was a fine day, Guo Jun reflected, which made it that much crueler that it was the day he was to die on. That was more obvious to him now that he was lying face up in a slowly expanding puddle of his own blood than it had been earlier that morning, but who would truly expect treachery on such a beautiful day?
As an Elder of the Heavenly Arrangement Mountain within the City-State of Lixiang, or of any sect for that matter, a certain amount of violence and deceit were to be expected in your day to day life. One didn't reach the position Guo Jun had in life without wading deep into the murky waters of politics, and he himself was certainly no exception to that rule. Due to that, he always knew deep down that it would end like this; every cultivator did. To cultivate was to go against the natural order of things, to fight against the fate that befell every living creature, to take more than you were given by the Heavens. When you lived a life of thievery like that, it only made sense that you be prepared to have what little you had taken from you in turn.
And prepared Guo Jun was, every Nascent Soul cultivator worth the title had at least a dozen techniques for escaping a losing fight, himself included. Knowing when to retreat was a lesson every cultivator learned early in their lives, or that lesson became the end of their life. Unfortunately, techniques of the simple sort tended to flop when the majority of your meridians were destroyed and you had been bisected at the waist. Techniques that did work when you were in such a poor condition were usually dangerous, ill-advised, or dangerously ill-advised. Fortunately for him, he had one such technique, though it had yet to be seen if he would regret using it.
Regardless, he had no intention of dying here, not in truth. He wouldn't allow some third-rate upstart bankrolled by a noble clan to put an end to his Path. If Guo Jun had known back then what he did now about his dear apprentice's backers, he never would have taught the ungrateful brat the Dao of Formations. He couldn't die here, not after he'd fought and bled his way out of an outer city orphanage to eventually earn his place as one of the most respected cultivators in the region. A fate worse than death was a fate he was willing to risk if it meant the possibility of denying his enemies the satisfaction of his downfall.
With those final thoughts of spite towards the retreating back of his killer, Guo Jun directed what remained of his Qi into the formation he had painstakingly carved into his Core so many years ago. All of the carving in his previous realm was merely a prerequisite for activating the still-theoretical Nascent Soul-grade escape technique devised by his late master. Supposedly, if engraved into your Core at the end of the Core Formation realm, the formation itself left an imprint in the Nascent Soul that was later grown from said core. That much he had tested and found true, but the true test was whether or not the Nascent Reincarnation Technique could perform as promised.
With a spiral of churning Qi, the entirety of his lifetime of cultivation was torn apart into its component Qi and unceremoniously devoured by the technique; every last drop of the spiritual energy being used to fill the channels of his master's formation.
It was not enough.
Over forty years of arduous cultivation, dedicating every day to progressing along his Path and furthering his connection to the Heavens, and yet all of it put together barely amounted to a quarter of what was needed to properly execute the technique he had created at his master's side all those years ago..
He tried to laugh at his own misfortune and out bubbled little more than a bloody froth, further evidence of his imminent demise. Maybe it would end like this after all, with him cut down by the undeserving, his aspirations and dreams of greatness brought low with him. Would he be remembered? Would it matt-
His internal musings were interrupted as he noticed that, despite his insufficient cultivation base, the formation itself had not stopped demanding more. His consciousness, settled within his Nascent Soul, watched with detached horror as his body itself began caving in to be absorbed as fuel for the technique. And yet it still didn't stop, not even after all that remained of him was his desiccated husk, nor when it ran out of 'him' to consume. The pull that began in his body only grew as it began to pull in air and soil from his medicinal garden, the rate of consumption accelerating little by little as he looked on from within his soul; untouched as it was in the eye of the storm itself. From the size of a grain of rice, to the size of a pebble, to the size of a fist, on and on the whirlpool of Qi grew before it finally made contact with the soft loam beneath it.
Worry turned to spiteful glee for Guo Jun as the newly created singularity grew at a blistering speed now that it had an unlimited supply of material to break apart for Qi. The no doubt deafening phenomenon quickly grabbed the attention of his previous apprentice and current murderer, Yan Wu, the young man's eyes widening with fear at what must have appeared to be a final attack from yours truly. As far as revenge goes, watching his traitorous apprentice flee like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs from the rapidly growing whirlwind of Qi that Guo Jun had accidentally created was immensely satisfying.
'He's running, he's running, he's running, will he make it? Will he trip like a maiden in some cliche horror story? Will he esc- Oh no, into the pot he goes. I wonder if this counts as the fastest successful revenge?' Guo Jun mused to himself in mirth, watching as the pull from the swirling mass of spiritual energies that now encompassed his soul caught up with his unfilial disciple and tore him apart.
Just like that, with a final flash of light, the channels comprising the formation placed upon his soul were filled to completion and the technique itself finally activated.
Immediately the dimming of his dying Nascent Soul halted as the formation stabilized it, which seemed to provoke some unseeable force into an enraged frenzy that saw it batter away at his consciousness; his soul fraying at the edges while the formation creaked and groaned under the strain. Luckily, whatever aspect of the formation that was keeping his consciousness safe within his soul managed to hold up under the attack long enough for the rest of the formation to commence with subjugating him to the single most painful experience of his life.
With excruciating slowness, his Nascent Soul began to be compressed inwards on itself from every angle with crushing force, pausing every so often to allow his soul to recover from the pressure and not simply shatter. In a reversal of the process he witnessed earlier, his soul was forcibly shrunken from its normal head-like size all the way down to the size of a grain of sand before, with a loud crack and the distant rumbling of thunder, it was squeezed out of existence entirely.
Left in his wake was nothing but a perfectly smooth hemispherical pit where his spiritual abode once resided, shrouded by a column of aimless stormy clouds; the final mark he would ever leave on his homeworld.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ [TPPM] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Guo Jun's consciousness returned to him, bringing with it a pounding sensation in his head and a dry, metallic taste in his mouth. With his mind as unfocused and shaken as it was, it took him several minutes to gather himself and take in his surroundings. When he finally did, he could hardly believe what his senses were telling him.
A soft grassy meadow spread beneath him, interspersed with the occasional odd flower, that was bordered by a ring of trees on all sides which formed the entire expanse into a small clearing. The occasional autumn leaf was separated from the trees by the morning breeze, left to drift lazily around the clearing as the sun's rays poked through the dense foliage of the eastern row of trees. Above him, free from the encroachment of the forest, was the sky, as clear and as beautiful as he remembered it. The scene was breathtaking, idyllic even, and for a moment Guo Jun just allowed himself to rest and take it all in.
Every moment of relaxation brought further clarity to his mind, shaking loose his most recent memories, or rather what remained of them. With those recollections came panic, which shattered the tranquil atmosphere and sent him shooting up into a sitting position. Immediately he regretted that action when the pounding in his head returned with a vengeance and his vision swam.
'How, what happened?! How did I get here? Where am I in the first place!?' Guo Jun asked himself, his calm beginning to reassert itself as he went through his standard procedure for checking his physical condition. As soon as he tried to rotate his cultivation base his expression soured when he discovered that he did, in fact, not have a cultivation base to speak of. With that knowledge came pained understanding, as more of his recent memories returned to him.
'Of course you aren't a cultivator anymore, you damned fool, you've been reincarnated.' Guo Jun chastised himself, moving into a lotus position and attempting to meditate to obtain a clearer idea of the state of his new body. With practiced ease, he felt his mind retreat into his flesh as he inspected himself, thoroughly underwhelmed at what he found.
'At least I still have meridians,' Guo Jun thought to himself bitterly, 'I suppose I should be grateful that the Path wasn't barred from me entirely. It could always be worse, I could've ended up as an infant, entirely dependent on a set of twin peaks for survival.'
As much as he appreciated the female form, he would prefer not to have to suffer through having his continued existence rely on it. Not that his current body didn't have its own downsides, mind you, few individuals who have suffered through adolescence would wish to go back to being a teenager. He looked down at the small, pale hand held aloft in his lap by twig-thin arms and scoffed.
"Youths these days, do they not know the value of hard work?" He muttered to himself, wincing when the voice that emerged was a great deal higher in pitch than he was used to. Fantastic, this is exactly how an honored Nascent Soul cultivator should be spending his days. In the middle of an unknown forest trapped deep inside a young boy- wait no, that doesn't sound right at all, he should probably rephrase that.
'Agh! Get it together, you need to focus on the here and now. Speaking of here…' Guo Jun mused to himself, inspecting his surroundings for a hint of familiarity. To his surprise, as soon as he started questioning where he was specifically, another spike of pain ripped through his head and left him knowing his exact location. He was on an unnamed and unexplored island north of Route 134 in the Hoenn region.
Just great, that's exactly what he wanted. To have inexplicable knowledge of a location inside a region he had no recollection of, that wasn't foreboding at all! Guo Jun sighed to himself once more, taking the time to recenter his meditation and dive deeper into his body, passing his meridians and stretching the limitations of his damaged spiritual sense to look in on his soul.
What he found wasn't encouraging at all. His once-pristine Nascent Soul had been torn apart and looked like it had been pieced back together by a small child, the rips and tears were barely held together by what looked like the pulped remains of some poor mortal's soul. If he were a betting man, he'd put his spirit stones on that being the previous resident of his new body.
'Well at least that explains the knowledge, what was this boy doing on an uninhabited island anyways? He must have had very irresponsible guardians to allow him to explore the wilderness like this, what if he had encountered a demonic beast?' He questioned himself with no small amount of regret, while he was thankful for being alive he wished it hadn't come at such a cost. The boy hadn't deserved such a fate, and as far as Guo Jun was concerned it was likely that no one did.
