conclusions that weren't true, anyway.
Dark Type. Just what you needed.
Just when you aren't in a position to do anything with that information. What will you do, tell Pearl about it? He'll think you're an idiot!
Not that he'd be wrong.
You sit in the ruins of the destroyed computer until you're back at the cliff again.