Chapter 4: V1 Side Story – Absol

Eighteen years. Eighteen long years travelling the world alone, doing nothing but tracking upcoming disasters in order to help those affected by said disasters. Absol had explored what felt like a majority of the world, and she’d seen things that few Pokemon or people had witnessed. A view from the highest mountain top. Deep sea caverns home to creatures not yet known to humans. The birth of Legendary Pokemon, as well as the deaths of elderly Pokemon of legends. She had lived a life like no other.

At some point along the way, Absol lost count of how many unfortunate events she’d put a stop to. But she never forgot the reason for her actions. While randomly passing by a town one day, Absol heard a human say something akin to, “Those with the power to act, should act.” All Absol have the ability to sense danger and upcoming calamities. They’re born with such a special power, so shouldn’t they all use that power to stop impending tragedies?

She later found out that playing the role of hero was a thankless job. Even in the modern age, where people know more about Pokemon than ever before, there were many who still refused to accept Absol as a Pokemon that was coming to their aid. To both humans and Pokemon, Absol was a beast that caused problems, not solved them. No matter how obvious it was that Absol was the people’s saviour, no one accepted her. She could defeat the real threat in front of others, and they would still condemn her appearance. They needed something to blame and it was easier to thrust the blame upon an innocent Pokemon than it was to find or accept the truth. Confirmation bias is a scary thing.

Occasionally, Absol would get angry after being reminded of how much she was hated. Barking matches would erupt between herself and other Pokemon as she tried to convince them their assumptions were incorrect. But they never listened. Even if there were a few Pokemon who sympathised with Absol, they never openly said anything. Defending an outsider wasn’t worth the trouble. Taking her anger out on the real disaster was the best way to vent, it was two Pidgeys with one Rock Throw. But still, Absol wished that someone would notice her good deeds and accept her. Somewhere along the way, she gained a second objective. She simply wanted to be accepted by others. To be seen as the good Pokemon she clearly was.

About thirteen years into her lonely adventure, Absol finally encountered those who believed in her. They lived in a forest near a mountain range in the Eastern area of Kalos, and while there was no one there who wished to travel with her, Absol thought that it might not be such a bad idea to settle down. So she stayed in the forest with the other Pokemon. From the weak Cherubi to the strong Tyranitar, many Pokemon called this place home. A place quite far from human civilization.

Everything was going well. Finally, Absol was accepted by others. She was happy, at long last. But all good things must come to an end. A few months after Absol found a place to call home, a faction of humans calling themselves Team Flare raided the area, capturing any powerful Pokemon they could get their hands on to improve the fighting capabilities of their Trainers. But this may not have been their main goal. At one point Absol overheard some Team Flare members mention something called ‘Zygarde’, and that it should be in this part of the Kalos forest. Absol had never heard of such a thing and she didn’t have time to gather more information. She was acting as a guard for the weaker Pokemon who were retreating, so she quickly ended up out of earshot.

Once they had gotten to a safe area away from the scary humans, various Pokemon started shouting and blaming one another for what was happening. But Absol had heard this kind of arguing too many times to count and wasn’t going to put up with it. She shouted the loudest and forced everyone to listen to her. If they were going to blame someone, they should blame her. She could detect disasters, yet Team Flare coming for them hadn’t popped up on her radar at all. Despite not wanting to have negative emotions directed at herself, it was the only way to unite the group right now. That was the most important thing.

With the problem of in-fighting solved, although not in the most pleasant way, the next thing on the agenda was saving the stronger Pokemon who were captured so they could rejoin their friends and family. Absol had worked alone for so long that it was the easier option, it meant she didn’t have to account for what others might end up doing. She could handle this problem herself. So she told the weaker Pokemon to sit tight and wait for their friends to come back soon as she rushed off to rescue her allies.

Due to leaving soon after she escorted the group to safety, Absol managed to track down Team Flare within the day. They’d set up a mobile base in a clearing in the forest. A cluster of vehicles, both large and small, to house a dozen people for a few nights were dotted about the area. The largest vehicle, a red and black truck, had cages full of Pokemon atop its back, and those cages were home to Pokemon from outside of Absol’s group. Team Flare probably stopped to grab any somewhat strong Pokemon while they were on their way to this location.

To make matters worse, Absol couldn’t see every Pokemon from her group. Were some of them already housed in Pokeballs?

She looked around at the humans, seeing all the ways a Trainer holds on to their Pokeballs. The most common seemed to be a belt around the waist, but some had belts across their chests, and others had red leather patches on the back of their gloves that held three shrunken Pokeballs in a triangle formation.

Absol lightly growled at herself, a noise comparable to a human groaning, from her hiding spot in the bushes. The reason for her annoyance was that she was reluctant to attack humans. But if she wanted to free the Pokemon who belonged in this forest, who called this place home, she needed to destroy Pokeballs and come dangerously close to injuring people. It felt like her only option. She’d seen it before when a human tried to catch a Legendary Pokemon. The Legendary beast burst out of the Pokeball and the ball was destroyed in the process. If she could damage the Pokeballs then the Pokemon inside should just burst out, and it would no longer have a Trainer unless it really wanted to stick by a human’s side.