In an attempt to distract himself from his morose thoughts and fully come to terms with his new form, he started to rifle through the belongings of the past owner. Fortunately, this search had much more promising results. Apart from the torn up clothes on his person, he had 5 red and white orbs on a belt of some kind at his waist, and a folded up piece of leather in a pocket on the right side of his pants. Partially hidden in the grass at his feet was another of those strange orbs, shattered into dozens of pieces and giving off the occasional spark of energy. A little ways off from the orb was a light green bag of some kind, perhaps a satchel, that had spilled most of its contents out onto the ground.
As soon as Guo Jun observed his new belongings, the boy's memories decided to painfully insert knowledge on the various objects of interest directly into his mind yet again. The orbs, that he now knew were called pokeballs, were a spiritual device designed to capture pokemon, which was decidedly unhelpful knowledge when he had no idea what a pokemon even was. The bag, which the boy remembered as a backpack, apparently only carried some rations and camping supplies, so Guo Jun temporarily skipped over it for his final find in hopes that it might provide some clarification. His final find, the folded leather, was something called a wallet, which served as the local equivalent of a coin purse. Opening it up, Guo Jun found a small sum of paper money and an identification talisman of some kind.
The very moment he slid the card out of an internal sleeve of the wallet, his eyes happened to pan across the unfamiliar lettering it was written in and he realized it wasn't so unfamiliar after all. Flashes of insight informed him that this was yet another skill gleaned from the experiences of the boy, which he assumed he must've gotten prior to regaining consciousness. Forcibly learning a new language all at once would certainly explain his lingering headache.
"Trainer ID Card? Was this boy a beast tamer of some sort? And his name, Basil Walton, a foreign name if I've ever heard one…" Guo Jun hummed to himself, quickly scanning the card to confirm that Basil was indeed from Hoenn; Slateport City in particular. The name alone gave him a vague sense of nostalgia that he knew wasn't his own, which only furthered his desire to find a suitable spot to cultivate and attempt to mend his soul. Such a task would not be easy, his cultivation base has been erased and all that remained were the innate capabilities of his refined soul.
His best option going forward was to begin cultivating as soon as possible. Every cultivator knew that having Qi present in the body allowed it to recover more easily from wounds of all kinds, but unbeknownst to most low-level cultivators those healing qualities extended to the soul as well. It was by no means fast and there were limitations, but it was better than nothing.
Once finished determining his immediate goals, Guo Jun moved over to inspect the backpack, noticing as he approached that the light green fabric was speckled with mostly dried blood. Worrying implications aside, the contents of the bag were as mundane as he had expected, if a bit tousled.
On a hunch, Guo Jun snagged a small hand mirror that he had found amongst several other hygiene items and gave his host body a onceover. At a glance it was easy to determine why Basil's belongings had been spattered with blood, seeing as a large gash-shaped chunk of his hair was conspicuously absent and what remained of his hair was thoroughly matted with blood.
He would have been concerned for his own health if not for the reassurance provided by his previous internal inspection of his body's condition and the freshly healed pink skin where the head wound should have been
'The boy was robbed? No, that doesn't add up, they wouldn't have left his money if it had been a robbery. Attacked, then, but why?' Guo Jun wondered to himself, certain that the young man hadn't been attacked by a wild beast. If he had been attacked by beasts, the body would have been in no condition for him to reincarnate into in the first place. That left people as the most likely perpetrator, and probably recently too as the body hadn't been picked at by scavengers.
Guo Jun stood up, now aware of the time limit on his stay in this little clearing, and began to swiftly pack everything he had found into his newly acquired backpack. The task didn't take very long, and he managed to stow everything away before the sun had risen above the treeline of the clearing; even throwing the shattered pokeball into the bag too for good measure.
With that taken care of, Guo Jun made to retrace the path young Basil took through the forest while keeping an eye out for any potential dangers. Fortunately, no dangers were found, yet finding his way backwards through the forest proved to be a difficult task when his only guide was the scrambled memories of a vaguely-remembered hike.
It was only around noon that day that he found anything worthy of note besides the omnipresent sounds of wildlife, a small tree bearing a number of blue berry-like fruits that abutted a nearby pond. With the berries being an unknown both to him and his inherited memories, and the pond murky and unsuitable for drinking, Guo Jun had been about to pass them by entirely when out of curiosity he had stepped up to the berries and brushed them with his meagre spiritual sense.
"A spiritual fruit tree? What a great find! These lands must be dense in Qi to produce a natural treasure in such an unassuming place." Guo Jun laughed in happiness, taking another sip of his water gourd that the inhabitants of Hoenn apparently knew to be a canteen. Eyeing the nearly empty container he had shamelessly stolen off his own corpse-turned-body, he had an idea as to how he could harvest these berries without endangering the wispy and gentle Qi he had sensed within them.
Quickly emptying the water vessel into his mouth, Guo Jun proceeded to pluck as many of the berries that appeared ripe as he could before stuffing them all into the now empty canteen. When he finished gathering and storing all of the berries his canteen could handle, Guo Jun took the remaining handful of ripened berries into his hand and carefully probed them with his spiritual sense.
As expected, the Qi comprising the fruit was mostly Wood Qi, and his worries that it might be dangerous to consume faded away. While spiritual plants containing such a typically gentle elemental Qi could indeed be dangerous, hazards like that were very rare and exhibited a certain intensity to their Qi that was detectable by those who knew to look for it.
Without further ado, Guo Jun popped the handful of berries into his mouth and returned to the lotus position beneath the small tree, resuming his cultivation for the first time in a new world.
AN: Whew, there it is, my first story posted... ever, so please don't destroy me too badly. I also understand that the idea is a little outlandish, but for some reason the similarities between a Cultivation setting and the Pokémon Universe just wouldn't stop whispering themselves into my ear.
Furthermore, I'd like to extend a thank you to a couple of discord friends for encouraging me to write this, you know who you are. I'd also like to thank d.rogers for listening to the idea in the first place and reading it through for corrections after the fact.
Hope you enjoy!
Index >>
Last edited: Sep 12, 2021
Sep 12, 2021Report
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Guo Jun had just enough time to settle into his meditation before the handful of unpleasantly sour berries made their way down into his stomach, shining like beacons to his spiritual sense. He didn't waste any time, calmly using his spiritual sense to envelop and permeate the ingested Qi sources. Little by little, he separated the faint wisps of Qi from the berries before adding them to the previously empty dantian located beneath his navel.
He sat there and focused on the task for hours, careful not to rush the process lest he lose hold of the Qi and harm himself. Regardless, he wasn't concerned about the Wood Qi being incompatible with his plans for cultivation; he had no intention of using what he gathered today for anything besides clearing his meridians of the waste Qi that his body's previous owner had accumulated. When clearing the meridians, it didn't matter what kind of Qi he used, just that he had it in abundance and was willing to lose it. That would change later on when he reached the Qi Gathering realm and needed to completely fill his dantian for Core Formation, but any type would suffice for now.
Guo Jun was glad that he had stumbled upon a natural treasure so quickly, otherwise gathering the necessary environmental Qi to break into the Meridian Cleansing realm through breathing exercises alone would have taken him months of tireless effort. While lots of cultivators loved to gloat about their dedication towards said breathing exercises, the simple truth of the matter was that there was only so much sitting still in one spot a person could take before it became a literal pain in the ass; that or they lost their mind.
A cultivator was almost always better off acquiring a large stockpile of cultivation resources before attempting any sort of serious breakthrough. Whether it be a leap into the next great realm or a comparatively minor hop into the next small realm, preparation was key. Otherwise, you would just be wasting your time, and time was the most precious resource of all; cultivator or no.
With that last wayward thought, Guo Jun managed to snag one final wisp of Qi from the now digested berries and unhurriedly added it to his dantian. What he had currently wasn't a very significant amount of Qi in the grand scheme of things, certainly not enough to open more than a single meridian, but it was enough to fill him with the warm satisfaction of progression that drove every cultivator to greater heights.
A quick break from his meditation to find a nearby creek and quench his thirst later—those berries made his mouth rather dry—had confirmed that he only had a few hours of daylight left. Tempting though it was to continue cultivating, there was no telling what beasts might lurk at night in this strange land. Better not to risk becoming a meal. With that in mind, Guo Jun turned his attention towards finding something that resembled shelter.
It was half an hour and several small cuts from plantlife later that Guo Jun had found what he believed to be a suitable spot to settle down in for the evening. While he would have preferred a nice empty cave like any respectable cultivator should, the hollow he had found among the roots of an old-growth tree would pair well with the spiritual fruit he had collected in his canteen. Together, they would allow him to set up a primitive formation to protect himself while he slept for the night.
To his delight, when investigating the alcove underneath the tree, he found an old abandoned beast nest filled with the discarded bones of fallen prey; the lot of which could be used as materials for his impromptu defensive formation. The moment he had spotted the bones, he had hurriedly swept them all into his pack and went looking for a couple of hefty stones that he could use to grind them into a fine powder.
Another hour later, Guo Jun could say that he truly understood the worth of a proper set of tools for the first time in his life. A task that should have taken a Formation Master such as himself no more than ten minutes ended up taking him a full hour, and the result still wasn't up to his standards. With an exasperated sigh, he entered his shelter for the night and got to work, taking out one of Basil's spare shirts and bundling it up into the rough shape of a bowl. That finished, he took out his canteen, which he would need to fill at the creek tomorrow, and carefully poured out all but another handful of the bumpy blue fruits he had collected earlier into the shirt-bowl. Lastly, he took out the final spare shirt the boy had in his pack, currently used to contain the bone powder, and mixed everything together inside the makeshift bowl. Preparations completed, Guo Jun poked his head out of the opening in the tree's roots and knew he had to hurry, since the sun was already beginning to set.
Guo Jun rolled up his sleeves and began mashing the berries with his bare hands, being mindful to combine the pulped spiritual fruit with the bone powder as evenly as possible so that he wouldn't lose any of the precious juice to the shirt-receptacle itself. Ideally, he would have had a proper bowl to mix everything in, but unless the Heavens took pity on him and one rained down from the sky, he would have to make do with what he had.
In no time at all, the final product began to take shape, and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it had formed into a thick paste like it was supposed to. Eager to begin constructing the formation, Guo Jun grabbed a relatively smooth stick that he had set aside earlier and began to painstakingly sketch his envisioned formation all across the interior of the root network, using the crude spiritual paste like a substitute ink.
If he hadn't been a Formation Master, and thus specialized in the Dao of Formations, he would never have had enough time to finish his defensive formation by the time night fell. As it stood, there was still worryingly little light left, and while he was confident that he would complete it before sunset, he could not afford to make any mistakes with so little time remaining. With that in mind, he made sure to take his time no matter how much he instinctively wanted to rush his work.
"I did it, it's done, thank the Heavens. All that staring was starting to make my eyes water. Now, let's see if Old Jun still has what it takes!" Guo Jun chuckled in relief, quickly double checking his work before shifting around inside the alcove to face the central node of the array.
"Now, if I did this right, the Wood Qi should connect with the tree and draw from its life force to sustain the formation. If I mucked it up... well, then I might cry, but that's for future Jun to worry about." He muttered to himself, more to fill the silence than anything else.
With no small amount of anticipation, Guo Jun took one of the untouched tent spikes from his pack and used it to prick his left thumb. Once a sufficiently sized droplet of blood formed, he focused on his internal well of Wood Qi and pushed a wisp of it through his body into it. With his meridians clogged as they were, the only way to use his Qi externally was by using his own blood as a medium, and even then it took the better part of a minute for him to figure out how to accomplish that. As soon as he sensed his Qi make its way into the prepared blood that had welled up on the tip of his thumb, he pressed the newly Qi-infused blood into the central node of the array and watched as the entire formation lit up with a green light.
Abruptly, the tree above him broke the silence with a racket of creaks and groans as the roots surrounding him twisted themselves into his desired shape. In a matter of seconds, what once would have been little more than wishful thinking in terms of keeping out any would-be predators, became a secure wooden fortress composed of thick, hearty roots. Even the break in the roots where Guo Jun had entered from earlier was completely sealed up, the only gaps in protection being those required to allow air to circulate through the subterranean room.
Guo Jun laughed with satisfaction, smiling at his work and carefully checking each node of the array to make sure that things were working properly. As far as formations went, it was the worst thing he had ever created. The lines connecting the different parts of the array weren't straight at all. The nodes were all so messy that it made his inner perfectionist wish he had just risked death by foolishly relying on his tent to protect him from any dangers. The crappy spiritual ink he had used as a medium was so flimsy that he would be lucky if the thing held itself together for more than a couple of days, and the numerous Qi related inefficiencies throughout the entire formation guaranteed that the spiritual construct leaked Wood Qi like a sieve. In fact, the only positive thing he could say about the formation whatsoever was that the connection between it and the tree worked perfectly. And yet despite all of its faults, he was proud of it. He loved this shitty formation.
'Now that that's over with, let's move onto the next item on the list.' Guo Jun thought, returning to the familiar lotus position and pulling out his canteen containing the final handful of spiritual fruit. Before resting for the night, he was determined to clear his first meridian and formally return to the Meridian Cleansing realm, as only then would he be able to passively gather natural Qi into his dantian on his own. Until he'd completed that, and formally became a cultivator, any Qi he used for anything besides deepening his cultivation was effectively lost to him forever. Even acknowledging that, he still considered setting up the formation to be in his best interests, the past owner of his current body had already confirmed that there were dangers on this island capable of killing him as he was now.
With a scrunched up face, Guo Jun tossed that last handful of berries into his mouth and swallowed them; doing his best to chew them as little as possible so as to limit his exposure to their intense sour flavor. He supposed that spiritual plants had to make themselves unappealing to eat somehow, otherwise they'd never get the chance to grow in the wild. That would help explain why every spiritual plant he'd ever consumed had tasted like it was actively hostile to mouths everywhere.
Cutting off his rampant thoughts, Guo Jun allowed himself to drift into meditation once more. This time, he fully intended on using up the Qi of the fruit immediately, and didn't bother shifting it into his dantian at all; instead sending each collected wisp of Wood Qi right into his Lung Meridian. Although each pulse of Wood Qi he sent through said meridian only managed to clear a tiny fraction of the energy channel, he knew that if he devoted enough time and Qi, it would eventually manage to push through all of the blockages.
As for why the Lung Meridian was the first he had intended to open, that was because it ran through the most important organ to a beginner cultivator; the lungs. All twelve primary meridians functioned as a major energy channel that carried Qi from the dantian to different parts of the body, passing through a region of the body that was spiritually significant on its way through, and ending at an extremity; through which Qi could most easily leave the body. Three of the primary meridians ended in each hand and foot, but more important than that was what part of the body each specific meridian ran through, as each opened pathway would enhance one bodily process in particular. The Lung Meridian specifically was prized for its ability to greatly enhance the efficiency of a cultivator's breathing exercise, making it the logical first choice for any new cultivator that wasn't either insane or practicing some special technique that had unique requirements.
After a solid hour of cultivation, Guo Jun was forced to come to terms with the fact that his attempt at preserving the dissipating Qi of the spiritual berries was less effective than he had hoped. Already, the sources of Qi had run dry, and he had only gotten a third of what he had managed to gather from the first handful of berries that he had consumed. He wouldn't complain much though, since it had been enough Wood Qi to clear half of his first meridian. If he pushed for it, he should be able to clear the final half within the next hour and finally get some re-
A distant howl cut through the standard sounds of the forest that he had become accustomed to before it was quickly joined by several answering howls, snapping him right out of his meditation.
'Demonic wolves of some sort? There was a little bit of Qi in that howl…' Guo Jun mused to himself, worried about the implications of demonic beasts being out on the hunt tonight. Would they be able to track him down? Damn it, he knew he should've washed all the blood off, but there had been so little time!
Whatever the case, him breaking through to the Meridian Cleansing realm just became a matter of the utmost importance. While he trusted his formation to keep him safe from most threats, a pack of demon beasts would strain it significantly, and being able to reinforce it with his own Qi could be crucial to making it through the night.
With his path decided by fate, Guo Jun slipped back into his meditative trance and began using the Wood Qi he'd stored in his dantian to resume cleansing his first meridian. To further expedite the process, he had even dedicated the entirety of his damaged soul's sensing capability towards searching for the path of least resistance through the blockages. It didn't speed up the process by much, but every bit of saved time added up in the end.
He was barely cognizant by the time the last of the spiritual gunk clogging his first meridian was washed away by the increasingly pitiful amount of Wood Qi left in his dantian, so much so that he had forgotten the most wonderful part about opening this meridian in particular. Without warning an awful cough began in his lungs, forcing him to lean over and heave into the dirt beneath him as he spewed a greasy black liquid from his mouth into the corner of his humble abode.
"I had almost forgotten how unpleasant that was, and I very much didn't enjoy it more the second time around. At least the old man isn't around to laugh at me this time." Guo Jun mumbled to himself, momentarily overcome with nostalgia at the thought of his late master. Maybe it would be worth a repeat after all it meant being able to see the old bastard again.
With a wistful sigh, and a brief confirmation from his spiritual sense that he was in the clear for now, Guo Jun curled up among the roots of the tree and swiftly fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ [TPPM] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When next Guo Jun awoke, it was to the sound of snapping branches and the snuffling of wild beasts; accompanied by the occasional chittering inhuman laugh that sent chills shooting down his spine. Careful not to make any noise, he maneuvered towards one of the gaps in his shelter so that he could get a visual on what manner of creature had tracked him down, noticing as he did the moonlight that was streaming into his temporary shelter. It seemed he wouldn't be making it through the night without a fight after all.
Putting an eye up to the gap and looking outward, his worst fears were confirmed. Those demonic wolves he had heard earlier were here, pacing outside of his makeshift shelter and sniffing along the ground as they tried to uncover his location. A quick count of the ones he could see confirmed what he already knew, there were dozens of them out there. While most appeared to be no larger than the average dog, there were several waiting cautiously by the treeline that were over a meter tall and he figured to be roughly 3 times the size of their lesser kin.
Spoiler: The Pack
As he waited and observed, one of the larger beasts stepped into the scant light cast by the moon, and he was able to compare them to the smaller demonic wolves for the first time. All of the beasts were clearly related, considering that each of the canines had black and gray fur with disturbing red eyes bordered by yellow sclerae. The only visible difference between them besides their individual fur patterns was their size and the oversized ears the larger specimens seemed to have. In fact, the little wolves looked more like oversized pups than anything else.