While thinking about how to handle getting her allies back, Absol picked up on how many of the humans were yawning. With Team Flare off guard due to exhaustion, she could rush in while targeting the Pokeballs and free some Pokemon. If she got lucky, she would get some capable allies like Steelix and Tyranitar. At that point it would be an easy victory, Team Flare probably doesn’t have the strength to deal with such powerhouse Pokemon. Just in case she got unlucky with who she freed, Absol needed to ensure she freed too many Pokemon. If she can’t beat them with strength, she’ll beat them with numbers.

So she executed her plan and it was as successful as she’d hoped. Using Quick Attack, Absol reached the first member of Team Flare before anyone was aware of her presence. With her horn, Absol slashed at the back of the human’s hand. She hit two of the three balls and freed whatever Pokemon were inside. The Team Flare member moved his hand away in surprise, his foot collided with a tree root sticking out of the dirt and he fell onto his rear.

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The Pokemon Absol had freed were a Noivern and a Bisharp. Mildly lucky. While barking orders at them to try and free other Pokemon, Absol moved on to the next human and performed the same series of actions, resulting in another two Pokemon free from Team Flare’s grasp.

From there a larger conflict erupted as some Pokemon chose to side with Team Flare. A predictable outcome, not every Pokemon they had would be against being caught. But as a chain reaction of Pokemon breaking Pokeballs and cages swept through the makeshift camp, the tides quickly turned against the humans. Those wanting to be free severely outnumbered those wanting to serve. But despite losing a large amount of their fighting force, the humans were still trying. Absol had no idea why they kept fighting after they’d lost so much, but it didn’t really matter. The battle continued as elements of fire, water, earth and electricity flew around the battlefield until one or two vehicles were hit and destroyed. At that point, out of fear of being stuck in a forest full of Pokemon that despised them, Team Flare began retreating in the vehicles they had left. 

Absol feared they would be back for that ‘Zygarde’ thing, but at this point the Pokemon calling Kalos forest their home understood they could fight back and win. They should be able to handle future problems themselves. Perhaps the strong will start to teach the weak to look after themselves too. That truly would ensure the safety of everyone living here.

As some Pokemon began to walk away, Absol realised not everyone would call this place home. And looking at some of the strong Pokemon that lived here, she no longer felt like she wanted to call this place home either. Even she didn’t quite know why she felt this way. Maybe she didn’t want to have to listen to all the quarrelling when everyone was reunited. Maybe she felt like she would still be blamed for not detecting Team Flare in the first place. Maybe she had an urge to adventure again, so this was the best time to leave. Regardless of her reason, Absol casually walked away just like the couple of dozen Pokemon wanting to get back to their respective homes. Not even bothering to say goodbye, Absol resumed her lonely journey across the world.

There were times where she was severely injured and no one was around to help, so she had to deal with it and rely on natural healing. There were times where she was close to having another home, but ultimately decided against it in fear of a repeat of Kalos forest. But there was never a time where she felt like giving up. This was her life and, while it was lonely, it was fulfilling in some ways. She’d receive gifts like good food from the Pokemon she helped, and humans had begun to thank her. That second objective of wanting to be recognised had been achieved. Both humans and Pokemon were starting to change their tune about Absol. Not everyone thought she was the source of the problem anymore.

She started to think that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t so absurd to believe someone would come along and make her journey less lonely. One goal had been achieved, but another sprung up in its place. A Pokemon or human to travel with.

And eighteen years into her solo adventure, her new goal was realised. While Absol’s impression of the human was that he was a bit odd and reckless, he at least seemed to genuinely care. He had no Pokemon of his own, yet he rushed back into the fight for Absol’s sake. This was the first time someone had actively come to Absol’s aid. She couldn’t believe it. But part of her disbelief was definitely about how foolish this human must be, to enter a fight with no way of winning.

Still, she was happy with the human. Absol just wanted someone around, even if they weren’t capable in a fight. When he offered to join Absol, and to train a team that could help her in battle, she was over the moon. She’d have many allies moving forward.

Although this scared her a little. She’d never been around people or Pokemon for longer than a few months. How should she act? The cool, powerful ally? The overly protective aunt? Should she suppress her emotions to avoid arguments between herself and the human’s other Pokemon? Just being friendly with her upcoming allies should be fine, but at the same time Absol felt like that just wasn’t her. It could end up being a facade that annoys both herself and other Pokemon. The only conclusion Absol could reach was that she had lost sight of herself. Helping others had become her entire existence, to the point where she didn’t know how she would act around others. So her only option was to just let it happen and see what she felt and how she reacted. Not understanding herself was discouraging, but the chance to figure her life out and to figure out who she was did lighten her mood.

As she drifted off to sleep on the warm carpet of a hotel room, she heard the human say from his bed, “Oh right, I forgot to say. I’m Joe. It’s nice to meet you, Absol.”

Joe, huh? It was a bit of a bland name, but who cared. It was his personality that would make the upcoming journey enjoyable. She gently barked back, acknowledging him.

Once Absol was fast asleep, for a brief moment before Joe fell asleep, he spotted a small smile creep across the Pokemon’s face. She must be having a good dream.

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