Just as he began attempting to make heads or tails of the strange laughter the beasts seemed to use to communicate, his head flared with pain once again, forcing a cry of agony from him as he was bombarded with memories of what these creatures were. He steadied himself against the roots of the tree and focused on sifting through the new information as best he could, unwilling to let it overwhelm him during such a critical moment.
They were pokemon, with the smaller ones being called poochyena and the larger variant being called mightyena, and he knew that in the wild they preferred to track down and hunt wounded animals that got separated from their pack; which was most likely why they were bothering him now. And now, thanks to his outburst, they knew exactly where he was.
In eerie synchronization, the entire beast pack turned from their scattered search of the area around the tree to look directly at his hiding place within it, going from relatively raucous to silent in an instant. After a brief moment of fearful quiet, the haunting laughter returned all at once, now joined by barking and growling as the pack prowled closer to encircle his location.
'Of all the times for that brat's memories to barge their way into my head, why did it have to be now!?' Guo Jun complained mentally, stepping away from the walls of his shelter and towards the central node of the formation array once more. It seemed he would be testing the defenses out tonight after all.
Bringing his left hand up and pressing it against the node, Guo Jun began sending his Qi through his recently opened Lung Meridian and out into the formation itself. As soon as he established a connection to it with his Qi, the entire array lit up again with a dim green light, which would have ruined any chance at hiding if that had been an option in the first place. Through the corner of his eye, he noticed that one of the beams of moonlight shining through the gaps he'd left behind in the roots went dark and turned to face it. Peering in from outside his hidey hole was one of the red and yellow eyes he'd spotted on the beasts earlier, and his heart sank as the beast's eye narrowed at him before retreating from sight.
From outside his shelter another of the Qi-filled howls he'd heard earlier in the night called out again and a heavy thud shook the entire tree, making the formation flicker to life. Guo Jun barely had a few seconds to process the sound before several more thuds began to impact the roots around him, each one reverberating in the enclosed space of his hideout.
"Oh fine you mutts, I didn't want to do this, but you've forced my hand! Time for you to learn why it's a very bad idea to fuck with a Formation Master's home!" Guo Jun roared out at the beasts, no longer having the patience to sit by and wait for the pack of pokemon to break their way inside. Spreading his spiritual sense as far as he could—regardless of the strain that would put on his soul—he pinpointed the current location of each of the beasts attacking him. With a force of will and a flourish of Qi, he activated the secondary function of his improvised formation and took control of some of the surrounding roots that hadn't been used in the construction of his shelter, before sending one of said roots sweeping towards a group of his attackers.
Of the three beasts he'd targeted with his attack, only the mightyena managed to notice the coming danger in time and leap free of the attack, both poochyena being too caught up in the thrill of the hunt to pay attention to their surroundings. With a whoosh of displaced air and an echoing crack, both of the dog-sized pokemon were lashed with the wooden tendril and sent tumbling away from the tree with matching lacerations, yelping in unison.
"Hah, take that! Not so fun anymore, is it?" Guo Jun cheered from within the safety of his leafy fortress, having sensed the result of his attack through his spiritual sense. Unfortunately, his attack only seemed to push the entirety of the pack into a frenzy that caused them to swarm the roots of the ancient tree. One by one the wild pokemon either reinforced their bodies with Qi and slammed straight into the tree itself, or gathered a dark, hungry feeling Qi into their teeth and sank them into the writhing roots controlled by his formation.
Guo Jun winced when he saw that the dark Qi the more experienced beasts had used was beginning to eat into the life force of the tree, the roots themselves visibly withered around each of the bite marks. This wasn't good at all, it appeared that these pokemon had an innate kind of Qi they were able to use, much like those demonic beasts that happened to have an illustrious bloodline.
With another groan of the tree around him, Guo Jun sent the half dozen roots he was capable of manipulating whipping out towards the attacking beasts, a grin spreading across his face as he watched the few poochyena, who made the poor choice of holding onto the roots after biting them, being flung away into the woods.
His victory felt short lived when the snarling and gnashing of teeth from the remaining pokemon redoubled, returning to recklessly throwing themselves against his defenses. Surely they knew by now that they were not going to be able to make a meal out of him without significant injuries, so why would they stick around? He couldn't understand it, it didn't make sense to him no matter how much he rolled the possibilities around in his head.
As though the world could hear his thoughts, a bellowing roar spilled out from deeper in the treeline, bringing with it a veritable tidal wave of Qi that smashed against his formation before being deflected away. The pokemon attacking his shelter retreated from the tree in unison, returning back behind the treeline as the largest mightyena he had seen yet stepped out into view.
"They had their leader hiding in the forest? Just how intelligent are these 'pokemon'?" Guo Jun muttered to himself, watching as what must have been the leader of the pack eyed his hiding place with interest.
The moment of reprieve didn't last for very long, the comparatively titanic mightyena surprising him by tearing through the distance between it and the tree at a loping sprint. As it ran it reinforced its body in a manner identical to the way the other dog-like pokemon had before, with the notable exception of the foggy white Qi that leaked out of its body as it built up speed. Guo Jun only had enough time for a muffled curse before the beast made impact with the tree, hitting it with such great force that several layers of tree roots were blown to smithereens, wood chips and splinters spraying into the air.
The force of the blow itself was enough to throw him from the central node of the array and slam him against the far wall of his alcove, even disrupting his spiritual sense for the few moments it took his mind to catch up with his injuries. The second he managed to spread his spiritual sense out again he became aware of how poorly the tree was doing, the ancient plant looking like it was on its very last legs. It most likely would have been outright uprooted if not for his formation reinforcing it with Qi, but even with that support there was no way it could take even one more hit like that.
With the tree intact for now, Guo Jun shifted his focus back to the lead mightyena, pausing when he realized that the beast was carefully inspecting the damage it had inflicted on the tree. It paced back and forth for a little while, presumably looking for breaches in the roots, before seeming to give up and trot back towards the treeline. The whole time, Guo Jun couldn't help but notice that whatever attacking technique the mightyena had used to produce such a devastating attack had taken a toll on the beast, giving it a slight limp if his eyes weren't deceiving him. He had a feeling that it wasn't meant to be used against such a sturdy target like that.
As if the beast could sense his gaze, it paused in its movement, tilting its head back in his direction to shoot him one final measuring glance, before it called out to its pack with that awful laughing bark and trotted away into the woods. Within minutes the sounds of the pack faded away into the woods entirely, retreating as swiftly as they had shown up. He could hardly believe it.
"That's right, run away, and don't come back! Try again and see what happens!" Guo Jun shouted after them, before letting out a groan of frustration when his adrenaline started to wear off, his body reminding him of the bruising he'd taken from the wall earlier. Thoroughly done with all the nonsense this forest had put him through, he slid down the root wall behind him and collapsed into a seated position. What a night, he could really use some rest right about n-
As if the Heavens themselves were mocking him, the sun chose that exact moment to peek out from above the eastern treeline, the warmth of dawn greeting his spiritual sense.
AN: Welp, here's the second chapter. This was a massive pain to edit, so I hope I did a good job. Bonus points to those who manage to guess what moves the various 'beasts' were using or which kind of berry it was that Guo Jun ate. Oh, and I know that poochyena and mightyena don't typically live in forests, there is a reason they are here.
As always, I'd like to extend a thanks to everyone who helped me read through this chapter ahead of time. Enjoy.
P.S. The art of the mightyena pack isn't mine, I just happened to stumble upon it and realize it fit that scene perfectly.
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Last edited: Sep 14, 2021
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Threadmarks: Chapter Three
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EhbonKnow what you're doing yet?
Guo Jun ran his fingers through his hair, washing away the days-old clotted blood as he bathed in the creek. After losing the argument with himself on whether or not he should sleep through the morning—which wasn't a tough decision to make, given that the pool of filth he'd left in the tree after cleansing his meridian was starting to attract flies—he'd packed his things and gone straight to the creek to take care of his basic needs for the day. Ultimately, he would have much preferred not to have to bathe in what was likely to be a watering hole for all the pokemon in the area, but he hoped that going there early would dodge that problem.
After that, he would be returning to the mainland somehow. He had to, if last night was indicative of the levels of danger he'd have to face on the island. Since the battle against the mightyena pack he'd been feeding the passive amount of Qi absorbed by his new meridian to his strained soul, and in doing so had discovered that the tears in it were slowly being repaired. With those repairs, though, came more and more flashes of Basil's memories. Through them, he'd been able to slowly piece together the last few days the young man had spent on the island, and even had a fairly good idea of a couple ways he could make it back to the mainland. As terrifying as it was to have his immortal soul permanently fused with the boy's as it slowly devoured it bit by bit, the benefits were undeniable.
He'd already learned about how Basil died, and while he didn't deserve what happened to his soul, Guo Jun couldn't help but consider it the boy's own fault. This island, while unnamed, was not exactly unknown. In fact, it was very well known… as a protected pokemon preserve. Young Basil had come here not by accident, or anything of the sort. No, he'd come intentionally to try and get his hands on a better 'starter pokemon'.
Apparently, growing up in Slateport City, you ended up hearing a lot of hearsay from the sailors who made trips between the many port cities of the region. Basil himself had caught wind of a dragon-type sighting off the coast of one of the region's pokemon preserves. Fresh off of receiving an underwhelming starter from the local Nurse Joy—after just barely passing the trainer license exam on his third attempt, at that—he'd let his frustration lead him towards making an attempt on the rare and protected pokemon. Guo Jun respected the boy for his audacity if nothing else, he certainly had the spirit of a cultivator. Perhaps it was only fitting that his body became possessed by such a spirit after his untimely passing.
From there, Basil had made the remarkably poor decision to sell his starter, some aquatic pokemon called a goldeen, and used the money to hire a shady local fisherman to take him to the island discreetly. Once he'd made landfall, and made a deal with the fisherman to return for him in a few days, he'd enacted his plan.
Accordingly, the boy had covered himself with some manner of pokemon repellant and gone around the island inspecting it for common signs of these supposed 'dragon-type' pokemon. Eventually, he'd discovered a few traces of gouging at the bottom of trees, a well known habit of the dragon-type pokemon Axew. Apparently, the little herbivorous, forest-dwelling dragon liked to do this to mark their territory.
Guo Jun had his doubts about whether or not the dragons he grew up hearing tales about had anything in common with dragon-type pokemon, but it was possible. Especially if he took into account the awe the inhabitants of this land seemed to view them with.
Using the newly discovered information, Basil had created a simple trap within the bounds of the small forest clearing that Guo Jun had awoken in.
To lure the beast, the boy had rubbed the juice of a berry the pokemon was known to eat into the trunks of the trees that circled the area, even putting a small pile of the berries in the middle of the clearing that he'd laced with a common pokemon sedative he purchased in Slateport.
And his plan had surprisingly worked, drawing the little dragon to the clearing in search of food and putting it to sleep with such ease that Guo Jun was embarrassed that any creature that foolish could be considered a dragon.
Unfortunately, what the boy hadn't planned for was the axew being startled awake after being smacked in the face with a pokeball. Due to that, the pokemon had broken out of the device almost instantaneously, coming out with a panicked cry as it stumbled drowsily through the clearing. That cry had been what doomed him, because unbeknownst to the boy, the territory he had been trespassing in was not claimed by the axew alone, but by others of its kind. Specifically, the fully grown form of an axew called a Haxorus.
Where the mightyena pack had taught him that pokemon could be dangerous to his current self—the beasts would have made a meal of him had they known how close the formation was to collapsing—the vague flashes of recollection regarding the haxorus told him that pokemon could be dangerous to even an accomplished cultivator. The moment it stepped into the clearing and saw the younger member of its species among the shattered remains of a pokeball, it was over for Basil. Even as spotty as the memory he'd received from the boy was, Guo Jun could not remember a single time in his entire life he'd sensed such rage as what Basil had witnessed from that pokemon, and cultivators were certainly not shy towards danger. The killing intent alone could've made even him flinch.
The dragon-type had taken one furious look at Basil, made a rumbling sound deep in its chest, and swiped a claw through the air in his direction. A searing white crescent was branded into existence in midair where the talon had passed through, before the newly formed attack raced in the boy's direction. Basil had tried to dodge, but only just managed to start to duck when the arc of light clipped him on the head and his memories ended with a split second of searing agony. A reactionary swipe from over a dozen yards away had killed him near instantly, without him even having had a chance to react.
All of that from what was considered by the peoples of this world to be one of the least temperamental dragons.
Suffice to say, Guo Jun had been a lot more careful since he'd received that flash of memory, making sure to check the bottom of every tree for the little marks that Basil had followed. He had no intention of entering the territory of those pokemon as he was now, not willing to entrust his safety to the goodwill of such a powerful creature. Especially not right after the last resident of his body had tried to capture their young. Approaching them right now would just be suicide with added flair.
Several minutes of frantic scrubbing in the blessedly warm water later, he'd almost finished with his river bath when he was interrupted by something soft landing atop his head.
"Swaaaaablu! Swa, swablu!" Guo Jun stood perfectly still upon hearing the strange sounds the creature that had landed on him was making, determining whether or not he should preemptively attack, which only made the creature beginning to beat on him frantically with it's pillowy body all the more insulting.
"Get off of me, you pest!" With a shout of frustration, Guo Jun startled the beast off of his head and onto his right shoulder, which let him get a good look at what had made a mess of his hair.
"Pfffthahahaha," Guo Jun couldn't contain his laughter, "you have to be the most ridiculous looking bird I've ever seen! What are you, a goji berry with wings?"
"Swablu! Bluuuu!" The bizarre pokemon repeated, this time with a note of frustration, flapping its cloud-like wings and tugging him towards the shore with the tiny talons at the end of its rotund little body. To his shock, the strength of the creature was nearly enough to unbalance him, making him stumble and almost sending him face first into the water. Regaining his balance, he tried to shoo the amusing creature away once more, having more pressing matters to deal with.
Seeming increasingly agitated, the little bird dropped the parody of language altogether and began making a series of high-pitched musical cries as it pointed past him up the creek with its downy feathered wings. Curious, Guo Jun looked where the bird was pointing, noticing that there were several yellow dorsal fins sticking out of the water that were rapidly approaching.
"Well, that can't be good..." Not intent on meeting whatever creature those belonged to, Guo Jun turned and ran for the shore he came from, passing the bloody clothes he had left on some river rocks to soak, and redirected his internal flow of Qi away from his soul and back towards his muscles. The boost to his physique made the difference, allowing him to pick up enough speed to reach the shore before whatever predator those fins belonged to could reach him.
Feeling relieved, Guo Jun turned around and noticed that his little passenger that had warned him of the oncoming danger had not been so lucky, having been sent tumbling through the air by his abrupt movement towards the shore. It had only managed to get a little over half of the way back, and the fins were nearly upon it.
With only a split second to act, Guo Jun snagged a smooth river stone from the shore, directing his Qi in a whipping motion through his left arm and into the stone as he hurled it with all his might; aiming just behind his little blue friend.
Radiating a soft pearlescent glow, the stone cut through the air past the pokemon he'd decided to save—which caused the little guy to let out a startled cry—and struck the gaping, toothy maw that had leapt out of the water towards the bird. With a sharp crack, the stone exploded against the skull of what his recently absorbed memories told him was a Carvanha, sending it spinning backwards into the creek as it bled from the forehead.
Guo Jun let out a breath of relief as the bird pokemon that had chosen to rescue him from the school of carvanha made it to him and plopped right back down on his head, the both of them watching in horror and disgust as the half dozen remaining carvanha ripped into their wounded brethren without hesitation.
Only a single smaller carvanha chose not to partake in the violence, instead grabbing Basil's bloody clothing and pulling them into the water; which it then proceeded to tear apart as well. The clothing-related violence served to remind him of his current nudity, which he quickly remedied with a pair of shorts and the shirt he'd used to carry his bone powder yesterday. It was a bit dusty, but much better than using the one encrusted with berry paste.
"Well, I suppose that answers the question of how they found me." Guo Jun mused aloud, hesitantly casting out his spiritual sense to get a feel for the aggressive pokemon. He'd strained his spiritual sense last night, but a day of healing his soul with Qi had done enough to the point he felt it was acceptable to use it sparingly.
As close as he was, it wasn't difficult for him to sense the different types of Qi present in both his new companion and the carnivorous fish. Both types of Qi in his companion were known to him, but the same could not be said about that which was present in the carvanha. Luckily, though, Basil's memories supplied him with what they were called in this world, this time without the expected pain.
'Water and Dark type energy, huh?' He pondered, recognizing the first as Water Qi, but completely unfamiliar with the second. It even felt unnatural, as though it actively opposed existence itself. The closest thing he could compare it to would be Yin Qi, but even that wasn't quite right, because while that did embody the darker parts of existence it was still firmly a part of the natural world.
Oh well, he would concern himself with that later, for now he had a friend to make.
With an amused huff, he reached up to the pokemon making a nest out of his head and snatched it up. Bringing it around to face him at eye level, its plump body and dopey expression bringing a smile to his face as the bird let him hold it without a care in the world.
"Hello there little one, I appreciate the assistance. I'd also like to apologize for how I've treated you, it has been a... trying couple of days and I may have taken some of that anger out on you." Guo Jun said, surprised when the little bird nodded its head—or was that it's entire body?—to him in understanding and gave a happy chirp.
Right as he made to ask the little bird about where it had come from, the question answered itself in the form of a large flock of its kind passing overhead, headed by a much larger pokemon that seemed familiar. Thinking back on his recently parsed memories, he recognized it as an Altaria, one of the pokemon that the boy had read up on when he was making his trip to the island. It was a dragon-type as well, though not as strongly attuned to dragon-type energies as the axew line was.
In an act of betrayal that had him cursing internally, the little cotton ball suspended by his hands twisted towards its flock and let out another of its warbling, musical cries. Up above, the altaria twisted it's head around to see what was going on and narrowed its eyes at the still churning waters of the river where the school of carvanha were fighting.
With a shift of its wings the aerial predator dived towards the water before leveling itself out, sweeping the river with a swath of bluish-purple fire from its beak as the bird flew past. The creek, and thus the carvanha, never stood a chance as the entire thing erupted into steam; the air around it shimmering from the heat.
With that casual act of brutality over, the creature gracefully swooped down from the sky and planted itself directly in front of him on the shoreline, well within his personal space and not at all shy about it.
And then it just sat there, menacingly.
Luckily, another chirp saved his life as the smaller bird he had saved earlier flew from his grasp to the altaria and slammed into it with a full-body hug, using its wings as if they were arms to wrap around the older pokemon. From there the little guy took its sweet time clumsily scaling the altaria to sit on its shoulder, where it began to have a warbling conversation with it that Guo Jun couldn't even begin to comprehend.
Somehow, though, the altaria did seem to be garnering something from the chorus of chirps, and Guo Jun wasn't dumb enough to interrupt the discussion while its offspring was hopefully clearing his name. Eventually, whatever the bird seemed to be saying to its guardian appeared to calm it down, and it tilted it's head at him instead as it regarded him with curiosity.
"Hello there, nice to meet you and your… child? I was merely thanking them for saving me from the carvanha!" Guo Jun began, carefully measuring the pokemon's expression before he continued. "If you wouldn't mind, do you think you could help me return to Slateport City? If it wouldn't be too much trouble, that is."
He'd have rather not made a request of the creature right after it had been angry with him, but he didn't know how long the flock would stick around and this could be his ticket back to the mainland. What young Basil had failed to realize, that Guo Jun knew all too well, was that the fisherman who had agreed to return for him had no intention of doing so whatsoever. A man of such suspicious character would be unlikely to return for him for free if it were merely a matter of time, but with all the added danger of being caught? Never.
He needed a way off the island, and his options—as far as Basil knew—were to either find a flying pokemon or try and signal for help. The latter option would likely work, but considering he was on this island illegally, it might cause some troubles later on.
"Altaria?" The bird questioned him unintelligibly in its surprisingly cutesy voice, making him question his own hearing.
"Did- Did you just say your own name? Is that the only way you can communicate with humans?" Guo Jun was stunned, turning towards the blue sphere that saved him earlier with a question. "Does that mean you're called a Swablu?"
Already, Guo Jun could feel more of the fog over Basil's memories clearing, letting him know that his guess about that pre-evolved form of altaria was correct, the boy just hadn't focused on studying it as much as he had altaria. That also came with the knowledge that those poor, poor pokemon could only communicate using the name of their kind, which made him pity them immensely.
The now identified swablu gave him a cheery cry of what he now knew to be its name, before turning back to the larger pokemon and continuing to warble at it pleadingly. Guo Jun figured that the both of them had at least understood his question, the pokemon he'd seen so far certainly seemed smart enough for that much. Or so he hoped.
After a while of waiting for the argument between the two to finish while the rest of the flock cleaned themselves in the now fog-covered river, the altaria finally let out a melodious noise that felt like exasperation before it marched over to him and motioned for him to climb on with its beak.
Ohhh, this was going to be fun, he'd always enjoyed traveling by spirit beast.
Guo Jun grabbed his pack, making sure it and everything in it were firmly secured to his person, then carefully crawled atop the beast. He couldn't believe how comfortable of a seat its wings made, it felt like he was on a pillow made for an emperor.
Before taking off, the altaria took the time to organize the rest of its flock as the swablu he'd befriended earlier settled into Guo Jun's lap. Once everything was settled, it looked back and gave them both a warning chirp, before it leapt into the air and they were off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ [TPPM] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Elaine was waiting in the room provided to her by the League, bored out of her mind, when the alarms sounded.
As a newly-promoted Ace Trainer she was provided with a greater number of choices regarding League jobs, and her personal preference for cash over the past few months had been outpost detail. Specifically, the job entailed providing additional security to the Ranger outposts settled near the various pokemon preserves of Hoenn; a policy that the local League officials hoped would curb pokemon poaching across the region.
Whether or not that worked at all, she didn't know, but what she did know was that she had almost never been called on to respond to an actual security issue. It was rare that the sensors picked up anything more than the occasional pokemon flying too far afield, and for issues like that a couple of rangers were more than enough as a response.
For the alarms to sound, it either meant that a large group of pokemon were attempting to migrate from the island, or that something of significant size was approaching the island.
Regardless, it was her time to shine, so she threw on her favorite jacket and rushed out the door towards the sensor room. Passing through a couple hallways, she was there in record time, nearly breaking the door off its hinges in her excitement.
"What is it? Is it a poacher? Somebody, fill me in!" She asked, huffing and puffing in the doorway, before moving her forest green hair over her shoulder so that it stopped blocking her vision.
The younger ranger manning the sensors was the first to answer her, looking as stressed as she felt. "W-We aren't sure, we picked up a couple dozen readings leaving the island by air through all the sea clutter. We think it might be a migration event! We've already sent word back to the League, but it could be up to an hour before we get a response."
Fortunately, the other ranger assigned to this outpost was significantly more experienced than his rookie companion, already glaring out from under his graying hair as he readied his capture styler off to the side. "Ace Trainer Elaine, we are requesting your assistance in accordance with the details listed in your contract for the purpose of dealing with this issue. Are you in possession of a suitable flying pokemon?"
"Yup, I've got Nanab- uh, I mean a Tropius as my starter… sir." She began to answer, before registering his intensifying glare and shifting her words to be more formal halfway through.
"Good, let them out of their ball, we'll be heading out immediately. I hope for both of our sakes that your pokemon is familiar with battling while carrying passengers." He responded, glare lightening to a mere scowl as she fumbled with her pokeball belt.
"Don't worry, he's great! I promise!" She assured the grumpy old man, letting out Nanab who gave them all a dramatic cry the instant he was free. She regretted teaching him that for tournaments more by the day, but at least the big guy knew how to make an entrance.
Without even waiting for her approval, her supervisor hopped onto Nanab's back and signaled for her to follow, before turning towards the younger ranger and giving him orders for manning the station while they were gone.
"Alright big guy, we're trying to find a flock of pokemon leaving the island. Don't go too fast and be on the lookout for any surprise attacks!" She told her oldest pokemon, climbing aboard his back and steeling herself for what she hoped would be an awesome aerial battle. Those were always the best part of the job.
AN: There ya go, chapter three loaded and fired. Hope you liked the kinda-conclusion to the island arc, things are about to heat up significantly. I'll let you try and guess the moves used in this chapter as well, and see how close you all can get. This chapter might also get edited again a little bit later, depending on a couple things, but it shouldn't matter all that much to the readers.
Oh, and as always, thanks to everyone that read through it pre-post. Looking at you, d.rogers.
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Last edited: Sep 25, 2021
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Threadmarks: Chapter Four
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EhbonKnow what you're doing yet?
For the first time since he could remember, Guo Jun took the opportunity to simply relax as they sailed through the sky; the swablu napping in his lap granting him a rare moment of peace. He wasn't sure when it had happened, but he'd started spending less and less time appreciating the little things in life.
No, perhaps that wasn't entirely true. He had a good idea of when it began, of when his life turned into a list of chores instead of something he was passionate about.
It was when the old man died.
As a boy, younger than even Basil, he'd been bitter about his place in life. He couldn't understand why he was born a nobody, fighting for scraps—that those of a higher station wouldn't have even considered food—just to provide for himself and the rest of the brats at the orphanage. That frustration had driven him towards martial pursuits, even attending one of the local sect's recruitment drives to compete for the chance to impress the watching Masters when he came of age.
He'd been a joke, getting tossed around that simple earthen ring by the kids that had food and training.
Guo Jun was just no match for them, or so it appeared at first...
Unlike many of his fellow competitors, who chose to spare themselves further shame after defeat, Guo Jun stayed. He fought round after round, took loss after loss, and eventually the opponents he was being matched against entered the ring exhausted.
The difference between them was that Guo Jun was used to it. Fighting on an empty stomach, fighting when he was tired, fighting when he was hurt or sore, fighting when he had no other choice because there were people depending on him; that was just his life.
So, when his opponents began to falter because they couldn't persevere, he'd started to win. By the end of the competition, he won nearly as many matches as he had lost, an accomplishment none of the Masters saw merit in.
None, except the old man.
His master had taken him in as an apprentice after he was passed over for entry into the sect—causing an uproar among the other participants—and showed him care beyond what he'd ever expected. Under his tutelage, Guo Jun had gone from a nobody to one of the most respected members of the sect
The old man had always said that the greatest challenge a cultivator faced in life was learning to cherish what they had. That was just the nature of cultivation, you only practiced it when you wanted more, a slippery slope at best. It promised more time, more beauty, more power; but not without cost.
Too many cultivators forgot to balance their cultivation with actually enjoying their lives. Instead, they took unnecessary risks and died early, or wasted away in meditation as they scrambled to extend the life they'd never used in the first place.
It seemed he'd lost sight of that too, with the old man gone the sect just hadn't felt like home anymore. Guo Jun had stayed anyway, unwilling to spoil his master's legacy, and in doing so disregarded his most important lesson.
Maybe that was why, when he'd woken up after his death, it hadn't felt like he lost anything significant.
Perhaps this was another chance to live a life his master would've been proud of.
It was that thought that stuck with him as the island faded into the sea behind them and they were surrounded on all sides by the tides. Below, he could spot the occasional pokemon surfacing for air; recognizing most after a quick skim of Basil's memories. It was the most life he'd ever seen in one place before, despite the seafaring flying pokemon staying clear of them.
As if sensing his melancholy, the puffball in his lap shook itself awake and looked up at him with its beady eyes.
"What? Don't look at me like that, I'm brooding here." Guo Jun huffed at the swablu, face already cracking into a grin. In response, the bird blew a thin stream of ice-cold mist into his face, getting a shout of surprise that almost sent him off the altaria.
"Watch it," he added more firmly this time, steadying himself and brushing away the condensation from his brow. "That reminds me, how does your kind gather Qi? Surely there must be some process behind it."
Another confused tilt of the head was his only reply, earning a groan from Guo Jun as he remembered that Qi doesn't go by that name in these lands. For that matter, nowhere in any of the memories he'd received was spiritual or elemental energy referenced in any way, aside from the various moves pokemon use. Could it be that there weren't any cultivators in this world?
Everything he knew told him that there had to be, humanity wouldn't have been able to survive amidst demonic beasts without a means of fighting back. That being said, he hadn't seen much evidence of pokemon being akin to the demonic beasts he once knew. A quick scan of the swablu confirmed that much, the Qi of pokemon was orderly in a way that a demonic beast's simply couldn't be.
Demonic beasts were the result of a type of severe Qi deviation, namely when an animal that could cultivate started to do so without knowing what they were doing. Eventually, the mismatched collection of energies began to distort the spirit, leaving them ravenously hungry for more. The spiritual energy would then begin to amass within their body indiscriminately, usually in places it wasn't supposed to be, causing gruesome mutations and granting frightening durability.
Spirit beasts, on the other hand, came to be through a number of different methods. Some were natural animals that luckily avoided Qi deviation, some were guided through the process by cultivators, and others were descendants of prior generations of spirit beasts.
Pokemon didn't seem to fit into either category at first glance, and what he'd seen from Basil had only furthered his suspicions. Perhaps this called for an investigation?
Guo Jun unceremoniously reached down, scooping up the swablu that had grown bored of his pondering and had perched itself on his knee.
"Blu!"
"Yes yes, I know, I'll try to be gentler. Do you mind if I ran some quick tests on you, little friend?" He asked, softening his voice to try and reassure it that he had no ill-intentions. He was curious about the nature of pokemon, but he'd come to respect the little bird.
The swablu thought about it for a second, before giving him a nod that eradicated his remaining doubts towards its intelligence.
"I appreciate the trust, now just sit still and try not to move around, it's been some time since I've performed this technique." Guo Jun warned as he waited for the pokemon to make itself comfortable in his grasp. As soon as it had, Guo Jun sent his spiritual sense through its body with a pulse of his Qi.
"Huh, that's odd, no primary meridians… no dantian… not even auxiliary meridians? And yet, so much Qi." He muttered to himself, baffled by what he found.
Similar to the Foundation Establishment realm, the gaseous Qi within the swablu was interwoven throughout its entire body. It seemed to gather and dispose of spiritual energy entirely through natural bodily processes, and subconsciously at that. Guo Jun had never seen anything like it!
Pokemon were natural born cultivators!
That begged a few questions though. For instance, what happened when the concentration of elemental energies in their body grew to their peak? Would the Qi start to condense as it does for cultivators? If so, what happened to their bodies when it all solidified? Do their entire bodies form into a core?
Guo Jun couldn't resist the temptation of discovery, using another Qi Search on the altaria and getting a jolt from the pokemon in response. Ignoring the side-eye shot at him from the imperious bird, he was happy to confirm his suspicions.
Unlike its smaller kin, the Qi in the altarias body was dense and syrupy, identical to that found in a late-stage Qi Gathering realm cultivator. He'd be a fool to think of them as such though, considering the abnormally swablu-sized lump of solidified Qi he could feel in the center of its body.
So that's how they did it!
'Core Formation then, or an equivalent, and their bodies change depending on the amount of Qi present?' The very idea sent Guo Jun's mind spinning, this was so revolutionary it put into doubt everything he knew about cultivation. 'Would the same work for me? If these pokemon can form their entire bodies into a core, why can't I?'
At the very least, what he learned today explained why none of the young pokemon he'd seen so far seemed to differ in size. Pokemon grew in accordance with their cultivation. It also might provide some explanation as to why the mightyena he'd seen previously did differ in size; their bodies continued to expand naturally even after they'd reached adulthood.
With that in mind, he knew what he wanted to do next.
Turning his attention back to the swablu in his hands, Guo Jun regarded it with renewed interest. Not only had the little pokemon saved his life, it possessed the potential to accompany him on his Path. In his past life he'd forsaken having a spirit beast companion, believing them mere distractions. Now, he recognized his folly.
"Little one-"
"Swaaa?"
"Yes, you. Would you be interested in joining me on my journey? I know I don't look like much right now, but I promise that if you stay by my side we will become the strongest duo these lands have ever seen." Guo Jun made his pitch, amused at the pit of anxiety he felt in his stomach. Since when did venerable Nascent Soul cultivators get nervous about being rejected by a spirit beast?
The pokemon puffed itself up and made to respond, only to be nearly thrown from his grasp as the altaria beneath them made a sharp turn. It wasn't just the altaria either, the whole flock seemed to be in disarray, letting out distressed cries and spreading out behind them. What was going on?
Guo Jun scanned the horizon in the direction that the altaria was facing, spotting what it was that had the flock so concerned. A flying tree pokemon? Are those people on its back? And what are all those things around- oh.
The strange tropical-looking pokemon was surrounded on all sides by an army of wingull, the occasional pelipper leading the formation cementing their disadvantageous position.
Guo Jun winced, recognizing a fight he couldn't win when he saw one, and shifted his attention towards the first actual humans he'd seen since arriving. The first appeared to be a young woman who couldn't be more than a couple of years older than Basil, with an overall athletic bearing. Behind her, a grizzled looking man was holding a device in his hand that Guo Jun instantly recognized through Basil. A capture styler, which meant he was a pokemon ranger, the very thing Basil had been most worried about when carrying out his foolish plan. Joy.
Guo Jun's eyes trailed up from the device and met those of the ranger, which narrowed at him in response. The man turned and had a short discussion with the young woman beside him, before leaping from the back of the pokemon they were on and landing atop one of the nearby pelipper with practiced ease.
They began to split up, the older man taking a path that led directly towards them as he lifted the device he was holding to his mouth and spoke into it.
"ATTENTION TRAINER, YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON A LEAGUE PROTECTED PRESERVE AND ARE SUSPECTED OF ILLEGALLY POACHING POKEMON, STAND DOWN AND SUBMIT FOR QUESTIONING!" The ranger's booming, amplified voice echoed out from the capture styler as he continued to approach.
Of course, the Heavens just loved playing games, why did this always happen to him?
What were his options? Attack, with what? His cultivation base was too shallow to amount to anything, and the closest he had to a weapon was a tent spike.
That left talking his way out of this, which he had experience with, but he knew far too little about this land to be confident in doing so. Though, now that he thought about it, had he done anything that could be proven? He wasn't technically on the island and he hadn't caught any pokemon. It seemed in his best interest to just go along with it.
Which was why he was so surprised when, after he moved his hands overhead as instructed and surrendered, the altaria he was riding on chose violence.
Craning its long blue neck to the side, Guo Jun felt the Qi within the pokemon begin to stir. He watched as the sun above them began to dim and the sky was swallowed by shadow, the moon that had only barely been visible before brightening considerably as a pillar of moonlight connected it to the sphere of whorling pink energy that began to form in the open beak of the altaria.
"Oh shit!" He heard from the green haired lady trying to circle behind the flock, a sentiment he fully agreed with.
"No, no, stop it! Don-" Guo Jun was too late, staring unblinkingly as it opened fire at a pelipper in front of them that was assisting in encircling them.
The projectile zipped forward and collided against the pokemon with a low whump, erupting into a bright pink light. Guo Jun had just enough time to get blinded by the attack before he and the swablu were launched off by the resultant wave of force.
The swablu's comical cry of "BLLLUUUUUUUuuuuu-" was cut off as Guo Jun slammed into the water—which at such high speed felt more like he hit the ground—quickly expelling all the air in his lungs and filling them with seawater instead.
Experience kicked in, pushing away his instinctual panic at being unable to breathe and leaving him aware enough to push himself up towards the surface, which took an unnervingly long time given how hard he'd hit the water.
He surfaced, coughing and spluttering as he all but vomited out the water that had filled his lungs, and gulped down the precious air. Eyes still seeing shadows from being blinded by the altaria's attack, Guo Jun instead sent out his spiritual sense. Immediately, he made out the Qi of swablu thrashing around in the water on the very edge of his range and began to furiously swim in its direction.
"Swablu, swim towards my voice!" He hoped that his shouts made their way to the little bird, because he still couldn't see worth a damn, and if the booms he was hearing around them were any indication the fight had gotten intense. He could even feel the shockwaves through the water.
He knew exactly when he'd gotten to the swablu, because it wasted no time in frantically climbing as high up on his body as it could, talons scratching him up a little in the process. He didn't mind though, it was worth it to repay the favor, and the happy warble he got in return warmed his heart.
Speaking of, could it not fly when its wings were soaked? Swablu didn't seem like the most capable flyers to begin with, and he couldn't imagine several times their body weight in water making things any easier.
Guo Jun's vision started to clear up as he remained in place, treading water and confirming that the fall hadn't dislodged any of his possessions. Everything would probably be waterlogged, but at the very least his things weren't at the bottom of the ocean.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ [TPPM] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Elaine wasn't sure which of the legendaries it was that she pissed off, but she was beginning to think it might've been all of them.
Up until a few minutes ago she had been excited for this mission, and who wouldn't be? They were shepherding a flock of protected pokemon back to their preserve so they wouldn't get hunted down by poachers, that was storybook stuff! She even got to do it beside an entire fleet of pokemon and a pokemon ranger, she could check off everything on her childhood bucket list from today alone!
But it had all gone south when they spotted someone riding the big altaria up front, a very bad sign as far as they were concerned. Either some trainer broke onto the preserve to try and snag a rare pokemon, or a poacher with some means of controlling pokemon. For a group of pokemon that big it was more than likely the latter, which meant they could be in for a serious fight.
With that in mind, Ranger Tim—funny name for a guy who acted like he woke up every morning to a graveler punching him in the face—had told her to split up and circle around behind the group in case it broke into a fight. And it did, just not in the way they had been expecting.
The kid, and it was clearly a kid when they'd gotten close enough to check, had surrendered right away. Which would've been great news had the pokemon agreed, but they really hadn't.
The encirclement would've worked great had the pokemon been mind controlled like they thought, it even would've gone over okay had it been your average group of wild pokemon. What it couldn't stand up to, on the other hand, was an altaria that was probably good enough to headline in an 8-badge tournament.
From the moment that altaria had fired its Moonblast, things had gone straight downhill. She'd never seen pokemon, especially evolved pokemon, get erased like that before. It made her feel awful, those poor pokemon had only gotten involved because they'd asked, and now... their stupid plan had gotten them killed.
At least none of the other attacks had been lethal… probably—the altaria had been too focused on rescuing the little swablu that had landed in the water to really attack them—but she wasn't sure any nearby water pokemon would be doing so well with everything that had splashed into the sea.
She just had to tempt Giratina.
"Oh shi-Nanab, watch out!" She cried out, warning her partner in crime just in time for him to swoop out of the way of the purple line of death that had been fired by the altaria. Glancing backwards, she saw how it split the sea in half and knew she'd need to change her panties when they got back to the outpost.
Fortunately, them taking on the attention of the biggest threat gave Tim the opening he needed to wrap a few loops of capture line around it; which she hoped would calm it down enough to let her grab the swablu/trainer pair that had been catapulted off of it earlier.
"Alright Nanab, let's head on down to grab the kid, but not too fast. Watch out for swablu, they might not seem like much but I'm too young to be taking dragonfire to the face!" Her trusty steed let out a cry—the drama queen—and flew down, throwing a gust out towards the few swablu that were in the way and scattering them like a dandelion.
That wasn't what she meant by watching out for the swablu—or was it swablus?—but she'd take it, and she had to admit it was pretty hilarious to watch the little sky-mareeps tumble away.
Nanab made it down to the duo in the water below, hovering just above the surface for extra style points, and Elaine ignored her starter's showboating in favor of dragging the pair onto his big leafy back. Huh, the boy wasn't as young as she thought, just super skinny. He'd have to work on that if he wanted to make it as a trainer, or with the ladies.
It was only as she finished and looked around that she noticed the altaria had been watching them the whole time—clearly only relaxing after it had seen the swablu safe—and she shuddered a little at the thought of what would have happened had it thought her a danger.
She motioned for Nanab to take them away before turning to her passenger. "Are you guys okay? You hit the water really hard!"
All she got for her concern was a pitiful "swaaaa" from the pokemon and an unenthused look from the boy, who looked more like a drowned purugly.
"Right, dumb question, sorry. Look, it wasn't supposed to go down like this! We thought the pokemon were being controlled and not just… gah! It's my first time doing this okay!?" She vented to them a little as Nanab flew a wide perimeter around the altaria, the both of them waiting for Tim to do his ranger magic and make all the pokemon his friends.
She had to wonder, was he a grump with pokemon too, or did he just hate people?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ [TPPM] ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To say that Guo Jun was in a sour mood would be a grave understatement.
After being saved by the peppy jade-haired girl with matching eyes, he'd been grateful for all of a minute before the squish of his sodden clothes reminded him that they were the ones who had angered the altaria in the first place.
Since then? Well, he'd taken a page from the book of his late master.
"Will you pleeeeassssse just say something?" The nuisance begged, her lips pursed as her gaze tempted him to respond. "I'm really sorry, and Nanab is too. He can't help it that he looks all big and scary!" She rambled on, her jade eyes flicking over to the pokemon in question with nothing but adoration.
"Swablu! Swaaaaa!" The effect of his ire was slightly diminished by his swablu hat, he would freely admit, but at least it served as a decent distraction.
"I already told you that I don't speak swablu!" She stated, hands on her hips as she chastised the pokemon like she was its mother; occasionally turning around to make sure they were in the clear.
"Come on, just get your trainer-guy to—AGGGHHH" She was interrupted by a tongue of icy mist hitting the back of her neck—a sensation that Guo Jun was intimately familiar with—jumping and yelping adorably. "Hey, that isn't funny you little…"
Guo Jun sighed at her antics, beginning to get the measure of this girl, and decided to finally speak up. "When will we be joined by the ranger? I would very much like to get this over with."
"Wow, way to make a girl feel appreciated, didn't even ask my name. He'll be done in a minute, relax a little. Or don't, 'cause you're in a lot of trouble." She chimed in cheekily, just listening to her go on made him feel tired.
"Very well, and what is your name?" He played along, maybe that would be easier?
"It's rude to ask a lady her name without introducing yourself first~" She gave him a wink over her shoulder and it took all of his considerable patience not to smack her upside the head.
"Basil, and stop with the games before I push you off of this tree." Guo Jun grumbled at her, frustration building.
She gasped and looked back at him, a playful spark in her eyes that had unwelcome effects on his puberty-ridden body. "Don't call Nanab a tree, he gets self-conscious! Right Nanab?"
The oversized vegetable crooned in reply, making Guo Jun roll his eyes as some of his ire dissipated with their antics. These two were perfect for eachother in all the worst ways, like a forest and a wildfire.
"Anyway, name's Elaine, I'll attend your funeral after Tim is done with you. Nanab can help keep out the rain an- Oh look, he's on his way now!" She joked, a smug smile firmly affixed to her punchable face.
Right on cue, the ranger made it back to them atop the pelipper he'd seen him riding before, looking as thunderous as she implied. "What in the name of Arceus' are you doing out here son?! You'd better have a damned good reason, or I'm having the League suspend your license and you'll be spending the rest of your miserable life doing community service!
"Tim-" The girl tried to interject, which—while useless—was appreciated.
"Be quiet Ace Trainer, let the kid speak for himself, and I've already informed you that we are to call each other by our titles while on mission." He barked at her, before turning back to Guo Jun and holding out his hand. "License, now."
Guo Jun quickly rifled through his things and handed it over, taking the moment to carefully construct his response. "My name is Basil and I've been stranded on a nearby island for about a week. I washed up there after I was knocked overboard while trying to train my starter, a Goldeen."
Guo Jun hoped that story would hold, he knew that Basil hadn't bothered to actually register his sale of the goldeen with the League, something that he was legally obligated to do. That said, who knew if the buyer had done so themselves?
The ranger eyed him, taking his license and running it under some sort of badge-shaped device with a blue orb in the middle, before it began to speak out loud. "Trainer ID Number: 67960, Name: Basil Walton, Age: 13, Sex: Male, Registered Pokémon: Goldeen, Last Known Location: Slateport City,—"
The ranger grunted in frustration, pressing a button on the device and stopping it before shoving Basil's license back to Guo Jun. "Looks like you were at least partially telling the truth, you'd better hope that all those pokeballs come up empty when we get back to the outpost, and you will be waiting for whoever the League sent to check on us when you set off every early warning system in the region with your idiocy."
With his piece said, the ranger hopped back onto the pelipper, before doing a double take and blinking dumbly at the swablu preening itself atop Guo Jun's head. "Son of a-" He paused mid-curse, squinting at the dripping wet pokemon. "What are you doing here, the rest of your flock is already headed back to the island!?"
Once again, Elaine spoke up preemptively in Guo Jun's defense. "I saw what happened! Swablu was drowning and Basil saved it, its wings got wet and it couldn't fly!"
Tim looked like he just might strangle her, Guo Jun understood completely. "That would have been nice to know before the rest left! Fine, we'll just have to make a trip to the island on our way b-"
"Swaaaa!" The swablu interrupted, flapping its wings and glaring at him.
To Guo Jun's surprise, he saw the ranger's expression visibly soften when the pokemon announced its displeasure, a tenderness that he'd yet to see the man express towards anything else. 'Wait- Did the ranger just understand what it was saying?!'
"Hmpf, well then." He grunted as he looked away. "If you want to journey with him, we'll bring it up with the League when they arrive, but that isn't my call to make." With that, the man made a sound to the pelipper, pulling ahead of them and leading the way.
"Ohh!" Elaine exclaimed, her eyes opening wide. "He did not just try to coolly walk away..." She murmured, as nonsensical as always, before turning to her pokemon. "Nanab, if you can beat Tim back to base, I'll give you an extra serving of Pokéblocks!"
The stupid tree immediately picked up speed, going way faster than Guo Jun had thought it could go, and forcing him to latch onto the girl in front of him for stability. "WHY!?"
Her laughter haunted him the entire way there.
AN: Andddddd chapter four, hope you all like it. I'll be working on the various index pages and editing chapter 3 (I made some grammatical errors) for a short while before I get started on the next chapter though. The first five great realms of cultivation from Guo Jun's world have finally all been mentioned, hurrah! Thank you to everyone who helped read and edit!
Oh and direct all complaints about my excessive usage of the em dash towards d.rogers, it is entirely his fault that I have become this way.
P.S.
Spoiler: Elaine looks like this.
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Last edited: Sep 24, 2021
Sep 24, 2021Report
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